The Christian Worldview

David Wheaton: Fight like a man against sexual sin. Today is part two of that topic right here on The Christian Worldview Radio Program, where the mission is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. I'm David Wheaton, the host. The Christian Worldview is a listener-supported radio ministry. Our website is thechristianworldview.org, and the rest of our contact information will be given throughout today's program. As always, thank you for your notes of encouragement, financial support, and lifting us up in prayer.

The Book of Proverbs was written to be profitable to all readers, but is particularly directed to young men. One of the prominent exhortations and warnings for sons in Proverbs is on the issue of moral purity. Listen to Proverbs chapter 5, verses 18 through 23. Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth. As a loving hind and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be exhilarated always with her love. There is the exhortation. And now the warning. For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress and embrace the bosom of a foreigner? For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he watches all his paths. His own iniquities will capture the wicked, and he will be held with the cords of sin. He will die for lack of instruction, and in the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.

God is no prude. He wonderfully designed us with the ability to procreate and to enjoy the one-flesh dynamic of sexual intimacy within the one-man, one-woman marriage covenant, all to his glory. But what God beautifully designed is what the devil, the world, and our flesh relentlessly corrupt. God says, rejoice in the wife of your youth. Satan says, do whatever you want with whomever you want. And the destruction that results from lust and pornography and fornication and adultery and homosexuality and every other kind of sexual sin are everywhere. Bondage to sin, broken marriages, sexually transmitted diseases, and ultimately, alienation from God.

Because of the pull of sexual desire and the ubiquity of sexual sin, it's common for some to conclude that God's call for sexual purity, both mentally and physically, is an impossible standard. But in part two of our series on personal purity, Emile Zouain, president of Living Waters, a ministry which exists to train the members of Christ's body in the principles of biblical evangelism, will join us to discuss his excellent book, Fight Like a Man: A Bold Biblical Battle Plan for Personal Purity. Fight Like a Man is our new featured resource, and we will tell you how you can order a copy today for a donation of any amount to The Christian Worldview. Let's get straight to part two of the interview with Emile Zouain.

Guest (Male): Easy, it is such a privilege and special to be here at the Living Waters headquarters in Southern California in Bellflower. So thank you for inviting us over today. Just tell us about the scope of this ministry, Living Waters. And you've been with them, I think you mentioned, for 22 years. What has remained the same all those years, and what has changed over the years?

Emile Zouain: First of all, it's such a blessing to have you here. Modern technology is cool, we can connect remotely, but it takes out that personal element. So I've been wanting to meet you for years, and having you here is such a joy. Like I said, I wanted to build the tennis court in the parking lot so I could whip you, so David Wheaton could be beaten by Easy. But it didn't happen. Next time. Next time.

As far as the ministry goes, the things that have remained the same, I would say the thing, the person, would be Ray Comfort. Ray's been my father-in-law now for coming on 29 years. Next month will be 29 years. And I'm sure you've heard the saying, never meet your heroes. And that's because, we typically build people up, and then we get to know them personally and we realize they weren't all we thought they were cracked up to be. But Ray's been my father-in-law now almost 29 years and it's been the exact opposite with him.

The longer I've known him, the more my respect grows. And when I say stayed the same, it's because the guy that you see on our videos, the guy that you hear on our podcasts, the one that you see in our movies, that's him on or off the camera, on or off the mic. That's him 24/7. What he's doing is just an overflow of who he really is as a person. His love for the Lord, his integrity, his humility, it's been great. And the other thing that's remained the same is the vision and the mission, to inspire and equip Christians in fulfilling the Great Commission. And so by God's grace, we've been able to hold to that in whatever outreaches that we do. That is at the heart of it all.

Guest (Male): We're going to talk about personal purity today. But just one question about evangelism. What do you find takes a believer from rarely sharing the gospel, because I think there are probably some statistics or studies out there that show that very few professing believers actually share the gospel? Correct me if I'm wrong. What takes someone from that state to someone who wakes up in the morning looking for opportunities and praying for opportunities to go out and impact others with the gospel?

Emile Zouain: The conviction of the Holy Spirit. I would bet you if you were to look at that statistic for how many believers share their faith when they first get saved, I bet you that statistic would be a lot higher. Because it's kind of like the leper in Mark chapter 1. You remember Jesus touched him, healed him, and then said something to him that still blows my mind to this day. Don't tell anyone about what I just did for you.

