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 Sermon > Sunday Morning Service |
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Title |
God Measures Our Faith(12) - God Measures Our Faith (12) |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Ezekiel 47:1-5, Galatians 5:19-21 |
Date |
2011-09-18 |
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Passage
[Ezekiel 47:1-5]
" ... When the man went out toward the east with a line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he led me through the water, water reaching the ankles. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the knees. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the loins. Again he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not ford, for the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be forded."
Galatians 5:19-21
"Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."
Introduction
This is the 12th session in the series on 'God Measures Our Faith'.
Thessalonians 5:22 says, "Abstain from every form of evil."
God does not command us to do something that is impossible.
God commands us because we can do it.
We can cast off any sin with the power of the Lord.
We can sometimes see good doctors who stay with and care for patients all night who are in critical situations.
Our God the Father also continuously sustains, heals and cares for the souls that are mourning, and lives that are dying because of sins.
Sometimes God performs a great and difficult spiritual surgery to save their spiritual lives.
Namely, He reveals all the sins in detail and proclaims punishments.
He sometimes allows for them to go through punishment of His love so they can repent of their sins and change.
I hope you will believe in this love of the Father God and rely on Him.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will take the bread of life and pray fervently by the guidance of the Holy Spirit to become holy at every moment.
[Main] Brothers and sisters, today, let me elaborate on various sexual misconducts including fornication and adultery.
In the last session, we talked about major sexual misconducts mentioned in the Bible.
Among them, 'impurity' and 'sensuality' are something that are serious in magnitude among sexual misconducts.
But today, we see such things are so widespread.
Those who are sensual speak and act out in filthy lewdness without any hesitation or reservation.
I've read about such things in the repentance letters I received from church members.
I was in great shock.
For example, some couples agreed to let each other have sex with some other married couples.
It's not one of the spouses committed adultery. They willingly exchanged their wives and their husbands with other married couples in sexual relationships.
I was wondering how such a thing could exist, but I hear that it's already widespread in the world.
We already have a name for such a thing.
It is called swinging or partner swapping.
It refers to both partners in a committed relationship agreeing, as a couple, for both partners to engage in sexual activities with other couples as a recreational or social activity.
Beginning in the 2000's, when it was revealed that such a thing was happening, it shocked the whole society of Korea.
There must now be so many more sins since more than ten years have passed.
This is also something so immoral that it is even against the morals and concept of marriage for most of the world.
How would it look in the sight of God?
As for me, it is so horrible that it makes me tremble.
You should have a similar feeling towards such a thing as a child of God.
It is such an evil act that God would hate so much, and it is a sin depriving of salvation.
Some of the believers who had committed such a sin died of serious diseases although they repented.
I see that there are those who did not even repent and yet they didn't even receive any punishment.
Namely, God has not even given them a chance for them to repent and receive salvation.
Engrave in your heart how dreadful the retribution would be for such a sin, so that you will be completely on the alert against such sins.
Brothers and sisters, today, as the sexual corruption goes hand in hand with materialism, there are many impure things taking place.
It's not that these impure things are taking place only in red-light areas.
These things are taking place among children in ordinary households.
For example, some younger teenage girls are dating grown adults 'to get some pocket money'.
The men are usually in their 30's and 40's and pay these teens to have sex with them.
According to some recent newspaper reports, there was a 9-year-old girl in another country who advertised for a man who would pay to have sex with her.
The article reportedly said that there were 20 men who applied.
The reason why this little girl did such a shocking thing was to buy some playing cards that cost about 35 US dollars.
It is shocking that there were so many men who responded to her request when she didn't even really realize the actual meaning that her actions carried.
Recently, they say more and more adolescent girls are doing these things to buy pretty clothes or to run away from home.
According to media reports, some adolescent boys seize these teenage girls who ran away from home and function as their pimps in prostitution.
It is already a common practice for college girls to sell their bodies to earn the tuition fees or to buy some luxury items.
Seeing this kind of reality, we can see that the concept about sex among adolescents and young adults is so wrong.
Most of the adolescents do not even realize how evil such things are.
Also, they might have some fear at first, but as they repeat these acts a couple of times, their consciences become numbed and they would do anything just to earn money.
The children are the mirror of their family, and the young people are the mirror of that society.
All these sorrowful aspects tell us how sexually corrupted this world is.
You believers and students must stand firmly as holy children of God.
I urge you in the name of the Lord that you will keep your family and furthermore guide the children of your neighbors and your school mates into the boundary of the truth.
Brothers and sisters, lastly, let us briefly go over spiritual adultery.
Spiritual adultery is to give your heart over to something other than the Lord our bridegroom.
In the Prophets of the Old Testament, we see many passages where God reprimands Israel's spiritual adultery.
Isaiah 54:5 says, "For your (Israel's) husband is your Maker."
God calls Israel His wife.
At that time, the adultery that sons of Israel committed was idolatry.
When they left God and worshipped idols, God considered it adultery in the sense of the unfaithfulness of a wife.
It's the same today.
Spiritual adultery is not just idolatry.
If you love something in this world more than God and you spend not just your heart but also strength, time, and money on it, it is spiritual adultery.
James 4:4 says, "You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."
If you harbor the world in your heart, eventually your heart will be distanced from God.
If you do not turn away, you will be distanced from salvation, too.
Therefore, I hope you will quickly remove the original root of spiritual adultery.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, and viewing audiences,
Why do so many people today not consider sexual misconduct as sin?
Also, when God warns us of sexual misconduct so strictly, why is it that even believers commit acts of sexual misconduct?
It's because they were born into this sin-filled world and raised in it.
Also, even though they believe in God, they were not properly taught with the truth.
In the beginning of human history, people had relatively good consciences and had reverent fear of God.
Even though nobody told them, they felt and knew that sexual misconduct is a great sin.
But as the history of humanity went on for thousands of years, people distanced themselves from God more and more.
As a result of their conscience getting more stained with sins, they became numb and insensitive to sins.
Today, the magnitude of sins is very great. Acts of sexual misconduct are committed all the time, but many people have no pangs of conscience about it at all.
It's because the enemy devil and Satan deceive the people.
For example, the media in general, including TV, portrays relationships of fornication and adultery as "beautiful love".
As the idea of standing against God has become more widespread, Satan makes people think that God does not exist and that they should just enjoy their lives.
Some people experience a little qualm of conscience after committing adultery, but soon they ignore this voice of conscience, and they comfort themselves thinking Heaven and Hell are not real.
But all God's words are true, and everyone has to stand at the Judgment Throne.
Also, as Ecclesiastes 8:11 says, "Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil." They boldly do evil because they don't go to Hell right away.
Of course, even if punishments come upon them due to sins, the unbelievers do not realize this and they just try to indulge in more pleasure.
But they do not get any satisfaction from this. They only suffer from many disasters and hardships.
Even if the punishments do not come each time, their hearts will become increasingly emptier.
If pleasure can give them happiness, as time passes why do they seek stronger pleasure each time?
Lustful things can give you only momentary pleasure, and this goes away like a lifting fog.
They can never give you true happiness.
The worldly people do not understand this fact.
Even if they do, they cannot get away from the bond of pleasure and just live in pain.
And the result will be eternal punishment in Hell.
Jude 1:7 says the following.
"Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire."
History proves that after sexual corruption comes the punishment.
Pompeii, a city in the Roman Empire, was destroyed by a sudden volcanic eruption.
If you look around at the remains, you can realize how promiscuous their sex life was. |
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