Sexual Revolution: Part 5 – Messed Up: Transcript & Outline

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SEXUAL REVOLUTION

Messed Up

Ed Young

September 14, 2006

Well, at Fellowship Church, we’ve been bringing sexy back, haven’t we? We’ve brought the bed back into church, and the church back into bed. I’ve been talking about a sexual revolution. A revolution is a sudden change for the better. And that’s what God wants to take place in your life and mine.

If you have your Bibles, turn to the book of Genesis. We talk a lot about the book of Genesis, specifically Genesis chapter 1 and 2, because in these two chapters, there is basically one goal in mind. God wants us to hit, as human beings, on all cylinders. In other words, he wants us to be fully and totally alive.

We’ve learned that we’re fully physical and also fully spiritual. We’re made in the image of God. And speaking of being made in the image of God, check out this verse. Genesis 1:26 (NAS), “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle…” (and it continues).

“Our image…Let us make man in Our likeness….”

What’s going on? Well, this verse is referring to the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. We’re made in the image of God. We’re a trinity—mind, body, and soul. We’re uniquely male or uniquely female. And in the marriage bed, the big sex bed that God talks about, you have the nature and character of God merging when you have a husband and wife making love together—a oneness, a mystery, a depth, an energy that is reserved for the covenant of marriage. So, we have a God-given gift—sex—which was given to us before sin entered the human equation, and we’re to use this God-given gift in a life-uniting covenant called marriage.

Now let’s go to Genesis 2:25, because this verse talks about being naked. Animals can’t get naked. It’s a gift that God has given us. It’s a gift—nakedness. The Bible says: “And the man and his wife were both naked and they were not ashamed.”

Now, that’s interesting, because if you’re naked, just in a physical sense, you’re ashamed. We want to cover our nakedness. That’s why we wear clothes. Yet, Scripture tells you and me that the man and his wife were naked. Adam and Eve were naked and they felt no shame. Why? Because of marriage.

We’re to get naked in marriage. Nakedness assumes intimacy. What does intimacy mean? It means to be fully known. We want intimacy. We want intimacy with others. Intimacy in a sexual context is for the marriage bed. We’re to get naked physically and emotionally and spiritually and economically and psychologically.

The Bible says repeatedly that we’re not to take sex out of context. We’re not to make big sex little sex. We’re not to minimalize sex. We’re not to reduce sex. We’re to keep sex big.

Well how do we keep sex big? We do it God’s way. We trust God. If you’re a married man or a woman, you trust God. If you’re a single adult, you trust God. If you’re a student, you trust God. If you’re a child, you trust God.

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SEXUAL REVOLUTION

Messed Up

Ed Young

September 14, 2006

Well, at Fellowship Church, we’ve been bringing sexy back, haven’t we? We’ve brought the bed back into church, and the church back into bed. I’ve been talking about a sexual revolution. A revolution is a sudden change for the better. And that’s what God wants to take place in your life and mine.

If you have your Bibles, turn to the book of Genesis. We talk a lot about the book of Genesis, specifically Genesis chapter 1 and 2, because in these two chapters, there is basically one goal in mind. God wants us to hit, as human beings, on all cylinders. In other words, he wants us to be fully and totally alive.

We’ve learned that we’re fully physical and also fully spiritual. We’re made in the image of God. And speaking of being made in the image of God, check out this verse. Genesis 1:26 (NAS), “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle…” (and it continues).

“Our image…Let us make man in Our likeness….”

What’s going on? Well, this verse is referring to the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. We’re made in the image of God. We’re a trinity—mind, body, and soul. We’re uniquely male or uniquely female. And in the marriage bed, the big sex bed that God talks about, you have the nature and character of God merging when you have a husband and wife making love together—a oneness, a mystery, a depth, an energy that is reserved for the covenant of marriage. So, we have a God-given gift—sex—which was given to us before sin entered the human equation, and we’re to use this God-given gift in a life-uniting covenant called marriage.