A leper is a living death sentence. I mean, his skin is rotting on his flesh, his limbs are falling off, he's secluded in a leper colony, he's ostracized from his family and friends. He's the living dead. Jesus touches him, heals him, gives him skin like a baby, and then says to him, don't tell anyone about what I just did for you. It says he went out and began to proclaim it freely so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the cities, and they came to him from every direction.

This one man made Jesus famous. He was aware of what happened to him. It was fresh, it was new. And how much more should we? We were touched and healed by Christ, but he gave us a command to go and preach the gospel. So it's conviction. It's being brought to the knowledge that you are an ambassador of Christ, and are you fulfilling that calling? And it's really kind of a spiritual revival that happens in the heart. And when that happens, people get activated.

Guest (Male): Emile Zouain is our guest today here on The Christian Worldview. He's the author of a book we're now going to discuss. It's our new featured resource. The title is Fight Like a Man: A Bold Biblical Battle Plan for Personal Purity. Now, just recently, Steve Lawson, the really well-known pastor, after about five or six months of silence after what can only be described as a very disheartening fall through a moral situation, finally broke the silence and issued a statement. It's actually not that long, but I'm just going to read the opening paragraph and just the last couple of paragraphs.

Steve Lawson writes, "It is with a shattered heart that I write this letter. I have sinned grievously against the Lord, against my wife, my family, and against countless numbers of you by having a sinful relationship with a woman not my wife. I am deeply broken that I've betrayed and deceived my wife, devastated my children, brought shame to the name of Christ, reproach upon His church, and harm to many ministries." I'm just going to skip forward down to the last two paragraphs where he says, "While I continue to do the hard work of soul-searching repentance, I do not intend to make further public comments for the foreseeable future. Please pray for the Lord's mercy and grace as I seek to make right the deeply wrong sins I have committed against my wife and family, and that in His time and way, He will bring about redemption and restoration in our marriage for His glory. Steve Lawson."

This is just hard to even read for those of us who were impacted by the preaching of Steve Lawson and just to think about the things he wrote specifically about his family and the name of Christ and the church, the ministries he was working with. This was a really a heartbreaking situation. As we talk about this topic of moral purity today, what have been some of your takeaways as you've followed this situation with Steve Lawson and then what he said in this recent statement?

Emile Zouain: Dr. Lawson was one of my absolute favorite preachers. We've had him on our podcast and I've been radically impacted by his preaching. What this does for me, it serves as a wake-up call. I'm heartbroken by how much arrogance I've seen in the body of Christ over this, this kind of perception of, how could he? This sin is deep, it's grievous, it's completely atrocious and unjustified. But we need to have the spirit of Galatians 6:1. Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.

Scripture speaks to he who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. It can happen to a man like Steve Lawson, a man of the word, a man who really understands scripture. It can happen to any of us. So we need to wake up, we need to take heed, we need to cry out to God, "lead us not into temptation, deliver us from the evil one." And we have to do what my book talks about, and that's put those safeguards in place, especially our spiritual walk with the Lord so that we guard against this. And I'm heartened by that statement and my prayer is for restoration for him spiritually and for his family. Breaks my heart. This is something that we're all grieved over, but I'm glad to hear what appears to be genuine repentance.

Guest (Male): Let me quote from page 57 of your book, Fight Like a Man. "While even freedom from an addiction to pornography should not be your motive for surrendering your life to Christ, being genuinely born again and having the power of God's Spirit dwelling in you are the most effective route to unshackling yourself from Satan's enslaving grip." Define what it means to be born again. We hear this term a lot. Jesus uses it in John chapter 3, I think three times. But what does it mean to be born again, and why is that the all-important prerequisite to overcoming sexual sin?

Emile Zouain: That's a very pertinent question and in the book I do talk about the deception that's extremely prevalent and that is that a lot of people think they're saved and they're not. And we have to understand scripture speaks to this very clearly. First John talks about it. "By this we know we've come to know him, if we keep his commandments. The one who says I've come to know him but doesn't keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him." It goes on to say God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. "If we say we have fellowship with him but walk in darkness, we lie and don't practice the truth."

Titus 1:16, "They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny him." Matthew 7, Jesus said, "Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not?" and then they give a whole list of religious things they did. And he said, "I will say to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness." Nothing makes me tremble more than the thought of someone having believed their whole life that they knew God, they were a Christian, and then they die and stand before him and hear him say those devastating words, "I never knew you." It's not just that they didn't know him, he never knew them. And then they spend an eternity in hell. That breaks my heart.

