Unequal Yoke 2 (sexual Purity)

[Background music] [Speaker 2] Church and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home front. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. We thank our God again for today. We bless His holy name for the privilege of being in His presence again this morning. We thank Him for His preservation through the month of August, for the month of September. It has been God, and to Him be all the glory, all the honor, all the adoration in the name of Jesus Christ. Our God is good and His mercies endureth forever. Our God is He who has kept us, and to Him we give all praise, all honor, all adoration. As we commence the singles club again for the month of September, let us have a word of prayer. Our Father, we give you glory. Our Lord, we give you honor. Our God, we give you adoration. We say blessed be your name, blessed be your name, blessed be your name. [Singing] Oh, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever, I will sing. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord. Oh, with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness, thy faithfulness. With my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord. [Speaker 1] Lord, indeed we sing of your mercies. It has been on account of your mercies. The Bible says it's not of him that wills or of him that runs, it's of the Lord that showeth mercy. We worship you this morning as we commence singles club for the month of September 2021. Lord God, we worship you. Lord, we pray that our brethren who are here physically and our brethren who are joining us online, Lord, we pray, let your Spirit work within us in the name of Jesus. Lord, we pray. The Bible says Paul plants, Apollos waters, but it is God that gives increase. Lord, give increase to this meeting in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, let your name be glorified. Blessed be your holy name, our Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. For the month of August, we started this matter on unequal yoke. In the month of August, we started the discussion on unequal yoke. And I said then that it is a matter that we cannot exhaust in a single meeting. It is a matter that may take us for some time, I don't know, perhaps maybe through the month of September, October, November, and December. I'm not too sure, but as the Lord leads us on this matter, we really want to look at the matter of unequal yoking. This matter is something that becomes so crucial and so vital today because one thing about the coming of the Lord is that without holiness, no man can see God. And secondly, is that purity, purity is the very purpose of God in calling us unto Himself. He wants to, the peculiarity of our Christian life is the purity that is in our life. It is the distinction that is in our life. It is in the separation that we are separated from sinners. And of course, in the month of August, our emphasis with our Bible text was 2 Corinthians 6:14, where the Bible gave a clear instruction that we should not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. We should not be unequally yoked. That what exactly does light have with darkness? The temple of God with idols? And on and on the Bible went on. And three things that we said very particularly in introducing this topic in the month of August was that, one, the matter, "Don't be unequally yoked," we noted that it was not a counsel. It was not an advice. It was a direct instruction. Don't be unequally yoked. So, anybody that is unequally yoked with an unbeliever is joining a line against God. God said, "Don't be." We said it's a direct instruction to the church. The second thing we noticed in the month of August that was also very crystal clear is that ever from the beginning of creation, it is in the ways of God to separate light from darkness. The Bible says we saw them in Genesis that the Bible says God said, "Let there be light." And immediately there was light, the next thing God did was to separate light from darkness. We saw that ever from the beginning of creation, from beginning of time, it has never been in the purpose and in the working of God for darkness and light to exist together. In the beginning, the Bible says God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And the next thing that God did was to separate light from darkness. He called light day and then he called darkness night. We saw very clearly that ever from the beginning of creation, God wanted light to be separated from darkness. He created a distinction. And then something that was also very crystal clear in the month of August that we also emphasized is that the whole essence of grace in our life, that is in the book of Titus. It says the whole essence of grace in our life, the Bible says the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared unto all men, and the grace is teaching us to say no to ungodliness. And we said one way, one mark, one thing that we can use to know that a man actually received grace is the ability to consistently, to daily be saying no to ungodliness. Once a man doesn't daily say no to ungodliness, then it is a sign that maybe foundationally he never received grace. So, we said the matter of unequal yoking and light to be separated from darkness, one, is that it is a command of God. One, it is in the eternal purpose of God. And that three, God has made a provision for us to live a separate life. And today, I want to move on on the matter, and I want us to go back to that text we read in Deuteronomy 7. Because today, I want to look at a particular direction in the matter