Well, my Sunday morning alarm goes off at 5. And then I fight the next three minutes to get out of bed, reach for the ice pack downstairs, and put the coffee on. It's kind of my routine on Sunday morning. And this time, though, it was a little altered. I got the ice pack on my back. I got the coffee in my cup. I got downstairs to my office, and I turned on the ESPN app on my phone. I don't usually go there first. But I just wanted to know what happened all night in Paris. How are our athletes doing over there? And watching some of the sports, my wife and I have had some entertaining time just watching our athletes go for gold. And I was pleased when I scrolled through the web on my phone to find out that as far as the medal count currently, currently, America is far and away in first place. As far as the gold, silver, and medals that have been handed out, our country is in a distant first place, or I would call it a distant. There's a comfortable margin so far. And I just got a little proud for a moment about Team USA. With all the baggage, with all the drama, you know, you got to pull for the team. And I was excited to see that number. Why? Well, there's just the treasure of an Olympic medal. One of those medals this past week went out to a young athlete from Grand Blanc, I believe. Is it Grand Blanc? He was the guy that ran six miles or 10 miles or whatever, and he came in third, and he got the bronze medal. You know, that guy, that young man, is going to treasure that piece of metal on a ribbon his whole life. It was important to him. He's been seeing it for years. in his mind and in his goals of training, and now he has it in his hand. It'll be a lifelong treasure, to be sure. And I know I speak on behalf of the other medalists so far. But you know, here in Titus chapter 2, Paul is really leaning into this personal letter to his protege, Titus. And he says, Titus, there's something that is a lifelong treasure to you and to me as well. And it's far more valuable than just a medal on the end of a ribbon. You see, Titus, you and I treasure something called the gospel. It's the story of our salvation by grace through Christ. And as you read these three chapters in Titus, at your leisure, you'll see that he's constantly coming back to the gospel, the gospel of God, the good news of eternal life. But probably the centerpiece of these three chapters is Paul celebrating the treasure of the gospel in Titus chapter 2. I want to direct your attention to verse 11. For the grace of God We're talking the gospel. We're talking the person of the gospel here, Jesus Christ. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age. looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works. So Titus, these things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you. Yes, Paul is telling Titus here in Titus chapter 2, we treasure the gospel, the good news, the person of the gospel, Jesus Christ. That's our treasure. But he goes a little farther than that in explaining what it means to treasure the gospel. In essence, Paul is saying in his verses that the gospel is not only our lifelong treasure, it's also now, for those who've accepted the gospel, it is now our life-saving lens that helps us see clearly as redeemed people living in a difficult, dark culture. The gospel is our lifelong treasure as well as our life-saving lens. You say, what do you mean by that? Well, it says here that the gospel not only saves us, but it says in verse 12, instructing us. You understand the gospel doesn't just rescue, the gospel teaches those who've been rescued. And this kind of teaching will actually point at things. It will command control of your gaze and say, look at this. and see it clearly. He says, instructing or teaching us to do two things, to deny ungodliness and worldly desires. The gospel that saves us has to point out often to believers like us, this is ungodliness and this is what a worldly lust looks like. The gospel is not doing that out of a moralism or a legalism. It's doing it appropriately and speaking so clearly and pointing out sin so vividly to those who are redeemed so that they will be zealous of good works as the possession of Jesus Christ. Just a little tidbit to get us back into our study we left off with last week. We're doing a series now called Swimming Upstream, and the subtitle is Maintaining Moral Purity in a Dark Culture. And this morning, as we did last Sunday morning as well, I'm wanting all of us to come face to face with the enemy. We're allowing the Gospel, God's Word, our Redeemer through His Word, to teach us what is ungodliness and what is a worldly lust. And the Spirit has preserved for us a description of this sin personified in the book of Proverbs. And we want to come face to face with the enemy because we want to feel the full force of the current that you and I have to fight. And what better or safer place to go eyeball to eyeball with the enemy than here gathered together as believers looking into the mirror of the word of God and seeing what the gospel and our Redeemer is pointing at to teach us. Better to meet the enemy here than at home alone in the dark. That's deadly. And so as we're seeing the enemy face-to-face here, we're looking at, and you can tell from your notes there, we're first of all taking note of the description of the adulterous woman. But remember what we said, it's a key to interpreting these verses in Proverbs. Proverbs has a way of personifying virtues and wisdom, if you will, He does that, or the