Would you turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 10? We've been here the last several
weeks, let's read verse 12 once again. Wherefore, let him that thinketh
he standeth. Take heed, lest he fall. And he is speaking not of an
individual or private. I don't even know how to say
that people talk about falling into sin. Well, I don't even.
I don't know that that's a very scriptural way to say something. I don't know how else to say
it, but he's he's not talking about a fall into sin, an action,
he's talking about leaving the gospel. That's what he's talking
about when he talks about. Let him that thinks he stand,
take heed, lest he fall, lest he fall from the gospel. And in this 10th chapter, 1st
Corinthians, he uses five different events from the Old Testament
to tell us something about what happens to somebody when they
fall from the gospel. And the verse of Scripture I
want us to look at tonight is verse 8 of 1 Corinthians chapter
10, where he says, Neither let us commit fornication as some
of them committed and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Now, I've entitled this message
fornication. What is fornication? The Greek word is where we get
the word pornography from, pornea. It is sex outside of the marriage
covenant. That's what is meant by fornication.
The intimate act of marriage outside of the marriage covenant.
Adultery is breaking the marriage covenant and fornication is the
intimate act of marriage without being in the marriage covenant. Now the intimate act between
a man and a woman in marriage is a gift from God. God invented it. It's not dirty. It's not sinful. It's holy. In the bonds of marriage, the
two become one flesh. That's what the scripture says.
Marriage has to do with union. the two people becoming one flesh,
and it pictures the relationship that exists between Christ and
his church. Let's look at a familiar scripture
in Ephesians chapter 5. The Bible has such a high view
of marriage because of what it pictures. Verse 31. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh." And that's what this intimate
act of marriage represents, union. This is a great mystery, Paul
says, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. This is
the subject matter, Christ and the church. Now, this is only
for people who have entered into the covenant of marriage and
are committed to each other for life. There is not genuine love involved. Not really. There's not genuine
love involved where this intimate act is done outside the bonds
of marriage because there's not a true commitment to each other.
There's a commitment, a lifelong commitment, and it's a great
sin. that will bring on God's judgment,
this thing of fornication, this thing of of this act outside
of marriage. I just read that passage of Scripture
in Hebrews chapter 13, verse four. Marriage is honorable and
all. And the dead is undefiled, but
whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge. Now, somebody may ask, can a
believer commit this sin? Yes. The only sin a believer
can commit is the sin against the Holy Spirit. David is an
example of that himself. He was a believer, but what sorrow
he brought on himself and upon his family through the commission
of this act with Bathsheba. Now you look, even in our days,
our day at the broken homes, at the ruined lives that have
come as a result of this sin. You think of the tragedy this
brought into people's lives. It has brought so much heartache
and so much tragedy, and it's just not worth it. Now, if you're
married, you'll ruin your life and the lives of others if you
indulge in this sin. And if you're not married, wait. This is God's way and it is the
right way. Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter
1 or chapter 6 verse 18, flee fornication, run from it, run
from it. But did you know that most of
the references in the scripture to fornication? They're metaphorical. I'm not
talking away from I'm not taking away from the enormity of this
physical sin. May God deliver us from this.
But most of the references to this sin in the scripture are
metaphors regarding spiritual fornication and spiritual adultery. And I want to show you a few
of these in the Old Testament and the New Testament. You'll see
what I'm saying. So turn to Exodus 34. Verse 15. Well, let's begin in verse 13,
Exodus 34, but you should destroy their altars. Break their images
and cut down their groves, for thou shalt worship no other God,
for the Lord, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God. Lest thou make
a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring
after their gods. Did you catch that? He's not
talking about a physical act at this time. He's talking about
spiritual adultery. They go whoring after their gods
and do sacrifice under their gods. And one called thee, and
thou eat of his sacrifice, and thou take of their daughters
unto thy sons, and their daughters go a-whoring after their gods,
and make thy sons go a-whoring after their gods. Thou shalt
make thee no molten gods. Look in Leviticus chapter 17. And they shall no more offer
their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring.