So people need to realize that Jesus said you must be born again. And if you're not, you will not enter the kingdom. And what that means is that you're regenerated, that you've repented of your sins, placed your faith in Christ, and now you've received the new nature. The Holy Spirit has taken residence within you and you are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. You're now a child of God. You've gone from darkness to light, you've gone from being blind to seeing, you've gone from being dead to being alive. It's a spiritual reality that happens when God regenerates you, gives you the new nature, gives you the Holy Spirit, and you become a child of God.

Guest (Male): And you have the power to be able to overcome. Does someone who is not born again really have the inner resources to be able to overcome and be personally pure?

Emile Zouain: Not in the truest sense. Sometimes people can reform their life, they can change their life, but the problem is that doesn't help them spiritually. It doesn't change the fact they're guilty before God and need to be saved. And a lot of people get surprised, they try to do the things of Christianity and they find no pleasure in them. I often tell them, don't be surprised because it's probably because you're not a Christian.

It's like if you take a caterpillar, throw it off the top of the Empire State Building, and then interview it after it splats all over the sidewalk. Mr. Caterpillar, did you have a pleasurable experience? He's going to say, what are you talking about? You destroyed my life. But if you take that same caterpillar after it's been transformed into a butterfly, take it to the top of the Empire State Building, let it go and afterward ask it, did you have a pleasurable experience? It's going to tell you I had the time of my little butterfly life. Same creature, same entity, but what happened? That metamorphosis took that which was unnatural for it and made it the most natural thing imaginable. And when you become born again, your desires change. Even though you struggle with temptation and the pull of the flesh, you, as Galatians 5 talks about, you desire to please God. The flesh lusts against the Spirit, the Spirit against the flesh, so that you may not do that which you desire. Who's the you? The new regenerated born again part of you, and you want to please God. So now you have the power to do that in a real sense, not for your own self-betterment, but because you want to glorify the God who paid the highest price ever paid to redeem your soul.

Guest (Male): You use this expression, addiction to pornography. What is it about our flesh that so easily develops sinful addictions, whether it's to pornography, for kids it can be video games, it can be alcohol and drugs, it can be smoking, it can be sex, it can be certain kinds of music or materialism? It seems like there's an unending number of things that we can get addicted to. When we say addiction, what does that mean with regard to our flesh?

Emile Zouain: The best way to put addiction in a Christian sense is by using the term bondage. Because whoever you obey, you become that element's slave. And it holds power over you and you're in bondage to it. So the flesh is at the very heart of those things developing because at the heart of the flesh is self.

As a human being, you're going to be one of two types of people. You're either going to live for God and he's going to be the center of your life, like it talks about in 2 Corinthians 5, that he died for all that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. We make it our aim, whether absent or present, it says there as well, that we may be well-pleasing to him. So when you go with the flow of the flesh, self is always going to be at the center of it. When self is at the center of it, self becomes God and now you must serve that god.

So you will do anything that the flesh desires. And the flesh is at enmity with God. The flesh is always going to go in the way of sin. Galatians 5 talks about that. The fruit of the flesh is adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries and the like. Those who do those things won't inherit the kingdom of God. So the flesh has fruit, has cravings, and when self is at the center of it, you're going to seek to satisfy those in every way, unbridled, detached from the God who can give you victory from those things.

Guest (Male): We talked about the flesh which you just talked about. Then we haven't discussed yet the world and how the world acts on our flesh as well. Talk for just a minute or two about how the world tempts us to go into the way of moral impurity.

Emile Zouain: The world, according to scripture, is that system that is opposed to God and His ways. And there is a massive system. Scripture says if you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. In fact, if you're a friend of the world, you're an enemy of God. And that carries with it the idea of being one who is partnered with the world, who marches to its drumbeat, who is immersed in its ways. And really, the world has wisdom and the world has its ways.

The world has a massive bully pulpit. Think of all of the tentacles that the world has to impact us, through television, through radio, through magazines, through movies, through theater, books. All of that is the world's bully pulpit, the system that is opposed to God. And so it hits us with these mantras that are repeated again and again, if not in word, then in demonstration. One of them is "follow your heart." I mean, right? That's the go-to on your grandkid's graduation card or in the speech. Follow your heart. Jeremiah 17:9, "the heart is deceitful above all else, it's desperately wicked, who can know it?" Proverbs 28:26, "he who follows his own heart is a fool." No, don't follow your heart, follow the Lord, because your heart will lead you astray.

