Run! ‘Cuz You Can’t Be Trusted!

Back to 1 Corinthians 6. Let’s talk about what you do to escape. One word, one word only. Verse 18. We are condensing the words flee and morality to one word. The word is run. Let’s try it. What’s the word?

Run.

What?

Run.

Never once says, stand to be the mighty man or one of steel. Never says, see how much you can take before you fall. Never says, see if you’re going to rest. I was into Superman. I love Superman. I was raised on Superman. I thought he was wonderful. I was devastated in Superman 2. Or, someone told me about it. I didn’t go see it, of course. He went to bed with Lois Lane. He rusted in front of my very eyes. If you can’t trust Superman, who can you trust? I asked my daughter, she was 17. I said, “Kim.” I called her that because…

How you doing in your relationship? Are you staying pure?” “Yeah, dad. We are. But you know, we go out on a date. Don’t have to be back til midnight. Date’s over at 11:00. Nobody wants to come in early. So, we’ll go park the car someplace. Watch the submarine races. And start getting a little handsy, juices starting to flow. We remembered what you said.”

And you could have heard my chin hit the ground. 17 year old girl remembered what her dad said in a parked car. Of course, one of the benefits of what I do, you can make your daughter’s dates listen to the tape. No, no I didn’t. I didn’t. I didn’t. I did not. And she said, “Remember, we couldn’t be trusted. So what we did is, we go to a coffee shop in our town. We sit in a booth and we share a Coke, and we talk. Because if all we want to do is talk, we can sure do that in the booth. See? And if we’re kidding ourselves, if we got a [Clare’s 00:02:58] in our refrigerator, then we’ll just go, ‘Hey, let’s just go talk and we’ll park. And then we’ll just see how far we can go before we run out of time or the flashlight shows up.'”

But, they really meant it. Because folks, you are not going to get it on in the booth. They police themselves because they knew they couldn’t be trusted. I said, “Kim closing hours are now one o’clock.” She said, “Why would you do that?” It’s a great story. If you’re lying to me, it’s still worth a reward. But, if you’re telling the truth, you need a little more room.

Women, high school women. Rest of you. Remember? Want to go out with that guy. Folks wouldn’t let you go. You’ve exhausted your arsenal of weaponry. You’re down in the last era on your quiver. You play your last card. This is it. You’re talking to your folks, wanting to go out.

I’ll do the girls first. Then, I’ll do the guys. “You just don’t trust me.” Huh? Did you ever use that line on your folks? Remember? The guys are a little different. “Hey dad, why don’t you trust me, huh?” I want my kids to know one thing for certain, for sure. I don’t trust them! You know why? Because they can’t be trusted! I’m 52 years old. You can trust me. Let me tell you how far can trust me. You can trust me up until the point I cross the line of propriety. And there is one instruction, then. What is it?

Run.

You can trust Bob. I’m telling you, you can. Let me tell you how far. You can trust him until he crosses the line of propriety. And if he ever crosses the line of propriety with you…

Run.

You can trust your youth pastor. You can. I’m telling you, you can. You know how far? Until he crosses the line of propriety. And if he does anything improper with you, there’s one instruction. What is it?

Run.

I think you can generally trust people at work. You know how far? Until they cross the line of what’s proper. And then, you got one instruction.

Run.

I was in a hotel, San Francisco, my son went to Cal Berkeley, played basketball there. I tried to go watch him play as much as I could in conjunction with my speaking. And I was in a tough part of town. It was a dangerous parking lot. There was a woman struggling with her bags. I shouldn’t have helped her, but well, she brought them, let her carry them.

And so, I went over and I helped her with her bags. And as I did so, I always set my boundaries at the beginning of the relationship. And the boundaries were, these bags go outside the door, not inside, no matter what. So, we got up there, I set the bags down. She invited me in. Now, I’ve got the same self-image problems you’ve got. I got this bone that sticks out over here that always bothered me in high school, junior high. And I head acne so bad, they called me crater face. And that will not help your self-image very much. And she thought I was desirable. My back went zing-zong-zing, and I got goosebumps, and I wasn’t cool.

I wish I had a cool line. I just wasn’t cool. I just dropped the bags and I ran down the hall. I just took off. I got inside the door and I threw all three lock. And it was like two or three in the morning before I go to bed. I couldn’t help but think about room 253. You know what kept me out of room 253? I gotten really close. You know what kept me? One, I what?