writer does that in Proverbs chapter 9 with wisdom, lady wisdom. In chapter 31, lady virtue. But there's also, on the other side of the coin, a darker lady that's used to personify the sin of immorality. It's called the strange woman. And anything that we're hearing In Proverbs, as we read this morning and last Sunday morning, it's referring to a woman. Take note of that, that that could be a man or a woman. But there's also another layer in that the author is personifying the sin of immorality. Wherever you sit in this life, in whatever station, whatever decade, whether you're married or single, divorced or widowed, you need to have ears to hear what's being said. So keep your fingers kind of limber this morning as we return to the neighborhood of Proverbs chapters five, six, and seven. Turn there with me as the bulk of what we will say, not all of it, will come from these three chapters as it's a concentration of a description of the lady, the man of immorality and the sin of immorality. We've already seen the description, and these first two items in your notes I'll not re-preach. I'll get the blanks filled in for those of you who weren't here, but the full recordings are available of the study on our church website. We saw, first of all, last week, the description of this lady. The book of Proverbs sheds a bright light on this adulterous woman, or on the sin of immorality that's reaching for you. We saw last week that she cannot be trusted. We saw that in chapter 2, verses 16 through 17. She's leaving her husband, or he's leaving his wife, or they're leaving their commitment to purity that they've made to their God. to come lure you into sin. And we saw that if they're willing to do that with their spouse or to God, they will break your trust down the road as well. She cannot be trusted. Secondly, we saw that she has no conscience. Let me sand that down and make sure you're hearing me right. Everyone has a conscience. Romans chapter 1 is very clear that we have a knowledge of God. It's a common grace, but man, according to Paul in Romans 1, suppresses the truth, suppresses that knowledge, and pushes it down, and claps his ears, her ears, not to hear it, and covers their eyes not to see what their conscience is decrying as sin. They suppress that, and God gives them over to the depravity of their hearts, to all immorality. In chapter 30, verse 20, we saw this is the way of the adulterous woman. She eats and wipes her mouth and says, I've done no wrong. We saw thirdly in the description that she herself is gullible too. We saw this in chapter 5 of Proverbs, verse 6, for example. She does not ponder the path of life. Her ways are unstable, and she doesn't even know it. Proverbs 9, 13 says she's naive and without understanding. She knows nothing. She may believe that she knows it all and can do it all, but we saw last week That confidence does not equal competence. She is curiously careless. Well, then we moved on secondly to her communication. Her communication, and we noted that she is incredibly intelligent in her speech. In what way? Well, she is flattering. She is loud. Doesn't mean her voice necessarily, but it might be the voices of a culture in agreement saying this is okay. And she's persuasive. We saw that in chapter 5, verse 3. And we even saw last week from the book of Proverbs what are some of her or his favorite lines to use on you to lure you in, either in person or through the means of technology. Letter A, I'm religious. We saw in chapter 7 that she's using church talk, so to speak, to lure in a young man. The adulterous person is in church, in the youth group, in the Christian club, on the campus, in the chat room, in the social media group, and probably here today. Another line she uses is this, I've been waiting for you. I haven't found satisfaction in my life until I've met you. Now my life is complete. Chapter 7, verse 15, she brazenly says, a stunningly beautiful adult married woman says to a man in his young teens, a young boy, something irresistible. She says, I have come out to meet you, to seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you three times. She's referring to the favorite person in the young man's heart, himself. Third, she says this, I'll do all the planning. I'll do all the work. I'm convenient for you. I am a fantasy partner that you've dreamed of. We saw that in chapter 7, verses 16 through 18. Unfortunately, fantasy doesn't equal reality. And the drive-through convenience of this sin does not fill an emptiness. It brings in only further weight of guilt, and it is no way a picture of true physical relationship and love within the confines of marriage. It's a lie. Letter D, we saw that she uses this line, I love the secrecy of it all. She says in chapter nine, verse 17, stolen water is sweet, man, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. I mean, there's the buzz of the physical activity, but even more in the background, there's a buzz of secrecy and planning and contriving and cloaking and covering. And parents and schools and churches and spouses are all lied to. And we saw that it's only a matter of time, though, before it comes to light. What you sow, you reap, Galatians 6. And we also saw that you're forgetting someone. With God there is no secrecy. We saw in chapter 5, verse 21, look at it, for the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he watches all his paths, and his own iniquities will capture the wicked, and he will be held with the cords of his sin. You