The Sexual Captive, Part 2

Limit line Jeannie Greer.

Jesus liberates you the power of sin, not by holding out a reward in front of you for liberating yourself, but you could never do that your captivity to sin with great Jesus liberate you by becoming your sin and suffering all of its consequences in your place.

His last words on the cross were not fix yourself. His last words were, it is finished. That is how he breaks the power of tensions that sets the prisoner free ride.

Additional morality actually tossed aside and piece of clothing were burned and well. He reframed the way sex was discussed in the public forum. The truth is that sexual sin is as old as time means shoot just read the Bible and see it Reagan today on Summit life pastor Jeannie Greer takes us to the New Testament talks about two women. I'll probably relate during the Easter week we're in a series called looking at different factors that hold back from saving faith. In today's message is titled the sexual Jesus deals with this group at least twice and John looked at both of the stories to see how he engaged them what he said and where he points them.

John chapter 4 verse four. Let's begin there and Jesus had to pass through Samaria so we came to a town of Samaria called Sarkar near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph Jacob's well was there. So Jesus wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well, it was about the sixth hour a woman from Samaria came there to draw water.

Now the Samaritans were small hated community that lived kind of in the northeast part of Israel. The animosity between the Jews and the MMS American stretch back nearly a thousand years. This woman was a Samaritan and notice by the way to detail about it being the six hour when she went to the well what our that is that's noon ever been to the Middle East. What happens at noon everybody goes inside because it is way too hot to walk around outside is not done was on your daily chores. The back of this woman is coming a new scholar. Safe is an indication that she's a social outcast. Jesus said to her, give me a drink for his disciples were sated going away to the city by the Zaxby's's or AAA or something to get some food. The Samaritan woman said to him, how is it that you would you ask for a drink for me. Verse 10 Jesus answered her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you. Give me a drink, you would've asked him and he would've given you living water. Now this point. Of course she thinks she's talking about H2O. She says to him, verse 11, sir. You got nothing at all water with in this well is deep where you got to get that living water and are you saying that you greater than our father Jacob Goucher said he gave us the Samaritan gave us the well Greg remit himself like that, his sons and his livestock that edge in her ear that she don't like him. Verse 13 Jesus ever unflappable said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again in the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

So the woman says to him, sir, give me this water so that I'll not be thirsty or up to come here to draw water anymore for 16 so Jesus goes on.

Jesus said to her will okay go, call your husband did him bring him back home here and I'll tell both of you about it woman looks back at him for probably another several seconds awkward stare image. He answers them.

I have no husband. Jesus said to her, you are right in saying I have no husband for you have had five husbands and the one that you are shacking up with now is not your husband and I just wanted you to know that I knew about that. So, in the statement that you made that you have a husband what you said is true roasted that is in the Greek that last part.

But then, listen, then I think all at once. I think it suddenly made sense that this woman, this whole water discussion.

It made sense you see, just like this woman came daily to this well to get water.

This woman has gone to the well of romance. She has gone to the well of sex to satisfy the thirst of her soul. Verse 19 woman now but a little more understanding says to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

When this one verse 20 our fathers worshiped on this mountain but you say that in Jerusalem is a place where people are worship you see what she's doing. She don't want to go five marriages down deep and what's really wrong inside of her. She rather fly around up here in the intellectual with hard theological doctrinal questions. So Jesus he calls her out on that which leads to this long conversation that basically ends with Jesus telling this woman that God wants to know her in spirit and in truth, spirit and truth. This woman wants to be known and loved. But she's never been able to find it. Jesus is going to give her that love, but he knew everything about her. He showed her that by the questions with the husband's and he spoke. Complete acceptance to our from their culture flip open your Bible to John chapter able to. The second of these really really quickly look at verse verse three, the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman to Jesus, who had been caught in adultery and placing her in the midst they said to him, teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery now and will all see Moses commanded us to stone such women.

So what you say there set up a test for him to see what is going to do so. Jesus, if you know the story, kneels down, he starts to ride in the dirt.

