A Biblical Perspective On Sex & Sexuality | Brett Esslinger

Welcome to the Saints Church Glastonbury podcast! We are a local church network based in Alberta, Canada. We go to places no one wants to go and do things no one thought possible so that anyone and everyone can discover hope and life in Jesus.

This week, the sermon delves into the biblical teachings of Leviticus and 1 Corinthians, highlighting the pursuit of holiness and integrity amidst societal challenges such as sexual immorality and social division, while offering guidance on achieving spiritual wholeness and authenticity in faith through the transformative power of Jesus Christ.

Verses:
- Leviticus 20:26
- Deuteronomy 7:12
- Deuteronomy 7:15
- Ecclesiastes 3:11
- 1 Corinthians 6:12-13
- Matthew 5:27
- John 3:3
- Galatians 5:19
- 1 Corinthians 6:9
- Song of Solomon 8:4
- Colossians 1:18
- Matthew 6:33

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Creators & Guests

Host

Brett Esslinger

Senior Pastor of SAINTS CHURCH | Author of #HopeNotHype | #YEG | Nacho Enthusiast

What is Saints Church Glastonbury?

A Modern Expression of a Timeless Tradition. A local church in the Glastonbury Neighbourhood of West Edmonton. Sr Pastor Brett Esslinger.

Who loves the book of Leviticus? Ben Lemke? Does anyone love Leviticus Anytime? If you've ever tried to read the Bible through in a year by a reading plan, you do pretty good in Genesis. You know all those accounts. Now, like you could just say all of those, because you start there. You make it to Exodus, you start slowing down Genesis, exodus, you're doing okay. You get to Leviticus, you bog out, you quit the program and then about four months later you join back in and by that time you're hopefully into the New Testament. You're like, okay, I made it, I made it. So you've pretty much missed all of the Bible, from Leviticus to Malachi. But you jumped in and Matthew, because you're into Leviticus.

You're like I don't understand all these rules. I don't understand all these commands. Rabbis would tell us that there's 613 commandments in Old Testament law. You thought there was 10. There's 613 and you're like oh, that's why I can't read it. Because I'm reading this and I'm like what you can't do, what you can't eat, shellfish. Okay, I don't understand, I don't get it. You lost me. I can't eat bacon.

But in Romans 15, apostle Paul actually tells us that all of this Old Testament is actually for our learning, that we could actually learn some things. We can pull it out and it can frame and help us with our understanding and our perspective. So what was happening in Leviticus is that God was actually building a society from ground up. The Israelites were, you have to remember, for hundreds, hundreds of years so for longer than Canada has been a country the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt. Okay, just for some timeline perspective. So they get out. They get out of Egypt and they're wandering around a desert and there's no rule of law, there's no order, there's no. All they've known is oppression. All they've known is indentured servitude. All they know is serving a master. And so they get out and God says listen, we're gonna build a community, we're gonna build a society from the ground up. That's what Leviticus is all about. He's creating guidelines for health and wholeness. He's establishing sanitary protocols.

You read through some of these commandments. A lot of it has to do with communicable diseases and he's like hey, if you've got pus coming out of you, stay away from other people. Also, don't touch dead bodies, normal hygiene stuff, stuff that we're like. Well, everybody knows that. No, you know that because somebody taught it to you, right, you know that you wash your hands. I'm please tell them. We know that we wash our hands After we go to the bed. We know this. Some of us are still learning it, but we know this. It's why I hand sanitize after every Sunday. I'm glad that I shake all your hands, but, my God, you never know. This is why God established commandments right. This is why he did this. That was his purpose.

Now here's what's really interesting when God was giving these commandments, he didn't say why. He didn't say why. I don't know, we've got two boys now, they're nine and 11, but when they were younger, there was that stage where everything was a why. Everything's a why. Hey, we're gonna go do this, why? And if you're a gracious parent, you might explain it. But if you're a parent like me, you're like because I said so. That's why I'm like. All authority belongs to me, you know, in this household because I said so. But as your kids grow up, that doesn't, that doesn't fly, right.