know, verse 22 has right there the word, or not the word, the concept of addiction. You start tasting this world a little bit with your eyes and with your mind and with your mouth, communication, and with your body, you are taken. You are captured by it. As one pastor told me when I was young about any sin, anything that warms your heart will steal it. And here in verse 22, we talk about being held by the cords of your sin, being captured. That's binding. That's addiction. And you can drag that anchor through years or decades of your life, all because you were curious. Well, that's as far as we got last week. I want to turn our attention, thirdly, as we build out this theology of immorality, personified. I want you to see the presentation. The presentation. I just put right here in your notes, let's be honest with each other, the adulterous woman or man is usually stunning to behold. Let's just say it and get it out in the room. They're not intentionally trying to have a presentation, a physical presentation that is repulsive. They're stunning to behold. I want to just point out two things to you. about their presentation. First of all, I want you to note her choice of clothing. We gotta have a conversation this morning. And as uncomfortable as you may get out there, I invite you to come and be on this side of the desk anytime you want to. Look at chapter seven. This is an adult, experienced, married woman talking like this, listen. to a guy probably 12 or 13. We know he's a youth. So he's no older than that. And what does she use on him? Chapter 7, verse 10. Go to verse 6. For at the window of my house I looked out through my lattice, and I saw among the naive and discerned among the youths a young man lacking sense. passing through the street near her corner, and he takes the way to her house. It's her corner, her house. When is this happening? In the twilight? In the evening? In the middle of the night? And then the darkness? And what happens? Behold, a woman comes to meet him. Look at the next phrase. Dressed as a harlot. and cunning of heart. Cunning of heart means everything in verse 10 is a part of the plan. Everything in verse 10 has been planned out in her heart, not just to secure his attention and to arouse his interest, but to gain his conquest. The choice of clothing. And it's just, her clothing is just described with a few words. And we need to feel the weight of these few words. Dressed as a harlot. We need to come from the dusty road in the land of Israel for a moment, back to Ypsilanti and Calvary Baptist Church in 2024. And the statement I'm getting ready to say right now, I say with pastoral concern, but also with personal fear, because I don't trust my heart any more than I can throw it. Here's the statement. Please hear it with the right ears. Men's greatest temptation follows him to church on Sunday, even in conservative evangelical churches like ours. I'm not, in making that statement, trying to make excuses for men's thought struggles. Let me just make this clear. I am responsible with the grace I have in Christ because of the gospel. I am responsible to gaze at Christ and be transformed into the same image from glory to glory. I'm responsible to do my part, my lifting, in progressive sanctification towards holiness and purity. I know the Spirit's doing it. He requires I work, and then he says, look, I even give you the grace to work. I just want you to feel right now that I'm saying no man ever gets to squirm out of his responsibility based on what a lady is wearing near them, even in a church like ours. I'm responsible for my battle. I'm in the fight. No excuses. I'm not making excuses for men's thought struggles in the body of Christ, but I am making an appeal for help. I will be the last one to hand out to you a legalistic list. I hope you understand that. But understand this as well. Understand that your choice of clothes in every decade of life might place you into a category you need to rethink. Say, what do you mean? 710 says that there exists something called the attire of a harlot. You say, well, define that. OK, well, it's any time you remove the mystery of your body. Whether the line is too low or too high, or too tight to remove the mystery of your body would be the attire of a harlot. Now, I want to take you back to the 1970s. If you're still listening to me, come back. Go with me to the 1970s to Southern California. Are you with me? Remember what 1970s was like in general? We're still trying to get over the 60s. 1970s, I want you in Southern California at a church called First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton. You know who the pastor is in the 70s at that church in Southern California? Chuck Swindoll. He's the last guy you're going to call a flaming fundamentalist. But he has a sermon, and you can still listen to it today, called You and Your Daughter, preached in the 70s in Southern California in his large church. And when you listen to that sermon, you will hear him make an appeal. He gets to talking about miniskirts in the 70s in Southern California. And he makes this statement to his congregation, quote, I'm not saying that a miniskirt makes you a harlot, but a miniskirt is something a harlot would wear. He's not a fundamentalist trying to build a kingdom for his name. He's a pastor making an appeal for help. I would add to Dr. Swindoll's plea, a reminder to you, too, that as a church, Calvary Baptist Church of Ypsilanti, we say that we exist to glorify God by making disciples in a