Participants:
Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP190907S
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00:11 >> Let's begin with a word of prayer.
00:16 Let's bow our heads. Father in Heaven, we are so 00:19 grateful to come into Your house to praise You this morning as 00:23 Your church, and we just pray that You will fill our hearts 00:28 with Your Spirit and that You will accept our praise because 00:31 You're worthy of it all. In Jesus' name, amen. 00:39 [ "Nothing but the Blood" begins ] 02:01 "This is all my hope." 02:42 "For the blood." 02:59 "It's enough." 03:13 Let's sing that one more time -- The blood of Jesus is enough. 03:37 It's so good to hear you sing together "The blood of Jesus is enough." 03:41 That is kind of what pulls us all together as believers in Christ, amen? 03:46 The blood of Jesus is enough. You know, that song, "Nothing but the Blood of Jesus" -- 03:50 sometimes we live out lives as if we're the ones that make it all happen, but really it's 03:57 nothing but blood of Jesus. Or maybe you're here today and you're overwhelmed by the 04:02 mistakes of your past. You're wondering if you can be forgiven. 04:05 You're wondering how you can move forward. Well, the refrain that we sang 04:09 at the end -- "The blood of Jesus is enough." And so we can worship God 04:15 because of that incredible blood, and we can give Him all the praise. 04:24 [ "I Then Shall Live" begins ] "I will give." 04:48 I invite you to stand with me as we sing this song. 04:50 Stand with me. 06:42 One more time -- "I will give." 08:27 I'm not sure what's on your mind this morning, what is, you know, weighing you down or lifting you 08:32 up, but if you want to bring something before the throne of God and say, "God, I'm gonna 08:38 wait for you. I'm gonna let you, um, guide and lead in this situation," I'm 08:45 gonna invite you to bring that to the front, symbolically laying it at His feet as we 08:49 continue to sing this song. 08:54 "So put your hope in God." 11:12 >> Alright, good morning, boys and girls. Nice to see you on this 11:17 beautiful Sabbath day. Ah, you're looking sharp today, looking very fine. 11:24 Okay, how many in here know what a GPS is? Anybody hear of a GPS? 11:31 What's a GPS? >> It's a map. 11:34 >> It's a map. And where does it -- where does 11:36 it show up? 11:37 On your parents' cell phone or sometimes even in the car -- a GPS. 11:42 So, Mother Colleen -- 'cause that's her name, Colleen -- Mother Colleen says, "Hey, kids. 11:48 Yo, yo, yo, kids? Shh, shh. Kids, are you strapped up? Put your seat belts on. 11:53 I don't want anybody riding in this car -- we're gonna go out to the airport. 11:56 We're gonna pick Daddy up. You know he's looking forward to seeing you." 12:00 And it's quite a drive, 'cause I've been to Denver, and it's a long ways out to 12:03 Denver International Airport, so Mom says, "Okay, strapped in, let's go!" 12:07 And so she knows the way to the airport, but when she's about halfway there, all of a sudden, 12:12 the car right in front of her stops. There go the taillights. 12:16 She slams on her brakes. The cars behind her slam on their brakes. 12:19 Oh, no. There's some kind of traffic going on here. 12:23 Can you kids see out the window? Can you tell -- how far does this traffic stretch? 12:29 Everybody's trying to look out the windows as far as the eye can see. 12:33 Ah, we're gonna be late picking Daddy up. Ah, "Oh, I've got the GPS. 12:37 That's what I'm gonna do." So she got on her GPS, Google Maps, sure enough. 12:43 There was -- There was -- unusually so at this time of the day -- there is a huge traffic 12:49 jam, but Google Maps asked a question -- [Whispering] "Would you like -- 12:53 Would you like to -- [ Normal voice ] Would you like to go on a short cut?" 12:57 "Oh," she said, "I want to go on a short cut." So she hit the short cut. 13:01 Oh! It's just the next exit. It says we'll cut the time in half. 13:04 Okay, kids, shh, shh, shh. Make sure I get the next exit. And they all yelled out, "There 13:09 it is, Mommy! There it is!" "Okay," she said. 13:10 "I'm turning my car off, let these other cars stay," and she turned her car off, come to find 13:15 out there were a whole bunch of other cars that turned off with their Google Map instructions. 13:20 Oh, they go down the ramp. "Ooh, this is -- this --" Shh, shh. 13:24 "This is out in the country. Oh, this is farmland here." And pretty soon she's on a bumpy 13:31 road, and all of a sudden, the road starts turning to mud. She says, "This can't be right." 13:38 That's what the Google Map says, so she kept driving, and all the cars behind her and in front of 13:43 her -- all the cars are driving down that bumpy, muddy road. Days of rain have turned this 13:49 farm field -- uh-oh! -- into pure mud, and the car in front got stuck. 13:58 Oh, pfft. The car in front got stuck, and the car behind it said, "Come 14:02 on, keep going. Just... [ Imitates engine whirring ] Spin your tires. Just get out. 14:09 The car moved through the mud. The next car came up to it. Stuck. 14:13 Soon -- I got to see a picture of this. Soon, 100 cars are stuck because 14:18 there's no way to back up. Look at them in the mud. They're in the mud. 14:23 Now, let's see the next picture, the back-up. It's a narrow little road. 14:26 Nobody can turn their car around -- 100 cars got lost because they trusted Google Map. 14:34 [ Laughter ] What's up with that? Apparently, a map is not always 14:40 perfect. Oh, I need another map. I need another GPS. 14:44 Here it is. Here is my map right here. Anybody know what this GPS is? 14:49 >> The Bible. >> God's powerful scriptures. Yo, this is God's map. 14:56 Do you think -- Who do you think this map leads us to? Who do you think this map leads 15:01 us to? >> God. >> Oh, it leads us to God. 15:04 It leads us to Jesus. Jesus says if you'll follow the map, you won't get stuck. 