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7 Sanctification & Sexual Purity

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• 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and 2 Samuel chapter 12. Lord willing, today we're going to be bringing to a close this series on sanctification and sexual purity. And we're looking, first of all, at 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, beginning with verse 1. "Furthermore, then, we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more. For you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles who know not God, that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter—or the matter—because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we have also forewarned and testified. For God hath not called us to uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit."

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• Now if you will turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel, and let's begin reading there in chapter 11 and the very last verse. 2 Samuel chapter 11 with verse 27. "And when the morning was passed," and of course this refers to the death of David and Bathsheba's child, "and when the morning was passed, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. And the Lord sent Nathan unto David, and he came unto him and said unto him, 'There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds. But the poor man had nothing save one little ewe lamb, which he had brought and nourished up, and it grew up together with him and with his children.'"

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• "It did eat of his own meat and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man that was coming to him, but took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man that was come to him." And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, because he had no pity." And Nathan said unto David, "Thou art the man."

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• "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, 'I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul. And I gave thee thy master's house and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah. And if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with a sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart out of thine house, because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.' Thus saith the Lord, 'Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of the sun.'"

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• "For thou didst it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun." And David said unto Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." And Nathan said unto David, "The Lord hath also put away thy sin, thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die."

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• Now let's look back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, and let me very quickly review and bring you up to where we are. First of all, you remember in verse 1 we have the exhortation. There Paul is exhorting to begin with, not only as far as sanctification, but sexual purity. And I showed you the practical necessity we must be taught. The personal application, we must actually apply the truth.

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• And then the progressive reality, how we're to abound more and more. And then in verse 2, we have the explanation. That is, Paul taught by the commandments of God. That is, he was explaining and expounding and applying. And then verses 3, 4, and 5, we have the exposition. He says, "For this is the will of God," that is an affirmation. "Even your sanctification" and explanation "that you should abstain from fornication," and that would certainly be a negation there. And then in verses 4 and 5, a clarification "that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles who know not God." And then last week we dealt with an elaboration and showed that, first of all, Paul elaborates as to the willfulness of this sin.

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• He says "that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in the matter," and so it is a willful act, it is a defrauding, and the word defraud means to go beyond and to take that which does not belong to you. And then secondly, in verse 6, we saw mainly, here is the elaboration, as to the warning concerning the sin, "because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we've also forewarned and testified," and he tells you why he is the avenger of all such. Why?

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• Because "God has not called us to uncleanness, but unto holiness." And now we have the elaboration in verse 8, as to the wickedness of the sin, because he says, "He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who also hath given unto us his Holy Spirit."

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• Now let me just tell you, this is a very important point, because I want you to understand that whenever we reject the Word of God, we are not rejecting man, but we are rejecting God. Now listen to me. When we despise the preached Word of God, we are not despising the preacher who gave those words, but we are despising God who gave those words. So he says very clearly, "He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God." So whenever you and I then violate any of God's law, when we violate any of God's word, it does not have to be in the area of fornication or sexual impurity, but in any area where God has clearly and definitely spoken, when we violate that law, when we violate that word, it is a despising of God.

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• That is an awesome and a horrible thought. That when we sin, we are despising God.

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• Now, I want you to look back in your Bibles to 2 Samuel 11-12, because here is a case study of exactly what Paul has been exhorting, explaining, expounding, and elaborating against. We all know that David committed adultery with Bathsheba.

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• Now let me just very quickly today take the time and point out four main areas of how sin affects God. Okay?

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• Now keep in mind, and I'm going to come back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, but I want you to remember, he said, "He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God." So let's ask a question. How does sin affect God? I'm not interested right now in how sin affects us. We covered some of that last week. We all know that the wages of sin is death. But how does sin affect God, and especially the sin of sexual impurity? Well, first of all, if you look in 2 Samuel 11 and verse 27, we're going to see that sin is a displeasure to God. "And when the morning was passed, David's sin fetched her to his house, and she became his wife and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord."

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• Now let me tell you what the word displeased literally means. It means to be evil in His eyes. In other words, the thing that David had done was bad, wicked, and evil in the eyes of God.

