"Moving From Lust to Purity" | May 16, 2021

[Music] we [Applause] were [Music] hallelujah [Music] hallelujah [Music] lord you [Music] from [Music] [Music] for who you are and you are good yes you are yes you are yes you are so good so good yes you are yes you are yes you are you are good all the time all the time you are good you are good all the time all the time you are good you are good all the time [Music] lord you're good sing lord you are good at your understanding forever [Music] hallelujah [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] oh we praise his name today he's our hope our strength our life today [Music] [Applause] [Music] what is our only confidence within what comes apart from his command and what will keep us [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] god is good where is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] above [Applause] us [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] christopher [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] we will will be [Music] destroyed [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] christ our hope today what a great truth you may be seated incredible worship this morning church and it is so good to see each of you this morning here at first baptist dallas for worship we also welcome each and every guest joining us both here at first baptist dallas in person and on our eye campus this morning we have a very special gift for you it's our pastors a place called heaven devotional 100 days of living in the hope of eternity and guest as you came in this morning you received a worship guide you'll find and close this guest card please take the time to fill this out and keep the card with you at the end of the service just take it outside these main worship center doors you'll find right there our welcome center our staff is waiting there for you we can't wait to meet you for you to exchange your card for your gift and answer any questions you might have regarding our church if you can't make it to the welcome center you'll find some orange receptacles on your way out you can simply slip the card in one of those and we will mail you a copy of your gift i campus guest joining us online you can fill out the link on your uh screen and we will send you your gift as well again it's so good to see all of you here this morning so many exciting events are taking place here at first baptist dallas so let's all take a look together at the screen good morning we are so thankful to be with you in worship today we have an exciting season ahead and we want to take a moment to tell you about a few upcoming events join us on may 21st and 22nd for our first ever family outdoor adventure weekend the weekend will include fun outdoor activities for all ages and experience levels register online to secure your spot then next sunday may 23rd dr jeffress begins a brand new series but god in this series we will learn about the life of joseph his difficult experiences and how god worked all things for good that morning dr jeffers will also interview distinguished lawyer and former u.s solicitor general judge ken starr about his brand new book religious liberty in crisis following worship on sunday may 23rd we are inviting all those who have recently joined first dallas to attend our new member lunch with dr jeffress you can register for this event online finally it is good to gather together to worship please maintain a healthy environment for everyone in using our hand sanitizing stations for more information on everything happening at our church visit firstdallas.org events our scripture reading this morning is found in the book of james james 1. we'll read verses 13 through 16 in preparation for the pastor's next message in this series invincible james giving us instruction in words about lust we read from the new american standard bible those will be of the words on the screen in the worship center here and for icampus as well and would you join me in standing that we might honor the reading of god's word james 1 beginning with verse 13 ending with verse 16. let no one say when he is tempted i am being tempted by god for god cannot be tempted by evil and he himself does not tempt anyone but each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust then when lust has conceived it gives birth to sin and when sin is accomplished it brings forth death do not be deceived my beloved brethren may god richly bless the reading of his holy word let's keep standing as we continue to honor god and sing his praise [Music] psalm 103 declares bless the lord o my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name bless the lord o my soul my soul worship his holy name [Music] sing like never before oh my soul worship your holy name [Music] the sun comes up it's a new day dawny it's time to sing your song again whatever may pass and whatever lies before me [Music] let me be singing when the evening comes the lord bless the lord [Music] oh my soul [Music] your name is [Music] [Applause] [Music] 10 000 reasons [Music] [Applause] [Music] amen [Music] and on that day when my strength is [Music] your [Applause] [Music] 10 grace [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] my soul worship is wrong [Music] o worship his holy name this morning praise god you may be seated as ben lavorne our executive pastor comes now with a special mission 1-8 milestone good morning church oh come on good morning and it good to be back together in worship that's right well as part of mission 108 courageous our ministry strategy just transformed the world with god's word one life at a time here locally nationally and internationally you know that we often like to report to you on some of the things that god is doing through you in in a sense we're reporting on the return on your kingdom investment so i wanted to share with you this morning a few things that we're doing with ministry partners locally nationally and internationally first locally we have partnered with bon-ton farms here in south dallas it's just minutes away from our church and bon-ton is a 40-acre non-profit farm that has a mission to help restore the lives of the homeless and low-income individuals by creating good jobs and igniting hope in a once neglected neighborhood now our church has partnered with them to provide hands-on service at their farm but we're also committing to help with bon-ton by providing additional resources to support their ministry and engaging with them in some of those ministries bon-ton has invited us to help build their chaplaincy program help with their bible study program and even their financial management program all with the goal of helping to meet the spiritual and the practical needs of those most vulnerable here in the city of dallas now nationally we've also partnered with the proclaimers place proclaimers place is a world-renowned program for equipping and educating pastors and proclaimers of god's word it was founded by dr joel gregory in 2005 the program hosts four day intensive seminars they've been held in 20 different states and even internationally more than 1400 proclaimers from all over the world have graduated from this program and our church has partnered with proclaimers place financially to help provide scholarships and training for black pastors before they go back into their areas of influence so they can continue teaching the truth of god's word with confidence and skill and building his church now recently we also told you about a young man who graduated from our student ministry austin bonaima we shared his story in december and austin was saved here as a teenager in our student ministry well shortly after leaving our church he became passionate about missions and he began leading mission trips to africa for other churches now recently the senior chief of the country of zambia passed a law that every chief who reports to him must have a man of god to advise him and help make biblical decisions so in response to this at the age of 21 austin has been promoted to direct the chief chaplaincy program for zambia he has a responsibility for vetting and discipling local chaplains and this door has been opened all over zambia they're now making inroads in madagascar and angola in this chaplaincy program they are training 25 new chaplains this week that represent over a hundred thousand people in zambia and we are partnering with them to help support that chaplaincy program to provide training and to equip them with tools like bicycles cell phones and bibles so they can go out and minister to their country so those are just few of the things that you are doing church locally nationally and internationally to transform the world with god's word one life at a time so i want to thank you for your participation in his work now as we continue our time of worship through giving of course you'll have the opportunity to leave your tithes and offerings in the boxes as you exit this morning you can also give online at firstdallas.org forward slash give online but i'll invite you as you're able to kneel all over the worship center as we go to the lord in prayer together heavenly father we worship you as holy this morning and we thank you for inviting us to participate in your work we're so excited we're so encouraged just to be back together but then to see how you are using our church to reach people who need to know you not just in our city not just in our nation but even around the world and lord we come humbly before you and we just thank you for our salvation through jesus christ the one who came and died and rose again that we might have a new life and become a new creation we pray lord that you would forgive our sins that you would guard our hearts and minds in christ jesus and as we go out from here that we be equipped by your holy spirit not as those who are tossed and turned by the waves of society lord but those who go out and influence the world and pierce the darkness with the light of your word we pray even this morning as we hear a word from our pastor that you would touch our hearts and you would strengthen us in christ jesus we pray this in jesus name amen [Music] oh [Music] me [Music] me as i look around and i see all the works your hands have made the awesomeness of you and how your love will never fade mere words cannot express what i feel inside i can't describe your glory divine but as [Music] this is what i'll do i will lift my hands and cry lord [Applause] [Music] oh there's not enough words that i can say to tell you how much i appreciate all the wonderful things you've given me your loving kindness your tender mercies you're worthy of all the honor and you're worthy why you showed me so much mercy you didn't have to suffer and die for me way back i just wanna thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] every day [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh every day [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you so much leona rooper tyler brenson joe harden and magnificent first dallas choir and orchestra for your music today we welcome the untold multitudes of you who are worshiping with us some of you in day one our contemporary service many of you hundreds of thousands of you on our first dallas eye campus and the millions who watch every week on pathway to victory i want to remind you that next sunday is special for two reasons i'll be interviewing judge ken starr a great christian a friend of our church who slips into worship with us whenever he's in dallas judge starr has a brand new book on religious liberty and i'm going to be in interviewing him about this very important topic in today's world and then next sunday i'm going to begin a series a study in the life of joseph entitled but god you find all throughout joseph's story the words but god his life seemed to be going one direction and