of unequal yoking, and that is in the area of sexual purity. In the area of sexual purity. And if you are there listening to me as a young man, as a young woman, I want you to listen with all your heart to what we have today to discuss. I want you to listen with your mind open, with your heart open. Listen with an open mind to the matter we want to discuss. This is not a denominational issue. It's not about which church you belong to, but about looking at Scripture to find direction at a time like this that everything looks confused, everything looks perplexing, everything looks confusing. Where there is serious decadence in even societal institutions, when there is serious decadence in society, where we can't find role models, where values, good values have been thrown into the bush, where money and pleasure seem to be the order of the day. And where it looks as if character, integrity does not count again. So, it becomes important for us to look at this matter of purity, particularly sexual purity. Not having unequal yoking in this area becomes a very important thing for us to look at. And I want us to go to that Deuteronomy where we left the matter last month. Deuteronomy 7, we'll take it from verse 1. It says: "When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you. And when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy on them. Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughters to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. For they will turn your sons away from following me, to serve other gods. So the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. But thus shall you deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, you shall break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth." And so, we notice this was the scripture we read in the month of August, and I said we'll be breaking down the matter further and further in looking at this scripture. Now, when you look at this scripture, you notice that why God needed to address the matter of unequal yoking. The one major thing why we will still see other ones, the one major thing that God was addressing here is the matter of relationship and marriage. It is the matter of relationship and marriage. The way our sons and our daughters enter into marriage. The way they run relationship, the kind of marriages they want to run, the kind of marital life they want to live. You notice that God was particular about choice in marriage. He was particular about how this thing should run. And the reason why God was particular, why God was insisting, why God was talking about it, He said it. There are two major reasons in that scripture. The first one is in verse 4. He says, "For they will turn your sons away from following me." So that there is something about relationship. There is something about who you are having intimate relationship with. There is something about it. Those people, they are able to influence your spiritual life. There is something about the relationship. There is something about sharing relationship with people. There is something about marital relationship. There is something about a relationship that can lead to anything that has to do with sexual intercourse. God said, "Look, be careful. Be careful. They will turn your son. Your son will not be the one to turn them." God was clear. You see, God would have been saying that, "Okay, you can allow your sons to marry their daughter so that your son will turn their daughters towards me." But you notice that the reason why God was speaking on this matter is that when you allow them to mix, when you allow them to come together, it is the evil that will corrupt the good. And of course, you see the scripture, the scripture speaks about this in 1 Corinthians 15:33. It says, "Do not be deceived. Evil communication will corrupt good manners." I want you to know that, that when we communicate with evil, it is the good that is corrupted. You keep seeing the direction of the discussion. You see, I was thinking God would be saying, "Look, allow your sons to meet with their daughters, and that way we'll be able to get them over to the side of God." A foolish thinking among many young people today. They will be thinking that when they mix with some people for purposes of conversion, you'll be able to convert the person, you'll be able to change the person. That kind of thinking in itself is rebellion. That kind of thinking in itself is a thinking that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. And so, I want you to get something clear at the beginning is that the reason why God don't want an unequal yoking is that it is the sons that will turn away from following God to serve other gods. And then the second reason we find in that place, that is in the verse 6. He said, "For you are a holy people unto me." So, what am I trying to make you see? What am I trying to make you understand is that there is something about sexual purity that we want to discuss today. Why are we trying to discuss the matter of sexual purity? Why is it becoming so important? It's because I was looking at Scripture. Look at the book of Ephesians. Look at Ephesians chapter 5. Look at what the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 5. Look at how the Bible presents the matter in chapter 5 of Ephesians. It's calling our attention to something very crucial. I want to take it from verse 1. I want you to follow me with an open mind. "Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma." Now, I want you to look very closely at this verse 3. The Bible says, let me read the New