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• Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles, hold 2 Samuel 12 there, but turn in your Bibles to the book of Numbers 23 and verse 34. Here the same word is used. Many of you know the story about Balaam. Balaam was a false prophet. And God had told Balaam not to go, and Balaam went anyhow. You remember how the angel stood with his sword drawn to kill Balaam in the way. And you remember how the ass crushed his foot up against the wall and Balaam began to smite his ass and cursed him and said, "Why in the world are you doing this to me?"

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• "Why I've never mistreated you?" And the ass answered him. He spoke back. And then God opened Balaam's eyes. And Balaam saw the angel standing there with his sword drawn, ready to kill Balaam. So the Bible tells us in the book of Numbers chapter 22 and verse 34, "And Balaam said unto the angel of the Lord, 'I have sinned, for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me.'"

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• "Now therefore, if it displeaseth thee, I will get thee back again." In other words, if it's evil in your eyes, if it's bad in your eyes, I'm going to get myself back again. I will turn back.

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• Now, I want you to look in your Bibles to 2 Samuel 11 and verse 25. We're going to see the same word again. Look what David said to Joab. This is when David was planning on murdering Uriah the Hittite. "Then David said unto the messenger, 'Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease thee,'" or be evil, or bad, or wicked in thy sight. "'For the sword devoureth one as well as another. Make thy battle more strong against this city, and overthrow it, and encourage thou him.'" So when David was planning on murdering Uriah, what does he do? He tells Joab, "Don't let this thing displease you. Don't let it be evil. Don't let it be wicked in your sight."

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• Now, I want you to turn very quickly to two other passages. Look in 1 Chronicles 21, verse 7. 1 Chronicles 21, verse 7. Just showing you how this word is used. 1 Chronicles 21, verse 7. The Word of God says, "And God was displeased with this thing, therefore He smote Israel." So God was angry with David's numbering of the children of Israel. And therefore God smote them. He was displeased. In other words, God saw it as evil and wicked. And then if you'll look in the book of Isaiah chapter 59 and verse 15, before we go further, Isaiah 59 verse 15, look, if you would, please, at what is said here. Isaiah 59, verse 15. "Yea, truth faileth, and he that departed from evil maketh himself a prey, and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment." Note, the Lord saw it, and it displeased him.

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• Most of us have never, ever considered the fact that our sin does have an effect upon God. When David sinned, the very first thing it says is that God was displeased. That is, God saw it as bad, evil, and wicked. Now let me show you the applications from the fact that sin is a displeasure of God. What does it do? First of all, it teaches us that God sees all of our actions and all of our attitudes. The Bible teaches us that God is absolutely omniscient. God sees all. God knows all.

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• I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Proverbs chapter 15. I can quote this verse, but it's such a powerful verse. I want you to see it. Look in Proverbs chapter 15 and verse 3. I told you when sin displeases God, the very first thing it teaches us is that God sees all of our actions, God sees all of our attitudes. In Proverbs 15, verse 3, the Bible says, "The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good." Note, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. Do you remember what the Bible says in the book of Hebrews 4 and verse 13? The Bible says, "But all things are open and naked unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."

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• In other words, you might can hide from man, but you can't hide from God. You might can hide from the preacher, but you can't hide from God. You might can hide from your parents, but you can't hide from God. You see, the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good. I want you to turn to the book of Psalms, and look at Psalm 139, if you would please, and what David says. You see, there is absolutely no way that anyone can escape the omniscience of God. In Psalm 139 and verse 1, the psalmist says, "O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me." Now watch. "Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising." David said, "I can't even sit down without You knowing it. I cannot stand up without Your knowledge of it." He says, "Thou understandest my thought afar off," I cannot even think without you knowing what I think. "Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. There is not a word in my tongue, but lo thou knowest it altogether."

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• God knows not only what we have spoken, but what we would speak, and what we could speak. "Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid Thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain unto it." So no one can escape the omniscience of God. You see, the truth of the matter is this. No one saw Cain murder Abel, but God did. No one saw Achan take that wedge of gold and those shekels of silver and that goodly Babylonian garment, but God did. No one else heard Sarah laugh derisively in her tent, but God did. No one else may have seen David with Bathsheba, but God did. You see, you and I cannot escape the omniscience of God.