god miraculously stepped in and remember when joseph said to his brothers you meant it for evil but god meant it for good same god is working in your life as well and we're going to begin that study next sunday so i hope you'll be here with it with us for that new series on the life of joseph a few years ago there was a funny television commercial you may remember it for a particular leather company that made clothes and jackets for women and uh in this particular ad the background music was in the still of the night and this attractive woman walks into a hotel bar and she sits down at the bar on one of the bar stools and begins doing some work and she glances down the end of the bar and there's a handsome young man there and they lock eyes and uh he thinks she is giving him the look if you know what i mean so she he stands up a few moments later walks over to the woman on his way out and drops his hotel room key right in front of her she continues to work a few moments later she gets up and puts on the leather jacket that is the basis of the television commercial she looks down at the other end of the bar and sees this dumpy looking middle-aged guy sitting there she takes the hotel room she had just received walks down and drops it in front of him he's so excited the next scene the final scene is you see both those guys in the elevator and the handsome younger guy looks at this dumpy guy into his horror sees he's holding the key to his hotel room it's a funny ad about the power of lust but in reality let me assure you lust is no laughing matter as a pastor over these last 40 years i've seen the power of lust on display lust has the power to destroy individual lives marriages and entire congregations lust has the power to destroy the witness of the church in the world today just in the last few months we've seen three major sex scandals and evangelical christianity and at the bottom of all of those scandals is the problem of lust a well-known christian apologist accused of abusing women in a spa all because of lust a christian leader known for promoting family values accused of child pornography the leader of a christian institution a christian school accused of sexual debauchery that's unimaginable that is the destructive power of lust and before you cluck your tongues and shake your head and say isn't that just awful pastor don't forget none of us is immune from the destroying power of lust paul had a word in first corinthians 10 32 he said therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall nobody's immune from the power of lust today we've come to the final message in our series on invincible we're talking about conquering the mountains the obstacles that separate us from the blessed life god has designed for us and today we're going to talk in this final message about the problem of lust i hesitate to try to talk about conquering lust because that gives the idea that you can arrive at some point in your life when lust is no longer a problem in reality you never once and for all conquer lust but lust can conquer you and so today we're going to talk about how to move from lust to purity the kind of purity that god desires in each one of us first of all as we talk about lust we need to define our terms what are we talking about when we talk about lust it may surprise you to know that the word lust isn't necessarily a bad word it doesn't necessarily denote sin lust in and of itself is neutral it depends upon the context let me give you an illustration of that the word lust epithumia lust is found in first timothy 3 1 in the qualifications for a pastor the bible says and paul wrote to timothy it is a trustworthy statement if any man anyone aspires to the office of overseer it is a fine work he desires epithumia lusts to do is it sinful to lust to be a pastor no that's a neutral term he desires to do but then even though that word translated anyone um sometimes in your translation says man if any man desires for the office of an overseer it's a fine work he desires to do in reality that word anyone is gender neutral it can be gender neutral kiss but then later on in verse 2 paul gives some qualifications it needs to be a male he has to be the husband of one wife now i'm not chasing a rabbit here i want you to stay with me on this because this is the perfect illustration of how lust is only wrong in some context this week you may have read in the newspaper or seen on the news that a church associated with the southern baptist convention ordained the three women for the role of pastor and so it's caused a little dust up people talking about it and wondering and so monday the new york times called me and said now pastor what do you think about this church that has ordained women as pastors and i said it doesn't matter what i think what matters is what does the word of god say and when it comes to women in ministry the bible teaches two very clear truths about that topic first of all god calls women to ministry god calls women to ministry he has from the beginning i mean just think about it to whom was the resurrection message entrusted first of all not to men it was the women at the tomb who were commanded to go back and tell the apostles what they had seen it was the women who had that message remember what the apostles were doing they were rolled up in a fetal position sucking their thumbs at that point in time they didn't believe in any resurrection they didn't believe what jesus said they thought it was all over the women came back to tell them that he had been resurrected from the dead and they didn't believe them but men didn't believe the women they were the first ones entrusted with the message throughout the bible you find their role in ministry lydia who was a businesswoman yes women can be in business too she was a businesswoman she was a founder of the first church in philippi you see that all throughout the bible you see it throughout history you see it in history of our church women in ministry our church was a forerunner really in many ways in having women ministers you look at libby reynolds or millie kahn in the past or ann hood all strong women who were called to the ministry and it's true today you see shelly taylor ashley gross pam brewer my own daughter julia they feel called to ministry and their call is just as legitimate as my call is absolutely god calls women to ministry i think we ought to have a public ceremony that legitimizes that recognizes women's call to ministry and if you think i'm a heretic that's okay dr criswell thought the same thing too he thought there ought to be a public ceremony to recognize what god had done in calling women for ministry the bible teaches god calls women to ministry and if a woman desires to be in ministry i'm going to talk to our high school seniors in the next service some of those there are women girls who god is going to call to ministry god calls women to ministry the bible also preaches it teaches truth number two the role of pastor is reserved for men only men can be the senior pastor of a church because in verse 2 paul says he has to be that minister that pastor that overseer has to be the husband of one wife couldn't be any more clear first timothy two first corinthians 14. now what i think the mistake we've made is especially southern baptist churches have made we've just focused obsessed over that one thing women can't do in ministry instead of talking about all the things they can do in ministry and i think it's time to reverse the emphasis let's all agree we're going to follow the bible and not have women senior pastors but let's talk about all the great things women can do in ministry you say pastor why did you get off on that topic today because this is a perfect illustration of the word lust lust is a good thing if it's in the confines the boundaries of god's will that's what timothy is saying if anyone wants to be in ministry great but now if we're talking about the senior pastor has to be the husband of one wife by the way that's not the only restriction that it has to be a male not every male is qualified to be a pastor most of the qualifications are character qualities in first timothy three that have nothing to do with gender they have to be character qualities he has to be temperate and prudent and not combative and humble and free from the love of money and a one-man woman and all sorts of things a lot of men who are disqualified on that basis from being a pastor lust is a good thing inside the confines of god's will it's wrong when it's outside the boundaries of god's will and that's why most of the time the word lust in the bible is used in relationship to sex outside the will of god in fact i want to give you this definition for lust lust is an insatiable desire for any sexual activity outside of the will of god it is an insatiable desire for any sexual activity outside the will of god you say well what are you talking about sex outside the will of god remember god designed sex and he gave us the boundaries in which sex is to operate in matthew 19 verses 4 to 6 jesus answered the pharisees and said have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female sex is first of all to be between a man and a woman a male and a female and we talked about this a few weeks ago i'm not going to belabor it but remember god's the one who creates us male or female sex is not a matter of opinion your gender is not a matter of choice gender is a matter of chromosomes and more importantly it's a matter of your creator your creator decides your gender he makes them male and female so sex should be between a man and a woman and it should be in a marriage relationship for this reason jesus quotes genesis 2 for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh so they are no longer two but one flesh what therefore god has joined together let no man separate god designed sex between a man and a woman and the security of a marriage relationship for two reasons one was procreation he said be fruitful and multiply this was the way to fulfill that command but the second reason is for sheer pleasure you don't have to be in the procreating business to enjoy sex he gave up for pleasure to create emotional and physical oneness and anything outside of that use of sex is wrong people say all the time well you know god never condemned homosexuality in the bible never mentioned it well if you want to be literal about it he never condemned to bestiality either but did he have to no i mean jesus could have spent all afternoon with the pharisees listing every sexual perversion there is don't do this don't do this don't do this instead the way he handled it what is he said here is the standard one man with one woman in a marriage relationship anything outside of those parameters is sin doesn't matter whether you're talking about adultery it doesn't matter whether you're talking about fornication pre-marital sex homosexuality bestiality pedophilia i mean anything outside this standard is sin that's why he said in matthew 5 28 everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her he has already committed adultery in his heart adultery is outside god's parameter it was jay budajesky the christian philosopher who said lust isn't sexual desire per se but a disorderly sexual desire the problem isn't the desire it's the disorder know there's probably no better illustration of that disorder than pornography as one writer described the addictive properties of pornography saying a scientific consensus is emerging that today's porn is truly a health menace what makes pornography so dangerous is it tangles up our brains wiring leading to addiction that is just as strong as that for cocaine nicotine or alcohol but like all addictive things pornography has diminishing returns it's not that you just need more exposure to it to get the same head of dopamine the pleasure