With all the modern technology we have, it could be said that our generation has more access to sexual sin than any other generation in history. But this is no valid excuse because we also have more access to the Bible, good books, and good sermons more than any other generation has.
Young men, those of you that have trouble controlling your own lusts, how much time are you given to prayer? How much are you seriously praying about this matter? I mean real prayer. I mean praying like this is life or death, like your soul depends on it. Praying that is watchful, praying that is combined with fasting, praying that this is the top of the list, this is a priority, this thing’s got to go. Praying that really believes there’s enabling grace to be granted at the end of that prayer – because there is. Your sinless Savior shed drops of blood for you in earnest prayer. What are you doing? Don’t delude yourself in thinking that it’s harder for us today than it was in previous times. That’s just not so. That is absolutely false. And it’s arrogantly insulting. You tell that to Joseph who was continually rejecting the beautiful wife of his boss Potiphar who was daily trying to drag him into the bedroom. And every single time – not once – every single time resisting. Resisting, resisting. No, no. I’m honoring the Lord. I fear the Lord. He’s worthy. I’m going to please Him. No. No. No. To his own hurt. To his own hurt he refused it. Joseph had golden opportunities and no one was going to know but God. And it was his fear of God and the value of God that he turned down every single opportunity. You tell that kind of talk to those Corinthian believers. Those Corinthian believers who were daily in the midst of a citywide brothel. That’s where they lived basically. You talk about opportunity. You talk about tempting. And there they stood Paul says, “and such were some of you.” They weren’t that anymore. They were delivered right out of it. That was no longer the case. Why? Grace. No doubt they received that grace through prayer – the means of prayer. Oh Lord, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. You think they knew that verse? Oh, I’m sure they did. And God upheld them. And where there was such failure – we know there was in chapter 5, right? Where there was such failure, Paul didn’t come alongside them and say: Well, you know, I know what kind of background you guys come from. It’s expected that God’s grace is not going to be enough to overcome that. Just try your best. God will understand… Not even close. Paul told them you get that young man out of the church. You get that leaven out. In fact, you know what Paul calls them there? – arrogant. You’re arrogant and you should be mourning. Not ignoring or justifying sin. Cleanse that filth out he says. You think that young man in 1 Corinthians 5 had a vibrant prayer life? Brethren, you know the answer to that. I can assure you this, the one wallowing in the mire of sin is not the one who’s rolling up his spiritual sleeves and dedicating himself to steadfast prayer and being watchful in it. It just doesn’t happen that way, brethren. It doesn’t. Trying to justify your sin by claiming its accessibility – that it’s greater today than ever before – you’re no different than Eve who took the bait hook, line, and sinker and plunged us all into where we’re at. You know what? You want that kind of reasoning? That’s a two way street. It’s a two way street. Never before in the history of the world has God’s Word ever been so accessible. Oh, at the tip of my finger, at my keyboard – I’ve got it on software, I’ve got it on the Internet, I’ve got it on my phone, I’ve got it on an app. Who in here has multiple copies sitting in their home of the Bible? We’ve got the Word of God everywhere. Everywhere. You have no excuses. You do not want to bring that argument to God. Christian, you who profess faith in Jesus Christ, you have the distinct privilege of having spiritual truths in books galore and websites galore and apps galore. Within seconds you can search a word, a verse, any subject, commentaries, word study tools aplenty. Shame on us for not knowing our Bibles better. If anything – oh, if anything – this generation has all the more reason to be the holiest generation that’s ever existed. Oh, what David would have done to have the Bible on app in the cave of Adullum. Can you imagine? David rested on the Word of God that was in here! He didn’t even have this! Those saints didn’t have the Bible – not accessible like we do. My, what promises would have warmed and encouraged the heart of Joseph as he sat there in Egypt enduring that crucible of trial when the Bible tells us the Word of God tested him. How much more rapidly would the early churches have matured and developed sound doctrine if Paul was able to email them, right? They have to wait for the transport of information or sending the messengers back and forth. If they had Internet connections, right? The church in Ephesus dot com. And they’re talking to the brethren over there in Corinth and in Philippi, able to do word studies and commentaries. Oh brethren, we have no excuses. Let us not look for excuses. Let us look to where we’re told to look: He who’s seated at the right hand of the Father. That’s our help. That’s our means. That’s where the grace comes to live this life and to overcome and conquer sin.
View the full sermon here.