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• I've told you this before. You probably have forgotten it. But it's one of my favorite stories. Mel Trotter was an old drunk. And he was on his way, believe it or not. He had stolen the shoes from off his baby. And he was taking those shoes to pawn them so he could get something to drink. And he passed by a gospel meeting. He heard some singing. It caught his attention.

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• He went in and sat down. He listened to the preaching and God converted Mel Trotter. God saved him. Changed him. Mel Trotter began a mission for drunks and derelicts. And one of Mel Trotter's aims after his conversion was to try to get people to live right. Well, there was in the area of the city there a lover's lane. And Mel Trotter, to try to discourage those young people from fornication, would go down to Lover's Lane and would preach at night. Well, some of them did move and leave. Others laughed. Others ignored him. And finally one day he came up with an idea. And so he had installed on Lover's Lane a big neon flashing eyeball. And all he had written on the eyeball in neon letters was this, "Thou, my God, seest me." In a week's time, Lover's Lane was desolate. No one would go there. Because they were reminded of the fact that God saw their actions. If something displeases God, it means that God must see it. God must take notion of it.

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• Secondly, for our sin to displease God, it teaches us that God weighs all of our actions and all of our attitudes. Look in your Bibles to the book of Proverbs 16 and verse 2. Proverbs 16 and verse 2. Note what is said in this passage. Proverbs 16 verse 2. "All the ways of man are clean in his own eyes, but the Lord weigheth the spirits." What is the Lord doing? The Lord is weighing our attitude. The Lord is weighing our action.

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• Do you remember what he said to Belshazzar? "Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting." So God not only sees what we do, but God weighs what we do.

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• Thirdly, this teaches us that our actions and our attitudes have a definite impact upon God. I want you to understand that God is no impersonal being. God is not just force. "May the force be with you." No, that's hogwash. God is not just force. God is not just some abstract concept. God is a being. And our attitudes and our actions have an effect upon Him.

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• Now let me tell you, there is a difference between God's intrinsic glory and God's ascribed or external glory. Let me show you what I'm talking about. Turn in your Bibles to the book of Proverbs, not the Proverbs, but the book of Psalms. Psalm 16. Psalm 16. Let me show you what I'm referring to when I say there is a difference between God's intrinsic glory and God's ascribed or external glory.

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• Now, in the strictest sense of the word, there is not one thing that can be added to God. There is not one thing that can be done to God. Why? Because God is God and He is absolutely perfect. Now, watch this. In Psalm 16, beginning there with verse 1, and this is a Messianic psalm, by the way, but here's what the psalmist says, "Preserve me, O God, for in Thee do I put my trust. O my soul, Thou hast said unto the Lord, 'Thou art my Lord, my goodness extendeth not to thee, but to the saints that are in all the earth, and to the excellent in whom is my delight.'" Now, this is a Messianic psalm. This psalm talks of Jesus Christ.

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• In fact, if you'll skip down to verse 10, you'll see it very plainly. "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, thou wilt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." This passage is applied to Jesus Christ over and over in the New Testament. Now, go back to verse 1. Look what the Messiah says. He says, "Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust. O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord." So Christ is speaking to the Father. "My Lord," now look what he says, "My goodness extended not to thee." Now let me just say this plainly. The perfection of the work of Jesus Christ, the righteousness and the holiness of the work of Jesus Christ added nothing to the Father. Because the Father is already perfect. Well, what did that work do? Well, he says in verse 2 that that work extended not to the Father, but to the saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is my delight. Now, if the perfection of Jesus Christ added nothing to the Father, then very clearly, we can add nothing to the Father, and nothing that we do can detract or subtract from the Father, for the Father is perfect.

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• That is His intrinsic glory. But the truth is, God also has an ascribed or an external glory, and what we do and do not do affects that. That is, we can dishonor God, or we may honor God. We may dishonor him by rebelling against him and sinning against him, or we may honor him by obedience. So there is this external or this ascribed glory. Look in your Bibles, if you would, to Isaiah chapter 43. Now, please remember, I'm talking about the ascribed or the external glory. I'm not talking about his intrinsic glory. For in and of himself, nothing can be added to God. But in Isaiah 43, look at this powerful verse. Look what God says to his people.