This shall be a statute forever unto them throughout their generations. Leviticus chapter 20, verses
4 and 5. And if the people of the land
do in any way hide their eyes from the man which he giveth
of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not, then I'll set my
face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him
off, and all that go a-whoring after him to commit whoredom
with Molech, which is a false god, from among their people."
Deuteronomy chapter 31. And I'm just giving you a sampling
of many scriptures with regard to this. Verse 16, And the Lord said unto
Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, and this people
will rise up and go a-whoring after the gods of the strangers
of the land, whether they be among them, and will forsake
me and break my covenant which I have made with them. Psalm
73. One other scripture in the Old
Testament, then we're going to look at a few in the New Testament. Psalm 73. Verse 27. For lo, they that are far from
thee shall perish, and thou hast destroyed all them that go a
whoring from thee and turn over to the book of Revelation. Chapter
14. This is talking about Babylon.
It's not talking about an individual person. This is talking about
Babylon, which represents man's religion, verse eight. And there
follows another angel saying Babylon is fallen, is fallen,
the great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine
of the wrath of her fornication. Look in chapter 17, verse two. Talking about Babylon once again.
Verse 1, And there came one of the seven angels, which had the
seven vows, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither,
I will show thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth
upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed
fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have made her drunk
with the wine of her fornication. Look down in verse 4. And the
woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color and decked with
gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in
her hand full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. Chapter 18, verse 3. For all nations have drunk of
the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of
the earth have committed fornication with her and the merchants of
the earth and so on. Chapter 19, verse 2. True and
righteous are his judgments, for he hath judged the great
whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication and hath
avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. Now, you can see
from these scriptures that I read that quite often when the Bible
is talking about this issue of fornication, it's talking about
spiritual fornication. Now, what is spiritual fornication?
That's a good question, isn't it? What is spiritual fornication? Well, what is physical fornication?
It's the intimate act outside of the marriage covenant. And
spiritual fornication, spiritual adultery, going a whoring after
other gods is what the scripture calls it. is when one seeks to
find solace, seeks to find comfort, seeks to find assurance, seeks
to find salvation outside of the covenant. Outside of the
covenant of grace. That marriage covenant between
God and His people that's made for Christ's sake. Now, the Lord
Jesus is my husband. He's entered into covenant with
me. He's my husband. And this is this is what is known
as the covenant of grace. You remember what David said
in second Samuel 23, chapter five? He said, although my house
be not so with God, yet have he made with me an everlasting
covenant. And he's talking about eternal
election when God's people were chosen in Christ before time
began and everything that was needed and required for their
salvation, God looked to Christ for. That's the blessings of
this covenant. I love thinking of the covenant
of grace. Everything that God requires of me, He looked to
His Son for in this covenant. All I need is found in this covenant.
Here's what David said. He said, Although my house be
not so with God, yet have He made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things, and sure, and this is all my salvation. And it's all my desire. Now,
I want to ask you, is this all your salvation? Is all your salvation found in
this glorious covenant that God made with Christ before time
began? When He agreed as the surety of His people to represent
them, everything I need for salvation, He agreed to accomplish for me.