Now let’s go to Genesis 2:25, because this verse talks about being naked. Animals can’t get naked. It’s a gift that God has given us. It’s a gift—nakedness. The Bible says: “And the man and his wife were both naked and they were not ashamed.”

Now, that’s interesting, because if you’re naked, just in a physical sense, you’re ashamed. We want to cover our nakedness. That’s why we wear clothes. Yet, Scripture tells you and me that the man and his wife were naked. Adam and Eve were naked and they felt no shame. Why? Because of marriage.

We’re to get naked in marriage. Nakedness assumes intimacy. What does intimacy mean? It means to be fully known. We want intimacy. We want intimacy with others. Intimacy in a sexual context is for the marriage bed. We’re to get naked physically and emotionally and spiritually and economically and psychologically.

The Bible says repeatedly that we’re not to take sex out of context. We’re not to make big sex little sex. We’re not to minimalize sex. We’re not to reduce sex. We’re to keep sex big.

Well how do we keep sex big? We do it God’s way. We trust God. If you’re a married man or a woman, you trust God. If you’re a single adult, you trust God. If you’re a student, you trust God. If you’re a child, you trust God.

Our sexuality is something we are before it’s something we do. And when God talks about sex to the single or sex to the student, he says, “Later. Save sex for later. Don’t get naked before the marriage bed. Don’t get naked with your fiancé, with your girlfriend, with your boyfriend. Don’t get naked on prom night or any other night. Wait until you have this life-uniting covenant as a man and as a woman, as you connect in sexual intercourse.”

Because, all of us in this room are setting a course for sexual intercourse—we’re either doing it God’s way or not. What kind of course are you setting as you think about sexual intercourse? That’s a pretty good question to ask.

Sexual sin—when we get out of God’s bed and out of the big bed and into the little bed, sexual sin is like no other sin. I’ve talked to a lot of people about sin, because after all, sin is my business. I’ve talked to a lot of people about sin, and I’ve talked to the people who are involved in drugs. I’ve talked to people who have taken another person’s life. I’ve talked to people who have robbed and done all of this.

But there is no sin like sexual sin, because the sexual nerve is woven into the very depth of who we are. Sex is not just sex. It’s a soulish thing. It’s a Trinitarian thing. It’s a part of our mind, a part of our body, and a part of our spirit. We can’t get away from it. Yet we tell people, “Hey, I’m just going to have sex.” And we think we can park our soul outside the bedroom and just have sex. Well, again, there’s no such thing as just sex.

Maybe you were involved sexually before you got married. If you were involved in premarital sex, once you got married, you discovered something. The sexual rules have changed. Now in marriage, great sex is based on nonsexual things—romance, intimacy, conversation, environment. If you involved yourself in premarital sex, premarital sex is so powerful; it can cloud and mess up the nonsexual stuff that you should be working on prior to marriage. And now that you’re married, because you didn’t work on the nonsexual stuff, you’re involved sexually. But you realize now, “Uh oh, it’s about nonsexual stuff. Great sex is about nonsexual stuff.”

So, we have a lot of people moving to pornography and lust. A lot of people—especially the guys—don’t want to work. They don’t want to get intimate. They don’t want to communicate. So they sit down and they channel-surf for breasts and butts, and they go to kennel clubs and they live and feed on lust and have extramarital relationships. Because let’s face it, it’s easy. We don’t have to work on it. It’s just sex.

But it’s not just sex. I can’t park my soul outside the bedroom. When you engage in sex outside of marriage, it’s unnatural. You’re taking just one aspect of sex—the physical—and you are doing it with someone in a physical domain, and you think it’s just physical. But see, you can’t do something that does not affect your soul and your mind. You can’t use God. You can’t rape sex. Because when you take sex out of its context, you’re raping it. You’re abusing it. We’re going to find out, you’re spitting on the cross. You’re doing a blasphemous act. You’re thumbing your nose at the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And also, you’re abusing your trinity—your mind, your body, and your soul.