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• He says, "Thou hast brought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices." Now look what God says, "But thou hast made me to serve with thy sins. Thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities." Now how did men make God serve with their sins? By the fact that they were claiming to be His people, while at the same time dishonoring him, and transgressing his law, and rebelling against him, and they were affecting his external or his ascribed glory. And he's saying, "You've made me to serve with your sins." Look in your Bibles to 1 Kings 3. 1 Kings 3 verses 9 and 10. 1 Kings 3.

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• And note, if you would please there, verse 9. 1 Kings chapter 3 and verse 9. Look what God says. Solomon is speaking, and he says, "Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad, for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?" And the speech, what? Pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. So God, then, can either be pleased or displeased by our attitudes. He can either be pleased or displeased by our actions. So God is no impersonal God.

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• While we cannot add to Him nor take from Him, it is true that He has an external glory. He has an ascribed glory. And we may either honor Him or dishonor Him. We may either please Him or displease Him. And when David committed fornication, when David committed adultery, when David committed murder, it displeased the Lord. David was not rendering unto God the glory that God so richly deserved.

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• Secondly, if you look in your Bibles to 2 Samuel 12 verses 9 and 10, here's the second thing, the second truth of how sin affects God. Not only is sin a displeasure to God, but secondly, sin is a despisement of God. You remember we read in 1 Thessalonians 4, "He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God." Look at what God tells David. Verse 9, "Wherefore hast thou despised the commandments of the Lord to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart out of thine house," watch, "because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife." Wow! Has it ever dawned upon you that when we're rebellious, when we're disobedient, when we transgress the law of God, we're not only displeasing God, we're despising Him. And it's not just a despisement of His Word that is true.

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• It is a despisement of God Himself. Now, the Hebrew word for despise in verse 9 and 10 is bazah, and it literally means to despise, to disdain, to contemn or condemn, to think scorn, to think as vile. In other words, we are treating God as a vile, wicked thing. Look in your Bibles, if you would please, to the book of Leviticus chapter 26 and verse 43. Leviticus 26. Note, if you would please, verse 43. Leviticus 26 verse 43.

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• "Thus is the land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lie desolate without them." That is, he's going to send the people into captivity. "...And they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred or hated my statutes." So God says that our sin then is not just a displeasure to Him, it is indeed a despising of Him. It is a despising of His Word.

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• Look in your Bibles to the book of Numbers chapter 15. Numbers chapter 15. Numbers 15. Let's begin reading with verse 29.

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• Now, I want you to follow this. Numbers 15, verse 29. God says, "You shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel and for the stranger that sojourneth among them. But the soul that doeth aught presumptuously, whether he be born in the land or a stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from among his people." Now, wait a minute. God says the man that sins deliberately, presumptuously, purposely, premeditatedly, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Why? Verse 31, "Because he despised the word of the Lord, and had broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off, his iniquity shall be upon him." So our sin then does not merely just displease the Lord, our sin is a despisement of the Lord. It is a despisement of His word and it is a despisement of His person.

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• Do you remember the story of Esau and Jacob? Do you remember how Jacob was sodding pottage and Esau came in from the field and he said, "Feed me some of that same red pottage." Jacob said, "I will if you'll give me your birthright, sell me your birthright." And old Esau said, "Man, I'm at the point of death, what gives this birthright to me?" Well, he wasn't about to die, and certainly Jacob was not going to let him die. But you know what the Bible says, "Thus he despised his birthright."

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• He treated it as scum. He treated it as vile, as contemptuous, something wicked, something worth nothing. Do you realize that when we sin against God, we treat the Word of God and we treat God as worth absolutely nothing? We treat Him as vile and contemptuous. Now, you remember I told you that the Bible is the written Word of God. And Jesus Christ is the living Word of God. Now let's go back to the Bible being the written Word of God.

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• 2 Timothy 3, verse 16. He says, "For all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished in every good work." All Scripture is given by inspiration. Theopneustos, all Scripture is exhaled, breathed out of the mouth of God. When you come to John 1 and verse 1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." When you come down to verse 14, "...and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." So the Bible is the written Word, Jesus Christ the living Word. Guess what? In John 12 and verse 48, Jesus Christ puts these two things together and He says this, "...He that rejecteth Me..."