And when He became my surety in this covenant, everything
God required of me, He looked to Christ for. Now, is that good
news to you? Is that something you like? This
is all my salvation. And you know what? It's all my
desire, just like David said. I don't desire to stand before
God in any other way but in this glorious covenant. And fornication,
spiritual fornication and spiritual adultery is looking for assurance. It's looking for pleasure. It's
looking for salvation. It's looking for comfort outside
of this covenant that's being spoken of. Now, Paul. Refers. To something that took place
in Numbers, Chapter 25, where he says twenty three thousand
people were killed because of this sin. Twenty three thousand,
look back at our text in First Corinthians, Chapter 10. He says in verse eight, neither
let us commit fornication as some of them committed and fell
in one day. Three and twenty thousand. I turn over the numbers. Twenty
five. This is what he's referring to. Numbers, Chapter 25. Verse
one. Now, this is right after the
story of Balaam, and this is very significant. We're going
to come back to that in a minute, but this is right after those
three chapters that are devoted to the story of Balaam. Now in
chapter 25, verse 1, And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people
began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. He's talking
about physical fornication there. The people began to commit whoredom
with the daughters of Moab. And look down in verse 9. Now,
the Lord sent a plague upon the people because of this. And those
that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand. Now, did you catch that? Paul
mentioned twenty three thousand. And when Moses is writing, he
mentions twenty four thousand. Somebody says, aha, a discrepancy
in the scripture. This proves that it's not really
the word of God, does it? Does it? Well, Moses said 24,000. He said that. Paul said 23,000. Did 23,000
die? Well, if 24,000 died, 23,000
sure died. No doubt about that. Now, why
did the Lord put it this way? Why, you know, the Lord's the
author of this. And he's the one who put it this way. And
really, this is not wrong. Remember, in the different, for
instance, in the two accounts of Blind Bartimaeus, one time
it says there was one blind man that came to the Lord, and the
other time it says there's two. Well, when one blind man came, that's
the truth. He didn't tell two came, but one did come. There
were 23,000 that died. Somebody says, well, it almost
seems like the Lord puts that there purposely to trick people.
I'm not too sure. I believe that's what's going
on here. You know, the Lord will give you enough rope to hang
yourself if that's what you're looking for. He will. If somebody
wants to take something like that and say, well, that proves
the Bible is not the word of God. It does not. Twenty three
thousand people did die. But that doesn't prove the Bible
is not the word of God. And that's no discrepancy. That's the truth.
That's the truth. Just like two people were blind,
came to Christ outside of Jericho. Well, one did too. One did also. So so don't so don't get stuck
on that. Maybe I didn't spend too much
time on it. Back to Numbers 25. Let's stay in Numbers 25, verse
1. And Israel abode in Shittim.
And the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of
Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifice of their gods.
And the people did eat and bowed down to their gods. And Israel
joined himself unto Baal Peor. And the anger of the Lord was
kindled against Israel. And because of that, the Lord
sent this plague among the children of Israel. And 24,000 people
died as a result of this plague. Now, how did this happen? What
happened here? Why did they do this? I mean,
after all the Lord had done for them and after all the Lord had
shown them, why did they go to the daughters of Moab? Why does
this happen? Well, we don't really need to
speculate because the Bible tells us exactly why it happened. Turn
over to Numbers chapter 31. Numbers 31. Beginning in verse 13. And Moses and Eleazar, the priest,
and all the princes of the congregation went forth to meet them without
the camp. And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host.
He was mad. And with the captains over thousands and captains over
hundreds that came from the battle. And Moses said unto them, Have
you saved all the women alive? Behold, these caused the children
of Israel through the counsel of Balaam. to commit trespass
against the Lord in the matter of pure, and there was a plague
among the congregation of the Lord. Now, here we find out why
they did this. Balaam counseled them to do this. Now, you know the story of Balaam.
Balaam is the prototype. He's the prototype of a false
prophet. If you want to know what a false
prophet is, Carefully read the writings of Balaam, everything
he says. You can read about him in Numbers
22 through 24. Now, first, let me show you from
the New Testament that he is the arch false prophet. This
isn't just my opinion. Turn with me to 2 Peter, Chapter
2. I'm going to ask you to look
at a lot of scriptures for the next few moments. 2 Peter, Chapter
2. Verse 14. Peter speaks of those having
eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, beguiling
unstable souls, a heart they've exercised with covetous practices,
cursed children which have forsaken the right way and are gone astray
following the way of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the
wages of unrighteousness. Turn with me to the book of Jude. Verse eleven. Woe unto them,
for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after
the error of Balaam for reward. Look in Revelation chapter two. These are the words of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And he says to the church at Pergamos, but I
have a few things against thee because thou hast them there
that hold the doctrine of Balaam. who taught Balaam to cast a stumbling
block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed
unto idols, and to commit fornication. He taught them to do this. So
Balaam is the chief prototype of what a false prophet is. Now,
what about Balaam? Why is that? What did he have
to say? Now, turn back to Numbers 22. I want to read some scriptures
regarding Balaam. Now, here's what is being referred
to. Verse 1, And the children of
Israel sat in forward, and pitched in the plains of Moab, on this
side of Jordan, by Jericho. And Baleth, the son of Zipporah,
saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. And Moab was
sore afraid of the people, because there were many. And Moab was
distressed. This is talking about the nation of Moab, because of
the children of Israel. They thought, We're in trouble.