You have to start explaining. You have to start giving some context. You have to start saying listen, well, we're gonna go here and here and here, and we're gonna go because you wanna eat, right? So we're gonna go to the grocery store, you know? And you start just beginning to explain it out.

But in this moment God didn't say why. He just said this is how you're to build a society. This is how you're to live. This is how you relate. This is how you handle death. This is like. This is how you handle disease. This is how you handle when people kill each other. Here's literally the law when they sin against one another, when you steal something, this is how you handle it. But he didn't say why. He didn't explain the benefits. He didn't explain the benefits of the rule of law. But here's what he did say. He said be holy as I am holy, and that statement is an invitation to be like him. There's actually a call into promise. Okay, there's two parts here A call and a promise.

In Leviticus 20, verse 26,. Here we go, leviticus. Let's go. Leviticus 20, 26,. It says you must be holy because I, the Lord, am holy and I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own. You are mine. I have called you, I chose you, I created you, I handcrafted you. You are to be holy because I am holy. It's a family trait. It's what I'm calling you to.

In Deuteronomy 7 and 12, it says this if you listen to these regulations and faithfully obey them, the Lord, your God, will keep his covenant of unfailing love with you, as you promise with an oath to your ancestors Deuteronomy 7, 15, and the Lord will protect you from all sickness. Now pay attention to this. He will not let you suffer from the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all your enemies. What he's saying is you knew how to live before, but the way that you live for the last hundreds of years, 400 years the way that you live, actually made you sick. I'm gonna show you a new way to live and I promise you that I'm gonna take care of you. But he doesn't say and here's the 17 reasons why he simply said be holy, for I am holy.

Ecclesiastes 311 gives us some perspective when it says people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end. This is what we wrestle with, right, we're trying to put it together. We're trying to figure out God. Why God? Why God? Why God? Why God? Why he says be holy, as I am holy.

Now, looking back in retrospective, when we, when we look back now that we know what we know OK, we know what we know about sanitation. We know what we know. Here's what God was doing. He was establishing sanitation and hygiene. He was establishing food safety. Food safety. You're like, oh, food safety? Yeah, don't.

If you don't cook it up to this temperature, you're going to get sick. But instead of saying if you don't cook it up to, he just said don't eat it because we're going to eliminate the margin for error. He didn't explain it, but we see the results embedded in the promise due to the army 715, and the Lord will protect you from all sickness. That's what that's about. He says don't eat this, don't do this, this is my way and like, but we, we man, I just loved it when I used to eat the shellfish when I was in Egypt Like don't, and I'm sure somebody was angry about it. He says the Lord will protect you from all sickness. He will not let you suffer from the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all your enemies.

Now here's what's really interesting. They actually inflicted it on themselves because they just didn't have the knowledge that God gave the Israelites. He didn't have to do anything other than go. You just do what you want to do, whatever you want to do it. And if you do it whatever you want to do, whatever you want to do it, it's not going to go well for you. That's counterintuitive to everything that we know in our world, right? We say, man, if I could do whatever I want to do whenever I want to do it, however I want to do it, things are going to be great and God goes. I don't think history is on your side on that one.

I think about it like this and Isaiah 55. God says my thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, says the Lord, and my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts, which is good news. Because if my thoughts are as high as God's thoughts and I'm a God and if I'm God then I'm out of control and this world is not in a good place. And it's even worse if you're in charge. We'll just even the playing field.

So you could look at 613 commandments and you can say, wow, that's really controlling, that's really repressive, that's really I don't know about that. Or you could look at the 613 commands and go wow, whoever put that in place really cares and he really loves those people. He doesn't even want them to eat these things and he says if your skin is doing this thing, go get it checked out, but stay away from other people. And he starts like caring about the smallest tiny details. Why? Because in Psalm 37, it says that he cares about and he takes delight in the details of your life. So, knowing what I know, now I look at those commandments and I don't see an angry, manipulative control in God. I see a loving God who sees, knows and cares. Right.

