On Guard

Theme: Guard Your Heart

Objectives (from the D6 Sunday School Lesson)

Know: Each Christian must take great effort to guard his or her heart.

Think: Condition myself to take thoughts captive and think right thoughts.

Do: Walk in the Spirit rather than the flesh to enable myself to guard my heart.

Scriptures: Philippians 4:7-8, 2 Corinthians 10:1-6, and 1 Corinthians 16:13

Notes and questions:

Philippians 4:7-8: and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things [are] noble, whatever things [are] just, whatever things [are] pure, whatever things [are] lovely, whatever things [are] of good report, if [there is] any virtue and if [there is] anything praiseworthy–meditate on these things. (Philippians 4:7-8, NKJV)

2 Corinthians 10:1-6: Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ–who in presence [am] lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. But I beg [you] that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare [are] not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. (2 Corinthians 10:1-6, NKJV)

1 Corinthians 16:13: Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. (1 Corinthians 16:13, NKJV)

B1 Outline

• What to think Philippians 4:7-8
• What to fight 2 Corinthians 10:1-6
• What to live 1 Corinthians 16:13

B2 “Sexual intercourse is rapidly becoming the one thing venerated in a world without veneration.” ― C.S. Lewis, Miracles

B3 Sexual promiscuity affects (Source  Disclaimer--I cannot vouch or necessary recommend this site. Use at your own discretion).

• Physical health
• Mental health
• Marital health
• The desire for abnormal sexual behaviors
• A person’s soul
• Society

B4 Carolyn C. Ross M.D., M.P.H.has an article entitled Overexposed and Under-Prepared: The Effects of Early Exposure to Sexual Content.”  (Link.  This is a non-Christian source showing the dangers of the sex saturated society on youth.)

B5 Some quotes (Source)

• "We have bartered holiness for convenience, ... wisdom for information, joy for pleasure, tradition for fashion." (Abraham Herschel, The Insecurity of Freedom, p. 200.)
• “Nakedness has become the hallmark of much public entertainment. It reaches beyond this into the realm of sadistic perversion. As one seasoned New York critic remarked, "It's not only the nudity; it's the crudity." (Gordon B. Hinckley)
• “Can there be any reasonable doubt that in sowing the wind of pornography, we are reaping the whirlwind of decay?” (Gordon B. Hinckley)

B5 Christian, there is a problem. What is happening

• To us
• Our churches
• Our families
• Our children
• Our society

B6 What is the core of this problem?

• Sin
• “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. (Matthew 12:35, NKJV)
• “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. (Matthew 15:18-19, NKJV)
• Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. (Galatians 6:7-8, NKJV)
• There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.  They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”  (Romans 3:11-12, NKJV)
• Romans 1:18-31 shows the downhill course of humanity starting with the rejection of truth and an attitude of ingratitude. This downhill course leads to physical death,eternal death, and punishment.

B7 Some Scriptures we need. There are many but here are three.

• Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (2 Timothy 2:22, NKJV)
• Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, NKJV)
• Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality 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, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Corinthians 6:18-20, NKJV)

B8 How to handle temptation

• No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God [is] faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear [it.] (1 Corinthians 10:13, NKJV)
• For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord [is] the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects [this] does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 4:3-8, NKJV)
• Sexual immorality (fornication) is wrong
• Avoid the passion of lust
• Brother is used in the sense of neighbor. See But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; (1 Thessalonians 4:9, NKJV)
• Uncleanness as God defines it.
• Holiness
• Rejecting this teaching is rejecting God Himself