Then it's the mantra of "you only live once." Yeah, you only live once, but then after that comes the judgment. So there's this abandonment like, do whatever you want to do and follow in the ways of the world. And so there are those elements that seek to attract people and draw them away from the Lord. And we have to be careful to not be influenced by the world's wisdom and its ways, whether it's fitting in or whether it's "if it feels good, do it" or whether it's pursuing whatever gives you your purpose in life. All those things, we have to be aware of them so that we're not influenced by that world system that's opposed to God.

David Wheaton: Our guest today is Emile Zouain, president of Living Waters and author of Fight Like a Man: A Bold Biblical Battle Plan for Personal Purity. This softcover, 272-page book retails for $17.99. For a limited time, you can receive it for a donation of any amount to The Christian Worldview. To order, just go to thechristianworldview.org or call toll-free 1-888-646-2233 or write to Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota 55331. More coming up with Emile Zouain on sexual purity. I'm David Wheaton, and you are listening to The Christian Worldview Radio Program.

Guest (Male): Let's get in now into some practical ways to be able to overcome this difficult obstacle that men face and women, of course, as well. At the end of chapter 11 in your book, you list many passages of scripture that are meant to be used as I think what you could call replacers to the lies and the lusts that lead us astray. I'm just going to read one of them from Romans chapter 6, verses 11 through 14. "Likewise you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace."

I think that is just one of the most important portions of scripture in our identification with Christ and being able to overcome the temptations we face. I think it's under-preached on, this particular passage and how to understand our identity with Christ. But let's get to the point of end of chapter 11 there where you can explain how reading the word, memorizing the word, recalling the word to mind is such a powerful weapon in overcoming sexual immorality, sort of like just how Jesus did when he faced temptation in Matthew chapter 4 with the devil.

Emile Zouain: "Your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you." Psalm 119, "How can the young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to your word." We have to understand that scripture is God's revelation to us and that all scripture is given by inspiration of the Spirit and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Scripture is living, it's active, it's sharper than any two-edged sword. And yet, oftentimes, I think we demonstrate that we don't value scripture because we neglect it. Value impacts behavior, as one well-known author has said. If you want to know what is moving someone, look at what they value. We have to understand that God has given us his word and it keeps us, it preserves us. And so we need to memorize it, we need to meditate on it, we need to understand it.

And when you look at the tone and tenor of scripture, you realize it's as radical, remarkable, reliable, reasonable, readable, revolutionary revelation that will not return to him void. And so we can't give lip service to, "yeah, the Bible's valuable." Remember the DuckTales cartoon? You had that giant vault and they'd show them diving into it. It was massive with mountains of gold. That's what we have in God's word, but we don't access it. The world doesn't have that. The world I would liken to a sailboat lost at sea without any sails, without any oars, without a motor, without a compass, just left to the whims of the waves and the wind. We have the foundation of God's word, his revealed will for us. And it's powerful. And we need to let it be our guide in this area.

Guest (Male): I thought this was an interesting part of the book where you talked about how an evangelistic motivation in life, being an evangelist, discipling others, this can be a fuel against sexual sin. How is evangelism and being a discipler that we're called to do, how is that a hedge against sexual immorality?

Emile Zouain: A big way that impacts the believer is that when you yourself are participating in the glories of the gospel, making it known to others, watching it transform and change others, being reminded of its powerful truths, because the gospel is not just the instrument through which we're saved. It's the treasure house of spiritual riches from which we live. The benefits of the gospel go beyond just regeneration. They affect every area of our lives. But when you're preaching it, you're immersed in it, you're reminded of it.

And there's also the safeguard element of you don't want to be a hypocrite. You're proclaiming how Christ can set you free while you yourself are secretly living in bondage and in sin. And so the reason why evangelism is a guard also against that is because, as we talked about last time, walk in the Spirit, you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. What's the Spirit involved in? Part of it is evangelism. "When the Spirit comes upon you, you'll be my witnesses." So as you're a witness for Christ, you're sharing the gospel, that renders you walking in the Spirit and that will help you to not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Guest (Male): What do you think pastors in the local church can do better to help the men in their churches, everyone in their churches, in this battle for personal purity? Because it just seems in my mid-50s now, growing up in the church, there was much more of a taboo like it's sinful to be living with someone before marriage or certain kinds of divorce situations were considered adultery. It doesn't seem like there's that kind of emphasis in most evangelical churches now. What can pastors and local churches do better?