Knowing what I know now, knowing that I'm like you're right, that's that you shouldn't. You know you need to go to the bathroom somewhere else. That's common sense, not if you don't know what you don't know. This is still a major, by the way. This is still a major problem in our world today. Proper sanitary procedures. That's why I love groups like Samaritan's Purse, who travel around and when they bring water into a new area, they desperately needs water. They teach them all these these common sense things. It's common sense because somebody loved you enough to teach you about it. For, being really honest, somebody loved you enough to say no at some point.

So for now, trying to understand where we are today, there's two things, and we talked about one last week and one this week. There's two things that have a stranglehold on us in society today sex and money. Right, they've got a stranglehold on our society. Everything in our world revolves around these two things. Like I don't think that's true. Have you not watched television? Have you not scroll on the internet?

Matthew 6, 24 says no one can conserve two masters, for you'll hate one and love the other. You'll be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money. Okay, that's not about money, but I would suggest that these two subjects, it's the same passage. Money was given to us as a tool, but money got into our heart. Money in our hand is the tool, money in our heart is poison.

Sex and sexuality is the same way. It was given as a gift and as a God. It was actually the ultimate picture of intimacy. When we get to heaven and I hate to disappoint this room, but when you get to heaven there will be no more sex. That's just in the Bible. I haven't gotten to that part yet. Get on the Bible reading plan. I just got shocked room. They're like, oh my God, what we got to go? I don't, because in Bible language there's shadows and types and it speaks to.

We're actually described like the church and this is kind of awkward for men, but the church as a whole is described as the bride of Christ and it speaks to the intimacy that we will have, that we will no longer have a need, because really we are spiritual beings having a body in physical experience, and we have no, we no longer need those things because when we get into heaven there will be such a depth of intimacy and connection with the Creator of the universe that what our soul craves is entirely different and how we are fulfilled in an entirely different way. See, but you were not created to be enslaved to any of these one thing money or sex or anything else. You were not created to be enslaved. First Corinthians six. Let's jump in there.

The church in Corinth is a great parallel to us. First Corinthians six, verse 12 to 13 says you say I'm allowed to do anything, but not everything is good for you. And even though I'm allowed to do anything, I must not become a slave to anything. You say food was made for the stomach and stomach for food. That is true. Now here's where it gets wild. That is true, though someday God will do away with both of them. But you can't say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. He cares about you, he cares about you. So if we were to drop a pin on Evan C, alberta, canada, we would look a lot like Corinth in AD 74 in our societal climate. Things were wild. If you've ever read the book of Corinthians, you would understand that things were wild.

Let me just give you a taste. Are you good to go on this journey? First, corinthians five we are alive today. Okay, we're like. We can't agree with anything you say, because this is a journey we don't know yet. Okay says I can hardly believe the report about sexuality going on among you, Something that even pagans don't do. Now there is. In this time, in this era, in this moment. There is not a greater, there is not a greater insult that Paul could throw out. He's like people that believe in no God. Do not act how you are acting right now. It's wild out there, but it's more wild in here.

I'm told that a man in your church is living in sin with his stepmother, and you are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame and you should remove this man from your fellowship. I've got so many things. I'm just going to stick to the notes. Okay, I'll go there. What was happening is that it was worse in here than it is out there, but it's not worse for the reasons that you say. First, corinthians 11, it just continues to get more wild. But in the following instructions, I cannot praise you. By the way, this is the passage right before what I read every time we do communion, so just buckle up. But in the following instructions, I cannot praise you, for it sounds as if more harm than good is done when you meet together. Maybe you should stop getting together.