King James, "But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints." I want you to note the word, "Let it not be named." Let's look at different translations. The New Living Translation says, "Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such things have no place among God's people." The NIV says, "But among you there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality." I want you to be looking at this scripture vis-à-vis the situation that we are in today among young people, among our youth, among our adolescents, among our singles, among our bachelors and our spinsters. I want us to relate this vis-à-vis the people of God. You see, as much as we are concerned about moral decadence in society, I want you to know that there is a dividing line between God's people and those who are not God's people. And the dividing line is what is giving me serious concern. Now, what am I trying to say? Maybe I should use this illustration I like using. Now, if you are a trader in the market, in your shop, while you are in the shop, you notice that somebody, maybe your articles that you are selling, whatever, you just find everything on the floor. And then you get up, your getting up will be with anger. "What is the meaning of this? Who did this?" Now, if by the time you get to the person, you now notice that the person is a blind man. The person who brought everything down is a blind man. What will happen to your anger? You will notice that naturally, spontaneously, your anger, even though you will still be angry, but your anger will start subsiding. And in that anger, all you will do, the worst you will do is that, "Oh, this blind man!" You look away so as to direct him off your course. And that is all you will do. Because you yourself know that if you begin to shout on the blind man that, "Are you mad? What is your problem?" you know you already have a problem. You will be ashamed. In fact, you will not be able to do it because the people around you will be looking at you, they will look at you one kind, that "Is this person normal?" But on the other hand, if such a thing happens and when you got up, what you saw was somebody who is not blind. And by the time you got up, the person just said that, "I just felt like passing through where you arranged these things, that's why." And the person continues and then he goes off. Please, what happens to your initial anger? You will notice that spontaneously, if you are not somebody very mature, you may start a physical fight. Beyond the physical fight, you may start raining all kinds of curses. If not curses, you become so offended that you may say what you ought not to say. Why? Because to whom much is given, much is expected. What I'm trying to make you understand is that many times, what God overlooks in unbelievers, He punishes in the saint. What God overlooks in the unbeliever, He punishes in the saint. You need to get that clear. I'll give you a good example of what God did with the people of Nineveh. They have come to Israel, they have destroyed people, they did so many evil and very atrocious crime, heinous things that they did, and the mercy of God still went out to them. But Jonah, the servant of God, was angry. He felt they should be killed. But do you know that at the end of the day, what God explained to Jonah is just what I've just said. God said, "These people, they don't know their right from their left. So, there is no need to overrun them like that and destroy them." What I'm trying to make you see is that moral perversity among those who are not followers of Christ is not a thing that calls for serious concern because the blind will always live like the blind. What is calling for serious concern this morning in this singles club is the moral perversity, moral decadence among those who claim to be religious, those who claim to know God, those who claim to enter religious centers, those who claim to enter churches, those who claim to be followers of Jesus, those who claim to be believers. And what I'm trying to say, there are some unequal yoking, that's my concern this morning, that is making this thing to be on the increase. And that is what I want to talk about this morning. There are some unequal yoking. There are certain things that we are not watchful about. We are not careful about. We are not particularly discerning that is making the matter of impurity and fornication, and I am trying to separate those two things for us because I want you to get it very clear. The Bible says, "But among you there should not be any kind of fornication and uncleanness." These two things are sexual perversion. What most people think about sexual perversion is fornication, where there is penile penetration. But what people don't know is that when you look into the Bible, what is impurity, what is immorality, goes beyond just fornication. So many things today happening among our young people, they all fall under what we call sexual impurity because they are uncleanness. And my concern today is that when you look around and you look about you, you will notice that there is a continuous increase of sexual impurity among Christian youth, among Christian singles. The number sometimes, anyway, I've not done maybe I might try to research, I may try to do a small research on that. But just by casual observation, sometimes you begin to wonder whether the rate of impurity among those who are called saints is not at the same level with among those who do not know God. It looks sometimes we may not be able to tell the difference. And what I want to discuss this morning, I want you to look at some vital issues in your life. Vital issues in your own life as a young person that constitute unequal yoking, that are precipitating, that is are predisposing factors. Are things that give room for high level of impurity today, sexual impurity, among Christian youth. And the first thing I want to call your attention to is in the book of 2 Samuel. I just want to call your attention, oh sorry, 2 Samuel. That's the story of Amnon, Tamar, and the friend of Amnon. 