B9 Be Aware of the appeal to lust

• Consider: For when they speak great swelling [words] of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. (2 Peter 2:18-19, NKJV). Two other translations:
• They make proud and stupid statements, and use immoral bodily lusts to trap those who are just beginning to escape from among people who live in error. They promise them freedom while they themselves are slaves of destructive habits—for we are slaves of anything that has conquered us. (2 Peter 2:18-19, GNB92))
• They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. (2 Peter 2:18-19, NLT)
• The appeal to lust, which we see in advertizing, movies, books, music, parades, protests, etc.
• Temptation
• How to fight it?
• Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. (James 1:13-16, NKJV)
• God does not entice us to sin
• Desire leads to enticement
• Enticement leads stronger desire
• Getting stronger temptations leads to sin
• Sin leads to death
• Temptation itself is not sin. If we are tempted, we can resist or not resist. We can sin or not sin. Jesus was tempted but did not sin. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all [points] tempted as [we are, yet] without sin. (Hebrews 4:15, NKJV)
• Recognize it as a temptation (The Holy Spirit convicts (John 16:8) and the Scriptures teach what is right and wrong (2 Timothy 3:16-17)).
• Be alert. Don’t use things that lower judgment and discernment. Consider: [It is] not for kings, O Lemuel, [It is] not for kings to drink wine, Nor for princes intoxicating drink; Lest they drink and forget the law, And pervert the justice of all the afflicted. Give strong drink to him who is perishing, And wine to those who are bitter of heart. Let him drink and forget his poverty, And remember his misery no more. (Proverbs 31:4-7, NKJV)
• “Harlotry, wine, and new wine enslave the heart. (Hosea 4:11, NKJV)
• Face the truth
• Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; (2 Timothy 3:8, NKJV). These men did resist truth. We are to do the opposite.
• “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. (John 3:19-20, NKJV). Jesus teaches us that our natural self does not like the truth. We, however, are regenerated, born again, and have a new heart.
• Humble ourselves.
• But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6, NKJV)
• Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:12, NKJV)
• Avoid, run, turn away. ...that she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. (Genesis 39:12, NKJV). Joseph fled.
• Ask (pray) for help. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16, NKJV)
• Realize God’s help.
• No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God [is] faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear [it.] (1 Corinthians 10:13, NKJV)
• [then] the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, (2 Peter 2:9, NKJV)
• Sometimes it is more than I think I can bear. We need each other. Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who [are] spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. (Galatians 6:1, NKJV)
• If alcohol is my temptation (For we [have spent] enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles–when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. (1 Peter 4:3, NKJV), then we must not be where that is and resist any want of it. Leave.
• If lying is my temptation, then speak the truth. If we lie, go back to that person and tell them the truth.
• If we sin, repent. Psalm 51
• David confesses. He does not evade the truth.
• David realizes that all sin is sin against God.
• David asks for forgiveness.
• David asks to be given a clean heart. So he asks not only for mercy but also grace. He wants a heart that does not do this again and a heart that can serve God.
• David realizes that sacrifices do not cleanse from sin, only God can cleanse. The sacrifice that God wants is “...a broken spirit;A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”
• The devil wants us to sin. He is a rebel in its worst sense.
• Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8, NKJV)
• “You are of [your] father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own [resources,] for he is a liar and the father of it. (John 8:44, NKJV)

B10 Questions

• Philippians 4:7-8
• How will thinking pure things in Philippians help us in temptation?
• How can we think the pure things of Philippians?
• What are some things that are _____ that we can think about?
• True
• Noble (the Greek word means something honorable)
• Just (the Greek word means equitable, impartial)
• Pure (the Greek word means clean)
• Lovely (the Greek word means pleasing, sweetly charming)
• Good report (the Greek word means commendable, well spoken of)
• Virtue (the Greek word means excellence (mental, spiritual, physical, etc.))
• Praise (the Greek words means something praiseworthy)
• 2 Corinthians 10:1-6
• What kind of warfare is Paul speaking of?
• What kinds of warfare do we face?
• Does 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 describe an apologetic ministry?
• If so, what are we to do to be apologists for Jesus Christ?
• 1 Corinthians 16:13
• What we are to do to?
• Watch (be alert)
• This homeowner is alert: “But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. (Matthew 24:43, NKJV)
• The evil are alert: But their plot became known to Saul. And they watched the gates day and night, to kill him. (Acts 9:24, NKJV)
• We should be alert:
• “Blessed [are] those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down [to eat,] and will come and serve them. (Luke 12:37, NKJV)
• Be of sober [spirit,] be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8, NASB77)
• Stand fast in the faith
• Be brave
• Be strong
• Remember: Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present [you] faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Savior, Who alone is wise,[ Be] glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen. (Jude 1:24-25, NKJV)

B11 Next week

• The Way God Made Us
• Theme: God’s Design
• Scriptures: Matthew 19:4-6 and Genesis 2:18