hormone but you've got to have different varieties more degrading and shocking kinds of it to keep that same level of excitement pornography is like following water downhill one writer said we are drawn to porn that is increasingly taboo specifically more violent and degrading and without going into details that's exactly what we're reading right now about now two christian leaders who have been involved in child pornography what they were watching is so heinous and wrong i could not talk about it in public but that's the sickness of sex outside god's will you know when people by the way claim oh there's nothing wrong with pornography it's just looking it doesn't influence what i do i'm just looking i laugh whenever i hear that you really don't believe what you look at determines what you do why do you think advertisers spend billions of dollars putting images in front of you on the television and on the internet because they know what they expose you to determines what you end up doing buying purchasing making a part of your life that's the destructive power of lust what role does lust play in sin turn over to james chapter 1 the passage we read just a few moments ago and i want you to see how lust plays into sin and ultimately our destruction in james 1 beginning verse 13 james said let nobody say when he's tempted i am being tempted by god some people were using that as an excuse before they gave into sin they said well you know god allowed this in my life let no man say no when he's being tempted i'm being tempted by god for god cannot be tempted by evil and he himself does not tempt anyone but then he says here's how temptation occurs but each one is tempted when he is now underline this carried away and secondly enticed by his own lust and then when lust has conceived it gives birth to sin you see the sexual imagery there just as a sperm and egg come together at the right time to produce a life in the sin world lust when you get the right two ingredients together come together to produce death it gives birth to sin and when sin is accomplished when it is fully mature it brings forth death not life sin ultimately brings forth death not just physical death but spiritual death the death of everything important to you do not be con deceived my beloved brethren let me give you this little formula for sin that i find in this passage from verse 14 specifically that i hope you'll always remember james is saying corrupt desires plus the right bait plus the wrong choice equals sin but let me show you how that works out corrupt desires james said each one is tempted when he is carried away how do we get carried away by our inward desires by our lusts that word carried away elko my in greek is the same word in john 12 32 when jesus said if i be lifted up i will draw all men unto myself in that sense the word is a positive word we are drawn inwardly to jesus christ but here it's negative we are drawn through our lust that's the corrupt desires lust begins with corrupt desires you see ever since the fall of man our basic desires if you will to use computer terminology our operating system has been infected with the virus and that means we have as our default position whenever god says yes to something our first instinct is to say no and when god says no to something our first instinct is to say yes that's that corrupt desire that each one of us has so it starts with corrupt desires but that's not enough each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed that's what i mean by right bait that word enticed in greek is a fishing term it literally means to hook like you would hook a fish each one of us is drawn away by this corrupt internal system we have and we are hooked enticed you know i i hate to fish i absolutely hate it i remember my last church had just gotten there and been there long and an old deacon who later became a great friend wanted to build a relationship with me so he invited me to go out one saturday morning fishing with him and he got me up at some ungodly hour we went out there sat on that boat and i sat there with my line in the water not catching anything wondering what i was doing there and this guy just started i mean one after another pulling these fish out of the lake and i said bob why are you so successful why am i not catching anything he said pastor there are two things you've got to do to be successful at fishing first of all you have to smell like a fish he said now you got up this morning you showered you shaved you put on that cologne you're wearing right now no fish is gonna come near you but i didn't i didn't shower this morning by the way he didn't need to tell me that he said i didn't sure you've got to smell like a fish secondly he said you've got to use the right bait not every fish responds to the same bait you've got to know what bait to use do you know what's true with temptation as well if you use the right bait with a fish you know what happens that fish blinded by its own hunger it sees that bait dangling in the water and it bites at it not knowing there's a hook in the middle of it that's going to destroy its life listen to me satan is a master fisherman he knows exactly what bait to dangle in front of you and what time what season of life to dangle it in front of you for some people it might be an attractive sexual partner for other people the right bait is money for other people it's recognition satan has been studying you a long time and he knows exactly what bait to dangle in front of you and james is saying when you have this internal system that desires to sin to begin with satan dangles the right bait in front of you at just the right time and you make the choice to bite that is when sin comes forth and when sin is accomplished it brings forth death do not be deceived my beloved brethren you know in the bible we have a great illustration of somebody who was blinded by his lust both spiritually and literally his name was samson remember his story in the old testament judges 13-16 i called him the man who could never say no to lust in the old testament during the time of the judges remember israel was being attacked from without by the philistines the ungodly philistines by the way israel has always been under attack and always will be under attack it's important as a country and as christians we make sure in this current conflict we are on the right side of god which means being on the right side of israel god gave that land to israel it belongs to them and that's never been clearer than it is today but they were under attack during the time of the judges and god told a woman that she would be the mother of a deliverer of israel his name would be samson and when we come to chapter 14 we find that samson went down to temna now that doesn't only mean geographically he went down is a common refrain in his life story it means he went further and further away from god's will and when he came to timnah he was overcome by the beauty of a young woman and the first words recorded out of his mouth judges 14 verse 1 i saw a woman he was attracted to her by what he saw in fact he was so attracted to her that he said to his parents get her for me for she looks good his parents argued with him sampson she's a philistine we've been prohibited from intermarrying with the pro philistines but he saw what he wanted and he wanted it now get her for me for she looks right that's what the word in hebrew means not good she looks right to me she he may have thought she looked right to him and his eyes but she was wrong in god's eyes samson didn't listen to his parents pleading and he married this woman it ended in tragedy her murder chapter 15. did he learn his lesson no then he went down to gaza and there he got involved with a prostitute that did not end well and then finally he met his downforce downfall that woman we know as delilah and remember the story she discovered the secret to his strength he had taken the nazarite down and did not cut his hair she managed when he was asleep to have his hair cut and his strength the lord departed from him samson ended up being captured by the philistines he had his eyes gouged out the eyes that had led him into sin and he became a grinder in a philistine prison that was the end of samson nobody can summarize the tragic story of samson any better than chuck swindoll who writes quote samson was a he-man with a she-weakness the strong man of dan was taken captive and became a slave in the enemy's camp his eyes were gouged out of his head and he was appointed to be the grinder in a philistine prison in the same way lust the jailer binds blinds and grinds the pride of israel who once held the highest office in the land was now a bald-headed clown of philistia a pathetic hollow shell of humanity his eyes would never wander again his life once filled with promise and dignity was now a portrait of the hopeless helpless despair chalk up another victim for lust the perfumed memories of erotic pleasure in timna gaza and the infamous valley of sorek were now overwhelmed by the putrid stench of a philistine dungeon without even knowing it solomon had written samson's epitaph in proverbs 5 when he wrote his own iniquities will capture the wicked and he will be held with the cords of his sin he will die for the lack of instruction and in the greatness of his folly he will go astray that's the end result of lust how can we prevent ourselves from being conquered by lust in closing today let me share with you three timeless principles for gaining victory over lust and keeping yourself from becoming a victim of lust first of all remember no one is immune from the destructive tower of lust nobody's immune from it in our second service i'm talking to our high school seniors who will be over here and many of our teenagers you know we have this kind of thinking even in christian homes that college after you graduate from high school you're expected for a few years to sow your wild oats to now that you're out from under the authority of your parents to experiment and make up your own mind about things and we almost inadvertently give students a pass on morality during that time we think it's okay to do that and what teenagers forget is theirs practices their habits become lifelong habits you just can't flip on and off a relationship with god those next years are the years students need to be drawing closer to god as they discern his will for a marriage partner for a career but many times we give them the idea it's okay you can always come back to god no you always can't come back to god sometimes you become so bound in the chords of your own behavior you develop such addictions sexual and otherwise that you can never break free from them the fact is sometimes you can go so far away from god that you're not able to come back because you don't want to come back i talk to young couples all the time who have such problems in their relationship their marriage relationship because they have brought into that marriage relationship all kind of sexual baggage from their past that they can never get rid of that's why the time to draw close to god is in the days of your youth nobody's immune from the destructive power of lust not a noble man like david not a wise man like solomon not a strong man like samson you know we often say that sexual sin doesn't begin in the bedroom it begins in the mind but remember how it gets into the mind it's through our eyes you know from the glossy magazine cover lust woozes from the television set it winks at us from the internet it welcomes us and that's why we have to do what job did in job 31 1 when he said i have made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman we need to guard what we look at maybe we don't stop we can't stop the first gaze but it's that second look and that third look that causes the problem remember nobody's