2 Samuel chapter 13. Let's look at that scripture. 2 Samuel chapter 13, we'll take it from verse 1. It says: "After this, Absalom the son of David had a lovely sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her. Amnon was so distressed over his sister Tamar that he became sick; for she was a virgin. And it was improper for Amnon to do anything to her. But Amnon had a friend..." Now, I want you to notice the contrast of thought. Amnon had a problem. We're already dealing with the matter of the problem because that's another thing you need to watch in your own life. You must be able to deal with lust. But I want to show you some vital things. It says, even though Amnon was filled with infatuation, there was something about him that was wrong. The Bible says Amnon could not have expression, he could not find expression for that thing. When he got to verse 3, the Bible now made us to see what was able to help Amnon have expression for it. What was that thing? Is that Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David's brother. Now, Jonadab was a very crafty man. And he said to him, "Why are you, the king's son, becoming thinner and thinner day after day? Will you not tell me?" And Amnon said to him, "I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister." So, Jonadab said to him, "Lie down on your bed and pretend to be sick. And when your father comes to see you, say to him, 'Please let my sister Tamar come and give me food, and prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat it from her hand.'" Then of course, Amnon did exactly what he was told, and we knew that that was how Amnon was able to rape Tamar. What I want to tell you as a young man, as a young woman, is that one area, you see many things don't just find expression in your life. I want to show you some unequal yoke, some unequal yoking that is leading to so much immoral perversity in the church today. One thing that I see in several of our young people is inability, lacking discernment in terms of who and who they relate with. Who and who are those who can counsel them? Who and who are their friends? Who and who do they have? Who and who are the persons that you can discuss intimate matters with? Who are you chatting with on WhatsApp? Who are you sending messenger to? Who are your friends on Facebook? Who are your physical friends around you? One thing you need to see was that do you know that if Amnon's friend happened to be a man that is not of a crafty heart, when he raised that matter with him, that friend would have told him, "Why are you so stupid? Why are you thinking like this? You want to do such a useless thing to your sister? You better pray God. This thing is wrong. What has come over you, bro? What is wrong with you? This thing is not correct. This thing is not right." That is what I'm trying to say. That the nature of who is your friend at your weak moment, at your low moment, at the time of your confusion, at the time when somebody will need to come in, it is the life that you have gathered around you that will come in. And that life that you have gathered around you, when they come in, they will also, what they brought into you will become what will become of you. That's what happened to Amnon. So, one area of unequal yoking that I see today among believers is that they don't seek the kingdom of God first. They are like unbelievers, that God don't come first in their life. I'm showing you unequal yoking that are not very obvious, but that is leading to so many sexual impurity today. When you have as friend people that don't share the same value with you, can I inform you that it's a kind of unequal yoke? It looks very subtle. It looks like something that is not sinful. And sometimes, you carry this foolish thought in your head: what of if God has sent me to them to convert them? What of if the reason why we are close is because I'm seeing opportunity to be able to preach to them? In fact, there is a way I design my status and they are my friends on WhatsApp, so I send evangelical messages on my status. So, they are the ones I say. Oh, young man, that is not correct. Young woman, that is not correct. You need to guide. You need to know very well that once those who are intimate with you are not those who share the same value with you, it is a kind of unequal yoke. Number two. I want you to see something again that is very crucial. Unequal yoke. Something I want to show you, some important and very crucial thing about unequal yoke. Some things you need to look into your life and guide. Some things you need to particularly guide against, watch out for. I want us to go to the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter 2 and chapter 3. In chapter 2 verse 15, 16, and 17: "And the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for the day you eat of it you shall surely die.'" Now in chapter 3 where the fall took place, I want you to see what happened. You will notice that before the woman ate the fruit, some things were clear. The Bible says in verse 6: "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave it to her husband