They're going to get us. They're going to defeat us. We can't stand
up before them. And Moab said unto the elders
of Midian, Now shall this company lick up all that are round about
us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field. And Balaam
the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time. He
sent messengers therefore unto Balaam. the son of Beor to Pithor,
which is by the river of the land of the children of the people,
to call him, saying, Behold, there's a people come out from
Egypt. Behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide
over against me. Come now, therefore, I pray thee,
curse me this people, for they're too mighty for me. I can't beat
them. For avenger I shall prevail, to talk of if you curse them,
that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land.
For I want that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom
thou cursest is cursed. And the elders of Moab and the
elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in
their hand. They had a bunch of money, a bunch of gold. They
were going to pay him whatever it took to get him to curse these
people. And they came unto Balaam, and spake unto him the words
of Balak. And he said unto them, Lawd, hear this night, and I
bring you word again, as the Lord shall speak unto me. And
the princes of Moab abode with Balaam. And God came into Balaam
and said, What men are these with thee? And Balaam said unto
God, Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, is sent unto me,
saying, Behold, there's a people come out of Egypt, which covereth
the face of the earth. Come now, therefore, curse them. Peradventure,
I shall be able to overcome them and drive them out. And God said
unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them. Now, that's a command,
isn't it? Thou shalt not go with them.
Thou shalt not curse the people. For they are blessed. And if
God blesses a people, they are blessed, aren't they? And Balaam rose up in the morning
and said unto the princes of Balak, Get ye into your land,
for the Lord refuseth to give me leave to go with you. And
the princes of Moab rose up and they went unto Balak and said,
Balaam refuses to come with us. So Balak said yet again, princes,
more and more honorable than they. And they came to Balaam
and said to him, Thus saith Balak, the son of Zippor. Let nothing,
I pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me, for I promote
thee unto a very great honor, and I'll do whatsoever thou sayest
unto me. Come therefore, I pray thee,
curse me, this people. And Balaam answered and said
unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me houses full
of silver and gold, I can't go beyond the word of the Lord my
God to do less or more. That sounds awful honorable,
doesn't it? He said, I can't go an inch beyond what God says. And God already told him, I'm
not going to let those people be cursed. They're blessed. And
look what Balaam says now. Now, therefore, I pray you, he
says to them, Terry, ye also hear this night that I may know
what the Lord will say unto me more. In other words, I am not
satisfied with what he says. I want to find out if he'll change
his mind. And what it is, this man was
controlled by covetousness. He thought maybe he'll change
his mind and maybe he'll make some more money out of this.
He was controlled by covetousness. Now, on three different occasions
during these three chapters, Balak told Balaam, And he took
him to other places to see if the Lord would curse him there,
and he wouldn't. And you remember the story about
Balaam's ass, how the Lord was angry with Balaam for going.
Now, the Lord said, don't go. He went anyway, and he had the
ass to warn him. There was an angel standing to
smite him and kill him for going. But all he wanted to do is he
wanted to leave the door open so maybe he could get something
out of him. Now, everything Balaam said was
good. Now, this is what is so interesting about this man, and
this is what is so scary. If you read Numbers 22 through
24, you find me one thing that Balaam says that you disagree
with. You won't find one thing. Everything he said was right
on the money. How can he be a false prophet
then? Now we know he is from what the Bible says. I read those
three passages of Scripture in the New Testament. We know he's
a false prophet, yet everything he says is right on the money.