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• "...and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him in the last day, even the word which I have spoken." Now let me just put it to you plainly. You cannot have one attitude toward the Word of God and a different attitude toward Christ. You cannot have one attitude toward Christ and a different attitude toward the Word of God. When you sin, you're despising not only the Word of God, but Christ Himself, who is the living Word. That's why God says that sin is not merely a displeasure, it is indeed a despisement of Him. That's why Paul wrote, "He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit." So when a child of God sins, it not only displeases God, it is a despisement of God.

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• Thirdly, look in verse 13. The third truth is this, that sin is a disobedience to God. David said in verse 13, "David said unto Nathan, 'I have sinned against the Lord.'" Note, "I have sinned against the Lord." David, the king of Israel, had much more character than Clinton, the President of the United States. At least David had grace enough to say, "I have sinned against God." Now, I'm going to show you just a little bit later, David sinned against other people as well. But David realized that his primary sin was against God. That's why when he confessed his sin in Psalm 51, he said, "Against thee and against thee only have I done this iniquity and done this sin in your sight." So David said, "I've sinned against the Lord." Do you realize?

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• Now listen to me carefully. That no one can displease the Lord and despise the Lord without disobeying the Lord. They all go together. They all go together. If you obey God, you're not displeasing Him and you're not despising Him. But when you disobey God, you are displeasing Him and you are despising Him. Look in 1 Kings 13 and verse 21. 1 Kings 13 and note if you would please verse 21. Watch carefully.

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• "And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, 'Thus saith the Lord, forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandments which the Lord thy God commanded thee.'" And then he goes on and pronounces a death sentence upon this prophet who disobeyed God. But notice he said, "Thus saith the Lord, forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee." So when he disobeyed, he also displeased and despised at the same time.

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• Now, the interesting thing is this. Adam's original sin, in Romans 5 verse 21, is called disobedience. "Through one man's disobedience, many were made sinners." Through one man's disobedience. Israel's sin in Nehemiah chapter 9 and verse 26 and Romans 10 verse 21 is called disobedience. In fact, all of the activity of the unconverted is known as disobedience. All you've got to do is read Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1-3. Read Ephesians 5-6. Read 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 7. All sin is disobedience. Why?

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• Well, I've quoted this verse enough in here that everyone should be able to quote it. If I ask the question, "What is sin?" and you were to give me a biblical definition and a biblical site, I hope you would go to 1 John 3 and verse 4. "For sin is the transgression of the law." Sin is the transgression of the law.

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• Now, let me tell you, when you read the word lawlessness in the Bible, the word is anomia. You see, the Greek word nomos is law. When you put an alpha on the front, anomos or anomia, no law or lawlessness.

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• Now, let me show you something. When we sin against God, we not only displease Him, we not only despise Him, we disobey Him, we become lawless and act as if God had not even spoken. Let me ask you a question. Let's suppose that there is a subject that is so near and dear to you, and you are passionate about this subject, and you begin telling me all the ramifications of this subject, your heart is in it, your soul is in it, and as you're telling me the importance of this subject, I just

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• merely turn and walk away, totally ignoring you. Acting as if you weren't even speaking. Would you be insulted? You most certainly would. Would you be upset? Yes. Well, that's exactly what God is saying.

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• Now, you remember, there's another word in the Bible. And that word is transgressor. "All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have transgressed the way of the Lord. We've turned everyone to our own way." You remember, in fact, Christ was numbered with the transgressors. The word to transgress literally means to walk over or to walk on. Do you realize, before you can sin against God, you must first ignore God, and act as if he has not even spoken, and then walk over, transgress, step on, stomp down his law to do what you want to do. So sin, then, is a displeasure to God. Sin is a despisement of God. Sin is disobedience to God. And if you'll skip down to verse 14, sin is a direct reproach upon God.

  #54 | 39:25 to 40:32 | cleaned

• Let's go back to that ascribed or external glory. Watch verse 14. God tells David through Nathan, "Howbeit because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die." Wait a minute, David. What? "By this deed, thou hast given great occasion of the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme." In other words, what David did was a direct reproach upon God and encouraged God's enemies to blaspheme. Now, the word blaspheme means to scorn, means to give occasion to despise, to provoke.