immune from lust secondly remember we can replace lustful thoughts with god's thoughts it's impossible to control every image that we see but we choose what to do with those images you know a martin luther was famous for saying we can't keep the birds from flying over our heads but we can keep them from building the nest in our hair and when those wrong thoughts come we may not be able to control that but we can control what we do with those wrong thoughts and what we need to do is to replace them with god's thoughts psalm 119 verses 9 to 11 david said how can a young man a young woman keep his way pure by keeping it according to your word with all my heart i have sought you do not let me wander from your commandments your word i have treasured in my heart that i might not sin against god when those wrong thoughts come into our mind we don't have time to search through our bible to find a verse somewhere that might help us we need to have god's word in our heart that's why i'm so grateful for our awanas program for children in our youth ministry that instill god's words and our kids hearts so when that time of temptation comes they have something to replace it with you know i would just suggest to all of you watching right now have some key passages in mind to recall when those times of temptation come for example first corinthians 6 18-20 flee immorality every other sin that a man commits outside the body but the immoral man sins against his own body or do you not know that your body is the temple of the holy spirit who is in you whom you have from god that you are not your own for you have been bought with a price therefore glorify god in your body what a great passage to remember or a short passage galatians 6 7 be not deceived god will not be mocked whatever a person sows this shall he also reap learn to replace wrong thoughts with god's thoughts and third realize that lust is both insatiable and destructive it's insatiable and it's destructive satan's lie from the very beginning to the woman in the garden was do this sin this way and you will be satisfied forever don't fall for that line no amount of sin can satisfy an empty heart the desire for lust is insatiable and it's ultimately destructive i remember years ago reading an account of how an eskimo will kill a wolf that is terrorizing a little village the eskimo will take a sharp honey knife with a very sharp blade on it and he will cover it in animal blood he'll wait for it to dry and then he'll give it another coat and then another one and another one until that blade is completely concealed he'll then take that knife and place it upright in the frozen snow and at nighttime the wolf attracted by the scent of the animal blood will come to that knife not seeing the blade in it and will start to lick it and as it starts to lick that knife and taste the blood it begins licking harder and harder and harder and harder to the point that it doesn't even notice the sharp sting on its tongue and realizing that now he is satisfying his own thirst with his own blood he doesn't realize it until it's too late and the wolf falls dead in the snow lust is insatiable and it's destructive each man is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust and when lust is conceived it gives birth to sin and when sin is accomplished it brings forth death do not be deceived by beloved brethren let's bow together in a word of prayer i'm speaking to some of you right now who maybe are living a secret life indulging secret desires it's not bringing the satisfaction you want all it's bringing is incredible guilt in your life let me tell you there's only one way to be free from the power of sin and the penalty of sin and that's by trusting in jesus as your savior if you're already a christian god has given you everything you need to have victory over that temptation in your life you don't have to be a slave to sin the same power that raised jesus from the dead is in your life the holy spirit of god don't be deceived any longer god will reward you for following him but there are some of you right now who are not yet christians it's no accident you've tuned into this broadcast to this service god is offering you two things he offers you first of all freedom from the penalty of sin the bible says if you die without receiving christ as your savior and the forgiveness of your sins you'll spend all eternity separated from god god offers to forgive you of whatever sin no matter how filthy it is god says though your sins be a scarlet i will make them as white as snow that's why jesus came and died on the cross to do for you what you couldn't do for yourself today if you would like to receive god's forgiveness from the penalty of sin and then receive as an added benefit the power over sin in your life that's what the holy spirit does when he comes into your life he gives you that resurrection power if you'd like forgiveness and freedom today i want to encourage you wherever you are to pray this prayer in your heart to god as i prayed out loud knowing that god is listening to you right now would you pray this with me dear god thank you for loving me i know i have failed you in so many ways and i'm truly sorry for the sins in my life but i believe what i've heard today that you love me so much you sent your son jesus to die on the cross for me to take the penalty i deserve to take for my sins and right now i'm trusting in what jesus did for me not in my good works but in what jesus did for me to save me from my sins thank you for forgiving me and help me to live the rest of my life for you in jesus name amen today if you prayed that prayer with you me and you meant it with all of your heart if you're watching online go to the top of the screen and click on the link that says i prayed the prayer with dr jeffress when you do i'll be notified of your decision and we'll send you some free material this week about what it means to live as a christian don't wait another sunday another sunday or minute to do so click on that link right now i prayed the prayer for those of you in our day one service and those of you here in our worship center if you would take out your card there's a chance for those of you who prayed that prayer with me to check the box i prayed the prayer it's the third one to trust in christ when you do that we'll send you the material we're sending our online friends also if you're a guest today check that box if you're interested in more information check that box i've been told of some who are joining our church today all you need to do to join first baptist dallas is check that final box i'd like to join first baptist today and as you heard if you check this box you are invited to join me next sunday after our second service for a special lunch where i'll get to meet you and welcome you into our church we hope you'll plan to join us now when you've completed your card whether you're in day one or here you can drop this card off at the welcome center and uh if you don't want to do that you can drop it in one of the orange receptacles either way we will give you a copy of our devotional a place called heaven devotional that's our gift to you for coming today thank you for being here well i thought you'd be interested to know that we have a thousand people who signed up for the vaccine today they had to cut it off there were so many who are coming today to our church we're also going to have prayer stations set up so that we can pray for those who come on campus and offer them the hope that is only found in jesus christ so pray for those visitors that we have on our campus today and our opportunity to be a witness for christ while they're here at first baptist dallas thank you for doing that let's stand together now as tyler comes to lead us in our final song thank you pastor let's close and worship singing this is my story this is my song lift your voice this is my story this is my song praising my savior this is [Applause] [Music] god bless you church i campus family thank you so much for being here today and joining us in worship we hope that you are blessed by today's service make sure to invite your friends family and loved ones to join you each and every week right here on the first dallas i campus also stay connected with us all week long on our social media channels and join our new icampus global facebook group to know what's going on right here at first baptist dallas we love you guys so much and we'll see you next week hi i'm robert jeffress pastor of first baptist church in dallas we are so excited to have you join us on the i campus today for a time of inspiring worship and biblical teaching you are part of a vast online community gathered from all over the world we consider you a part of our first baptist church family and we hope you feel a part of what god is doing in and through first baptist dallas no matter where you are we hope and pray that this is a time you will grow in your relationship with god and others as we worship our savior together welcome to worship [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] good morning and welcome to worship at first baptist dallas today it's great to see you let's stand together we welcome guests high campus viewers the lord is good this mercy endures [Applause] [Music] forever [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] who you are [Music] forever [Music] forever [Music] hallelujah [Applause] [Music] yes you are yes you are yes you are you are good all the time all the time you are good all the time and all the time you are good you are good all the time all the time you are good all the time all the time [Music] you forever good lord forever [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] for who you are for who you are [Music] oh we praise his high and holy name this morning he's so good to us he's our hope our life our strength in our song today what is our only confidence within [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] god is good [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] christ he lives he lives [Music] everlasting life with [Music] then him and death will be [Music] destroyed [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] i [Applause] [Music] christ our living hope today amen incredible worship you may be seated it's so good to see each of you this morning uh here at first baptist dallas for worship we welcome you we welcome our guests joining us both here in the room as well as on icampus we have a very special gift for our guest today it's our pastors a place called heaven devotional 100 days of living in the hope of eternity guest as you came in this morning you received a worship guide you'll find enclosed this guest card please take the time to fill this out and keep the card with you at the conclusion of the service take it outside these main worship center doors right there you will find our welcome center our staff is waiting there for you to meet you and for you to exchange your completed card for your gift and answer any questions you might have regarding our church if you can't make it to the welcome center you'll find some orange boxes on your way out you can slip the card on one of those and we'll mail you a copy of your gift if you're a guest joining us on icampus follow the link on your screen for your gift as well again it's great to see each and every one of you for worship here today lots of exciting events are taking place and upcoming here in the life of our church at first baptist dallas so let's all take a look together at the screen good morning we are so thankful to be with you in worship today we have an exciting season ahead and we want to take a moment to tell you about a few upcoming events join us on may 21st and 22nd for our first ever family outdoor adventure weekend the weekend will include fun outdoor activities for all ages