Well, what's the problem with him then? It's not what he said,
it's what he left out. It's what he did not say. He left out that which is essential. And that's what makes him such
a dangerous false prophet. I tell you what, let me give
you this warning about a false prophet. I mean, if he just comes
out with obvious error, it's no problem, is it? You can see
that. The danger of the false prophet is when everything he
says is right on the money, but he leaves out that which is necessary. Balaam was a man controlled by
covetousness. So what he did, he wasn't going
to come out and curse the children of Israel, but he counseled Balak. And we know that from that passage
of Scripture I read in Numbers chapter 31. Here's what you need
to do. You need to get your people with the Moabites and you get
the cultures together. You get the people together,
let them mix. And you know what happened as
a result of that? They ended up joining up with the women
from Moabite and they ended up sacrificing to their gods. Now, what is the doctrine of
Balaam? The doctrine of Balaam is the spirit of compromise. It's the spirit of toleration
with that which is false. If you and I tolerate that which
is false and compromise our principles, we will end up joining ourselves
to a false God just like Israel did. It's called spiritual fornication. Now let me take this, turn to
2 Corinthians chapter 11. This will tell you what spiritual
fornication is. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. And I
fear this. I fear this for me. I fear this
for you. And Paul feared this. Look here
in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. He says in verse 2, For I am
jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I have espoused
you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin
to Christ. But I fear. lest by any means, as the serpent
beguiled Eve through his subtlety, through his deceit, so your minds
should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Now, you want to know what spiritual
adultery is and spiritual fornication? Well, let's talk about this thing
of the simplicity that's in Christ. You know what that word means,
simplicity? It means the singularity. It means the onlyness, single
as opposed to double, simple as opposed to compound. There
are compound elements and there are simple elements. Compound
are made of two or more things. He speaks of the onlyness, the
simplicity of Christ. Now, what in the world does that
mean? Well, Christ is simple in the sense that He's God. He's
God. But what this is talking about
more than anything else, Christ only. is my salvation. Christ's righteousness is the
only righteousness I know anything about. His righteousness. This Bible, this book that we're
studying right now, really does only have one message. And that
message is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the only message.
There are no other messages. What about people that preach
other messages and they're not preaching the message of this
book? This book has only one message, Christ and Him crucified.
Paul said, I've determined not to know anything among you save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I have one reason for assurance. Now I've got assurance of my
salvation and here's why I have assurance. Because what Christ
did is enough to make me perfect before God. I have assurance
that His precious blood washed away all my sins. I have assurance
that His perfect righteousness is enough to make me pure and
perfect before God. He's the only object of my faith.
It's not Christ and anything. He only is everything in my faith. I trust him and him alone. Now,
this is what the onlyness of Christ is all about. And Paul
said, I fear about you being corrupted from the simplicity,
the onlyness of Christ. Now, I love those five watchwords
of the Reformation. Scriptures alone. Christ alone. Grace alone. Faith alone and
the glory of God alone. The Scriptures alone. It's not
the Scriptures and what our church believes or what our preacher
believes or what our denominational distinctions are. Scriptures
alone. Christ alone is everything in
my salvation. Not Christ and anything. Christ
alone. God's grace alone is everything
in my salvation. From election to glorification
and everything in between. It's grace alone. It's faith
alone, not faith and. It's not faith alone. Salvation
is not received by doing, but by believing. Faith alone. The
glory of God alone as the only motive. You believe that? I believe there are some people
who really believe that. Scriptures alone. Grace alone. Christ alone. Faith alone. The glory of God
alone. This book only has one message. And oh, the simplicity of Christ. Here's another way to say the
simplicity of Christ. Colossians 311 says it this way. Christ
is all. He's all in my salvation. I really
believe he is all in my salvation. Everything God requires of me,
he looks to Christ for. He's all in our doctrine. You
know, any doctrine divorced from Jesus Christ is a blighting,
killing thing. He's all in our doctrine. I don't care if you're talking
about justification or election or redemption, whatever you're
talking about, sanctification. He is the sum and substance of
it all. He is all in our assurance. He's all in our motivation. And to not see that is to commit
