Topics for Young Adults part 8 (Temptation to Sin-Hope-Forgiveness) | Ep. 87

We close out our series by addressing how the removal of God from our lives continues to lead to increasing numbers of mental health issues. Also, rather than seeing the influence of the Church on the world, we are now seeing a greater degree of influence of the world on the Church because the world and many saints are succumbing to the seductress, the immoral woman who tempts all the world to sin. This harlot is leading countless souls to the deep pit of hell. We look at the examples of Samson, Joseph, and Lot on how to deal with this seductress, but we can't ignore and neglect that we are fallen and have the inherent propensity to sin.

Yet above all this, there is still hope, forgiveness, and blessing that is reserved for the man or woman who will repent and receive the sacrifice of Jesus as the offering for our sin. The person that will cry out to Him in humility for mercy and forgiveness, acknowledging his own sin and resting in His tender mercies and lovingkindness. This is for the man who will after all this, will present himself, his own members, as slaves of righteousness for holiness from now on, ever after.

Transcript

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j - Jesus M. Ruiz 0:03

The vision received was that of blood cells traveling throughout the body, supplying the much-needed oxygen and other nutrients to the differing members of the body to fulfill their purpose. Once the blood cells are spent, they must return back to the heart to be refilled before being sent out again and fulfill their purpose. Does anybody have anything to add to any of this?

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Were you gonna talk about the forgiveness and moving on from that?

SPEAKER_02 0:34

That's what I'm gonna do.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Mental health. I'll try that's a big thing.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 0:45