The Bible says in I Thessalonians 4 a lot of stuff about sex. And sometimes people read the Bible, like I Thessalonians, and they’ll say, “Man, that’s so archaic, because the apostle Paul is talking about sexual purity. I mean, how irrelevant is that in today’s culture?”

I mean, why should I even do this message, really? Why should I even talk about this? Because stats show that most of you will do it anyway. Why are we even having this conversation? I could just close the Bible and walk off the stage, because you’re going to do it. What’s a sermon going to do? Really. I mean, you’re a single adult, you’re a student. What’s one sermon going to do? Is it really going to change how you feel, how you act, how you behave sexually? One sermon?

Yeah, it has that kind of power. Because I’m talking about and teaching about the Word of God. I’m talking about a power that is available to all of us. I’m talking about a power that fuels big sex. So, people sometimes read the Bible and think, “Ah, sexual purity; that’s so archaic. Yeah, back in the biblical day, no problem, no big day. But now? We live in a sexually liberated culture! I mean, this is like another day. I mean, the Apostle Paul, if he was living today, he wouldn’t know what to do, man. I mean, 40 years after the sexual revolution and we’re going to bring sexy back. Come on, man.”

Well, if you ever have said that, you’re showing your stupidity and your chronological ignorance. Because when the Apostle Paul wrote I Thessalonians 4, his culture was much more decadent than ours. That culture was more wheels-off sexually than our culture today.

“What do you mean?”

Well, Paul, if you read the New Testament, (because he wrote a bunch of it) basically is addressing two different schools of thought. One school of thought was the platonic school of thought. I’m not talking about Play-Doh. I’m talking about Plato! Plato said, as we’ve learned, the body is bad; the soul is good. And in this vibe, a lot of people believed it. And a lot of you have a layer of Plato on you, because the church has perpetuated this platonic-type mentality when it comes to sex. The church has been silent to talk about what God was not silent to discuss. And if you every know anybody who’s done a push-back here at Fellowship Church because we’re talking about sex, just ask them, “What are you smoking?” Because obviously, they’re clueless concerning the beauty and the depth and the big-ness of sex.

And half the group that Paul was addressing was the group who was involved in the mystery religions. Now the mystery religions were crazy, because you would go to temple to worship and have sex with hookers and whores while you were worshipping. And they believed this would bless your finances and bless your crops. And I’ll bet the men were flocking to church! Bet they weren’t giving excuses there, were they? It was nuts!

Think about Rome. A Roman man, a normal Roman man would have three women—three wives. One would be his “baby mama.” Another one would be like his intellectual companion. Another one would be his sex slave.

Homosexuality was rampant. A lot of people in the church of Thessalonica were former homosexuals, former fornicators. So there was this sexual wheels-offness going on when Paul said these words.

I Thessalonians 4:3-8 (NIV): “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified…”

What does the word “sanctified” mean? It basically means to be set apart. Once we receive Christ, the Holy Spirit comes into our lives and he redecorates our lives from the inside out.

[The passage continues] …that you should avoid sexual immorality…”

Now this word “immorality” is a very interesting word. In the Greek, it’s pronounced pornia. We get the word “pornography” from it. What does pornia mean? Pornia means premarital sex…yes. Fornication…yes. Adultery…yes. Homosexuality…yes. And a list of other sins. There is no sin like sexual sin. There is no sin like it. If you want your judgment clouded; if you want to be confused and messed up, just get involved in sexual sin. Because it engulfs the totality of who we are. So, we should avoid sexual immorality. That means to stay away from it, to distance ourselves from it.

Verse 4: “…that each of you should learn to control his own body…”

That means we can learn this. It’s a process from the inside out.

Now, our bodies matter. Matter matters. Don’t think it’s like the soul is good, but my body is bad. No no no no. A body is good and our soul is good. Remember, we’re fully physical and fully spiritual. If you want to get more in depth on this, I wrote a book called Rating Your Dating. In this book, I compare our sexuality to a sports car.