What was you writing in the dirt. I don't know nobody knows anybody tells you to do know is just making that up. But after a while Jesus. He says all right you want to stone her, but he who is not sin cast the first stone. Now another awkward silence pursues with Al Qaeda stare at each other knowing that they'll have said what about want to draw garage and go home. Within this woman looks back at Jesus and she says to Jesus essentially argued strongly to use a Xerox man where your accusers that I have been left Lord, and he says verse 11 what is probably the most remarkable statement that gives us the greatest picture of the gospel that you might ever have heard, neither do I condemn you go and from now on sin no more. What captivates me about Jesus response to her lesson is the order of what he said.

He said neither do I condemn you go and sin no more. What what what what captivates me is I would tend to flip the orders. I would say if you don't know and send anymore then I will continue, but he was telling her to change, not in order to gain acceptance he was telling her to change because she had been accepted to see religion does the opposite. Religion always, every religion of the world. All of them tell you that change comes first in your acceptance with God is conditioned upon the change, but the gospel flips that on its head.

It tells us that change comes from acceptance not supported. See, Jesus knew that this woman would never have the ability to break free of the idolatry that led her to adultery until she felt the embrace of a God that was better than what she had sought in the arms of the adulterer with this is very important because this is what makes the gospel message absolutely unique. God's acceptance is the power that liberates us from sin.

It is not the reward for having liberated ourselves God's acceptance is the power that liberates you from sin is not the reward for you having liberated yourself.

Salvation is a tip that is given to undeserving people while they are undeserving like this woman is that gift that lift them out of their captivity to sin, which means that when I talked to a high school girl who has lost her virginity. I don't just tell her about the dangers of venereal disease or the sinfulness of the acts or what she is doing to mess up her future marriage. I also tell her that there is a God who cared about her so much that he left heaven to come after her and took upon himself the shame of her simple actions so that he could watch her in his precious blood and make her pure and holy again in his sight because I know the only way she will ever break the stronghold of idolatry that led her to those disastrous decisions is by seeing that there is a father whose attention is better than what she craved in the arms of a boy or to the guy who is falling yet again. The pornography or girl I tell them yes yes I explained how damaging pornography is for them, but I also tell them the man first 2011 seven but according to what Paul says here the glory of God and Jesus died to make you the glory of God. He died why she repurchased you so that you will be the glory of God he made you a new creation in him that is called the glory of God, which means you're not an animal near the glory of God.

You're not a pervert. You are the glory of God.

You're not an addict.

You are the glory of God not of victim to the glory of God, not a full year. The glory of God. Jesus purchase you make you start now live that way. That's the way the gospel speaks in his acceptance is given to you my brother is a gift, regardless of whether you ever in this life overcome that struggle with pornography because his acceptance is not conditioned on how well you do with where various simple struggles. His acceptance is based on that in Christ made to sin once for all. See, Jesus liberates you for the power of sin, not by holding out a reward in front of you for liberating yourself because you could never do that your captivity to sin was too great.

Jesus liberates you. By becoming your sin and suffering all of its consequences in your place. His last words on the cross were not go fix yourself. His last words were, it is finished. That is how he breaks the power of canceled sin and sets the prisoner free. That's the way we sing in the old hymn because his blood releases us from the penalty of our sandwich cancels that, but the greatness of the sacrifice releases us from the power of sin that enslaves us to see the gospel of the gospel of John is that at the end of this book is at the end of every gospel, Matthew Mark Luke and John, Jesus would pay the full penalty for the sexual sailboat. These women in him they would be fully known and fully love he would become their shame, he would be displayed naked he would be exposed he would take their sin and your sorrow and making his very own it would become their shame so they can become his righteousness, he would be closed in their sin so they could drink from him, the living water that satisfied their soul to see from the stories I have three. What I would think a revolutionary ideas for those for whom sex keeps you from fully following Jesus. Three revolutionary ideas for those who are sexually captive the first one is this number one you got understandable one that sex is not just a physical thing, if not just the physical thing you see in the pagan world and I didn't know world today in the pagan world outside of Israel were the polls going into.