First, I hear there are divisions among you when you meet as a church, and to some extent I believe it. But of course there must be divisions among you so that you who have God's approval will be recognized. Oh, what he's saying is you're disagreeing, there's division amongst you, and what they were divided over was like I like this preacher and I like this preacher and I like this person, I like this theology. He says no. No, there should be divisions, but it should be divisions between who's living the life and who is not, because a few of you are not Get this. When you meet together verse 20, you are not really interested in the Lord's supper, so they would have a meal before communion. They would do a whole meal together. Okay, it's as if before communion we just had a whole brunch.

Just but watch what happened to this brunch, though. For some of you hurry to eat your own meal, so it was like a potluck, which I don't like, but people love it, so they're just all bring. I just don't trust you, okay. So I went to Bible college. I used to travel, we used to sing in a choir and we had to go places and people would make us meals and I could tell you, about half the time I ended up sick. So I'm just saying food safety, like let's go to Leviticus more often.

It says for some of you hurry to eat your own meal without sharing with others. As a result, some go hungry while others get drunk. This is church. This is a church brunch. What? Don't you have your own homes for eating and drinking? Or do you really want to disgrace God's church and shame the poor. What am I supposed to say? Do you want me to praise you? Well, I certainly will not praise you for this.

And then he tells him how to do communion. And here's the real problem. So you could, we could, make a list. We could say well, we don't have anyone that's sleeping with their stepmother here, so that's fine, we're good that you know of. It's funny that you thought that was a joke. Then they're getting drunk at a family brunch at church before they take communion and they are hoarding food from people. So if you didn't bring your own, it was actually the division of the rich and the poor. Those who had kept and ate and those who had nothing brought something and then were held from all the goodness that the rest of the family had to provide. They're like well, we don't have those problems here.

But let's understand what the real problem was. It was the appearance of godliness. He says you are so proud of your spirituality. Here in this passage he starts creating. It's an order, like a plan for orderly worship. He creates a structure because they were flowing in all these spiritual things. They were flowing in spiritual gifts. If you read 1 Corinthians 11 straight through 14, you'll see that the presence of God was there, it was active, it was alive. People were prophesying and praying. There were signs, wonders, miracles, all the things were popping, but they were so proud of their appearance, of spirituality, but they had hearts that were turned against God.

Now here's the thing. You could go. Okay, well, corinth, if you read history, you'd find that Corinth had quite a history of mixing sex and religion. In fact, all their trade partners this is just history. All the trade partners would go on and on and on about how immoral they were as a city. They said there's a thousand male prostitutes in the temple because they worshiped Aphrodite. Later, once the Romans took over, they just switched gods and they worshiped Venus. I didn't know, it was that easy. So sex was already worked into their religious experience.

That's why Paul was saying man, it's worse in here than it is out there. It's kind of like going to Vegas. You go to Vegas and listen, I'm going to tell you this I go to vacation in Vegas every year. You're like, oh my God, and you're not concerned. You don't know if you should be more upset that I go to Vegas. I just said, oh my God. But that's what you were thinking how could this guy lead us? Because here's the reality. Las Vegas is not any more sexual, immoral than Edmonton, alberta, canada. It's just public there. What's worse? A public display or the appearance of spirituality, the appearance that everything's put together, the appearance that everything's okay? What's worse? The truth or the lie? Annanis and Sapphira actually died for that type of performance.

See in Acts, chapter five, annanis and Sapphira, there's a guy named Barnabas who had this like excess of land and property and he was so moved by what God was doing in the church that he sold the land. He sold it. He sold multiple acres, so please do this. And he brought the money to the church. He said I'm just going to give it all to you. These are the proceeds. I'm just going to give it all to whatever you want to do. Annanis and Sapphira see that and they see that all of a sudden, barnabas is actually rising and influence. Now Barnabas is rising and influence because of his nature. He was an encourager. His name actually wasn't Barnabas, it was just the name that they gave him, barnabas, son of encouragement, because he couldn't stop encouraging, he couldn't start like uplifting people. He could not stop himself. But they see, this is the first power play in the church. I'm going to use my money to get somewhere. So they sell a piece of property and they come to the disciples and they say here it is, here's all of it. The truth is Annanis and Sapphira this couple decided between themselves that they weren't going to give all of it, just some of it. It's going to hold back a little bit, but they were going to tell the apostles that it was all of it.