community of grace. You say, what's a disciple? It's pretty predictable. We are to grow towards God as a worshiper, and then what's the second direction? We're to grow to all people, saved and unsaved, as a what? As a servant. By agreement, then, as a church family, servanthood, if that's our goal as a disciple, will come to play with what we choose to wear. How can I serve others replaces the philosophy of I can wear whatever I want, get out of my face, it's all called grace. I think Paul would agree with me on this one. Since I have most of you mad at me now, I want you to get mad at Paul. Hold your finger in Proverbs, do a little excursus here to 1 Timothy chapter two. 1 Timothy chapter two. Later this fall, I'm gonna be starting a series that will go from start to finish of this epistle to Timothy. I'm looking forward to that study. Just bought two new commentaries two weeks ago, but that doesn't matter to you, but I'm pretty pumped about what's coming up. When we get to chapter 2, we're going to have to wrestle with these two verses. He's talked about the men, early part of chapter 2, and he's still talking about the ladies here in verse 9. He says, likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly. not with braided hair and gold of pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works as is proper for women making a claim to godliness. I think Timothy here gives all of us, and remember, I'm talking to the ladies obviously right now, but gives to all of us kind of a checklist for your closet. If I can word it that way, and he, this isn't in your notes, but he gives you three things on this short checklist here. He says, I want you to adorn yourselves. That's the word, we got our word cosmos from that. It means to be well-ordered, well-arranged. The idea is that it's planned. It's planned what you wear. We know the lady in Proverbs 7's planning everything she's wearing. for nefarious intent, but here we're seeing in a New Testament epistle that we are to plan appropriately in a godly way for what we wear. What are the three items on his list here? First of all, wear clothes that are safely modest. That's it. Wear clothes that are safely modest. He even uses the word here, modestly. One scholar says, this is a shrinking from overpassing the limits of reserve as well as keeping away from dishonor which may attach itself to you if you do cross that line. Eidos is the word. Wear clothes that are safely modest. You say, what does that mean? Know where the lines are. The high lines, the low lines, and the tight lines. and stay clear of them. Protect the mystery of your body. Number two, number one is wear clothes that are safely modest. Number two, wear clothes that reflect self-control. It says modestly and, look at verse nine again, discreetly. This carries with it the idea of self-mastery or self-government, as one commentator says. And it has everything to do in a context like this, to physical appetites. Demonstrate self-control in your choices of what to wear, and he's writing to believers here, to reflect a self-control to help control the appetites of those around you as well as your own appetites. Protect the mystery. That's the third time I've said that now. You say, why do you keep saying that? Because the mystery of your body, men and women, is for your future spouse and theirs alone. You say, what if I never marry? Then you get to present your body to the Lord as pure. You see, the Song of Solomon, Solomon writes in chapter four, verse 12, referring to the bride, referring to the centerpiece of that beautiful book, The Bride. He describes her as, three ways, as a garden locked is my sister, my bride, a rock garden locked, a spring sealed up. What is that talking about? I believe it's protecting the privacy and the mystery of the bodies until it's time for the garden to be opened and the spring released, which is in the confines of marriage. Well thirdly on this list for the closet, wear clothes that reveal your passion for God. It says at the end of verse 10, this is proper for a woman making a claim to godliness. Godliness. This has everything to do with reverence. Listen, when you see the word godly, In the New Testament, it's another way of saying the fear of the Lord. It's being aware of God, not just in your moments, but in your space, and responding appropriately to that. So I guess Paul's little checklist, before we go back to Proverbs to finish his sermon, his little checklist would have us at least reach this conclusion. Don't start with clothes and work towards God. Don't say, I know what I like to wear and so I'm just gonna wear that and then I'm gonna from there have my devotions and think that everything's okay. Start with God and work your way towards your clothes. May I quote another non-cranky fundamentalist? He wouldn't even take the name fundamentalist. I know because I know this guy. His name's Kent Hughes. and for several decades pastored the college church at Wheaton, Wheaton College. No one would ever make a charge at him, to Kent Hughes, that he was a legalistic list keeper. Everyone knows about Kent's book, Disciplines of a Godly Man. Everyone knows about his commentary series that he contributes to and is the editor of. I was talking with him one time in a meeting, and he told me about another book I didn't even know he wrote. It's called Set Apart. The subtitle is Calling a Worldly Church to a Godly Life. I said, how come I never heard about that book? He says, it never took off. I mean, it's