and experience levels register online to secure your spot then next sunday may 23rd dr jeffress begins a brand new series but god in this series we will learn about the life of joseph his difficult experiences and how god worked all things for good that morning dr jeffress will also interview distinguished lawyer and former u.s solicitor general judge ken starr about his brand new book religious liberty in crisis following worship on sunday may 23rd we are inviting all those who have recently joined first dallas to attend our new member lunch with dr jeffress you can register for this event online finally it is good to gather together to worship please maintain a healthy environment for everyone by wearing your mask practicing social distancing and using our hand sanitizing stations for more information on everything happening at our church visit firstdallas.org events this morning we've been singing scripture in scriptural truth now we get to read god's word together and this morning we're reading from the book of james james chapter 1 verses 13 through 16 to prepare us for this final message in the pastor's series invincible james has some important words for us and instructions in the area of lust we'll read from the new american standard bible you'll see those words on the screen here in the worship center and i campus you'll have the words as well so that we can all read god's word together and would you stand with me we do that to honor the reading of god's word as we read together james chapter 1 beginning with verse 13 ending with verse 16. let no one say when he is tempted i am being tempted by god for god cannot be tempted by evil and he himself does not tempt anyone but each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust then when lust has conceived it gives birth to sin and when sin is accomplished it brings forth death do not be deceive my beloved brethren may god richly bless the reading of his word now let's keep standing as we bless god and sing praise to his name [Music] psalm 103 declares bless the lord o my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name bless the lord o my soul o my soul worship his holy name seem like never before oh my soul worship your holy name [Music] the sun comes up it's a new day dawn [Music] it's time to sing your song again whatever may pass and whatever lies before me let me be singing when the [Music] evening [Music] worship his holy name seem [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] heart of my soul [Music] [Applause] [Music] i oh your heart and on that day when my strength [Music] has is still my soul 10 000. [Music] is [Music] worship his holy days [Music] [Music] worship the lord this morning his holy name amen you may be seated as ben lavorne our executive pastor comes now with a special mission 1-8 milestone good morning church isn't it good to be together in worship this morning well as part of mission 1a courageous our two-year ministry strategy to transform the world with god's word one life at a time here locally nationally and even internationally you know that we often bring you reports on what god is doing through you and the ministries of our church in a sense we want to report to you the return on your kingdom investment and so this morning i want to share with you just about a few of our ministry partners that are helping us to expand the reach of our church locally nationally and internationally first locally we are partnering with bon-ton farms bon-ton farms is located here in south dallas it's just minutes away from our church it's a 40-acre non-profit farm that has a mission to help restore the lives of homeless and low-income individuals by creating good jobs and igniting hope in a once neglected neighborhood now our church partners with them to provide hands-on help on the farm but we are also committed to partnering with them in their ministry specifically through their discipleship team we are providing resources and training we've been asked to participate in their chaplaincy program to help with their bible study program and even to assist in their financial management program all of these of course with the goal of helping to meet their practical and their spiritual needs of the most vulnerable people in our city now nationally we are partnering with the proclaimers place proclaimers place is a world-renowned program for equipping and educating pastors and proclaimers of god's word it was founded by dr joel gregory in 2005 the program has a four-day intensive seminar they've been held now in 20 different states across the u.s also held internationally more than 1400 proclaimers from all over the world have graduated from the program and we've partnered financially to provide scholarships and training for black pastors before they go back into their churches in areas of influence so they can continue teaching the truth of god's word with confidence and with skill and to building up the body of christ internationally recently we told you about austin bonaima we shared his story in december well austin was saved here as a teenager in our student ministry and after graduating from our student ministry he was led into the mission field he became passionate about missions at the age of 17 he began leading trips to africa for other churches recently austin was invited by the senior chief of the country of zambia to help him with a program the senior chief has decided that a man of god should be appointed to advise every chief reporting to him to help them make biblical decisions now austin at the age of 21 years old has been promoted to direct the chief chaplaincy program in zambia he has a responsibility for vetting and disabling local chaplains this has opened the door for many uh to hear the gospel throughout zambia they are all made already making inroads into madagascar and angola and the chief chaplaincy program this week is training 25 new chaplains representing over a hundred thousand people in zambia and we have partnered with austin to help support the chief chaplaincy program we are uh equipping them with training but also with things like bicycles and cell phones and bibles so they can go out into the country of zambia and share the love of jesus christ so church these are just a few ways that you have made a difference locally nationally and internationally through mission 1a courageous so i want to thank you for your faithfulness to god thank you for your commitment to his work and i hope that you're encouraged by this report this morning now as we continue our time of worship and giving you'll have the opportunity to give your tithes and offerings as you exit the worship this morning you can also give online at firstdallas.org forward slash give online but during this time of commitment i'll invite you as you're able to kneel all over the worship center as we go to the lord in prayer together heavenly father we worship your holy name and we proclaim your glories to the world father we are excited and we are encouraged excited to be back together in worship encouraged by what you're doing through this church literally all over the world and so this morning lord we thank you for the opportunity to participate in your work we thank you for our salvation through jesus christ your son who came and died and rose again to make us new to give us a new life to make us a new creation and so lord we confess our sins to you and we ask you to forgive us we pray lord that you would guard our hearts and minds in christ jesus i pray for this church i pray specifically for the seniors who are in this room this morning who are going out into the world that all of us lord would not be tossed and thrown by the waves of this world lord but but that we would enter into this world and that that we would influence the culture that we would influence society that we would pierce the darkness with the truth of your word may we be lights for you we pray this in the saving name of jesus christ amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh magnify your name [Music] [Applause] [Music] me as i look around and i see all the works your hands have made the and awesomeness your love will never fade mere words cannot express what i feel inside you can't describe your glory divine but as a token of my love this is what i'll do i will lift my hands and cry lord [Applause] [Music] [Applause] land [Applause] magnify there's not enough words that i can say to tell you how much i appreciate all the wonderful things you've given me your loving kindness your tender mercies [Music] [Applause] i don't know why you love me why you showed me so much mercy you didn't have to suffer and die for me way back just wanna thank god [Music] oh [Music] easy [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] okay [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes [Applause] [Music] uh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you so much leona rupert tyler brinson joe harden and marvelous first dallas choir and orchestra for your music today didn't they do a super job we welcome the hundreds of thousands of you who are watching us on our first dallas high campus the millions of you watching on pathway to victory thank you for joining us here at first baptist church dallas let me say to our online friends i hope you'll tune in next sunday i'm beginning a series on the study of the life of joseph i've titled it but god throughout joseph's life his life seemed to be going one direction and then god miraculously intervened remember his comment to his brothers who sold him into slavery you meant it for evil but god used it for good and the same god who worked in joseph's life is working in your life today and we're going to talk about that beginning next sunday also our good friend judge ken starr is going to be here you may not know this but judge starr and alice they often slip into the back of our church and worship with us when they're in town i'm going to interview him next sunday about his tremendous new book on religious liberty at risk it is under threat right now and we're going to talk about that next sunday so i hope you'll be here with us for the beginning of our new series on the life of joseph a number of years ago there was a funny television commercial you may remember in the background was the music in the still of the night and in this commercial there was a beautiful young woman who was seated at the bar of a hotel she was at the counter there in the hotel bar and she was looking over some business papers when she glances down the counter and she sees this handsome man and uh they lock eyes and the young man is sure that the woman is giving him the look and so he gets up and he goes over to her and on his way out he drops the key to his hotel room she stays there for a few moments and she gets up and puts the leather jacket on which is the basis of the commercial and she looks down the other end of the ball and bar and she sees at the end of the counter this balding middle-aged dumpy guy sitting there she gets up and walks down and takes that hotel room key and drops it off to him the next scene those two men are in the elevator the younger guy looks at the dumpy guy into his horror realizes he's holding the key to his hotel room well it was a funny commercial but the truth is there's nothing funny about lust as a pastor for more than 40 years i've seen the destructive power of lust i've seen how it destroys the lives of the individuals of families of entire churches the problem of insatiable sexual desire is hurting the witness of the church of jesus christ today just look in the news in the last few months we've had three major scandals all involving sex a world-famous apologist accused of the sexual abuse of women in a spa the leader of a great christian school accused of sexual debauchery that can't even be