spiritual adultery. Now, go back to Numbers, Chapter
25. The story's not over. You see what they did? Numbers,
Chapter 25. And Israel joined himself, verse
3, unto Baal Peor. And the anger of the Lord was
kindled against Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord
against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned
away from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay
ye every one his men that were joined unto Baal Peor. And behold,
one of the children of Israel came, and brought unto his brethren
a Midianite woman, a woman from Moab, in the sight of Moses and
in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel who
were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
They were so upset over what had happened. And when Phineas,
the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he
rose up from among the congregation and he took a javelin in his
hand and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust
both of them through the man of Israel and the woman's lower
belly So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel and
those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand
and the Lord spake unto Moses saying Phinehas and I wonder
which one of us thought isn't that severe? Isn't that kind
of harsh? I mean, good grief, I mean, he
brings in this low bodied woman and Phineas takes a spear and
thrusts it through the man that brought her in and he thrusts
it through the woman's belly and kills them both. That's pretty
intense. You've got to admit, isn't that
harsh? But look what the Lord says about this action. Now,
we have our opinion, but look what God says. Verse 10. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest,
hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while
he was zealous for my sake among men. that I consume not the children
of Israel my jealousy. Wherefore, say, Behold, I give
unto him my covenant of peace, and he shall have it, and his
seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood,
because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for
the children of Israel. As a matter of fact, the psalmist
talks about Phineas stopping judgment through this action. Now, somebody that commits spiritual
adultery, And we see what that is, is being corrupted from the
simplicity that's in Christ. Physical adultery is not far
behind. I mean, one's going to go with the other. But when I
see Phineas and his zeal for the glory of God away with this
lukewarm, tolerant of that which is false attitude, there's no
zeal for God in that. You see that? There's no zeal
for his glory. And when I tolerate that, which
is contrary to his gospel under the guise of a loving spirit,
I don't want to judge him. I'm committing spiritual adultery.
That's what the Bible says. Phineas is commended for this
action. Now, can a believer fall into
this? Can a believer fall into spiritual adultery and spiritual
fornication? Well, let me ask another question. Can a believer
fall into physical adultery and fornication? Yes, they can. Yes,
they can. Now, let's say, let's say I would leave my wife
and shack up with some woman And then I saw the error of my
ways and I'd come back and ask Lynn, please forgive me. Please forgive me. I believe she would. I hope she
would. I believe she would. That's it. You ought to forgive.
You ought to forgive. But what if I said I'm not leaving
that relationship? Should she forgive me? Should
she receive me then? Well, you know she shouldn't.
Not if I say, well, I'm saved. I'm saved by grace, but I'm staying
right where I'm at. Well, of course she's not going
to receive me. And she shouldn't. It would be
wrong for her to do so. Now, let's take that the other
way. Can a believer commit this spiritual adultery and fornication?
Well, how many times have you been guilty of it? I mean, if
we even ask a question like that, we're showing how ignorant we
are. Every one of us have been spiritual adulterers and spiritual
fornicators and so on. Every one of us have been guilty
of that. And we ask the Lord for forgiveness.
Lord have mercy, forgive me. Forgive me. But if somebody stays
there and won't leave, there's no forgiveness for that. There
is no forgiveness. If someone will not leave that
which is contrary to the gospel, and they stay right there, well,
they prove by that the Lord's never done anything for them. Now, how do I close this message? Well, let him that standeth take
heed lest he fall. Take heed. Lord, deliver me. Deliver me from this in the physical
aspect. Deliver me from this in the spiritual
aspect. Deliver me from fornication. Paul said, let us not commit
fornication as some of them did and fell in that day 23,000.
Oh, how we need the mercy of the Lord to preserve us. And what a husband we have. What a husband we have. To be unfaithful to Him? That's
unconscionable, isn't it? To be unfaithful to the Lord
Jesus Christ. May God give us grace. May this
be the very prayer of my heart and your heart. Lord, enable
me more than anything else I'm asking. Enable me to be faithful. I want to be a chaste virgin
unto the Lord Jesus Christ. And I am scared to death for
myself and for you of being corrupted from the simplicity, the singleness,
the completeness of the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. Let's
pray.