  #55 | 40:33 to 41:28 | cleaned

• I want you to think about this, and I will illustrate it. I was up in Sharpsburg, and Pastor McCurry said to me, "Have you seen what the Germans have put on the internet?" I said, "No, I haven't." He said, "Let me pull it up and show you." And here's a cartoon in a parade with Bill Clinton in the back seat of his limousine. It was a convertible, the top was all open.

  #56 | 41:31 to 42:15 | cleaned

• And in front of him was a statue, a scaled-down model of the Statue of Liberty. And here Bill Clinton, with a wicked grin on his face, had his arms under her arms with his hands on her breast.

  #57 | 42:18 to 42:36 | cleaned

• Now let me tell you, a lot of people think that's funny, but I think it's absolutely pathetic that the world is now laughing at America because of our fornicating, wicked, ungodly president. Are you listening to me? Sin is a direct reproach upon God. What Clinton has done has brought reproach upon America. What we do when we sin is we bring reproach upon God. Not only that, we bring reproach upon God's people. We let the wicked say, "Well, if that's a Christian," we bring reproach upon God's church. We bring reproach upon our family.

  #58 | 42:41 to 43:33 | cleaned

• While slandering God and slandering God's people, insulting God's church, and insulting our families. At the same time, sin, our sin, is an encouragement to the wicked. It makes them laugh, it encourages them to scorn, and encourages them to ridicule. I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Ezekiel chapter 36. I want you to read this passage with me. Look at it. I want you to see how serious God is. Ezekiel 36.

  #59 | 43:43 to 44:34 | cleaned

• Let's begin reading with verse 16. Remember now, we're talking about the fact that sin is a direct reproach upon the Lord. Ezekiel 36, verse 16. "Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 'Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings. Their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman. Wherefore I poured out my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols for which they had polluted it.'"

  #60 | 44:34 to 45:15 | cleaned

• God says, "I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries. According to their way and according to their doings, I judged them." Watch. "And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name. When they said to them, 'These are the people of the Lord and are going forth out of his land.' But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, wheresoever they went. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, 'Thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the heathen, whether you went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which you have profaned in the midst of them, and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.'" So what did God accuse his people of doing?

  #61 | 45:16 to 46:24 | cleaned

• Of being a direct reproach upon him. They went to the heathen and said, "We're God's people." And God says, "Look at the way you live. Look at how you turn to idols. Look how you disobeyed me. You are nothing but a direct reproach upon me, and you're encouraging the heathen in their wickedness and in their sin."

  #62 | 46:25 to 46:50 | cleaned

• Now, folks, let me tell you, this is why church discipline is so important and so clearly taught in the New Testament. Because evil, wickedness, sin, if it is not repented of, it must be dealt with. Or else there is a direct reproach brought not just upon the church, but upon the Word of God and God himself. So when Paul lays out his exhortation to sexual purity, when he explains it and expounds it, he says, "I want to leave you with this. If you reject what I'm telling you, if you despise what I'm telling you, I want you to remember, he that despiseth, despiseth not man, but the Lord." So our sin—it's not only a displeasure, a despisement, a disobedience, but it's also a direct reproach upon God. What an encouragement not to sin and to be holy and godly. What child of God wants to embarrass God, dishonor Him, displease Him, despise Him, and disobey. Not a real child of God.

  #63 | 46:52 to 48:40 | cleaned

• Sometimes we do without thinking. And we need to repent of those and make things right. But what will be a great deterrent to sexual impurity? To think on these things. That if we despise, we're not just despising man, we're despising God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit. Let's pray. Father, we are thankful today for Jesus Christ, for His love, for His grace, and for His mercy. And we do pray, Lord, that You would indeed make us holy and godly, keep us pure. And may, Father, we not sin against Thee. May we not displease Thee, despise Thee, disobey Thee, or bring direct reproach upon Thee. But Father, may we be obedient and live holy, godly lives. In Thy name we pray, Amen.

  #64 | 48:42 to 49:41 | cleaned

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T12:21:53Z