Emile Zouain: I would say to the pastor in the local church to first of all realize that this is the pandemic of our age. It is ravaging the church and men and families and by extension their children and society. It is the issue. And that probably the overwhelming majority of men in your congregation are hooked on it and are living in sexual immorality. So you have to be determined to address this.

I just spoke at a men's group on Saturday. The pastor of that church is right now taking 100 men in his church through my book. In fact, he wrote his own study guide for it because he so realizes the seriousness of this issue. And so pastors, you need to shepherd your people. You can't ignore this. You can't pretend it doesn't exist. You're going to give account for their souls. And so my encouragement to you would be to facilitate the discussion on this, whether it's in a men's group or even address it on a Sunday morning, of course tactfully. But this is an issue. And again, it's not just men. 40% of women also struggle with that issue of pornography.

Guest (Male): Let's get into those part four, these six Cs and a NOPE. The six Cs are practical points for overcoming sexual impurity. The six Cs are creation, cross, crisis, crown, crowd, and Christ at the end. Let's just start with the first one because focusing on creation, why is that an important C in overcoming sexual impurity?

Emile Zouain: The thing that people don't realize when they're indulging in sexual immorality, let's take lust as an example, is that they don't understand that they are using mind-blowing features and faculties that God has designed and created. So when someone is lusting, first of all, they're using vision. Think about it. Your eyes have 137 million light-sensitive cells. The focusing muscle moves about 100,000 times a day. Your eyes have built-in super-sensitive light meters, immediate automatic focusing, wide-angle lens, and full-color instantaneous reproduction. Sounds like I'm talking about a camera. This is the human eye. When you're lusting, you're using this amazing instrument that has God's fingerprints of design all over it.

Well, your eyes are connected to your brain. So you not only have vision, you have cognition. Your brain, 100 billion neurons or microscopic nerve cells, many times more nerve lines, David, than all the telephone lines in the world put together. Electrical signals from 200,000 living thermometer cells, half a million pressure sensing cells, three to four million pain sensing cells, plus all the signals from your eyes, ears, nose, taste buds, all routed to your brain that keeps everything working in perfect order and harmony. What computer can you compare the human brain to, that actually created the computer?

And then coition, which is intimacy and the mechanisms involved with that, through which procreation happens and another image bearer is created. It's mind-blowing. So we need to recognize what we're doing is we're taking these instruments that God has given us that should cause us to worship him and we're using them to wound ourselves, others, and the Lord. So that alliterated sentence that goes with that C as happens with every C is, "wield wonders as wellsprings for worship, not weapons for wounding." We need to allow ourselves to see, what am I doing now? My vision, cognition, coition. God made these, His fingerprints of design are all over them. And we should instead worship God rather than use them against him, ourselves, and others.

Guest (Male): Let's go to another one of these Cs, these practical points to overcome sexual impurity. From the book here on page 192, you say, "The practical outworking of this surrender is that the man of God, in the heat of sexual temptation, turns his gaze toward the cross, and considers its horror, its solemnity, its beauty, its eternal significance, its redeeming power, and its transformational impact. This is an act of total surrender. He willingly rejects the temptation to surrender to sexual sin and instead chooses to walk in the self-control that demonstrates how much he truly values the pricelessness of the cross." How does the cross of Christ need to be recalled, need to be in the forefront of our minds when we're in the heat of temptation?

Emile Zouain: We need to remember that as our Savior hung upon that cross, extended his arms and bore those stakes in his hands and his feet, that crown of thorns on his head, he was paying for our sin. Our sin put Christ on the cross. And it was there he paid the highest price ever paid for anything ever purchased in the history of the universe. And when we willfully sin against him, we're sinning in the shadow of the cross. And in a sense, we're saying that cross means nothing to me. We're spitting on it, we're trampling it beneath our feet. We need to pause before we indulge in sin. Look at the cross, look at what the Savior did to redeem us and say, I can't sin against the Savior who did that. That alliterated sentence is, "stop spitting and stomping on such a sacred symbol." That should be at the forefront of our minds when we even consider fulfilling sexual lust.

