August 6, 2020
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I was on an Indian reservation in the Southwest and I was staying with friends there. When I woke up in the morning, I looked out and saw some beautiful scenery. It was sort of beckoning me to go for a walk and see it. I hadn't gone far when I saw this beautiful pond up ahead on the right. Now this is almost desert, so a body of water, hey, that's something special! The early morning sun was just gleaming on the water, and it looked so inviting. I was headed down to play around that pond, and then I noticed a sign identifying what tribal department was in charge of this. Want to guess? All I remember is one word "sewage." I couldn't get out of there fast enough.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Seductive Sewage."
That pond looked so inviting. It turned out to be sewage. Just like some of the material you can find on the Internet these days, in magazines, in movies and videos. The sewage is called pornography.
Just like that pond I saw, it can feel like there's a magnet pulling you toward sexually oriented materials. It can look exciting; it could look inviting. But we're talking sewage here that will foul your mind, your soul, and your relationships. It's more than a pond - it's quicksand. It's easy to get into. It is hard to get out of.
Satan is smart enough to know that you're not going to go for something ugly or boring. The Bible describes your enemy's traps this way in James 1:14-15. "Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived" - by the way, notice it starts just as a "want to") - "that desire gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death." When you feed a wrong desire, it grows into active sin, and sin always kills something that matters to you. First, sin fascinates you; then it assassinates you.
Our word for today from the Word of God is for someone listening today; someone who is curious about, or flirting with, or even trapped in the sewage of pornography. 2 Corinthians 7:1 says, "Since we have these promises, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit." Now, what promises are they talking about here that should motivate us to take a spiritual shower and wash off the contaminants?
In the verses right before, God says you are "the temple of the living God." "Touch no unclean thing...I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." If you belong to Jesus, then the Most Holy God lives in you, and you are a son or daughter of the Most High. So how can you pollute God's temple? How can you pollute God's blood-bought child with what you've been looking at?
Porno-sewage stirs up desires that torment you, it makes you disrespect yourself from shame, it distorts your marriage relationship with twisted images of sex, it sows dissatisfaction with your mate, and will probably ultimately break our heart. It sets you up for an awful fall, and it robs you of God's blessing and God's power in your life.
When I realized that inviting pond was sewage, I knew what to do: get out as fast as I could. That's what you need to do. Repent. Pour out your heart and soul to Jesus at the foot of his cross, find someone who will hold you accountable on a day-to-day basis.
Turn off or cut off whatever access you have for that junk, like burning a bridge. And fill up your heart with God's Word and God's praises. Run from that stuff! It is sewage that will sink you!