The devastating effects of immorality - Greg Laurie - http://www.wnd.com/2014/10/the-devastating-effects-of-immorality/
Pastor Greg Laurie on adultery, 'There is no such thing as a quick fling'
In October 1993, a wildfire swept through Laguna Beach, California, and devastated entire neighborhoods. I remember seeing a photograph of one neighborhood where all that was left of the homes were the foundations. In the midst of all of the burned, charred rubble stood one house, untouched. Not only was it untouched, but it wasn't even scorched by smoke. It was a gleaming house that stood in striking contrast to all the ruin around it.
The owner of the house was asked why his home stood when all the others fell. The man said that he had gone to extra effort to make his house flame retardant. It had double-paned windows, thick stucco walls, sealed eaves, concrete tile and abundant insulation. He went the extra mile, and the result was that when the fires hit, his house survived.
The Bible asks the question, "Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?" (Proverbs 6:27 NIV). The answer, of course, is no.
Our nation is being devastated by the wildfires of immorality today. Not just houses are being devastated, but homes are being devastated. Families are being devastated. And unless we take precautions, we could be the next victims of the fires of lust, passion and immorality.
Some people think, I can contain this. I can handle this. This is no problem. But suddenly the burning embers of lust are blowing over their lives, they've lost all control, and they wonder what happened. What happened was they took fire into their laps - or hearts or lives - and were among the many who thought they could handle it.
That's what Samson thought. In the Old Testament, we read that he killed a thousand of Israel's enemies, the Philistines, with the jawbone of a donkey. In Samson's mind, what was one woman going to do to him? But Delilah (whose name, by the way, means "delicate") began to break down Samson's resolve and resistance until finally he confessed to her what the secret of his supernatural strength was. If only he could have come to his senses and realized that he was falling into a trap.
Just as lust devastated Samson, it is ruining lives today - and even ending lives through the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. And it is destroying thousands of marriages.
In our increasingly value-free society that will not allow the Ten Commandments to be posted in the classroom but will freely hand out condoms, the only way we will infuse values back into society is through the home.
Some people reading this might say, "Wait a second, Greg. I don't need to hear this. My spouse and I have an ideal marriage. I can't imagine any circumstances in which I would ever be unfaithful to my spouse."
I remember hearing an interview in which a man who had written some Christian books about the family confessed that he would boast to his friends, "If I ever fall into sin, I guarantee that it will not be adultery. Anything but. I love my wife so much that it would never happen to me."
Guess what? He fell into the sin of adultery. The very thing he said he would never do is what he did. Then he concluded with this statement: "An unguarded strength is a double weakness." That is so true.
What is devastating families today? What is breaking up more marriages today? Adultery and immorality. It's something we need to be aware of and guard our homes. Like that man who went the extra mile to take precautions to secure his home so it didn't burn when others did, we need to do the same in our own homes.
Certainly, sexual temptation has been with us for a very long time. But I think we would all have to agree that our times of sexual looseness and permissiveness are unprecedented in human history. Historians would have to look back at this civilization and culture as one that was absolutely obsessed with sex.
When the apostle Paul wrote his first epistle to the church at Corinth, he warned, "We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did - and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died" (1 Corinthian 10:8).
Paul was referring to a story in the book of Numbers about a greedy prophet named Balaam. He instructed the enemies of Israel, the Moabites, to enlist the help of their young women and have them seduce Israel's men. As a result, the men joined them in worshiping Baal, which angered God, and thousands of Israelites died. They were not the first people who had been destroyed by immorality, and they wouldn't be the last.
Paul framed his words to the Corinthian believers in the way that he did because they were a bit smug. They somehow thought they would never fall to sexual sin, idolatry, or other errors.
Ironically, in their day, immorality also was rampant. The temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of fertility, was located in Corinth. As many as a thousand prostitutes who worked for the temple would carry on their immoral activities in the worship of that pagan deity. It is said that the prostitutes from this temple would go through the city of Corinth wearing specially designed sandals that left these words imprinted on the sand: "Follow me." Many citizens of Corinth did just that and followed the prostitutes to the temple, committing immorality and also idolatry.
I think that same message is being given out today: Follow me. Certainly, Hollywood is contributing to the problem with a constant bombardment of sex.
God has warned us in the Scriptures for our own good. And please know this: There is no such thing as a quick fling. When you cross the line of protection God has placed around you, you do so at your own peril. And the repercussions of it can go on for months, years and even a lifetime.
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