God first brings in the husband, annanis. He tells us lie. God speaks to the apostle and goes he's not telling the truth. And they go why are you lying to the Holy Spirit? He dies. God kills him right there. Then his wife comes in and goes oh so you guys sold this piece of land, right? He's like, yeah, and you gave all of it to the church, right? Yeah? Drops dead right there, as if to say that God has no tolerance for people, for you and me, who use what we have, whatever it is in our hands, to manipulate or control what he wants to do.

Leviticus 20, verse 26,. You must be holy, because I, the Lord, am holy. I have set you apart from all the other people to be my very own. Let's see this again. Let's fast forward to the New Testament, because there's someone here that's saying he hasn't talked with the New Testament yet. So we don't have to believe this. Let's go to the New Testament.

First, peter 2, verse nine. For you are a chosen people. You are a royal priest, a holy nation, god's very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God. For he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful life. He called you out. He called you out. If you're sitting here and you've been here for any length of time, there's a good chance that he called you out from the darkness of your own life and decision. And he called you into the light and glory of his. He called you out. He says well, how do we get here? Where we live in a society or in a church where we just celebrate the uncelebratable and that's not the right word, but it's okay. Well, we rationalize 1 Corinthians 6, 12, 13.

You say I'm allowed to do anything, but not everything is good for you. And even though I'm allowed to do anything, I must not become a slave to anything. You say food was made for the stomach and stomach for the food. That is true, though someday God will do away with both of them. But you can't say that your bodies were made for sexual immorality. Why? Because they were made for the Lord. You were made for the Lord and he cares about our body.

So I just wanna unpack some myths. Can we unpack some myths together? Let's do it. I go to Pastor Henry because he's the only person who responds on a Sunday. We're working on it. As a church family, we're working on it. Thank you, isabelle. I'll just start saying by name. I know the sound of your voice. Myth number one God just wants me to be happy. Actually, god just wants me to be holy. Yeah, that'll bridge right. Don't take my word for it.

1 Corinthians 6 says run from sexual sin. No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does, for sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? You invite him to live in your life. He lives in you and was given to you by God. You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. If you wanna see 1 Corinthians 6 personified, go back to Genesis 39 and you'll find the moment with Joseph when Potiphar's wife says I wanna sleep with you, and he's like, no, I'm gonna honor the Lord. And he just runs away. That's what Paul's mentioning here. He says run. Other translations say flee.

There is not another set of sins that this parameter is put on in scripture. You're like but they're all equal right. Well, if you're a sinner, you're a sinner. But God says listen, there is some collateral damage that happens in this area that you are not aware of. Just think about Samson. We won't even go there.

Number two my body, my way. Nope, he made it. Scripture says you were made to the Lord and you were bought with a high price when Jesus Christ went and gave his life for you on the cross. Ah, missed. Number three I was born this way. I was like, oh, he's gonna get canceled. Now I'll just read the scripture, john 3, 3,.

I tell you the truth unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. See, cause all of this. You're like, I mean, you're just talking about sin. Yes, I am, but we're not actually talking necessarily about the physical action. We're talking about the heart thing. The physical action is simply a physical manifestation of what's going on on the inside of you. Matthew 5, 27,. This is where Jesus throws down, he gets in the mix and then he raises the bar and you're just confused by how you can even live. He says you have heard the commandment that says you must not commit adultery. But I say anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. You're like, okay, so I'm done. So here's to know what happens in a message like this.

People that have been married for a long time were sitting in church. We're like, yeah, you get them, pastor. You get them. You talk to those young adults and you say you're not married yet. You tell them this is not just for one demographic. God says be holy as I am holy. He didn't put an age restriction on it.