15:09 You won't get lost. You will always make it to me. Oh, ho. 15:16 Do you have one of these maps at home? You know, with Mommy and Daddy, 15:19 starting out the day, it doesn't hurt at all to start out using the map -- using the map -- and 15:27 saying, "Jesus, lead us straight to you today." Mm-hmm. 15:32 Now, who would like to thank Jesus for being the destination that we are all headed for? 15:38 You want to have a prayer? Hey, sissy, you jumped up. Come on. 15:41 You got cowboy boots just like from Denver. Come here. 15:44 Nice to have you. What's your name? >> Lissiah. 15:47 >> Lindsay? >> Lissiah. >> Lissiah. Lissiah. 15:50 Oh, I love that name, Lissiah. Lissiah's gonna pray. She's gonna thank Jesus for 15:55 being our destination, if we just stay on this map. Lissiah? 16:01 Let's close our eyes and fold our hands with Lissiah. >> Dear Jesus, thank you for the 16:07 Sabbath, and thank you. Amen. >> Amen, thank you, Jesus. 16:12 Alright, thank you, Lissiah. And thank you, boys and a girls, as you go quietly and reverently 16:17 back. You just say, "Jesus, I'm keeping my eyes on Your map to 16:22 find You every day." God bless you. Happy Sabbath to you. 16:45 >> ♪ In the morning when I rise ♪ ♪ In the morning when I rise 16:58 ♪ In the morning when I rise ♪ Give me Jesus ♪ Give me Jesus 17:16 ♪ Give me Jesus ♪ You may have all this world ♪ Give me Jesus 17:48 ♪ Dark midnight was my cry ♪ Dark midnight was my cry ♪ Dark midnight was my cry 18:05 ♪ Give me Jesus ♪ Give me Jesus ♪ Give me Jesus 18:21 ♪ You may have all of this world ♪ ♪ Give me Jesus 18:51 ♪ Oh, when I comes to die ♪ Oh, when I comes to die ♪ Oh, when I comes to die 19:11 ♪ Give me Jesus ♪ Give me Jesus ♪ Nobody but Jesus 19:29 ♪ You may have all of this world ♪ ♪ Give me Jesus 19:48 ♪ Nobody but Jesus ♪ You may have all of this world ♪ 20:02 ♪ Give me Jesus 20:18 >> A writer named Gregory Boyd scribbled this line in one of his books, and it just has stuck 20:23 in my brain. "My life is Christ. Nothing else really matters." 20:32 And I think that's what Benie was saying, and we were resonating. 20:39 Give us Jesus. Oh, God, what a beautiful prayer. 20:45 That's who we want. It's not what we want. That's who we want. 20:50 In the few moments we have left, would You give us Jesus, please? We pray in his name, amen. 20:59 Okay, speaking of bad dates, have you ever heard this 21:03 proverb? I have no idea who composed it. 21:08 It might've been Confucius. I don't know, Benjamin Franklin. 21:11 Doesn't matter. But the proverb goes like this. 21:15 "Why buy the cow if you can get the milk for free?" 21:22 You say, "Dwight, what's up with that proverb? We're not a bunch of farmers or 21:25 agriculturalists. We don't care about buying and selling cows, and we're not 21:28 interested in milk right now." Let me put that proverb on the screen for you. 21:34 I want you to look at it. "Why the cow, if you can get the milk for free?" 21:43 Hmm. You ever wish you could go on Ancestry.com and find out who 21:51 your past -- who's in your past, I mean, really, truly in your past. 21:54 I see those commercials on TV, and I'm saying, "Oh, I'd love to try that." 22:01 You know what I'd really love to do? I'd love to type in the salient 22:04 information and find out Jesus' past. Wouldn't you like to do 22:07 Ancestors.com on Jesus? That'd be perfect. Turns out that's exactly what 22:13 God did once upon a time. He did an Ancestors.com on Jesus, and guess what. 22:17 It's the one chapter nobody wants to read in the whole Bible because it's the begets. 22:22 It's the old King James begets. Begets, begets. And yet, tucked away in that 22:28 family tree -- you got to check this out -- tucked away in that family tree, you would not 22:32 believe who's hanging in there. This is His tree, Jesus' tree. Come on, let's check it out 22:38 together. We'll do an Ancestors.com with Jesus. 22:40 Open your Bible, please, to the Gospel of Matthew, the first Gospel of the New Testament. 22:45 Matthew, Chapter 1. Matthew 1:1. You didn't bring a Bible, grab 22:51 the pew Bible in front of you. This is -- This is -- This is worth seeing. 22:55 Check it out. What's the page number for the pew Bible? 22:59 Page 649. Okay, let's go. Matthew 1:1. I'll be in the 23:02 New International Version. "This is the genealogy," alright? 23:05 This is the Ancestor.com. This is the family tree of Jesus. 23:09 Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham." 'Cause, you know, you have to be 23:14 related to David, and you have to be related to Abraham if you're somebody in the community 23:19 of Israel. Okay, so, let's go. Come on. Get on with it. 23:22 "Abraham --" verse 2 -- "Abraham was the father of Isaac." Wait a minute. 23:26 Hit the pause button right there. Are you talking about the 23:29 Abraham -- Are you talking about the Abraham that, uh, you know, kept trying to have kids with 23:34 his wife, that kept trying to have kids, trying to have kids, gets nothing, nothing, nothing, 23:38 and then finally she says, "You know what? I have this pretty little 23:40 Egyptian hand maid -- a little slave girl. Why don't you go to bed with 23:43 her?" You talking about that Abraham that had a little twinkle in his 23:46 eye and said, "I'll take you up on that offer, wife"? Yeah, that's the one I'm talking 23:51 about. Abraham ends up with two first-borns because Sarah, his 23:57 wife, finally has a first-born. But do you want to talk about dysfunction? 