For example, have you ever seen a Maserati before? I saw a Maserati the other day. Those are great cars. I’ve never driven one, but I like them. And if you want to give me one, go ahead and do that. But, a Maserati is made for the freeway. It’s made really for a racetrack—right? The Autobahn. It’s not made to go off-roading. What if you gave me a Maserati, and I said, “Hey, thanks! I’m going to take it off-road.”

You’d go, “Ed, man, you’re nuts! You are crazy! I wouldn’t do that. I would take care of the Maserati. I’d pet the Maserati, shine the Maserati, wash the Maserati. I’d put the best fuel in the Maserati, Ed, if at all possible. I would drive the Maserati, probably too fast. I would like it. But a Maserati is for the road.”

How do you think God feels? He’s given us this awesome gift, this Maserati called sex and we just say, “Ah, forget you God. I’m going off road.”

How does God feel? Sex is a gift. Honor it. Our body matters. The Bible says our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit of God. Don’t trash the temple. Take care of the Maserati.

Verse 4 continues: “…that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable (That’s big sex, right?), not in passionate lust like the heathen (little sex), who do not know God; and that in this matter…”

Paul’s talking about sex to the people who had this like mystery religious stuff pulling on them and all this platonic stuff pulling here and there, and all these people who had all the wives and fornication and adultery and homosexuality…

He said, “…and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him…”

Wow! Do you have your keys? Take your keys out and just dangle the keys for a second. Go ahead, just dangle them. Just dangle ‘em some more.

That’s a key verse right there! That’s why I had you do that. It’s a key verse, man!

[1 Thessalonians 4:6] “No one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him.”

Now, that’s weird. Paul says be sanctified, be set apart, be holy. And then, all of a sudden, he says no one should wrong his brother. Don’t take advantage of him. Key! Key! That means that I’m responsible for my sanctification and yours, my sanctification and the people that I influence. You influence people that I don’t; I influence people that you don’t. Now think about that one. We’re Trinitarians, right? Body…mind…soul. What I put into my mind, what I think, what I do with my body, my soul; that can influence other people’s sanctification, other brothers’ and sisters’ sanctification.

For example, the way women dress. Oh, it got quiet! Ladies…now I’m talking to Christians, now, to believers. If you’re not a Christian, we don’t expect you to dress like a Christian until you become a Christian. Now we have many people here who attend Fellowship Church who are dancers, others who own sexually-driven businesses. We welcome you, we love you, we pray for you. We’re going to tell you the truth, and we pray that today is a life-changing day for you. But I’m talkin’ right now to Christian women and the way you dress.

Do you realize, ladies, by the way you dress…by the way you put your clothes together, you can cause a man, for example, to stumble. You can mess up his sanctification. Don’t mess up my sanctification!

“Well, you’re a pastor.”

I’m a man! Don’t mess up other people’s sanctification.

“Well, what are you saying? We should wear burlap sacks?”

No! I’m all for fashion. I want fashion. I’m an artist, man, I enjoy shopping and clothes. I’m great with fashion. But, where do faith and fashion collide? That’s a good question. What do you show? Because what you show, what you reveal, ladies, is what you attract.

“Well, I’m just going to show my breasts and my butt.”

You’re going to attract that. That’s what you want? You want a guy going, “Oh, breasts and butt, breasts and butt, breasts and butt”?

You’d better have guys who look at your face! All these women showing all this stuff, messing up people’s sanctification. What you reveal is what you give away. You’ll strip your soul. You’ll strip yourself. You’re abusing yourself. When you get dressed, ladies, look at yourself in the mirror and ask, ”Does this glorify God? Can I glorify God with this outfit? I mean, am I?”

Or, maybe if you don’t get it because some of you are confused… I’ll talk about that in a second. See, we’ve got to think about confusion. A lot of you are confused, but you don’t know you’re confused. That’s why you’re confused. If you knew it, you wouldn’t be confused. Does that make sense? Yeah, it did.

If you can’t make that call yourself, ask a trusted friend, a trusted girlfriend who’s a mature believer. What do you show? What do you reveal? That’s what you attract. That’s what you’re giving away. So many women are so hollow because they’re just showing everything. Clothe yourself.