described a christian leader recently who's known for espousing family values guilty of child pornography all ruining the witness of the lord jesus christ today we're going to talk about in our series invincible the problem of lust remember in our series we're talking about the ten mountains the obstacles that separate us from the blessed life that god wants us to experience and today we're in the last message in this series and we're going to talk about the issue of lust and i'm hesitant to talk about conquering lust because the fact is we can't once and for all conquer the problem of lust but lust can once and for all conquer us if we're not careful and so today we're going to talk about how to gain victory over lust by moving from lust to purity now we need to define terms first of all what do we mean when we talk about lust this is going to surprise you but in the bible the greek word for lust is not necessarily evil it's neutral it all depends upon the context in which it's used the greek word is epithelia and it's translated lust sometimes it's used in a positive way way in the bible in first timothy 3 1 for example it's used in relationship to the office of the pastor paul says it is a trustworthy statement if anyone aspires to the office of overseer pastor leader of the church it is a fine work he and there's the word epithumia lusts to do it's a good thing to lust to crave to desire to be a pastor now this week you may have seen in the news a little dust up and over some controversy in one of our southern baptist churches that last week chose to ordain three women to the pastoral ministry and there's lots of outcry about it monday i had a call from the new york times pastor what do you think about this church that has ordained three women to become pastors and i said you know it really doesn't matter what i think about it what matters is what does the bible say about it and the bible says two very clear things about women in ministry number one god does call women into ministry he does it all the time from the very beginning of the christian movement women were called to ministry god chose women to deliver the first news of the resurrection of jesus from the dead remember what was happening on that easter sunday morning that weekend what were the apostles doing out preaching about jesus no they were curled up in a fetal position sucking their thumbs in the upper room they were absolutely distraught over the crucifixion it was the women who went to the tomb and when they saw that he was no longer there they ran and told the apostles about it and what did they do they didn't believe the women that's just women talking we can't believe them but god entrusted that message to women lydia was a businesswoman in acts 16 who founded the church at philippi yes it's okay for women to be involved in business and she was a church leader as well throughout history you see that throughout the history of our church you see women involved in ministry some of you high school seniors here today some of you girls have already been called to ministry i think about in our church you know in the past we had great women like millikan and libby reynolds and and hood this may shock you but my first youth minister was a woman in this church june hunt seated right there god called june hunt to ministry he continues to do that today shelley taylor ashley gross pam brewer my daughter julia they are called to ministry just as much as i am called the ministry in fact i think we ought to have a public ceremony in which we recognize women who have been called to ministry we do it for men there's no reason not to do it for women unless you think i'm a heretic dr chris will believe that too he thought there ought to be a public acknowledgement a laying on of hands of women who are called to ministry that's always been the truth so that's the first truth that you find in scripture the second truth is equally clear women are not to serve as the senior pastor of a church god has reserved the role of pastor for men it's not because they're better than women that's just god's plan because how do i know that because in verse 2 of first timothy 3 he says in the qualifications for a pastor an overseer among other things he has to be the husband of one wife he's to be male when you put this with first timothy two first corinthians 11 the senior pastor role is reserved for men by the way there are a lot of qualifications for a pastor other than just being a man he has to control his temper a man who can't control his temper is just as prohibited from being a pastor as a woman is there are all kind of limitations there but the role of pastor is for the man now why am i talking about this in reference to lust here's the point the point is craving something wanting something is not wrong unless it's outside god's prescribed boundaries and that's what you see with this word lust in three yes being wanting to be in mystery that's a good thing but there are some limitations there there are some boundaries the same thing is true when it comes to sex mostly in the bible the word epithumia lust is used in relationship to sex and let me give you this definition of lust it's an insatiable desire for any sexual activity that is outside the will of god lust is an insatiable desire for any sexual activity outside the will of god what is sexual activity outside the will of god jesus answered that in matthew 19 verses 4 to 6. now teenagers listen to this very carefully because you're going to have this thrown at you in college or wherever life might lead you jesus said to the pharisees have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and i point out the obvious here your gender is not a matter of choice it's a matter of chromosomes it's a matter of science it is a matter of the creator god is the one who decides our gender he's the one who makes us male and female and he's the one who said for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh god's the one who designed marriage it is between a man and a woman a male and female husband and wife and the two shall become one flesh so they are no longer two but one what therefore god has joined together let no man separate look god thought up the idea of sex to becoming one flesh but he said i've desire designed sex for a male and a female in the security of the marriage relationship that's what sex is reserved for and any deviation from that is wrong i've heard people i used to debate people on tv all the time about this well you know they would say reverend jesus never talked about homosexuality he never mentioned homosexuality true he never used the word he never spoke out against bestiality either but does that mean he was for it he never talked about pedophilia but you think he was for that i mean jesus could have spent all afternoon listing every sexual perversion known to man if he wanted to that's not how he handled it he said here is god's plan one man with one woman in a lifetime relationship called marriage and any sex outside of that misses the mark it falls short of what i've planned for your good not evil but for good and that's why jesus doesn't mention every perversion that you could think of we see that by the way in matthew 5 28 jesus said everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart sex is not wrong the desire for it is not wrong unless it's directed toward the wrong person it was christian philosopher jay budajesky who said lust isn't sexual desire per se but disorderly sexual desire the problem isn't the desire it's the disorder is there any better illustration of sexual disorder than pornography people who have studied pornography say that it is an addictive behavior one writer says a scientific consensus is emerging that today's porn is truly a public health menace what makes pornography so dangerous is that it tangles up our brain's wiring leading to addiction that is just as powerful as that for cocaine alcohol or nicotine but like all addictions pornography has diminishing returns it's not just that you need continually more exposure to it to get the same hit of dopamine that pleasure hormone it's not that you need more of it you need more variety in it you crave more and more perverse things to give you the same buzz that originally the first exposure to it did somebody wrote like water following downhill we are drawn to porn that is increasingly taboo specifically more violent and degrading we've seen the news just in the last couple of weeks of this christian leader who was addicted to a type of child pornography that is so evil so heinous i can't even mention that here in public that is where pornography leads and by the way i've heard throughout the years people have said to me well pastor there's no harm in looking looking there's no sin in that i'm just going to keep that to myself it's just my little pleasure what i do that doesn't mean i'm going to act out on what i see oh no only an idiot would say something like that when somebody says what you see doesn't affect how you act i said if that's true why do you think advertisers spend billions and billions of dollars on advertisements on television and on the internet why do they do that just to throw away their money no they know what you see what you put into your mind is eventually going to be something you act out on as well and that is the destructive power of pornography what role does lust this craving for sex outside god's boundaries how does it lead to sin i want you to notice what james says about that turn over to james chapter 1 verses 13 to 16. james wrote in verse 13 let no one say when he is tempted i am being tempted by god for god cannot be tempted by evil and he doesn't tempt anyone actually some in the early church in jerusalem on the verge of succumbing to sin we're saying well i guess god planned that he's sovereign i believe in the sovereignty of god maybe god is allowing me to fall into this sin james says stop it god has no role in your temptation whatsoever and then in verse 14 he tells us how temptation occurs he said but each one of us is tempted when we are carried away and enticed by his own lust and then when lust has conceived notice the sexual imagery there when lust is conceived it gives birth to not life but to sin and when sin is accomplished it brings forth death just as a sperm and an egg come together to produce life there are two ingredients that come together to produce sin and sin always results in death not just physical death but the death of everything important to us relationships dreams for the future and then he adds do not be deceived my beloved brethren now let's go back to verse 14 for a moment and let me give you this formula for sin in practical terms that james is talking about what he's saying is corrupt desires plus the right bait plus the wrong choice equals sin he says in verse 14 each one is tempted when he is carried away he's talking about our corrupt desires our lust that word translated carried away is the greek word elko it's the same word used in john 12 32 in which jesus said if i be lifted up i will draw all men to myself that's a drawing that's positive but alco it refers to to be drawn by an inward power in this case it's by a wrong inward power you see to use computer terminology each one of us has an internal operating system just like a computer does we have an internal operating system that controls everything we do but we've been infected with a virus in our internal operating system it's called sin the sin virus has messed up our natural impulses so that now whenever god says yes to something our first impulse is to say no and when god says no to something our first impulse is to say yes and so we've got these inward lust these cravings for things that are outside the will of god so temptation begins with these corrupt desires but that's not all