24:02 Those two first-borns -- that would be Ishmael, the father of the Arabs, and that would be 24:07 Isaac, the other first-born, the father of the Jews. We have been living with that 24:11 dysfunction for ever and ever amen. I thought this was gonna be a 24:17 perfect family tree. Well, that's just one bad beginning. 24:19 I think it strengthens out after that. "Abraham was the father of 24:22 Isaac, and Isaac was the father of Jacob." Hey, wait a minute. 24:26 You talking about that Jacob that ran away from home 'cause he got his brothers so ticked 24:30 off the brothers were gonna kill him? Yeah, that's the one. 24:32 Esau was gonna kill him, so he runs away. This is the Jacob that runs to 24:36 his uncle far, far away, Uncle Laban, and he says -- he sees the beautiful sisters. 24:39 "Whoo, you got some great sisters, Uncle Laban. I'll take, uh -- 24:43 I'll take, uh -- I'll the younger one. I'll take Rachel, please." 24:46 He says, "Fine, you want Rachel? Seven years -- that's all it'll cost you. 24:49 Seven years working for me, buddy, and you got the sweetest girl on Earth." 24:52 He works seven years and then it's his wedding night, but they didn't have electricity back 24:56 then, so the bedroom was dark when he went into it and didn't realize it wasn't Rachel in the 25:00 bedroom, it was Leah. The older sister. Woke up in the next morning and 25:04 said, "I am so ticked off." He says, "It's a little custom. We do this. 25:08 Give me seven more years, and I'll give you the other one." Can you believe it? 25:12 This is Jacob who has two wives, and both wives, by the way, come to him and say, "I'm having a 25:16 hard time having babies now, so would you please take my little handmaiden?" 25:19 He ends up with two more handmaidens. We're talking about four wives 25:23 and 12 boys and one girl. Twelve sons. Oh, talking about a bad date. 25:30 Man, Jacob had a bad, bad date. It probably gets better as we go. 25:35 Okay, so what is this? Jacob -- Jacob -- Jacob -- Isaac was the father of Jacob. 25:39 Okay. Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers. 25:42 Judah -- oh, "Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar. 25:47 Hit the pause button right there. Are you talking about -- is this 25:49 the Judah that Jesus was the -- was the tribe of Judah -- Judah -- this is that Judah? 25:55 That's that Judah. No, you can't tell me the Messiah is coming from the tribe 26:00 of Judah. I'm telling you, boy, that's exactly what's happening here 26:03 because -- sad story -- Judah's wife died. He's very lonely. 26:09 He says, "I'll deal with this loneliness because I see a prostitute on the side of the 26:12 road, and I'll get that girl, and I'll sleep with her." He sleeps with her, not knowing 26:16 that she had set this thing up. She's his daughter-in-law, and he has two babies to the 26:22 prostitute, babies that should've been his grandsons but turn out to be his sons. 26:27 Now, that's a bad date. That's the definition of a bad date. 26:32 The Messiah -- This is the Messiah's family tree. This is the blood that flowed in 26:37 Jesus. He has all this blood in Him. Well, surely it gets better now. 26:40 Oh, yeah, right. Drop down to verse 5. Salmon -- some of you are saying 26:44 "salmon" -- no, that's a fish. Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was --" what's that -- 26:50 what's that -- what's that next name? Rahab. 26:53 Now we got a real live prostitute on our hands, because she was the madam whore of 26:57 Jericho, and she hid the two Israelite spies. You remember that? 27:02 Now, she gets saved. Her family gets saved, and she marries -- get this. 27:06 She marries into the family tree of the Messiah. So Jesus has Rahab the 27:10 prostitute's blood rolling through his veins. Oh, my, drop down to verse 6. 27:17 "And Jesse was the father of King David." Oh, wow, at last we got to the 27:20 king. "Jesse was the father of King David." 27:22 Oh, and by the way, "David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife." 27:27 "Had been." Are you talking about -- Are you talking -- Is this the 27:31 David and Bathsheba thing? Yeah, this is the David and Bathsheba thing. 27:34 You're exactly right. He impregnates her while her husband is working for him in 27:37 the army. He comes back. He says, "I got to kill this 27:40 man. She's told me she's pregnant." This is that David. 27:45 He kills the Pagan husband who is more faithful than he, takes the wife, figures nobody knows, 27:52 and then God says, "Oops, I saw it all." You can't hide your sex life 27:58 from God. He saw it. Yeah, this is -- this is -- this 28:04 is David and Bathsheba. But a-a-a -- a child or two later, guess who gets born -- 28:09 Solomon. Oh, alas, alas, we have somebody on this family tree that's gonna 28:13 stand up. The wisest man who ever lived. Who doesn't love the story of 28:17 Solomon? Solomon does very well until, you know what? 28:20 Are there any dads here? Let me tell you something, Pops. Your little boy is watching you 28:25 like a hawk. Everything you do now, he will do later. 28:28 However you live now, he will do later. He won't wait 'til what you do 28:31 later is what he copies. He will copy you now. He is getting it on the hard 28:34 disk, and Solomon turns out just like his daddy. Ends up -- get this -- Ends up 28:40 with 700 wives -- no, I'm serious -- and 300 concubines. 28:48 You know what a concubine is? She's only for sex. Okay? 28:53 Reminds me of the little boy who came home from vacation Bible school and said, "Mommy, we 28:56 learned all about King Solomon today. King Solomon and his 300 29:00 porcupines." [ Laughter ] Well, I tell you what. 29:05 It was a prickly, sticky mess by the time Solomon was through. I mean, porcupines... 