and he ate." She took of it and ate. She also gave it to her husband, he ate. Now, when you compare this with what happened in the New Testament, the book of James. James chapter 1 from around verse 14 or let me take it from the verse 12. It says: "Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desire or his own lust and enticed." I want you to see something very clear there. I'm relating this to what we read in Genesis. Everyone is enticed when he's drawn by his own desire or lust. It says then, "When desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is fully grown, it brings forth death." I'm talking about unequal yoking. The Bible says all that is in the world, the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. One thing you need to know about lust is that the Bible says that all that is in the world. Lust is not something that has to do with the kingdom. It say all that is in the world. Lust. And let me try to bring some of these things clear to you. I want to explain something very practical to you. You notice that some Bible call that place lust, some other translated it as desire. Desire. Lust. Now, it means there is a relationship between desire and what we call lust. Now, do you notice that hardly will a man be tempted alongside the area of things he does not desire? Do you notice that temptation don't come in the area of things that you don't desire? For example, I asked my students one day, how many of you have ever had any kind of struggle or emotional issue about eating sand or not eating sand? They were all laughing. I said no, we're talking about lust. Why have you not lusted for desire to eat sand? No, nobody will eat sand. I said do you notice something therefore? That when we talk about lust, we're talking about desire. We're talking about strong desire for something. Now, do you know that strong desire is not something evil? So why are we now calling one lust and the other one desire? When the Bible use lust, Bible is talking about a desire that is unreasonable. Now, what makes it unreasonable is what I want to tell you. Let me tell you. This thing we call lust is about desire. And what I want you to know is that anything that you desire more than the Lord will be the source of your lust. Are you following me, young men, young women? Are you listening to me? Once there is a desire for something in your life, and that desire overrules your desire for God. That desire is so strong. It is something that displaces. It is something that is strong enough to displace that He comes first before your desire for God. That thing will always be the source of your temptation. It'll be the source of your lust. What I'm trying to make you see is that one area of unequal yoking today among believers is that they don't seek the kingdom of God first. They are like unbelievers, that God don't come first in their life. I'm showing you unequal yoking that are not very obvious, but that is leading to so many sexual impurity today. Many of our young people, they have not met what the Lord commanded. He says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then these things will be added to you." Now, do you notice that in discussing that thing, the Lord raised a matter? Let's look at that Matthew chapter 6. Look at what the Lord raised. The Lord said in verse 31 and 32: "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows you have need of all these things." Another translation says, "Why be like the pagans who are so deeply concerned about these things?" So, do you notice that anytime you are deeply concerned about your life—what I will eat, what I will drink, what I will wear, about tomorrow, about this, about that—you are not different from pagans? For pagans run after these things. What is your pursuit in life? What is your drive? What is driving your life? If the driver of your life is not God, I'm telling you you're an unequally yoked person. You need to check. I'm trying to make you see silent things about Christianity today that is causing so much impurity among young people. Some are calling fornication here, this one happened there, somebody pressed my breast here, somebody did that here, somebody is watching pornography here. All of these things, I'm trying to make you see unequal yokes that leads to them. The Bible says for Gentiles wish for and crave and diligently seek all these things. They wish for it, they crave for it, they diligently seek after them. So, I'm trying to make you see, when you see a Christian that is craving, his driver and all of that, everything is about what to eat, what to drink, what to wear about tomorrow, about this, about the things of this life, and it's not. The Bible says something very clearly. It was a direct instruction in Colossians chapter 3. The Bible speaks very clearly as to where affection will be. It was so clear. If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand. Verse 2: set your mind on things above, not on things on earth. Anybody that sets his mind on things on earth is an unbeliever. Even though he said he's a believer, he's an unequal yoke. You are not different from them. You are carrying the same mind like them. That is why you can go their kind of way, you can do their kind of thing, you can watch their kind of film, you can handle phones, you can handle sex, you can handle relationship just like the way they do because you carry their kind of mind. A mind that is set on the things of this life. These are very important things, unequal yoke. So, worldliness, I normally say, worldliness is not first something material. It's