each person is tempted when he's carried away and enticed that's what bait refers to in fact the greek word enticed is a fisherman's term it means to hook it refers to the hooking of a of of a fish you know how that works how you dangle the right bait in front of a fish in order to get it to bite i'll have to confess to you i absolutely hate fishing i remember uh when i went to my first or my second church in wichita falls there was an old deacon there who wanted to build a relationship with me and later became a great friend but he thought the way to do it was through fishing so he invited me to come out with him fishing one saturday morning at some ungodly hour wanted me to get up and get in this boat with him can you just imagine me out there in a boat with this guy and uh we were fishing and so i had my line in the water and it stayed there stayed there not a nibble not anything while on the other end of the boat my deacon friend was just pulling out fish one after another and i said bob what's the secret why are you so successful i'm such a failure at this he said preacher two things first of all if you're gonna catch fish you've gotta smell like a fish now you got up this morning i can tell you showered you shaved you put on that cologne no fish is going to get in a mile of you but he said this morning i didn't take a shower he really didn't need to tell me that i had already figured that one out earlier i didn't put on any cologne anything you've got to smell like a fish the second thing is you've got to use the right bait see not all fish are attracted by the same bait you've got to know what bait to use for what fish and when you drop that right bait down into the water that fish who is overwhelmed by his hunger he's blinded by his hunger he sees that piece of attractive bait and he bites at it not really there is a hook in the middle of it that will destroy its life now folks satan is the master fisherman can he read your mind he doesn't have to he's been watching you for a long time he knows what appeals to you he knows what times that you're particularly vulnerable and he knows what bait to drop in front of you at just the right time for some people the beta sex for other people the bait is money for other people it's recognition but he knows when you're weak when you've been disappointed when you've been hurt and at just the right time he's dropped that piece of bait in front of you corrupt desires plus the right bait plus the wrong choice equals sin and sin when it fully is accomplished brings forth death you know we see a great illustration of the power of lust to destroy a person's life in the story of samson do you remember his story in judges 13-16 samson was literally as well as spiritually blinded by his own lust judges 13 israel was going through a difficult time it was the time of the judges it was a time they were being attacked by the ungodly pagan philistines by the way israel has always been under attack israel will continue to be under attack never forget that the enemies of israel are the enemies of god himself and it is imperative during this current conflict we're in right now that we see happening there that we be on the right side of history and the right side of god and the right side of this history and the right side of god is to be on israel's side that land doesn't belong to the palestinians it doesn't belong to them they are usurpers of god's plan god gave it to israel 4 000 years ago when he marked out the land for abraham and one day they're going to possess that land forever doesn't cost you anything extra i just threw that in but it's true and these days they were being persecuted by the philistines and god told a woman that she was going to be the mother of the deliverer of israel his name would be samson he'd be dedicated to god a nazarite who didn't drink strong wine didn't cut his hair and so forth but when we see samson we find these words in chapter 14 verse 1 he went down to timnah the temna is not just a geographical location over and over in his life you see that phrase he went down he went down that is the older he got the further he moved away from god he went down to temna and the first recorded words out of samson's mouth were these words i saw a woman i saw a woman and she looked good to me literally that word good is right she looked right to me the only problem is this woman may have been right in samson's eyes but not in god's eyes for he she was a philistine an unbeliever and his parents begged samson not to take her as a wife he said i want her i know what i like and i want her and i want her now and so he married this philistine woman and she ended up being murdered you would think that would be enough to make him turn back to god no then he went down to gaza and there he got involved with a prostitute and ultimately he got involved with a third philistine woman who brought him down delilah she discovered the secret of his strength cut his hair and the spirit of the lord departed from him and he didn't even realize it he ended up being captured by the philistines the first thing they did was to gouge his eyes out he could no longer see his eyes that had gotten him into so much trouble were taken out of him and he became a grinder at the mill in a philistine prison all because of the destructive power of lust i saw and i wanted i saw and i wanted no one summarizes the tragic story of samson any more effectively than chuck swindoll he writes samson was a he-man with a she-weakness the strong man of dan was taken captive and became a slave in the enemy's camp his eyes were gouged out of his head and he was appointed to be the grinder in the philistine prison lust the jailer binds blinds and grinds the pride of israel who once held the highest office in the land and now the ball-headed was now the ball-headed clown of philistia a pathetic hollow shell of humanity his eyes would never wander again his life once filled with promise and dignity was now a portrait of hopeless helpless despair chalk up another victim for lust the perfumed memories of erotic pleasure in timna and gaza were now overwhelmed by the putrid stench of a philistine dungeon without realizing that solomon had already written the epitaph for samson's tombstone proverbs 5 his own iniquities will capture the wicked and he will be held with the cords of his own sin he will die for the lack of instruction and in the greatness of his folly he will go astray that's the ultimate end of lust how can we gain victory over lust that everyone deals with in one way or another let me share with you three practical principles for moving from lust to purity number one write this down remember that no one is immune from the destructive power of lust no one is immune from the destructive power of lust now i want to take a moment and say a word to our teenagers here today today senior sunday and we're so proud of our graduating seniors but i hope you're going to remember what i say there is a kind of teaching out there a belief system that says even among christians that well teenagers once they graduate from high school whether they go to college or do something else they're out on their own for the first time and this is a time for them to experiment to kind of sow their wild oats to figure out what they want and really you get a free pass for sinning during this time you're expected to do that you're expected to run a little bit wild and it's okay because after a few years you can always come back to god don't fall for that lie first of all the habits the practices you get involved in right now will be a part of your life forever you are forming habits and practices that won't stop once you get married i've seen this so many times people get involved in sexual immorality having a number of sexual partners or pornography they get married and as a couple they come in they we we thought that would end when we got married no it doesn't end when you get married so many couples their marriages because they bring all this sexual baggage from the past with them into the marriage sin is destructive it becomes a habit it's like wrapping a string around your hand the first time you can break loose of that string but you keep wrapping it over and over again you can't get loose from that string it's the same way with habits and practices they'll be a part of your life forever and secondly don't think you can come back to god anytime you want to it's not like a switch you flip on and off you can move so far away from god that you can never come back you know why not because he doesn't want you back it's because you don't want to come back and when you get to that place there's no hope whatsoever this is the time of your life contrary to what people are going to say to you you need to live as closely to god as possible because you're making the decisions that will impact your life forever whom to marry what career to choose this is the time you need to hear god as clearly as you possibly can nobody is immune from the destructive power of lust a man like david who was noble a strong man like samson a wise man like solomon all of them were destroyed by lust and by the way we often say that sex doesn't begin in the bedroom it begins in the mind that's not where it starts it starts with the eyes that's how it gets into the mind to begin with and lust is always trying to get into your mind through the television screen it loses through the internet it welcomes us through magazines it winks at us and that's why we've got to be very careful teenagers and all of us what we allow ourselves to look at in job 31 verse 1 job said i have made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman it's okay to glance maybe once it's that second glance that third glance that gaze of something that's wrong that leads to sin so that's why job said i've made a promise with my eyes i'm not even going to look and that leads to a second principle not only remember that nobody is immune from lust secondly replace lustful thoughts with god's thoughts you know martin luther famously said we can't keep the birds from flying over our heads but we can keep them from building the nest in our hair and that's the important thing to remember when a lustful thought comes into your mind you may not be able to control whether it comes into your mind you do control what you do with that thought and the only hope for getting it out of your mind is to confront that thought with the truth of god's word that's why david said in psalm 119 verses 9 to 11 how can a young man keep his way pure or young woman by keeping it according to your word with all my heart i have sought you do not let me wander from your commandments your word i have treasured in my heart that i may not sin against you when those thoughts come you don't have time to go look up a verse in the bible and search through there's something in here somewhere i know you need god's word right then just like jesus used it in the wilderness to replace satan's thoughts with god's thoughts and teenagers many of you have been brought up in this church you went through the awana program which is great scripture memory you're in our youth program but this is a time in your life i would encourage you to memorize scripture i probably memorized more scripture during the years i was in college than any other time in my life i ended up memorizing not just chapters but entire books of the new testament that still 40 plus years later come back to my mind not just what i'm preaching but when i'm in a challenging situation the only way to dispel wrong thoughts is to replace them with the right thoughts that come from god's word let me mention a couple to all of you that you might want to jot down and commit to memory first corinthians 6 18-20 flee immorality for every other sin that a man commits is outside the body but