They thought sex was just just isn't the body's is an urgency biology email take a nap. The Bible took a much much higher much more exalted. You want sex processes for screening sex. What he does flee from sexual immorality.

Every other sin. A person commits what this is outside the body. The thing about that that the logic there like if I steal from you that I've taken something from you. I done the damage to you right you you lose II benefit December the one who wants this, the sexually immoral person sends not only just the person that he is having sex with about two but he says against his own body. He does something destructive to his or her own body. The Bible presents sex as a covenant relationship in which physical oneness is to be accompanied by oneness in every other area financial oneness spiritual oneness emotional oneness oneness of residence by a lifelong covenant. Sex outside of that kind of covenant is half human is oneness in one area without the if it only takes one part of the way to God designed the human being and makes unity.

It is like a zombie zombie scary's economy, look him in the wall that you ended on the soul that makes them scary when you have sex outside of this covenant of life or marriage is like a zombie version of sex because there's a body but is without the soul union that God designed it to be a part of that God designed human beings is a psychosomatic unity between the unity of body and soul, which means body, mind, emotions, and soul are all interconnected, and thus physical oneness is to be matched by oneness in every other area united in a lifelong covenant having sex outside of that full person covenant unity tears apart the integrity of the person ritual party disintegrates you been reading a book recently called Holt it's a scientific study written by a couple of neurologist showing that multiple sexual partners having multiple sexual partners, especially when you're young, showing what it does to your brain and they make the case that it actually rewires your brain in a way that makes genuine, lasting, selfless relationships much more difficult.

By the way, this is not a Christian book and the writers appear to have no Christian or religious agenda at all. It's just a scientific study. They say this, I quote, listen the individual who goes from sex partner to sex partner is causing his or her brain mold in such a way that eventually accepts that sexual pattern is normal. The pattern of changing sex partners therefore seems to damage their ability to bind in a committed relationship, which is why they say opening about young girls who have sex early and having multiple sexual partners in a real inability to ever many of them have real trouble. Having this kind of covenant loyalty of this kind of bond with her husband, the kind of attachment damage that occurs after repeated sexual encounters is in many respects, more pernicious than pregnancy or STDs because it typically goes unperceived by affected individuals, while causing ongoing difficulties in establishing a lifelong and satisfying relationship. The authors use the metaphor of of tape which you probably heard before cyst you think of you to a piece of duct tape. He put around my arm, which has a lot of hair on it and you ripped off a piece of duct tape is not a pleasant experience for me because when you ripped off a piece of duct tape. I get little pieces of the tape that are on my arm and a lot of my arm in a herald that an element duct tape so you need. Take that piece of duct tape got pizza me all over and you go somebody else and you wrap around their arm and do the same. It's good to have a little bit of the same effect, but not quite as much because it's lost some of its stickiness unit at seven or eight times and it has no more ability to be able to unite to the arm that you put around in these authors say their something like that happening in the sexual act that what is happening is the brains that should be rewired so that it's not able to form that kind of bond is easily did they say you can no more try out sex then you can try out birth. The very act of sex produces a new reality in you that cannot be undone going to read the book say congratulations.

You came over the exact same thing. The apostle Paul said in first printed sex one ascends immorally only since sexually sins against his own body. There was an article in the telegraph which is like London's New York Times and articles praising the sexual live revolution in the 1960s and saying basically that we go ahead and finish it but it really going finish it up. Marriage needs to be, you know, it would least minimize. The author said this and I quote sex is no more moral issue than eating a good meal.

The fact that we eat most meals at home spouses and partners does not preclude eating out in restaurants several different cuisines and ambience us really that odious intuitively you know that's not true. You know that intuitively, if I thought this was fascinating couple weeks ago. If your parents into the news. A woman died in the name of Helen Gurley Brown.