first something about a mindset. A mindset that brings all kinds of desire. That is where the lust, the unreasonable desire for certain things, while you are crazy about certain things, that's where they come from. And I want to move to the next one. Unreasonable, I don't know how to describe this. Is it even reasonable to be sexy? Is it even reasonable to look sexy? I'm asking you out there, young people listening to me. Is it even reasonable to look sexy? I don't know where the Bible ever says look sexy. Hope you know that looking beautiful is different from looking sexy. They are two different things. Looking attractive for sexual purpose is different from looking beautiful. Because the Bible did say, "Adorn yourself with modest apparel." So, to adorn is to make beautiful. So, to make something beautiful is different from looking sexy. Because I want us to see unreasonable desire to look sexy. There is another and it is coming from this number two that we have just discussed. A wrong mindset. A wrong mindset about the purpose of clothes. These things they look subtle, but they are key areas that are leading to a lot of things among us today. They look quiet, they look like they are not there. But they are unequal yoke you must check in your life. Unequal yoke. You want to look the way they look, you want to dress the way they dress. The Bible says darkness dressed in a way. The Bible says is there anything attractive about darkness? That is why in the first place I wonder what is attracting you. But this matter of dressing, can we look at that? That's the third thing I want to make you see today as we try to round up this meeting. Look at something in Genesis. Genesis chapter 2. I want you to notice that in Genesis chapter 2 verse 24, 25, it talks about a nakedness. It says, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." Do you get that? They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Now, the nakedness we're discussing here is different from the nakedness I want to talk about again. Because you notice that in chapter 3 where the fall took place, I want you to see what happened. You will notice that in chapter 3 verse 10, Adam said, "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself." And God said, "Who told you that you are naked? Have you eaten from the tree I commanded you not to eat?" So, you are looking at two nakedness. Two kind of nakedness. There was a nakedness in chapter 2, but that nakedness did not make them ashamed. That nakedness, they did not even know that they were naked. It was a different kind of nakedness. It is not the nakedness of being naked, of not wearing clothes. No. Now, in that one in Genesis, the nakedness there is not what I want to discuss today. Because you notice that that one came immediately after he spoke about marriage. He said a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh, and they were both naked. So, I want to leave that. But I want you to see that when the Bible say they were naked in that place, it was not a physical nakedness like it was in chapter 3. Now, what do I want to draw out? Is that in chapter 2, something was covering man. When God created man in His image, man was properly covered. And what was covering man? What was covering man was glory. Bible say all sinned and came short of God's glory. So, there was a glory that covered man. When man sinned, he came short of that glory. That glory left. Then man knew that he was naked because what was the initial thing for his covering was glory. Oh, what a loss for us. What we lost there is something very great. So, in the place of that glory, man now did something. He now look for leaf to replace glory. You can see the great difference. Now, when he look for leaf for that same glory, what did I want to point out? Is that when glory, when total covering, when covering was taken away from man, man felt a sense of shame that he needed something to cover himself. What I'm trying to make you see is that when you are naked and you don't feel a sense of shame, you have lost humanity. Something has happened to your human nature. That's number one. I'm talking about unequal yoke in dressing. Number two, what I also want you to know was that they covered themselves with leaves. Now, I want to ask you, no matter how much you put leaf together, there will still be holes through the leaf. What did God do in Genesis? God decide to use animal skin to bring clothes for them. So, God brought a better cover to cover them. I want you to know that ever from creation, the design of God is that nakedness should be covered. It should be something that should be covered. It should be something that should not be exposed. And I also want you to see something about this matter. If you look in Exodus chapter 28 verse 42 to 43. Exodus 28:42-43. Let's see something here. God was talking, maybe we should read from 41. It says: "So you shall put them on Aaron your brother and on his sons with him. You shall anoint them, consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister to Me as priests. And you shall make for them linen trousers to cover their nakedness; they shall reach from the waist to the thigh." They shall reach from the waist to the thigh. Are you seeing something there? Look at verse 43. "They shall be on Aaron and his sons when they come into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near to the altar to minister in the holy place, that they do not incur iniquity and die. It shall be a statute for them forever to him and his descendants after him." What am I trying to make you see in this