29:10 Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, there they are -- seven bad dates, and 29:14 we're not even through the Messiah's family tree. We did an Ancestor.com. 29:17 What's the point of this, Dwight? Why are you telling us this? 29:20 Here's why I'm telling you this. See this book? Between the covers of this book 29:24 you cannot find one family without dysfunction. Not one. 29:27 I dare you to try. We have to know something about the details of their family -- 29:31 not just a name in the genealogy. Not one. 29:34 Guess what -- Misery loves company. We got great company. 29:38 Jesus married into a family tree that is filled with dysfunction, and if you do a little bit of 29:44 the calculations, you're gonna find out that these seven bad dates all had to do with sex. 29:50 Can you imagine that? The Messiah chose -- because, lookit, who in the universe has 29:55 ever been able to choose his own family before he was born? This guy's the only one that 30:00 ever had a chance to choose, and so what did God choose? He chose a family tree with 30:04 seven bad dates already in it. What's the good news about that? The good news about that is that 30:09 that bad blood was flowing in the Messiah's veins. He knows sexual -- sexual -- 30:19 sexual dysfunction. He knows all about it. Which is why we're not 30:24 surprised, are we, that, when Jesus makes two statements about sex -- count them, two 30:30 statements about sex -- these are gonna be -- these are gonna be -- these are gonna be 30:35 explosive to the max. I'm gonna share them with you. Two statements Jesus makes about 30:41 sex. Pull out your study guide. There's -- Pastor Ben just 30:44 talked about it a moment ago. You see that card that has the connect card at the bottom? 30:47 Yeah, if you didn't get a study guide, put your hands up. Our famous and friendly ushers, 30:53 Ryan and Rick, will hand it to you, so just put your -- put your hand up. 30:56 If you're up in the balcony, put your hand up. You're watching on 30:59 television right now or you're live streaming, put the title slide up, please. 31:03 There you will see our website at the bottom -- 31:06 www.newperceptions.tv. That's where you're going. 31:09 Live streaming, of course, you're already at that site. 31:12 Make sure you get this little miniseries -- 31:14 Roommates, Bad Dates, and Soulmates. 31:17 This is part 2, okay? This is part 2. 31:20 So you click on part 2. It'll say Study Guide. 31:23 Question mark, you want it? Click there, you got it. 31:25 Then you'll have the same study guide we're gonna fill in right 31:28 now. Okay, Jesus makes two -- count 31:30 them, two -- radical statements about sex. 31:34 Here comes Jesus&Sex #1 -- You see that in your study guide? 31:38 Jesus&Sex #1 -- God invented it. I'm just telling you. 31:44 God invented sex. Of course he did. God invented it. 31:49 You know, some people think -- Some people think that God is just one big killjoy. 31:53 Takes away the one thing we enjoy -- sex. "He's always trying to find a 31:56 way to take sex away from me." He's not trying to take sex away from you. 32:00 He's the one -- He's the one who invented it. And Jesus says I want to tell 32:04 you about when he did it. Open your Bible. Let's stay in Matthew. 32:07 We're not going anywhere else but in Matthew, so go to Matthew chapter 19. 32:10 So, you're in 1, so just go a few pages over to Matthew chapter 19. 32:14 My words here in verse 4 are in red. That -- These are the 32:17 "Jesus speaking" words. Alright, so this is Matthew -- This is Matthew chapter 19, 32:22 verse 4, Jesus speaking. "'Haven't you read,' Jesus replied, 'that at the beginning, 32:30 the Creator made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason, a man will leave his 32:36 father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? 32:40 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined 32:46 together, let no one separate.'" Isn't it intriguing that Jesus uses this one-flesh language, 32:53 which turns out to be this -- this -- this provocatively beautiful way to describe the 32:59 gift of sex that the Creator personally designed for the human race? 33:04 I got some news for you. Angels don't have sex. Angels can't have sex. 33:13 They weren't made the way you and I were made. The Creator said, "No, I got my 33:17 fingerprints all over this one, buddy." One flesh -- that's my way of 33:22 describing this high-octane gift that I have placed in your life." 33:26 So, we -- we humans are designed to leave father and mother and all the other significant others 33:31 that we've had in our lives. Just say goodbye, goodbye, goodbye. 33:33 Not gonna abandon them, but now we come to one other human being. 33:39 Man comes to a woman. A husband comes to a wife. And in that union, one flesh. 33:50 It's like your stuck. Just pew. Magnets. 33:55 One flesh. And what God puts together -- Oh, no, no, no, no! 33:59 Don't try to take that apart. Put it back. Keep it together. 34:03 Whoa, that's pretty radical. Brigham Young did an interesting study of 2,035 married people 34:09 with findings that inform these -- jot these down. There are four ways that married 34:18 people experience life. Put it on the screen. Let's do it. 34:21 There are four ways that married people experience life. Guess what, married people have 34:24 better sex. The research is there. They just -- you can go look it 34:27 up. Google Brigham Young University. They have better sex, alright? 34:31 Number two -- they have better stability. Their relationship is stable. 