Guest (Male): Let's get to one more of the Cs. The last one is Christ. On page 229, "One of the most crucial and indispensable things that you must understand about achieving victory over sexual sin is that you must do it through the strength and support of your Savior, Christ. You must never forget that apart from him you can do nothing. John 15. Jesus must be your everything. Glorifying him must be your ultimate motive for walking in purity. Bringing his heart pleasure and being a vessel of honor in his hand must be the fuel that propels you forward on the highway of holiness." How do we have a deeper love for Christ and more value him so that we lessen the opportunity to fulfill the lust of our flesh?

Emile Zouain: It says in Ephesians that you may know what is the width, the length, the depth, the height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with the fullness of God. It's meditating on that love that he demonstrated on the cross that will create that preciousness of him in your heart. And so that's hugely important and to recognize that it all begins with him.

The book is gospel-centric. It's not about pull yourself up by your bootstraps. It's about trusting in him, it's about looking to him. We're saved by grace through faith apart from anything we can do. We've received the imputed righteousness of Christ, but now we're called to walk in obedience and surrender and submission. So Christ has to be at the center of it. He has to be our everything. "Apart from me you can do nothing," he said. And so we look to him. We look to him as the one who sympathizes with our weaknesses and says, "come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." He's the one who doesn't break a bruised reed, he doesn't quench a smoldering wick. He fans us back into a flame and he mends us again to health. And if these things, First John says, these things were written so that you may not sin, but if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. So we have to run to him even when we stumble to forgive us, to remember he paid for those sins. And that sentence is, "seek the sweet Savior for strength, satisfaction, and sympathetic support."

Guest (Male): When I think about this issue of sexual purity, I think of two stories in scripture often. The story of Joseph who faced temptation to sexual immorality, as did King David. Joseph was able to overcome and King David was overcome by it. When you read those two stories in scripture, true stories of Joseph and King David, why did Joseph succeed and King David fail?

Emile Zouain: It was timing, David. Think about what Joseph said. How can I do this thing and sin against my God? And then think of what David said in Psalm 51 after he repented. Against you and you only have I sinned. Joseph was wise enough to have what I call preventative preparedness. It was obvious that he feared the Lord, was walking in the fear of the Lord, was conscious and sober, and he chose to flee. He ran. He left his tunic. It doesn't matter, whatever, I'm gone. I'm not going to sin against my God. David, unfortunately, I think was doing stuff that led up to that. He wasn't out where kings usually were, with his people in battle, being active in the call of the Lord.

So he was complacent, I believe, and there was a moment of weakness and he looked and he didn't think ahead of time, "I'm going to sin against God." He did it and then in retrospect said, "against you and you only have I sinned." Hindsight is 20/20 they say. We need to have foresight. Our foresight needs to be 20/20. We need to think ahead and think of the ravages of sin that will destroy us. Think of the preciousness of our family, our witness for Christ, and let that be a stop-gate that says no, I don't want to dishonor my God. I want to obey him and walk in love. And like First John says, "and this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome." We know that he wants what's best for us and his commands are a delight. And so it's to be prepared by walking close with the Lord and keeping an active spiritual life that is filled with his presence.

Guest (Male): And the consequences of David's sin were just unimaginable.

Emile Zouain: The sword will never depart from your household. The murder of Uriah and nearly the loss of his kingdom and just so many things that happened negatively. And there was forgiveness, but there were the repercussions and there were the scars that lasted a lifetime. Very much.

Guest (Male): We've talked about what men need to do in encountering this kind of temptation. But what should fathers, what should parents be doing to help their sons? Because the world that we grow up in now is even harder, I think, than when we grew up in some ways because of the internet and everything else. It's just everywhere, everything's more raw now and just out there. What do you think parents should be doing to try to help their children, specifically their sons who are preteens, even in their teens, be able to overcome this?

Emile Zouain: Fathers need to be men of vision. And sadly that's missing today. We don't have vision for our families. We plan for everything in life. We plan for our weddings, we plan for our careers, we plan for our retirements, we plan for our vacations, but we don't plan in terms of a proactive intentional discipleship tone in our homes for our children. And so we need to do that.