I talked to a friend of mine a while back, and we were talking about lust. Here’s what he told me. He said, “Ed, you know where the number one place is that I struggle with lust?”

I said, “No. Where?

He said, “At our church.”

So, we have got a solution for this, ladies. Next summer, we’re going to crank the air down to like 52 degrees!

I hope you know I’m not being legalistic and I don’t expect, nor do we expect you to become one. I’m talking to Christian ladies. And moms, you’ve got to lead out and step out with your family. What are your kids wearing? A lot of you can’t say very much to your daughters because of the way you’re dressed.

Let me keep going and get off that kind of sensitive subject.

Let’s get back to the I Thessalonians passage. Verses 6-8 say, “The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you His Holy Spirit.

Then Jesus said this in Matthew 5:8: “Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.”

I can have intimacy with the God of the universe because of my sanctification, my holiness. There’s a direct correlation between that and seeing God. It’s about making right choices. So, I’m setting the course for, ultimately, intercourse in marriage.

Sexual immorality. Let me talk to the students and singles for a second about premarital sex. That’s a popular subject, because a lot of us are doing it around here. Premarital sex.

I talked to a guy the other day who was looking, man. He was looking for a woman to get married to. Here’s what he told me, “Ed, I’m looking for a woman who knows her way around the bedroom. I want a woman,” he said, “who is sexually experienced.”

Now, how many of you believe that? No! I just told you a lie. No one would say that! Nobody would say that. You think a woman would say that? “Yeah, I want a man who’s been with a lot of women.”

Yet, we have all these guys running around thinking they’re more of a man because they’ve had more women. What a joke! What a joke. Premarital sex—you know what it does, students and singles? These things even rhyme. It abuses and it confuses. Say it with me. It abuses and confuses.

That’s what it does every single time. Some of the time? No. Every single time. It abuses. I’ve already said this. It abuses the Trinity. You abuse your mind. You abuse your body. You abuse your soul. You abuse the other person. You strip them of their humanity while you’re stripping yourself of your humanity. You’re getting naked outside the context of where nakedness should take place. You’re spitting on the cross. You’re abusing the Trinity. You’re trashing this Maserati; trashing this gift that God’s given you. You’re totally abusing it.

Now, some of you are doing some stuff right now that two years ago you said you’d never do. Some of you are sleeping in a bed right now that you said you would never sleep in years ago, because your beliefs drove your behavior. But now, you’ve stepped out and you’ve stepped into the little bed and you’re behaving this way, and now you’re desperately searching for beliefs that will justify your behavior. That’s wrong. That’s sin. It’s sexual sin.

Do you want some disease? That can happen. Just sin sexually. Pregnancy? That can happen. That’s what happens when men and women get together. They can get pregnant. You’ll sign up for some shame and guilt, and you abuse your mind and body and your soul.

Sex is soul-ish, man! It’s like James Brown. James Brown is called the godfather of soul. James Brown is soul. Soul just comes out of his pores! Wherever you put James Brown, he is a man of soul! Sex is the same way.

You can’t just say, “Oh, I’m going to park my soul on the outside. You’re just genitals, and I’m just genitals. Let’s just use each other and everything is cool in the little bed.”

No no no no no! You’re taking something away from God. You’re taking something out of its context, and you’re saying it’s just physical. But this physical act is all about economic stuff and psychological stuff and emotional stuff. It’s about One-ness. It’s about the Trinity. So I would beg you, single adults and students, don’t go there. Don’t get naked until your wedding night. Don’t have sex with your fiancée, the girl you’ve been dating for five years, or this person that, you know, feels so right. Don’t do it!

Now we’re going to get practical; very, very practical.

Singles and students alike—only date like-minded believers. That’s what the Bible says. Again, all this stuff is in my book, Rating Your Dating. I don’t have time to go there, but let me give you the brief Cliff’s Notes.