34:34 It holds on in the midst of storm. Number three -- they have better 34:38 satisfaction. They're happy with what they have. 34:40 Number four -- they have better communication. They communicate better than 34:44 people who are not married. People who are not married can have sex, but they don't have -- 34:48 they don't have the best, best, best, best. No. Why? 34:50 Because this thing was designed. This was designed. I got to show you this. 34:58 God -- God created marriage to be a fortress. Put on the screen, please, my 35:05 favorite castle in the whole world -- Neuschwanstein. That's the Disneyland castle. 35:10 We took our kids there. Not to Disneyland. That's in, uh, Austria. 35:14 That's the castle. When you think of a fortress or a castle, that's what I think 35:18 of. God says, "Guess what, guys? Hey, that's marriage. 35:22 I have put high-octane marriage inside the protective walls of the castle. 35:31 High-octane sex, high-octane marriage inside protected walls. Work within these walls, and 35:39 you'll be fine. It works the best. You stay within the walls. 35:45 Whoa. Here's -- Here's a Canadian writer named Mike Mason. 35:48 If you ever get ahold of this book, buy it on the spot. "The Mystery of Marriage: 35:52 As Iron Sharpens Iron." Alright, Mason's words on the screen -- 35:57 "Is there any other activity at all which an adult man and woman may engage in together, apart 36:04 from worship," he writes, that is actually "more childlike, more clean and pure, more 36:10 natural and wholesome and unequivocally right than" is "the act of love making?" 36:15 He asks. Surely, -- now, fill it in -- "Surely sex is the deepest 36:21 communion that is possible between human beings." End quote. 36:26 Why, 'cause it has God's fingerprints all over it. It'll be better, better, better, 36:30 better, better. You do it my way, better, better, better, better, better. 36:33 That's the point. No wonder. God protects his gift of sex 36:39 within the fortress of marriage. By the way, which explains Jesus' bombshell warning in the 36:46 second sex statement. Let's just write the -- write it down first. 36:50 Jesus&Sex #1 -- God invented it. Now, come on. Jesus&Sex #2 -- 36:55 We have dented it. You ever buy a car that's new to you? 36:59 It may not be new to the production line 'cause it's, like, five years old, but it's a 37:04 new car for you, and when you buy that new car, you know every scratch. 37:07 You know every little, you know, malformation on it, but from this point on, nothing's gonna 37:12 happen to this car. I bought a '61 Volkswagen when I was in college. 37:16 '61 Volkswagen -- had 100,000 miles on it. I drove it out to my home in 37:19 Oregon from Tennessee where I was going to school, and in Oregon, I had that car spray 37:23 painted candy-apple red. Oh, ho, ho. I drove that car all the way 37:29 back from -- from Portland, Oregon, to Chattanooga, Tennessee. 37:34 Not a scratch on it. I made sure. The second day I am back on 37:38 campus -- I tell you the truth -- a married upperclassman slams into my rear -- right rear 37:47 fender. I'm sure I did not cry visible tears, but I was weeping in my 37:53 heart. This was my -- This was my car. This was my baby. 37:58 This is my life, and now look what you've done to it. How do you think God feels when 38:03 the enemy of the human race says, "I'll take care of that sex business." 38:08 Pew! How do you like that? Pew! How do you like that? [ Grunts ] 38:13 By the time you got this jalopy half hanging together just thumping down the road out of 38:19 kilter... Yeah, we dented it. God invented it. 38:28 We dented it alright. By the way, if I were the Devil -- 38:33 you can be thankful I'm not -- and I knew as he very well does that sex is this breathtakingly 38:41 beautiful gift from the Creator uniquely for the human race, I would do everything in my 38:47 diabolical power to accomplish these two objectives -- Objective number one -- 38:51 I'm gonna make certain that there is no longer any hint of the Creator in the ways humans 38:57 engage in sex. I'm gonna throw that manual away that came out of that garden, 39:01 and I'm gonna -- I'm gonna rip it apart -- dent it, explode it, nuke it -- so that you won't 39:06 even recognize it. You know why he's so mad at sex? There are two gifts in the 39:10 Garden -- sex and Sabbath, and he's going after both the S's with a vengeance. 39:16 He's after sex. Why? "Because if I can destroy sex, 39:19 then there's no fingerprints of the Creator, and if there are no 39:21 fingerprints of the Creator, then there's no -- nobody 39:23 believes in the Sabbath anyway because, why, there's no 39:26 creation." So he has two objectives -- 39:29 number one, "I'm gonna destroy that. 39:31 I'm gonna destroy every semblance of a representation of 39:35 the Creator." And number two, if I were the 39:38 Devil, I would so confuse human sexuality that the divine 39:42 blueprint for sex and marriage would be annihilated from the 39:45 face of the Earth, and I would that -- I would put that on 39:48 every billboard I could think of. 39:50 I'd put that in the Internet and every pop-up ad I can think of. I'd put that in the video game, 39:54 every video game I can think of. I'd put that in every Hollywood movie that ever gets produced. 39:59 I would put in my version of sex and destroy any evidence that there's a Creator who has a 40:06 blueprint and a master plan. I would just destroy it. Oh, my. 40:11 Talking about an over-sexed age in which we all live, as one writer put it, this is a 40:16 pornified world. It is, isn't it? Somebody's been working 40:22 overtime. I'm not surprised. Jesus' two bombshell statements 40:27 about marriage. I'm not surprised. You said, "Dwight, where's that 40:31 second one?" Okay, I'll show it to you. Just go back to Matthew 40:33 chapter 5. This is the profound Sermon on the Mount. 