still in print, but it didn't get the attention. And the topic's not as popular in modern evangelicalism as I would have hoped it would have been. Set apart. And in that book, these were just a series of sermons he preached to his college church at Wheaton first and then put into print. He said to his church family these words, quote, modesty, are you listening? Modesty is the entire church's responsibility. We, together, must create a culture in which modesty flourishes." End quote. Yeah, I agree with him. You're back in Proverbs chapter 9. We're looking at her presentation. And first of all, you can't miss her choice of clothes. But secondly, you can't miss her eyes. Her eyes. Where do you see that? Well, look at chapter six, verse 25. Once again, we touched on this last week. The father says to his young son, chapter six, verse 25 of Proverbs, do not desire her beauty, so she's beautiful, she's stunning, in your heart, nor let her capture you with her eyelids. In other words, son, she's gonna be a looker. You're gonna wanna look at her, she's beautiful. But there's something else that, now that she has your attention, that will pull you in faster than even her looks. It's her eyes. Her eyes are powerful. Her attention is focused on you. Something that beautiful is looking at you. And those eyes are focusing not just into your eyes, but your physical existence as well. And she wraps your focus onto hers. It's like the old Star Wars tractor beam. Once it's turned on and your spaceship is caught in a tractor beam, it's just a matter of landing the thing. You're no longer in control where it lands. It's her beauty and her eyes. That's her presentation. You say, well, man, if no one's around, What does a little feast look like, a little harmless feast of looking and gazing and purchasing or even being in the same proximity and touching? What's wrong with a harmless feast if no one knows? Well, the reminder we need is this, there's no such thing as a quiet, unseen, harmless feast. Jesus removed all doubt about this in his Sermon on the Mount when he said in Matthew 5, 27 to 28, you have heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery, but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. That's her presentation. I want you to see number four. Her intention. What's the intention of the sin that's personified? Exactly who does the loose woman target? Or the loose man target? We'll move through these pretty quickly. First of all, the spiritually active guy. The spiritually active person. Look at chapter 7, verse 26, and I want you to start picking up on her plan here. Who is she targeting? The spiritually active person. Chapter 7, verse 26. Many are the victims she has cast down. Stop there. That means this was someone who was standing and had terra firma, and she toppled him. You say, are you sure that's what it means? Yeah, well, hear the rest of the story here. Chapter 9, verse 15. A little more explicit, if you will. calling to those who pass by, look at this, who are making their paths straight. That's a good thing, and she wants to yank them off of the good path. If you went to chapter nine, verse 16, you'd read these words. This is her own, this is her own wording, okay? I'm sorry, not 9.15. 23.28, surely she lurks as a robber and increases, listen to this, the faithless among men. If she's increasing the faithless by taking you down, if he's taking you down and increasing the faithless, it means prior to the takedown you were being faith, what? Faithful. The sites of this sin are set on you as you try to grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ. You're a target. Secondly, what about her intention? She wants to take down the naive guy. The gullible guy, if you will. Look at chapter seven, and again, there's a four-fold description here. I saw among the naive, I discerned among the youths, a young man lacking sense. Three-fold, excuse me. Lacking sense, naive, and youthful. That's the simple person in Proverbs. It's someone who could either be naive because they're young or they're new or they have no experience. It's sad and jolting to read the statistics I shared with you a few weeks ago as I introduced this series. and the staggering high number of percentage of young people whose first exposure to pornography was well below 10 years old. It creates in the gullible and in the naive an appetite that won't be satisfied. It will always be present. And if it's not conquered by the resources, the rescue and resources of the gospel, what will describe you is what Peter says in 2 Peter chapter 2, describing false teachers. He uses this phrase, their eyes are full of adulteries. It's on their mind all the time. It's set in when you were gullible and naive. Parents get involved, set boundaries with your entertainment and with your electronics. Lovingly show an example of beautiful sexuality and attraction between a man and a woman through your marriage. Well, thirdly, how would we describe her intention? It's the hungry guy. The hungry guy. Verses 8 and 9, he's passing through the street near her corner. He's taking the way to her house, and he's doing it when no one can see. Verse 9, usually out of the view. of daylight or technology or other people. He's alone. He's interested. Can I put it to you this way? He's hungry. I would also pencil in here 1 Corinthians 7, 4, and 5, where it's a warning written from Paul to married couples that if they're not offering themselves freely within their marriage and the physical