Ran.

And the other thing is a dose of the fear of God. Or, you say, I want to hear about the love God. No, no, just let’s understand it. He hates sexual sin. The consequences are gigantic. Kill the ministry, hour’s fun, little zing, kill the ministry, probably my marriage, give my kids an excuse. And you tell me an hour’s worth of fun and a little zing is worth that? But, nothing makes sense when you pull the penny. Got to keep it tucked in there. You got to…

Run.

Okay. Now, how about those of you that didn’t run. You messed up. Had a lady at camp, counselor. Multiple tattoos, lots of scars, needle tracks. Intercept them, too. And I came over to her and I said… I mean, she was a high mileage model. And I said, “Tell me your story.” And she said, “I was a motorcycle momma for two years. I was the only woman in my particular gang. And every night for two years, I pulled a train.” That means she had sex with each member of the group before they went to bed. “I thought that might be a little weird, so I went to see a shrink. My shrink turned me onto coke, got me hooked, put me on the street. I was his prostitute. He was my pimp. Had to support both of our habit. I know it sounds weird, but we fell in love.”

“And then, I know this sounds weird too, but someone’s got us to church. And we both got saved. And that was eight years ago. I’ve been heavily discipled, and I make a great high school counselor because I’ve seen it all. No one pulls anything over on me.” That’s phenomenal. How do you cope with your past? He said, “It’s under the blood.” He understood. Somehow, it hit her. I am as pure as the driven snow. If you’ve been raped in a group this size, there’ll be several of you. You need to know that no one can take your virginity away from you. It’s a spiritual concept. It has to be given away.

Now, you’ve been traumatized. There’s no question about that. You’ve got mind scars. You’ve got all kinds of trauma that goes with the sin of somebody else. You’ve got caught in the wake of their sin. But, before God, you are okay, you are pure. You didn’t give it away. You’ve still got it. Someone stole your physical virginity, but they can’t steal your spiritual virginity.

And this woman who had given it away thousands and thousands of times, was whole because Christ had touched her. I don’t know if there is anyone in this room that is in that league. And if you’re not, don’t you see the hope that yours? Jesus was speaking at the temple. He was doodling in the sand. They brought a woman up, just a few Pharisees. They brought one up and they said, “This woman was caught in the act of adultery, the very act discrimination.” They caught her in the act. They got the guy, they turned him loose. They just brought the woman. Moses’ law says she ought to be stoned, biblical definition of the term, not the current usage thereof.

What do you say? They’re trying to trick him. He said, “Let those of you without sin throw the first rock.” He bent down, doodled in the sand. I know what he doodled. I’m telling you tonight. Are you ready? You heard it here, first. First time, he doodled Valentine heart. One for each of the guys bringing her. There we go, this woman, act of adultery, very act Moses’ law says, you ought to be stoned. What do you say? Trying to trick him. Let those of you without sin throw the first rock. Bent back down, start with the oldest guy there, George. George the Jew.

And he wrote, George plus Gertrude. George says, “That was 30 years ago. Gertrude’s been dead for 10. Everybody who knows her has been dead for five. This kid was only three years or old when Gertrude and I had a fling. How can this kid know about Gertrude? I don’t know. I sure would like to throw the first rock. I can’t. The kid knows about Gertrude.” And he slowly walked away.

Jesus wrote in the second one, second oldest guy there was Ronald. Ronald the Rabbi plus Maribel. And he thought to himself, that was just last week at the Rabbis convention. How did he know that? And on it went, from the oldest to the youngest, until there wasn’t anybody there. And he looks at the woman and says, “Where are your accusers? Is there no one left to accuse you?” She said, “No, no one, Lord.” Capital L. “And I don’t accuse you, either,” he said, “Go and…”

Run.

Then, no one. Isn’t that great? Now, she had a Clare’s in her refrigerator. If she was like the hit man who just snuffed a guy, who comes to confession with a contract in his pocket for the next hit. That’s a big time of Clare. But, if she’s sincere, if she’s repentant, and two weeks later, she goes out and messes up, because she’s got a bad habit, how often can she come back to God for forgiveness, if her repentance is genuine? How often? Beyond all reasonable number. But, there are consequences for each encounter that forgiveness doesn’t solve. And you need to know that.