40:37 Everybody knows the Sermon on the Mount. Go back to Matthew chapter 5. 40:41 Red letters here for sure. Jesus speaking. Verse 27 -- "You have heard that 40:45 it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who 40:50 looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." 40:56 Now, this is in the form of a man looking at a woman. Guess what, you can turn it 40:59 around. You can have a woman looking at a man with lust. 41:03 You can have a man looking at a man with lust. You can have a woman looking at 41:06 a woman with lust. "I'm just warning you," Jesus says. 41:11 "If you lust after that person, you'll kill yourself." Wow. 41:24 Yep. Has the De-- Ha-- How has the Devil deceived us so 41:29 that lust becomes a springboard for sex? Let me give you three -- three 41:34 kinds of sex today. Put it on the screen, and you will jot these down. 41:37 How has the Devil done this? How has he -- How has he dented this gift? 41:42 Pornographic sex -- jot this down, please -- pornographic sex is sex without marriage. 41:48 It's usually with yourself. Alright, don't act like you're surprised. 41:52 You know exactly what I'm talking about. Number two -- premarital sex is 41:57 sex before marriage. That's sex with someone else. Number three -- extramarital sex 42:04 is sex outside of marriage. That's sex with someone who isn't your spouse. 42:09 And all three of them -- get this -- pornographic sex, premarital sex, and extramarital 42:15 sex are triggered by this thing called lust. That's what Jesus calls it. 42:19 Lust. "Hey, Dwight, what's the definition of lust?" 42:21 Glad you asked. Put it on the screen. Simply put, lust is "I gotta 42:25 have it now." You know when you're really hungry? 42:28 I mean you've gone -- you've missed a meal today and you just would think you're going crazy? 42:31 I can't -- I'm about to die. When your stomach is growling, what's that stomach saying? 42:36 "Just feed me. Feed me. If you feed me, I'll quit growling," right? 42:40 That's what lust is. It's a growling deep within the system. 42:43 "I've got to have this. I gotta have it now. I'm not waiting. 42:45 I'm not waiting. I don't care what the Book says. I have to have it now." 42:51 Yeah, that's lust. And that's what Jesus is warning us away from. 42:56 Jennifer Schwirzer, in her wonderful book, "13 Weeks to Love" -- and I'm 43:00 gonna see if we can bring her to this campus -- tells about what they call the 43:04 Coolidge effect. You ever heard about the Coolidge effect? 43:06 I hadn't heard about it, either, until I read. It's named after the American 43:09 President Calvin Coolidge. Everybody's heard of Calvin Coolidge. 43:12 Now, here's the Coolidge effect. One day, Mrs. Coolidge -- that would be his wife -- observed a 43:16 rooster copulating all day. I don't have to explain that word to you. 43:20 You know what it means. Okay. She turns to the farmer, and she 43:24 asked the farmer to tell her husband the secret to this. The President overhears and 43:32 quickly asks the farmer, "Uh, does the rooster do this with the same hen?" 43:37 The farmer said, "No, no, he's got to have a different hen every time." 43:41 And the President said, "Would you please inform that to Mrs. Coolidge?" 43:48 Now, she writes, describing that moment, "The point of this story..." see it on the screen, 43:53 "...is that sexuality, especially male sexuality," fellas, "tends to be 43:58 novelty-driven." What are you talking about? Keep reading. 44:01 "Male rats will copulate, then tire and stop sexual activity until scientists drop a new 44:06 female rat into the cage, when suddenly the male feels his mojo return." 44:11 [ Scattered laughter ] "He will continue to copulate with each partner until he 44:17 literally dies of exhaustion." Mercy. "Clearly, this novelty-driven 44:24 sexuality moves in the opposite direction from God's plan of long-term faithfulness to one 44:29 partner." Hence Jesus' warning. What did Jesus say? 44:32 "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman --" anyone who looks at a man "lustfully has 44:38 already committed adultery with her --" with him in that heart. What's he warning us away from? 44:46 How does the proverb go? Put it up, please, for us. Why buy the cow if you can get 44:51 the milk for free? Do you get the proverb now? Why should I go through any kind 44:57 of commitment? I can get the milk just like that. 45:00 Netflix chillin'. Just like that. Huh. 45:13 Too bad the wisest man who ever lived didn't follow his own council. 45:17 This was before the 700 wives that he wrote this and the 300, uh, concubines. 45:23 This is King Solomon on the screen. Proverbs 6, verse 25, 27, and 45:26 32... "Do not lust in your heart after her" or his "beauty or let her" 45:31 or him "captivate you with her" or his "eyes. Can a man scoop fire into his 45:37 lap without his clothes being burned? "But a man who commits 45:40 adultery --" that's sex outside of God's fortress of marriage -- a man or woman "who commits 45:45 adultery has no sense. Whoever does so destroys himself." 45:49 She destroys herself. End quote. And there's some of you right 45:53 now who are saying, "You know what? I know that. I know that. 45:59 There's no hope for me. Do you know -- Do you know my story? 46:03 No, I don't. There's no hope for me. It's too late. 46:08 I got some great news for you, sir, madame, great news. It's not too late. 46:13 It's not too late. You know why I know? Because there are two family 46:16 trees -- count them -- one, two. We've already seen one. Bad blood, bad dates flowing 46:20 through that family tree. The Messiah -- The Messiah's blood is bad blood, bad dates, 46:26 but there's a second family tree, which is why He came. To heal the first family tree. 46:33 And they nailed Him up to the second tree. They nailed Him up, and that has 46:37 now become the family tree for every sexual sinner in the world -- you and me and all the 46:42 rest of them. You got it? That family tree -- family tree 46:47 number two -- is your assurance that you can turn this baby around. 