In marriage, while it is a part of God's plan, does not exclude you to live a holy life. It takes care of one area. Let's look at the fruit. So in Galatians it talks about the fruits of the spirit, and we love the fruits of the spirit, like, oh yeah, love, joy, peace, kinds of all that's all so good. But it actually just talks about another kind of fruit, the fruit of living in a life that is not holy, and this is what it looks like. So Galatians 519,. This is the contrasting list In Galatians 519,.

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear Sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God. Let's flash back to 1 Corinthians 6, verse nine. Don't you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the kingdom of God? He's trying to give you a kingdom. Don't fool yourselves. Those who's indulged in sexual sin or worship idols or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes or practice homosexuality, or are thieves or greedy people or drunkards, or are abusive or cheat people none of these will inherit the kingdom of God.

Some of you were once like that, but you were cleansed, you were made holy, you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord and by the spirit of our God. In other words, I once was lost, but now I'm found, and scripture says it used to be like that for you, but I'm transforming you. You're looking more and more like me. It says don't go back to where you were. You were once bound up and chained and addicted, and now you're free. Don't go back and be enslaved by the things that I set you free from can be enslaved by the things that I set you free from. There's more for you. Here's where I'm gonna land this, the same way I landed the last one.

My relationship with God has a direct impact on my view of sex and sexuality. First thing might feel eerily familiar. Jesus is first in everything. First thought. He has a plan for my sexuality and it's a gift to be enjoyed. It's for your enjoyment.

Song of Solomon, which, if you're under 18, you probably shouldn't read. These days there's sexual poetry in the Bible. It happens in Song of Solomon. It's wild and Deandre didn't read it till after he got married. Song of Solomon eight, verse four.

He says promise me, oh women usually it's the men in the hot seat but in this moment, promise me, oh women of Jerusalem, not to awaken love until the time is right. Clawshan's 118 says so. He is first in everything. He's first in everything because I follow Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth in the life. When I live his way, I enter all truth and I find life. His way says sex is for one husband and one wife. There's a plan in that, there's a purpose in that, Because we only see it from a physical perspective but we do not see it from a spiritual perspective. We do not understand what is happening in our souls and our hearts as we get entangled from relationships, relationships, relationships. We don't understand that in some ways and in some seasons, we're just trying to fill all kinds of voice in our own lives with this physical act. He's first in everything.

I shared our wedding verse, desnaith, last week. Matthew 6.336, seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. It just comes down to this Am I going to believe his word or not? His first? If he's not first, he's like it's a win or lose situation. If he's not first, I'm not following it. It's counter cultural. Now now track with me here.

You might even say this seems like punishment. I should be able to do what I want with who I want, when I want, how I want. Man, this seems like you're putting a parameter on me. That man, I don't like this. You don't like it because you don't know what you don't know. In the same way, when the Israelites received the law and they said, wow, this seems like a lot and I don't understand why I can't eat the shellfish and why I can't touch dead bodies, we look back, we go. Well, I can tell you why he did it because he loved them and he cared for them, not because he's trying to punish you, because he's trying to protect you and your heart and your life and your destiny. It's to promise Deuteronomy 712,. If you listen to these regulations and faithfully obey them, the Lord, your God, will keep his covenant of unfailing love with you.

Last thing, next thing, I say Jesus is my Lord and King because I know who I'm following, I know who is in charge and I know who I'm submitted to. And I can tell you who's in charge of my life. His name is Jesus. He's the King of every area of my life, including my sex and my sexuality, every part of my life. I don't leave any part out. It's every part. I don't fall in because his ways are higher than my ways. His thoughts are higher than my way.

Last thing Jesus is my provider. I don't understand how this has to do with anything, because in every facet of my life he cares about every facet of my life. Dr Albert Mollard says. Like this, sexuality is one of God's good gifts and the source of much human happiness. At the same time, once expressed outside this intended context of marital fidelity, it can become one of the most destructive forces in human existence. See, jesus is my provider, because he cares and he sees and he knows me, and that intimacy that I'm craving, he can fill it, that closeness that I desire, he can fill it that feeling of safety. He can provide that, that sense of connection. He can offer that, and he offers that in a number of ways. One of those through a personal relationship with himself, where he can actually satisfy the desires of your soul. But for many of us that happens through a husband or a wife. He provides just the right person at just the right time.