relationship, they are indeed inviting Satan to tempt you because of your lack of self-control. That's 1 Corinthians 7, 5. There are hungry people out there. This sin has a strange way of identifying you and coming for you. Well, what's the notification? The notification. After we've seen the first four descriptions of the sin personified. Here's what I have to say about the notification. God serves clear notice from heaven. that firmly warned you about this woman. He's been warning us the whole time. Chapter 5, verses 21 and 22. The ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord and he watches all his paths. His iniquities will capture him. He'll be held with the cords of his sin. Chapter 6, verses 27 to 29, he's been warning you. So, so is the one who goes into his wife's, his neighbor's wife. Whoever touches her will not go unpunished. Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he's hungry, but when he is found, he must repay sevenfold. He must give all the substance of his house. The one who commits adultery, listen, with a woman is lacking sense. He who would destroy himself does it. He's been warning us. Verse 27, look up at verse 27. Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not get burned? Or can a man walk on hot coals and his feet not get scorched? I'll even say this, giving in to this woman will destroy your life. Where do you get that? Chapter 5, verse 5. It says, her steps go down to death. I don't know how to soften that. The next line, her steps take hold of Sheol, the grave. I don't know how to soften that warning. Chapter 7, verse 27. Her house is on the way to Sheol, descending to the chambers of death. Wow. Chapter 9, verse 18, he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol. So we need to talk about the notification, the warning, threefold. First of all, you will never recover. I'm going to nuance that in a second, but I want the warning to sting. Because the warning is very graphic here in chapter 2, verses 18 and 19. Her house sinks down to death. Her tracks lead to the dead. None who go to her return again, nor do they reach the path of life. Secondly, you will always regret. He told us this too. Chapter 5, verse 11 through 14. And you groan at your final end when your flesh and your body are consumed and you say, how I have hated instruction. And my heart spurned reproof. I have not listened to the voice of my teachers nor inclined my ear to my instructors. I was almost in utter ruin in the midst of the assembly and in the congregation. Hear the agony of a man or of a woman who has given in. Those of you who come back to the evening service tonight will hear the actual words of a woman who gave in. And it changed the marriage and the life of her and her husband. And I have their permission to read their story to you this evening. But it won't be recorded and will not have live stream. You'll hear that kind of regret. And thirdly, you will mar your testimony. Again, verses 32 and 33 of chapter six. The one who commits adultery with a woman's lacking sense, he who would destroy himself, does it. Wounds and disgrace he will find. And his last phrase, I don't know how to soften. His reproach will not be blotted out. But I tried to nuance that last week with these words. Can you be forgiven for this? Yes, I'm gonna have a whole sermon. I might do two sermons on the topic of forgiveness if you've given into this. There'll at least be one coming. Yes, you can. That's how robust the mercy and grace of Jesus is. You say, well good, but then that verse doesn't apply to me. And here's my little nuance statement from that verse. Wounds can heal, but scars might remain. David repented of his sin with Bathsheba. Remember that in Samuel? We studied that. But it's interesting, you get all the ways, a couple centuries later to the right in the Bible, And you get to the Gospel of Matthew in chapter one, and you still have, well, you look here. Hold your finger here, look at Matthew 1, 6. We have the genealogy of the Messiah. And David's in this, and we're like, well, that's good to see David here. Verse six, Jesse was the father of David, the king. Look at the rest of this verse. This man was forgiven. He healed, but their scars remained. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba, who had been the wife of Uriah. You see, I look at the notification, and I nuance those first two with these words, outside of God's grace, you'll never recover, and you'll always regret. but you have a rescuing, saving God. This is what happens outside of God's grace, but God's grace finds you and can rescue you. Oh, my soul, yes. But you've been put on notice. It's this heavy. Well, some of you who hear these words today have been the recipient of a trusted figure's lust and abuse in your life. I want to say to you as pastor, if that's going on right now, you come talk to me. We're going to get you to a safe place as a church and with the Washtenaw Sheriff's Department. And we'll take care of that this afternoon. But for some of you, that was a long time ago, several clicks back in your life. And you've been walking with a limp since then. There's a passage of scripture you need to write down right here. Deuteronomy 22, verses 25 to 27. It's a passage of rape, and it's a passage that will set your conscience free if I'm talking to you right now. What you endured at the cost of someone else's lust and abuse does not make you this lady in Proverbs. It makes you a victim. Your conscience can still be clean. Let