Well, there you have it. Put all your stuff down. It’s time to pray. I’m going to lead you through a few categories. There’ll be no hand raising tonight. Folks couldn’t handle it. Not around you, no hand raising. Put your stuff down. Let’s go to prayer. Folks, this is the area of the enemy’s primary influence. Let’s put on the whole armor of God as we go into this battle.

Holy father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we approach your throne. And we want to appropriate the full armor of God. Gird our loins with your truth and shod our feet with your gospel of peace. Put on the helmet of salvation. We confess our sin, and put on your righteousness, not ours. It’s our breast plate. But, for the shield of faith, God, thank you that we placed our bet on Christ. And you gave us the confirmation that we made the right bet. And we don’t have to be in question about that. We have faith.

And for the sword of the spirit, the word of God. Know the spoken word of God and the authority of scripture, power of Jesus’ name. We want Christ and all that that means, to come against the enemy tonight on our behalf. All authority is subject to the feet of Christ and would remind the enemy of that. And we want to call through the light of the judgment of the Holy One of Israel, Christ himself, the principalities and powers that have been assigned to harass us as a result of our immoral past.

And we want their preparation for departure because of our repentance, our submission to God. And now, our act of resistance that will cause him to flee. I’m opening my eyes now, but you keep yours closed, no hand raising. Are you into porn? A little collection of stuff, videos or books? And you’ve trashed it a time, or two. And now, here’s another little collection starting to build. Here’s your deal. Will you put yourself under the authority of another person in this church, same sex, and ask them to hold you accountable, and to ask you weekly for the next year, how you doing?

Because if you’ve had a little collection, and you’ve trashed it before, then you can’t be trusted. You’ve got a problem. It will take accountability to fix it and break the habit. Will you do that? Are you into romantic fantasy novels, soaps, and the rest? And you’ve got all that stuff happening in your mind, and you can’t seem to break it. Will you put yourself under the authority of another person in this church to hold you accountable to break that behavior, that you might glorify God with your mind? Are you currently getting handsy with someone? Have you crossed the line of propriety? Have you taken the first $5, but you haven’t added a zero. You can put back to five, if you decide. Draw the line. I won’t cross it again.

Have you gone too far with someone in a dating relationship, and you don’t have anything else going for you? Get out of it now before you get hurt any deeper. You don’t have the basis for long term relationship. Are you currently sleeping around? Are you with someone? Are you going to stick your face into God’s face and say, “No?” Let me say something that I’m absolutely certain of. If you do not have a sense of conscience for your sin, and you understand it’s sin, and you don’t have a sense of conscience for it. If you’re living with someone, you’re not married, you don’t have a sense of conscience for your sin. Make no mistakes about it. The Holy Spirit is not in you. He will not allow you to sin without making you feel guilty. If you don’t feel guilty, you are probably not saved.

You have to decide what you’re going to do. You have your virginity. Would you like to dedicate your body to Christ and the moral purity? Do that right now, if you’d like to. If you messed up, and you’d like to dedicate your body to Christ and the moral purity, understand this. In Christ, you’re a new creature. Wouldn’t it be fun to reclaim your spiritual virginity? Would that be great? Do it. Just do it. Would you like your immorality to be under the blood? Here’s your date, 2:28. There it is. How many times have you confessed it? If it’s more than once, whose voice have you been listening to? That’s the foothold. Let’s scrape off the leech. There’s your date. When the enemy reminds you of that immorality of your past, or the date in his face, and the authority of scripture, the power of Jesus’ name, submit to God, resist the devil, put the two-year-old to the bed. Do that as often as it happens, and pretty soon you’ll have victory.

If you’d like to do any of those things, you pray about that now. Father, thank you so much that there is release in you, that there is victory in you, that there is newness in you, that your forgiveness is bottomless, but also communicate to us, for every sin, there is a consequence. God help us to endure the consequences that are result so far, that help us to have the sense to quit playing in the traffic, to do it your way. You’ve given us the manual to operate this machine best. Help us not to pick and choose the scriptures we apply, but to buy into the whole book. It survived the test. Thank you for your book, for your son, Jesus Christ. We praise you, in Jesus’ name. And all God’s people said… Amen.