And then there's another category of person who's called to live a life that remains celibate, and they just follow the plans and purposes of Jesus. That's what the apostle Paul did, and he did it because he understood that he was on a very dangerous mission Across the planet. He was beaten and he was beat up to spread this message of hope. He said I'm just going to go all in and I'm going to follow Jesus with everything. He gave literally everything, including this area. We say Jesus is my provider when we understand that sex is not a tool for manipulation or control. Now here's the greatest myth that the ultimate goal of these guidelines is prevention. We're just going to stop people from having sex. That's not the goal. The goal is redemption, not prevention. Pastor Landon Mendoza articulates it in such a powerful way God's highest, ultimate calling in sexuality is redemption, not prevention.

There was a time in the era that we thought if we could just get you to suppress whatever is your feel, feel that you could manipulate and you could manage. You can't manipulate and you can't manage. And Jesus is not about behavior modification, it's about heart transformation. And you might be in this room today and you say you know what I've just felt judgment and shame and condemnation every time I came around a Christian, because I knew what they thought about me. No, that's not what they think about you. Maybe it's what some of those people have thought about you, but I can tell you that if they're looking at you through the eyes of Jesus and you talk to them about your past and where you've been and where you're going through. They say you know what? We've all been there, we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and we're here to point you to Jesus and he's the hope in the life. And well, I can't agree with all of your decision. I can walk with you. I don't have to have a heart full of hate to say I just disagree with the decisions you're making because you don't understand what's happening on the inside of who you are.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes across this place? First thing, we just need to see some people set free today. It's not anything that I can do. It's what only Jesus can do by the power of his Holy Spirit. First thing is this and I'm not going to ask anyone to raise their hands, because I understand the sensitivity of this thing but if you are caught up right now in sexual sin, god wants you to be free today. It could be an affair, it could be an emotional affair, it could be an addiction to something on the internet.

Whatever it is, jesus wants you to be free, but it starts with surrender. Am I willing to lay it down, I can say, yeah, no, I'm dealing with things. Just a moment of surrender, to be honest. It's honestly no different than any other moment of surrender, where you just lay down the things that you're struggling with. He says come to me all you are weary and I will give you rest. And the truth is, the cycles and the patterns of brokenness have caused a weariness to overtake your soul. He says give it to me, I want you to be free. So if that's you, today, you don't need to lift your hand, you don't need to do anything. I want you to silently surrender it to Jesus right now. Say, jesus, I give this to you, I'm tired. Would you help me? Would you set me free?

There's a spiritual component. Other thing is this Maybe you carry some shame from your past and I just get the sense that there might be some in the room who've gone through seasons of sexual abuse and you carry some shame with those things. And there's a condemnation of Jesus Christ. If you come to him and the truth is you didn't send somebody sinned against you, but he just wants to wash that away from you. Today he wants you to be free, he wants you to know that he sees you, he knows you, he loves you. He's got a great plan and a purpose for you. He doesn't want you to walk bound up and broken anymore. He wants to put those broken pieces back together. Would you let him so?

If that's you, say, jesus, I give you this. For many it's a secret. I give you this. I've never said it out loud, but I give it to you right now. Jesus, I ask that you just wash me clean of the shame that I'm feeling. This condemnation, therefore, there is now no condemnation in Christ Jesus. Here's what I believe. Jesus has power and authority over everything, over everything. Jesus has power and authority over every single area and realm of our lives. If we would give it to him, if we would surrender it to him, he will set us free. I could just scratch the surface today to begin to establish a parameter for biblical sexuality, but just understand this that he wants to transform you. He wants to set you free. He wants to show you how to live life in a new way. Don't go back to where you once were. It's time to step into free. It's time.