God insists on spiritual compatibility, only hanging out with people who have a like-mindedness, who have the same vision and values about sexual intercourse as you, and ultimately God, do. We’re to date those people. Now, if you make that decision, you’re not going to have as many dates. I’m just going to tell you like it is. You’re not going to have as many dates. But the dates you have will be great. They’ll be great, because they can become your mate in marriage.

I’ll tell you something else, students. Don’t even think about dating someone who drinks. In fact, don’t even go to a party where alcohol is served. It’s really stupid to do that. You don’t want to do that. You don’t want to do that. I would say the same thing to singles, too, but it’s your choice. You can drink alcohol. What’s going to happen? You know what’s going to happen. Come on.

What else would I say? I’ll tell you what I would say. Premarital sex will confuse you. I said that earlier, remember that? It’s just going to confuse you. If you do it God’s way and date like-minded believers, and you don’t mess around with people who are messing around, and you involve yourself in church, you can hit the big sex. But if you don’t, you’re going to abuse what God wants to do in your life. Also, you’re going to be confused.

If you know me, you know I have a terrible sense of direction. I cannot find my way anywhere. I hate to tell you this, but the other day I got lost going to the airport. I bet that’s hard for you to believe, but, really, I’m spatially challenged. I have a problem. My name’s Ed, I have a problem. I’m spatially challenged. I admit that.

But when I was driving to the airport, I thought I was going the right way, but I was lost. I was confused and didn’t know it—until my wife called my cell phone. And she said, “Where are you? You’re supposed to be at the airport.”

I said, “Well, I’m,” and I told her where I was. And she said to me, “Ed, you’re lost! Honey, you’re confused. This frustrates me about you. You’re always lost.” And I am! She said, “Why didn’t you go with someone on the staff who could take you to the airport, who has a good sense of direction, who could point the way,” like she does for me everywhere. “Ed, turn right. Ed, left. Ed, straight. Accelerate. Stop.” I’m that bad!

There are some of you here who are like that. You’re confused and you don’t even know it. That’s why you’re confused! If you knew it, you wouldn’t be confused. Hopefully, I’m like the voice of Lisa. “You’re messed up. You’re a long way from the airport. You’re confused! Totally and completely confused. Don’t be confused.”

If you want to confuse your life, just jump in the rack. You’ll marry the wrong person. You won’t be able to make any good decisions. Sex is so consuming you’ll fall in love with the power of sex and love. You’ll marry the wrong person. You won’t be able to make any kind of good choice. You’ll wonder why God seems so far away. You’ll wonder why you don’t have any depth spiritually, and you’re hanging out here and making love in the little bed. It’ll confuse your life.

See, God wants to save us from abuse and being confused. He doesn’t want us to be abused. He doesn’t want us to be confused. He wants us to have direction. He wants us to treasure sex, to honor sex. He wants us to understand the purpose and the power behind it. That’s why he said “Flee”—or avoid –“sexual immorality.” And there’s a correlation, friends, between purity and seeing God; purity and discernment; purity and great decision making; purity and hearing and knowing what to do. Because if you are involved in sexual sin, you will not know what to do. You’re going to be confused. You’ll be turned around. What’s right is wrong. What’s wrong is right. Your behavior is doing this and your beliefs are way back there. You’re saying, “Hurry up, beliefs! Come over here. I’ll change my beliefs to fit in this doggie bed.”

“Well, Ed, you don’t understand, brother. I have messed up sexually. I can litter this entire church with little beds. I’ve slept in the wrong bed with this person, with that person. Man, all these memories and things. Is there any help for me?”

Yes. Yes. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I’m continuing with this message.

After reading the data and thinking about it, I thought, “Why even preach about premarital sex?” But, there’s a power that is available to us that can forgive, that can cleanse, that can change the course of our lives and our sexuality. We can receive forgiveness.

I did a series years ago called “The Real F-Word”. If you remember that, lift your hand. “The Real F-Word” was one of the most popular series I’ve ever done. It’s on forgiveness. And I have so many people call me and say, “Man, I just, I am having a hard time with forgiveness. I just don’t feel forgiven and forgiveness.”