the immoral person sins against his own body or do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy spirit who is in you whom you have from god and that you are not your own for you have been bought with a price therefore glorify god in your body well here's a real simple one to memorize galatians 6 7 do not be deceived god will not be mocked whatever a person sows this shall he also reap sin has consequences don't be deceived replace lustful thoughts with god's thoughts and the final principle remember replace thirdly realize that lust is insatiable and destructive it is insatiable and destructive satan's lie from the very beginning was the one he whispered into eve's ear do this eat this forbidden fruit and all of your dreams will come true you will be satisfied listen to me there is no amount of sin that can satisfy an empty heart it's impossible plus the desire for that thing that is outside god's will it's insatiable and it's ultimately destructive i remember reading years ago an account of how eskimos kill a wolf that is terrorizing their little village and this is what the eskimo would do he would take a sharp large knife and he would cover the blade of that knife in animal blood he would wait till it froze and then he'd put a second layer of animal blood on there wait till it froze a third a fourth until the blade was completely concealed and then he would take that knife and place it upright in the frozen snow during the night a wolf attracted by the smell of the blood would come and he would begin to lick that blade not knowing there was a blade in the center of it and the more he tasted that blood the more ferociously he would lick that knife faster and faster and faster and faster he was so overcome with the desire for that blood he didn't even notice the sharp sting of the blade nor did it recognize when the blood it was consuming became the wolf's own blood instead he kept thirsting and thirsting and thirsting trying to satisfy himself with his own blood until ultimately he fell dead in the snow what a perfect picture of the insatiable and destructive way of lust each person is tempted when he is carried away and tempted by his own lust and when lust has conceived it brings forth sin and when sin is accomplished it brings forth death do not be deceived my beloved brethren let's bow together in a word of prayer i'm speaking to some of you right now who are involved in some kind of secret sin in your life you feel incredibly guilty you feel fearful you feel powerless to do anything if you're a christian today you don't have to continue in that sin the same power that raised jesus from the dead the holy spirit of god is residing in you if you're a christian to give you power over sin but i'm speaking to some of you right now who are not yet christians for you your only hope is the forgiveness that christ offers you that's what it means to become a christian when you trust in jesus as your savior god not only gives you a pardon for your past sins he gives you the power to overcome future sin and today i know i'm speaking to some of you who feel so dirty and unclean god says come let us reason together though your sins be a scarlet i will make them as white as snow if you desire to be forgiven by god and empowered by god i want to encourage you to trust in christ as your savior today to become that new person today if you would like to trust in christ as your savior i want to invite you wherever you are whether you're in our worship center or watching this broadcast to pray this prayer silently in your heart as i prayed out loud knowing that god is listening to you would you pray this with me dear god thank you for loving me i know i have failed you and i'm truly sorry for the sins in my life but i believe you loved me so much you sent your son jesus to die on the cross for me to take the punishment from you that i deserve to take and right now i'm trusting in what jesus did for me not in my good works but in what jesus did for me to save me from my sins thank you for forgiving me and help me to live the rest of my life for you in jesus name amen if you're watching online and you prayed that prayer with me please go to the link at the top of the page and click on where it says i've prayed the prayer i'll be notified of your decision and i have some special material to send you about what it means to become a christian so click on that link don't wait another moment to do so if you're in our worship center today and you prayed the prayer with me in fact everyone i'd invite to take out your card there's a place for you to check the third box i prayed the prayer with dr jeffress and i'll send you the same material we're sending our friends this week maybe you're a guest today check the first box you'd like more information about our church the second box many in our first service joined our church today by simply checking that final box i'd like to join first baptist dallas if you check that box we'll be in contact with you and everyone who checks that box today you're invited to a special luncheon next sunday may 23rd just after this service while i'll have a chance to meet you and welcome you into our fellowship now when you finish the card you can drop it in one of the receptacles going out or you can stop by the welcome center exchange your card for a copy of the hardbound book a place called heaven devotional thank you so much for doing that well today is our senior sunday when we recognize our graduating seniors and you know we have such a fine youth ministry here and you saw the young man in zambia he wrote us a letter thanking our church for the teaching he received under ryan and our youth ministry and we're sending students out all over the world to share the good news of jesus christ so we are appreciative of all of our youth staff all of our teachers and our youth sunday school and everyone who encourages our students i want to recognize right now our ministry of students ryan sadler who will come along with his team gabe and david and steve reed on our media team will come and make our presentations thank you so much pastor we are excited this afternoon to recognize our graduating seniors and some of those select seniors who have are being recognized and honored for a scholarship and so we are excited about that um it's my pleasure to serve as your student minister seniors we love you so much we care so much about you most importantly always remember jesus loves you more than anything in the entire world and you will always have a church home here at first dallas so the students the seniors who are going to be receiving scholarships this afternoon are those seniors who applied for a scholarship as well as they are committed to a growing relationship with jesus christ they are committed church members and faithful attendees of worship at first baptist dallas they're committed to faithfully attending first style students as well as their continuing education after receiving a high school diploma their commitment to a desire to live for christ in their college years and an overall endorsement of our adult leadership and our student ministry and an overall endorsement of minister to students as a worthy recipient so on that note steve reed will come and he will recognize our worship production scholarship recipients so it's my privilege to present four scholarships on behalf of our worship production ministry these students have exhibited servant leadership and service through our media ministry they are hilda barakat with over three years of service as producer graphics operator and audio engineer in our student services and technical director and camera operator in our day one service kate martinez with the four years of service as graphics and lighting operator in our student services and a camera operator and technical director in day one sophia garcia with over five years of service as student leader producer and trainer in our student services day one and worship center graphics operator and trainer day one and worship center camera operator day one broadcast audio engineer and day one worship and lighting and caden bunch cayden with six years of service as a day one and worship center camera operator and a producer trainer and audio engineer and graphics in our student services [Applause] good morning my name is david hutchinson and i lead our student worship ministry and this morning i'm proud to give our susan woodward scholarship which is awarded for an outstanding student worship student that dedicates and shows a christian service and they show faithfulness and attendance over the past six years this morning we are proud to award this 4 500 scholarship to chloe willis congratulations the judy jeffers scholarship in the amount of five hundred dollars goes to miss jania bottinelli and janine if you'll remain here with pastor because you will be receiving the veal scholarship in the amount of 500 as well the veal scholarship in the amount of five hundred dollars is awarded to ms hildonna bearcat the villa scholarship in the amount of 500 is awarded to ms jenny harkness the veal scholarship in the amount of 500 is ordered to miss mari tara the veal scholarship in the amount of 500 is ordered to mr samuel esparza the veal scholarship in the amount of 500 is ordered to mr noah horton the veal scholarship in the amount of one thousand dollars is ordered to miss charlotte riemann schneider the chase moody memorial scholarship in the amount of one thousand dollars for his friendliness and welcoming spirit is awarded to mr christian matthews the bj wagner scholarship in the amount of one thousand dollars is awarded to mr cayden bunch [Applause] and finally the martin c lavorne and mary carolyn lavorne scholarship in the amount of five thousand dollars is awarded to mr andrew horton seniors we're all so proud of you and your family your parents are proud of you as well at this time i would like all of our seniors and their families to stand to be honored by our congregation and teenagers students seniors remember as ryan said you always have a home here at first baptist dallas we'll be praying for you wherever you go so thank you graduating seniors and families and youth leadership thank you for being here today i know we ran a little long but it's raining outside no hurry to get outside but uh let's do pray we had tremendous response we had a thousand sign up for the vaccine today the city had to cut it off there were so many people signed up for it we have prayer stations throughout our campus to pray with any of those guests who come on campus who need somebody to pray with them for spiritual healing as well as for physical healing so pray that we can be an outreach this afternoon they'll be coming all afternoon to our church thank you for doing that we'll look forward to seeing you again next sunday as we begin our new series together great to see our friends gary and christy moore back with us from houston and uh thank you for worshiping with us too let's stand together now as tyler comes to lead us in our final song thank you pastor what a great morning of worship together let's sing his praise everyone this is my story this is [Music] this is [Music] [Applause] [Music] have a blessed day church hi campus family thank you so much for being here today and joining us in worship we hope that you are blessed by today's service make sure to invite your friends family and loved ones to join you each and every week right here on the first dallas icampus also stay connected with us all week long on our social media channels and join our new icampus global facebook group to know what's going on right here at first baptist dallas we love you guys so much and we'll see you next week you

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Length: 186min 41sec (11201 seconds)

Published: Sun May 16 2021