Years back when my kids were young, I crafted a family vision statement and I brought my family together, I seated them in our living room and I unveiled this family vision statement for them. And it goes like this: "To gladly and passionately glorify God in every thought, affection, word, and deed, while constantly enjoying him as our greatest pleasure and most precious treasure." I've memorized that, my wife's memorized that, our five children have memorized that. It sits on a giant plaque in our living room. Because we must cast vision. And then we have to be intentional with proactively discipling our kids and sitting down with them and exposing them to the pitfalls that are ahead of them in the world and then giving them the tools from God's word as we bathe them in prayer to help them fight the battles that are before them.

All successful organizations have a clearly defined mission statement and a vision statement. Why wouldn't we have one for ourselves personally but also our home? And under that vision statement we created a mission statement that had details of how we're going to fulfill our vision as a family. And it's been a joy through the years to hear our kids echo our vision statement in so many different ways in their lives. So we have to have vision. And look, we're all imperfect. We've failed as parents so many times and God has been gracious. But you have to be determined by God's grace to lead and it'll impact your kids.

Guest (Male): Final question for you, Easy. I'm sure there are people who have heard part one and now part two of our conversation who have said, "I agree with what he's saying, but I can't do this." They've just been defeated over and over and over again when they've really struggled and tried to be morally pure but they keep on falling back into it. What is your parting final exhortation today for the person who says, "I want the help, I just feel like I just can't do it"?

Emile Zouain: I would say stop believing that horrendous lie. And in essence, you're calling God a liar because scripture is clear that no temptation has come upon you except what is common to man. God is faithful who will provide the way of escape so that you can endure it. You are able to have victory. But the reason why you don't is because you've chosen not to fully repent.

And repentance is the best word in the world. I may have mentioned that last time. You know that if a video camera was going to be recording your every move and it was going to be played for your family, your friends, your church, you know you would refrain. You know that if every time you indulged in sexual immorality, one of your body parts was going to fall off—there goes an ear, there goes an eye, there goes your left hand, right hand, your foot—you know that you would stop. You know that as I may have shared last time, if you were given $100 million if you were to go six months without looking at pornography, you know you would do whatever it takes to have victory over that and you wouldn't do it.

If our lungs were sitting on the outside of our chest rather than being covered by these walls of flesh, you would have a lot less smokers in the world. You've seen the pictures of the healthy lung, the smoker's lung. The problem is the smoker doesn't see his lungs. But if they were on the outside of his chest and he was able to see the damage that's happening, a lot less people would smoke. The problem is we don't see what's happening to our spiritual man when we're indulging in sexual immorality. We don't see how we're impacting lives negatively, our children, our family, the testimony of the gospel. We don't realize how we're negatively impacting eternity and we're going to give account before the Lord. But all of that is real. We need to wake up, recognize the repercussions, recognize the sweetness of reward. Blessed is a man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he'll receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. That's not salvation, that's eternal rewards that are amazing. So we need to wake up, we need to change our value system, because value impacts behavior as I said, and we need to pursue holiness. And listen, we're saved by grace through faith, but scripture is clear, discipline yourself for godliness.

David Wheaton: So appreciate Emile Zouain of Living Waters and his strong stand for truth and the gospel. If you missed any of this two-part series with Easy on personal purity, you can hear both programs at our website, thechristianworldview.org, or just search for The Christian Worldview with my name, David Wheaton, on the podcast app on your device. One final reminder that you can order Emile Zouain's book, Fight Like a Man, for a donation of any amount to The Christian Worldview. Our contact information to order will be given in just a moment. Thank you for joining us today on The Christian Worldview and for your support of this nonprofit radio ministry.

Let's close with the same passage from last week because it's such an important promise. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. That's 1 Corinthians 10:13. Winning the battle for moral purity is ours when we are born again and live daily and obediently in the power of the Holy Spirit, in prayer, in the word, and in our local church. So until next time, think biblically, live accordingly, and stand firm.

The mission of The Christian Worldview is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. We hope today's broadcast encouraged you toward that end. To hear a replay of today's program, order a transcript, or find out what must I do to be saved, go to thechristianworldview.org or call toll-free 1-888-646-2233. The Christian Worldview is a listener-supported nonprofit radio ministry furnished by the Overcomer Foundation. To make a donation, order resources, become a Christian Worldview partner, sign up for our weekly email or The Christian Worldview Journal, monthly print publication, or to contact us, go to thechristianworldview.org, call 1-888-646-2233, or write to Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota 55331. Thanks for listening to The Christian Worldview.