me give you one more caveat, and it's a caveat of rescue. We'll talk more about this as we talk about forgiveness, but I just want you to chew on this phrase. There's a difference between virginity and purity, on one hand, and innocence and holiness on the other. If you've made mistakes, if you've given in, you can be forgiven. And though the mystery and the purity, the physical purity, might have been breached from this moment on, in forgiveness that you have in Christ, with confession, there can be innocence once again and holiness. This is what Jesus does. He proclaims liberty to captives. He binds up the brokenhearted. These are words found in Isaiah 61. He comforts those who mourn. He gives them beauty instead of ashes so that they will be called oaks of righteousness. Well, what's the protection? And then we're done. The protection. What must you do to keep yourself safe? Is there a guaranteed safety available? And the answer is yes. God's way works every time. Quick points here. First of all, get the word into your heart. Get the word into your heart. We saw that in chapter 5, verse 7. My sons, listen to me and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Earlier in chapter five, verse one, my son, give attention to my wisdom, incline your ear to my understanding. You got to have the background music of God's word playing every waking day in your life. Get the word into your heart. Number two, letter B, stay away from her. Don't go near her corner. Don't go near her house. Don't do the Google search for images. Stay off the webpage. If you have to, cut social media out of your life. Don't just remove the app. Deactivate. Delete. If you have to, stay away from her. Secure radical accountability in your life. Get some guardrails in called counseling. Thirdly, cherish godly qualities in a girl. We've been talking about a very ungodly person here, but cherish what scripture holds up as to be virtuous, not just for men, but also for women. Ephesians 5, Colossians 3, 1 Timothy 1. Study those passages. And fourthly, young people, listen to your parents. Chapter 6, verse 20. My son, observe the commandment of your father. Do not forsake the teaching of your mother. Bind them continually in your heart. Tie them around your neck. When you walk about, they'll guide you. When you sleep, they'll watch over you. When you are awake, they will talk to you. For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light. And reproofs for discipline are the way of life to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress. Listen to your parents. I say to you parents, be talking. Be pursuing. Be pleading. Be warning. Be crying. The next generation is at stake. So, yeah, I know. It's been quite a sermon these past two Sunday mornings. You say, are you done now? I am. You can breathe. I just want you to start liking me again. Little levity breaking up sobriety, though. This morning and last Sunday morning, you came face-to-face with the enemy. You felt the full force of the current that you fight. You and I have been served warning, and I have written on the back of your notes, under the picture, Proverbs 7, 24 to 26. Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Pay attention to the words of my mouth. Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways. Do not stray into her paths, for many are the victims she has cast down and numerous are all her slain. But it's the gospel that equips you for this fight. John Piper is right when he says the only sinner who can successfully battle his sins is a justified sinner. And he continues, in other words, you fight against sexual sins from relationship, not for a relationship. Talking about your relationship with God. I fight from my relationship with God, not to earn a relationship with God. So our invitation this morning is an invitation of prayer. And it will be in your seats. Because everyone should respond to this on both sides of this desk. Here are the five options you have for prayer as we close. You ready? Prayer of repentance if you've been careless. A prayer of dependence if you're concerned about things getting close to you. A prayer of commitment if you're needing to do some correcting and cutting off and amputating parts of your life. A prayer for wisdom if you are ready to lead your family and others towards purity. And a prayer for thanksgiving from all of us, for mercy and grace available to us. So I'm going to ask you to bow your heads before I pray. Every head bowed, every eye closed. I'm going to run through those prayers once again with your head bowed. I want you to latch on to one or two of them. I'm going to give you a few moments of silence before we close the service. A prayer of repentance if you've been careless. a prayer of dependence if you're concerned, a prayer of commitment if you need to correct something, a prayer for wisdom if you're wanting to lead others, and a prayer of thanksgiving for mercy and grace. Grab a hold of repentance, dependence, commitment, wisdom, or thanksgiving in these moments before I close. Father, we thank you for the grace and mercy afforded us in Christ. Where there's been failure, there can be forgiveness. Where there's weakness, there can be strength. Where there's foolishness, there can be wisdom. Where there's laziness, there can be commitment. Where there's independence, there can be a refreshing dependence on you. When there has been rebellion, there can be repentance. Thank you for your grace and mercy. In Jesus' name, amen.