My number she was in the 1960s. She was one of the most outspoken advocates of the whole free sex, free love you hippie movement in 1960 she became one of the leading voices for the ongoing sexual liberation and was the editor of Cosmo magazine for a couple decades while she died when the Atlantic ran an article on her last weakness of this lesson. She is a major probably the major proponent of the sexual liberation movement was also a living contradiction, who argued that being the single girl was the ideal, but then she married and argued that married men were fair game for adulterous affairs, but then drew the line with other with other women at her husband CS Lewis at one of the ways you know people's philosophies don't work is when I don't live according to it themselves when they have to borrow from other people. Systems of morality, because for all their vaulted philosophy when it comes down actually get through life. It just doesn't work. The Bible presents sex as a profound union with which we to people and I would submit to you that even those of you in here who don't a series of questions. If you have to choose between those two realities which you really have to is not about biology as part of a whole person union all of you know all of you know that that latter description is the right one enemy not to be heavy-handed under say look at your heart you know that's not your mate. The Bible presents sex as a profound union between two people girls when a guy wants to have sex with you outside of marriage, what they're saying to you, essentially, is this. I want union with your body now, but I don't want the rest of you CS Lewis had a great analogy as he said the guy who wants to have sex with a girl about marrying her is like a person who likes to taste food, but then didn't want to calories from it. So we regurgitated the girls when a guy wants to have sex with you and not mirror you.

It means that he looks at the real you. The way that you would look at the saturated fats in the empty calories and a bag of Doritos is like the taste is why tell girls would never believe anything a guy says upper 8 PM. Said before the annual mean it is just a way to get one part you want the rest of you all that we love each other, then let them put a ring on your finger and make a lifelong covenant if you don't have the backbone to do that you and that you and he both going to walk away at any minute that union is brought together as a lifelong covenant meal before I go on to our next point. What I'm trying to do when that point is just that you see the God's rules are not arbitrary got the designer got his reasons for what he does on how to get you to see but also need you to see that at the end of the day we obey what God says. Not because it makes more sense to us. We obey because God is there maybe some of you that are convinced by what I just said got all the tape thing about Ajit Bob about you know whatever evenings about it.

That's where you are. I want you got the reason that we obey is because Jesus is God. Because Jesus makes the rules. And Jesus gives his word. He was searching for marriage is honorable on the bed is undefiled with the sexually immoral in the adulterous God will judge. I've often said to you that if you're the kind of person who has to be persuaded that Jesus is right about something before you will obey him, but you probably need to seriously rethink the whole concept of Lordship. Jesus did not come to give a party platform that you're supposed to vote on the income looking for followers to ratify his platform became as the Lord gave commands is that these commands are to be obeyed and we obey him, not because his ideas make better sense than the other ideas out there. The marketplace we obey him because he is the God of the universe who died for our sins and was raising the dead just want make sure that we keep that in perspective, and in all this to say this lesson is your pastor having seen this so many times that it's hard to even beyond description.

There is nothing, nothing that will destroy the work of God in you faster than sexual because of the guilt and shame to prove only one actually enters Jesus lived and died, and most importantly to death so that we can be forgiven. In fact that's what we celebrate this weekend is an thank you for joining us today for summit life with JD Greer Easter weekend. We want to make sure that you have a local church family.

No matter where you are at the summit church we set a goal to plant 1000 new churches in our generation that were not doing that just to get more summit churches right JD Molly we we embraced a while ago the understanding that for us to fulfill the great commission. What happened to the summit church a larger larger is to be a part of a church planting movement. A disciple making movement rang our desire is to lift up other churches to bless other churches to spawn other movements to raise up leaders from our own church and send them out to plant new independent churches. We would love for you to be a part of that mission because there's a reason we think that you're listening to this program. We want to invite you to go from just being a listener to be part of the mission. We got to get new churches beginning in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Miami Florida Nashville Tennessee dream one of those areas, and many of you right now are listening in one of those areas where you got family or friends in their cities need a local church community. What you listen up and write these churches names down okay and Miami check out reality church in Pittsburgh steel city church and proclamation church in Nashville who started by one of our most beloved summit staff members Derek Delaney if you go to JD Greer.com there's a link in the bottom footer of every page is a list of all the churches we planted in the United States and you can see whether there's one in the city where you are or in a city where you know somebody you could encourage them to be a part of what God is doing to that church is while you're on the website.

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