place? You see that God was defining, God was addressing, talking about the need for their nakedness, God was talking about the male here. God said, "Look, let him cover from his waist to his thigh, so that God will not see their nakedness or He will kill them." Sometimes I ask in this generation, which kind of spirit is inside our children? I wonder whether it is the spirit of this same God that lives inside them. In the way you want to dress today, the young men will put trouser below the waist exposing their boxers or whatever. And some their butt, everything outside because the trouser is somewhere, as if there is no belt. If there is no belt, can't they look for rope to tie their trouser? The ladies, I don't understand. Do you think you are missing something when you look like them? What I'm trying to make you see is that Satan is in charge of the world. The Bible made us to know that in Ephesians chapter 2. It says one time we were like them, walking after this world, after the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now work in the children of disobedience. Satan is operating in them to do things that provoke God. And that is why you notice all the time, blouses are going down to expose the breast. Skirts are going up to expose the thigh. Even when it gets to the knee, they will tear it again, you are still seeing the thigh. What I call nakedly dressed. And sometimes, you go around again today, you will see them in shorts, the thigh exposed, and they don't feel a sense of shame. And somehow, Christians begin to feel since people are doing it. Is it darkness that give us a direction for how to dress? I'm talking about unequal yoke. Unequal yoke. And I want to address these three today. When we come in the month of October, I will move on on this matter. Areas of unequal yoke. Things we need to watch against in our life. And you see people like that enter into God's presence with sleeveless blouses. When they raise hands up, the breast is exposed and they are worshipping God. Is it because we are in a time where God don't kill like He killed in the days of the Old Testament? I don't want us to take the end to fellowship. There's nothing wrong with having a fitting skirt, but there's a lot of things wrong when a skirt is tight fitting. Skirt becomes so tight that everything about the hip, the shape, the line of the pant, they are all outside. What I call nakedly dressed. What is the implication of all of this? The implication is that it's like we forgot. We forgot that the Bible warned us against being a cause to sin. Do you forget that it was the carelessness of Bathsheba that led to what happened between her and David? I'm not justifying David. That a woman go naked should not make a man to misbehave. After all, Potiphar's wife was misbehaving and Joseph was able to stand his ground. But I am saying that dressing carelessly and foolishly is not also correct. That's what I'm saying. I'm not justifying that it is a reason for sexual harassment. I would not justify sexual harassment for any reason. Because if the man too is normal, if the woman go mad, man should live normally. Men should live normally like Joseph. But being abnormal in your dressing is also wrong. And these are subtle areas of, subtle area. You want to look sexy, you want to look like them, so that you can't separate a Christian or non-believer in the way they dress. The breast is outside, the thigh is outside, the butt is outside. You are wondering, where are Christians, where are unbelievers? Subtle unequal yoke that is promoting sexual immorality today among us. Do you know that there could be some weak brother who still have lust in themselves like Amnon? And just things you expose become a source of something to them. These are things to think about. As we close today, anywhere you are, I just want you to talk to the Lord. This matter of unequal yoke, and what we have addressed today are subtle areas of unequal yoke that are promoting sexual impurity. Subtle area of unequal yoke that are promoting sexual impurity. Three important areas we have looked at today. First, who do you share intimacy with? Two, what is that thing that is the driver of your life? Do you have the same driver like unbelievers? Three, unequal yoking in dressing, the way we dress today. They look quiet, they look acceptable, but I want to tell you, they are part of what is promoting sexual impurity today. Just speak to the Lord this morning. Lord, in my heart, I want to be like Jesus. Lord, we thank you for this morning. To you be glory, to you be praise, to you be adoration. We thank you for your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Let's share the grace together. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forevermore. Amen. [Speaker 2] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in reaching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission heat. Our regular activities are discipleship class every Monday, 5:00 p.m.; adolescent and singles club, every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 a.m.; marriage forum, second Saturday of every month at 10:00 a.m.; family life seminars, regular school out-reaches, and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life Camp by the first bridge, Ilekere community, opposite G-filling station, along Ijesha-Ogun State, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles: familytent@yahoo.co.uk, familytentministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentministry.org. Our phone numbers are 08033861136, 07033613848. God bless you all. [Music fades]