46:54 You can write a new chapter, and the gift of that life -- we sang about the blood a moment ago -- 47:01 the gift of that life assures you -- spotless. Wow, somewhere in the Bible, it 47:08 reads, "And the Lord has laid on him --" the man on the center cross -- "He has laid on him the 47:12 inequity of us all." Somewhere else it reads, "By his wounds we are healed." 47:17 Get this. Bad blood and bad dates can be healed by saving blood that 47:23 flows from the Messiah of the universe. The King, the rightful King for 47:29 this planet. It's not too late. It is not too late at all. 47:37 This good news is ready for you to embrace now. But before you do, or while 47:43 you're doing it, I want to invite my three college friends to come on up here. 47:48 Students here at Andrews University. They're gonna help me now. 47:53 They joined me last week. They'll join me next week. We got the best coming last as 47:58 we wrap it up next week. But, uh, we're talking about William, Rebecca, and Alex. 48:02 I introduced them to you last week. So, guys, we've been -- we've 48:06 been, uh -- we've been talking about this. We've been studying, and, in 48:08 fact, William, you were the one that was assigned to actually study sexuality for us. 48:16 We gotta -- We gotta really bring this down to where the rubber meets the road. 48:19 Let's not -- I got a study here that we were gonna look at together -- 26 different 48:23 research studies that prove that premarital sex will never reach the bar of marital sex. 48:30 God's fingerprints all over those, but, um, I'm gonna skip that. 48:35 Alex, when we were chatting earlier this week, I liked that some of the practical stuff 48:42 that, uh, you got through your folks just kind of watching life. 48:47 Tell us about this 11:00 thing. >> Yeah, so, it's something my mom taught me, and I truly 48:52 discovered that it was helpful to me and that I've learned by is nothing good ever happens 48:57 after 11:00, and that philosophy of being with other people, of somebody that you're attracted 49:04 to or stuff like that, 'cause it just puts you in a situation where there's too many chances 49:09 to take -- to make too many wrong mistakes. There's been studies done here 49:13 at Andrews, other places, that the majority of times that people have sex or, um, have a 49:19 situation that puts them in the opportunity are by circumstances and by just happening, and so 49:27 it's really important that we put ourselves in the right location. 49:31 The other thing that's really important is that we surround ourselves with people that will 49:34 help promote good relationships with the opposite sex. In the Bible, 49:39 in 1 Corinthians 15:33, it says... "Don't be misled. 49:50 Bad company corrupts good character." And 34 -- "Come back to your 49:54 senses as you ought and stop sinning, for there are some who are ignorant of God. 50:00 I say this to your shame." So we really need to surround ourselves with people that are 50:07 gonna help us be the best that we possibly can and be smart about the decisions that we make 50:12 so that we don't have long-term consequences. >> That was great. 50:17 Yeah, glad you found that one. Uh, birds of a feather flock together. 50:24 And we can set ourselves up for temptation, can't we? Yeah, go to a club and spend, 50:29 you know -- you date at a club. Just get a little Netflix or whatever. 50:33 Chill around. Just -- it happens just like that, yeah. 50:37 Alex, thank you. So, William, you're the guy that did the research here. 50:45 You guys are Gen Z-ers, okay? We got a lot of Gen Z-ers sitting right here. 50:49 So, you've somehow been able to steer through this thing. This is landmines everywhere. 50:54 Landmine. [ Imitates explosion ] So, just speak as a Gen Z-er to us now. 51:00 What -- What -- How do you avoid these sexual landmines? 51:03 >> Yeah, of course. A big part is communication, and maybe we all know, maybe we 51:10 don't know, but the majority of our communication actually comes from our body language, and I'll 51:15 give you an example. I got my brother Marcos up here in the front. 51:18 You can ask him. If a girl came up to him, maybe tease him a little bit, bit her 51:23 lip, what is he gonna get from that? Just think about it. 51:28 Think about how you -- how you act, how your interactions are. Now, that's a radical example, 51:32 and it's not just girls. It's guys, too. Where are your eyes going when 51:35 you're talking to someone? Are you looking at her eyes? Are you looking at her butt? 51:40 Hmm, where are you putting your hands? Think about what you're thinking 51:44 about. People sense that. It comes through. 51:47 So, a question, maybe, you can ask yourself is what is your body saying? 51:53 >> That's good. I like that. Yeah, what is she thinking your body is saying? 51:59 >> Yeah. >> Yeah, or he, yeah. Uh, Rebecca...uh... 52:05 and I just popped this on you this morning, but here you are, a Gen Z young woman... 