And they ask me all these questions. And, you know what? Whenever I get that question about forgiveness, I know I’m talking to someone who’s thinking about sexual sin. Invariably, they’re thinking about sexual sin. They’re not addicted to drugs. It’s not anger. It’s not control issues. It’s sexual sin. It’s that consuming.

But I’ve got good news for you. God has done the work for forgiveness. And all you have to do is cry out to him and turn to him and say, “God, forgive me. Cleanse me. I, Lord, want to receive this and turn to you.”

That’s available. Think about how Jesus dealt with people caught in sexual sin—even caught in the act! He told them the truth in love. He nurtured them. He said, “Go and sin no more.”

Here’s another thing we need to do. Make a commitment for sexual purity. Just say, “God, today I’m stepping up and stepping out. You re-order and redecorate my life from the inside out. Sexual purity, God. I want to do big sex your way.”

Well, sin dealt with effectively is sin dealt with radically. Some of you need to cancel cable. You need to cut off relationships that are causing you to stumble. You need to cut off people who are causing you to mess up on your sanctification. You need to stay away from people who are dragging you to the kennel clubs and all this immoral behavior. Stay away. Get away.

That might mean you have to resign from your job. That might mean you have to move out the neighborhood or apartment complex. That might mean you have to throw away your computer. That might mean a number of things. But again, if we want to walk in purity and in freedom and in holiness, we have got to do those things.

“Now is God, like, trying to rain on my sexual parade, man?”

No! Every time God tells us to make a radical decision, he will always phenomenally and richly bless our lives. He’s not telling you and me this just to mess us up, to keep us all limited and stifled. It’s for our freedom. It’s for true pleasure and true liberation. That’s why God does it.

But so many of you are just one step away from that. Some of you are playing house right now. You’re living together. You’re living in sin. That’s wrong. Why are you doing that? You’re going to make the wrong decision. God’s not going to bless your life. It’s not going to happen.

“Well, I really love him.” “I really love her.”

Really? Listen to this. Guys will play with love for sex, and women will play with sex for love.

“Not my man, Ed. You don’t understand him, man. He’s going to marry me. We’re just playing house. We’re test driving the Maserati. And then, he’ll marry me!”

Oh, come on. He’s in it for the sex. It’s the best of both worlds for the guy–free sex, no commitment.

I hate to rain on your parade, guys, but sorry. Move out, and do it God’s way. If God leads you to get married, do that. But you’re living in sin.

Sin will mess you up. You know it’s not very popular to talk about sin anymore. We like to say, “I’m in a bad mood. I had an off day. It’s just a hurtful habit.”

No, it’s sin, self-centered sin. It’s that downward gravitational pull that we all inherited from Adam. We just sin. So I’m calling it what it is. So make that commitment. Make that choice. Make that call. Don’t put it off.

And right now, the enemy is flooding your mind with all these excuses. “Oh, don’t do it. Put it off. You can do it next week, next month. How about the rent? What about the blah, blah, blah…”

It’s never going to be convenient. It’s never going to have the perfect timing. Never. The enemy’s too powerful for that.

Also, remember this? [Ed gets the dog bowl out again.] That’s some dog food. We don’t want to feed on dog food. Dog food will make you barf. A lot of people have their heads buried in the dog food. Replace that with God’s food. Replace that with Scripture. Feed on the Word of God. This truth, this book will set you free. Involve yourself in the local church. Involve yourself in ministry. Involve yourself with people who keep you accountable. God has the best for you. God is the one who’s bringing sexy back!

And man, my heart goes out. My heart goes out to people in the entertainment business. We need to pray for entertainers. Pray for the media moguls, because they don’t know. They’re clueless. They’re confused.

So what are we going to do? I mean, is it little sex or big sex? Is it the enemy’s way or God’s way? Forgiveness is available. God will give you the strength and the power. He wants the best for us. Yes, even sexually. Let’s do it God’s way. Let’s say, “God, today, today the sexual revolution has started.”