52:14 and... the truth is, girls get sucked in -- "I gotta hang with this 52:18 guy. I don't want to lose him," and they roll over. 52:21 They roll over. "Okay, you want this? You want your milk without 52:24 buying the cow? I'll give you the milk." Uh, what would you say to girls 52:30 that might be just caught on the edge of that? Any council for them? 52:38 >> Well, personally, I think that God is writing a story for all of us, and, especially love 52:43 stories, and He's -- whether it's someone special or out there, He's writing that story, 52:47 and a lot of the times, we do have options, and it's a beautiful thing about our walk 52:51 with God, too, is He gives us free will, but not everything that's being handed to us is 52:55 where we're supposed to go, so just because we have a couple of good guys that we think would be 53:00 good friends, maybe they're just supposed to be friends, and so, for me, one ground thing that I 53:05 think about is just how do I see myself? And the world teaches us a lot 53:11 of the times to -- to love ourselves and to love ourselves and put ourselves before other 53:17 people, but I think what's more important is to think about how God sees us, and as a young 53:22 woman, that is how -- who am I as a daughter of God, and how am I being seen? 53:27 And so, in my relationship with other people, whether it be a different individual and a 53:32 special individual, whoever they may be, it's who am I as a daughter of God, and how can 53:38 that character flow into the next person, and, also, on the topic of if there are some of us 53:44 that have been walking this path and, you know, we want to turn back, and we don't know where to 53:48 go, I think there's always hope for that. >> Don't give up. Don't give up. 53:54 In fact, let's talk about that just as a wrap for the four of us. 53:58 Okay, so a friend that has crashed and burned sexually. Alright, crashed and burned, 54:03 comes to you just totally distraught. What kind of council are you 54:07 gonna give? Okay, so, what does that -- that friend do? 54:11 What would you recommend? Rebecca, I want to go back to you, because David crashed and 54:18 burned. There is absolutely no question David was the biggest 54:20 crash-and-burn sexually that the world knows from scriptures, it's that famous. 54:25 Give some -- Give some hope. >> I mentioned just a second ago about free will, and I think 54:30 that free will not only applies in the choices that we make towards making decisions on what 54:35 is good and what is not, but it also still applies in making decisions towards 54:39 walking back to him. 54:41 And so there's a verse that I want to share with everyone 54:43 here, and, in fact, it is from King David. 54:45 In Psalm 51:7 -- verse 7, 9, and 10, it says, "Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean. 54:52 Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow." Verse 9 says, "Hide your face 54:57 from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O 55:02 God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 55:06 >> It strikes me, William, and Rebecca, and Alex, that's really 55:10 describing spiritual virginity. >> Mm-hmm. 55:13 >> In other words, "I'm gonna do it all. 55:15 I'm gonna start over with you. I can't take the scars away, but 55:17 God can turn our scars into stars, so let's not give up 55:21 just 'cause we have scars. 55:22 But I can give you a new virginity. If any woman is in Christ, she's 55:26 a new creation. Create in me a clean heart." That text is so critical. 55:30 People that are listening right now or watching right really need to hear that. 55:34 They need to just know that God says, "We can build again." Now, once God does that 55:40 rebuilding -- final comment, Will -- once God does that rebuilding, what do I do so that 55:45 I don't go into those landmines again? >> That's a great question, and 55:52 it's answered in Psalm 119, verse 1. This is what it says. 55:59 It asks a question. "How can a young person stay pure?" 56:03 And the response is actually in the verse. It says, "By obeying Your Word," 56:07 and it's a daily thing that you have to do. The days you don't feel like it 56:11 is the days you have to do it the most. You wake up, first thing you 56:15 say -- "God, please, give me this -- this will to get into Your Word, to learn You, to 56:22 learn how to You are, to become in a relationship with You." And that's the secret to it all. 56:28 >> GPS. What we were talking with the kids a moment ago -- GPS. 56:31 You stay here. You're not gonna go down into that muck and be stuck. 56:35 Stay with me. Yeah. Good council, guys. 56:38 >> One more thing, actually -- Psalm 32:5 -- just to show you how much this works. 56:46 David was in a place of guilt, and he prayed. The moment he confessed his 56:51 sins -- you guys can check it out, Psalm 32:5 -- it says at the moment that he confessed his 56:55 sins, his guilt was no more. Pshh, washed away. And it works. 57:00 >> Yeah. >> It's a fact. >> Will, Rebecca, Alex, God 57:02 bless you. Thank you for -- for sharing with us. 57:06 [ Applause ] Yeah, you may, yeah, of course. 57:14 >> I want to take an extra moment to thank you for joining 57:17 us in worship today. It's by the continued support 57:19 from viewers like you that we're able to bring this program. 57:22 Today I want to invite you, though, to share with us how 57:24 this ministry has blessed you. I get inspiring notes, e-mails, 57:28 from viewers literally all over the world telling me, "Look, 57:30 Dwight, God has been blessing me this way. 57:32 He's been doing this." I would love to hear from you, 57:34 as well. Just visit our website -- 57:36 you know it -- newperceptions.tv, 57:39 and click on the "contact" link at the top of the page. 57:42 Send me a note. Let me know what God has been 57:43 doing right now in your life. Once again, thank you for being 57:48 with us today. I hope you'll join us right here 57:50 next time, and until then, may the God of grace journey 57:53 with you every step of the way. 57:59 ♪♪ ♪♪ 58:19 ♪♪ |
Revised 2021-07-14