I know that's kind of like a I'll try. Um I think that uh I think the reason why the mental health has increased exponentially over the last 10, 20 years, um, and the reason why our society has is where it is right now, is because over the last forty, fifty years we there has been a concentrated effort to remove God from our lives. Remove the authority of the word of God from our lives. And when you remove God and you remove the authority of his word from the lives of people, you're going to get an increasing amount of chaos, an increasing amount of irrationality. Um we've always I mean, since I was in college, and I'm pretty sure you, you've heard the idea of postmodernism and relativism, and we talked about it as theories, and it was very rare, but it's gotten to the point where that's literally how the masses in society are are functioning right now. Um they're thinking in completely irrational ways, they're coming out with ideas that are that are amplified as if all the masses are doing it by the media, by the big five. Education, media, music, can't remember the other two right now. Um, but this this mass um you know, I I think a lot about uh, you know, in Revelation when it says that um the serpent is going to pour forth water out of his mouth, and those that water represents the lies and the deceit coming after the church. And I feel like that's in our 21st century uh has is really what's been taking place. And it's not just in America, because a lot of the ideas are are going here and they're going out to the rest of the world, and they're taking on these things, and they're battling the same culture wars that we're battling here. Um, and it's just and and and I believe the reason why is because we have incrementally, gradually have been removing God from our life, removing his existence. And we'd rather say that there is no God or that you know he's a God that left us to ourselves. He's not really interested. Where we have to make ourselves, you know, whatever we need to be. So when I think on on what you said about the mental health, I think that's that's a great, that's a big reason why there's more and more, seems like there's more and more mental issues going on, is because they've been raised in a godless generation. They've been raised in a godless society, they have left God in so many dynamics that the church looks more now like the world, then the world should be looking like the church. And we we've talked about that for 30, 40 years, um, that we need to be that that salt in the earth. We should be flavoring the earth, not the world flavoring us. And that's just what's been transpiring over this time. So you know, when I think about that, when I think about these questions about feeling the need for sexual release and sleeping with people and what if sex isn't good when you do get married, when I saw those those questions, and and when I think about what she talked about, the mental health, um I thought about the temptation to sin has been ministered to us in Proverbs in so many ways, and the metaphor was the strange woman, the immoral woman. She represents the temptation to sin. And so I'm gonna read just a few scriptures because I want you to have the scriptures. I want you to see that the Lord has been trying to shout from the mountaintops as wisdom for any and any person at all who will just listen to what he's saying. He says, My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. He says in Proverbs 2.16, to deliver you from the immoral woman, from the seductress, she flatters with her words. That's what this generation is flattered by this adulation on social media and all the likes and all the retweets and the relikes of what they're posting and all of this. It's just inflating them with pride over themselves. And and this is that seductress, she's flattering with her words, she's forsaking the companion of her youth, she forgets the covenant of her God. For her house leads down to death, her paths to the dead. None who go to her return, nor do they regain the paths of life. So anyone who is listening to this seductress, this flatterer that's wanting you to sin, your end result, if you go down to her house, it leads to death. Her path leads to the dead. You will not return, and you will not gain your life. It says in Proverbs 5, 3 through 6, because the lips of an immoral woman, they drip honey. They sound good. Man, they taste so sweet. And her mouth is smoother than oil. But in the end, she is bitter as wormwood. She's as sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet, where do they go? They go down to death. Her steps lay hold of hell. Lest you ponder her path of life, her ways are unstable. And all this stuff that we're hearing now is just irrational. It's instable. It doesn't make any sense. You're saying this one day and you're saying this the other day. That's relativism. That's postmodernism. There is no absolute truth. Yet that is that is completely contradictory to the word of God. Because Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. In Proverbs 6, it says, I need to keep you from the evil woman. She flatters with the tongue like a seductress. Do not lust after her. See, he's telling us how to deal with this. Don't lust after her beauty in your heart, because she does appear beautiful. What did it say of Satan? That if if or or or his minions, his people, that they come to you like an angel of light. That's what he does. And so don't let her allure you with her eyelids. You know, the batting of the eyelids, oh, and then that cute little, you know, she's got that way about her. Because she's really a harlot. And a man is reduced to a crust of bread. An adulteress will prey upon his precious life. It says of this woman in Proverbs 7, keep you from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her words, for at the window of my house I looked through my latisse, and I saw among the simple. I looked all around. I perceived all of these people, and I saw this one youth. Notice it said youth, because they're the most gullible, they're the most naive of the people. A young man, he was devoid of understanding. He didn't understand that this woman was going to lead her straight to hell. And it says, passing along the street corner, he took the path to her house in the twilight, in the evening, in the black, in the dark of night. There a woman met him with the attire of a harlot, meaning she was dressed up, ready to take him down so that they could go to bed together. So she was dressed really nice. She was loud, she was rebellious, her feet would not stay at home. At times she was outside, at times she was in the open square, she was lurking at every corner, and she caught him. She caught him and kissed him. Kind of like a spider has the web and catches the fly. And with an impudent face, she said to him, I have peace offerings with me. Today I have paid my vows. So I came out to meet you diligently to seek your face. I was coming after you. You are my hottie. I wanted you. You attracted me. I came after you. So she caught him and she kissed him. I've spread my bed. I've made my bed to meet you diligently to seek your face. I have my bed covered with tapestry, colored with coverings of Egyptian linen. I've got the best stuff laid out of you. I've perfumed my bed with myrrh and aloes and cinnamon. I smell good. I look good. Can't you see? I came after you. Because my husband, he's not home. He's gone on a long journey. He's taken a bag of money with him, and he'll come in at a point today. But with her enticing speech, she caused him to yield was the word. To succumb to her wiles of the devil. And with her flattering lips, she seduced him. Immediately he went after her as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool to the correction of the stocks. And then what happened? An arrow struck his liver. And as a bird hastens to the snare, he did not know it would cost his life. He didn't know it. Therefore, listen to me, my children. This is wisdom speaking again to the children. Pay attention to the words of my mouth. Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways. Do not stray into her paths, for she has cast down many wounded. She's got a lot of victories over people. She's got a lot of people dead on her little checklist of people that she's taken down. Do not stray into her paths. All who have done so were slain by her strong men. Her house is the way to hell, descending to the chambers of death. It's a warning. Proverbs 9, she is simple, she knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house. She sits in the highest places of the city where everybody can see her. Hollywood, music, celebrities, and she's calling to everyone who passes by, who goes straight on their way. Whoever is simple, let him turn in here. And as for him who lacks understanding, she says to him, Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of hell. I could read Proverbs 22, I could read Proverbs 23, and they all describe this same type of woman, this woman that flatters, that seduces, that deceives the simple. It's always the simple, it's always the youthful. And then I think of, you know, I thought of, well, give me an example of this order. Who is a concrete example of this? And immediately I thought of Samson and Delilah. Samson had the strength that he was undefeatable, he was invincible, and one woman took him down. But notice how this woman took him down because the Lord of the Philistines came to her and said, You need to entice him, you need to find out where his strength lies, you need to figure out how we can overpower him, and we're gonna give you 1100 pieces of silver. So she was paid off to do this. And she kept asking him, Where's the source of your strength? Tell me if you love me, if you love me, how can you say you love me when your heart is not with me? You've mocked me these three times because three times he lied to her. Three times, and so she doesn't stop, she keeps enticing him. It's so real because I've I've been through this before. You know, you say no, you say no, you say no, you draw these lines, you say no, but you keep listening, you keep laying your head on her lap, and you think nothing's gonna happen, and you keep listening to the words, and it wears you down. It's what it does. It wears you down to constantly be in the midst of a temptating environment, a temptation environment. Where does your strength lie? And it says in verse 16, she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him so that his soul was vexed to death. She literally pestered him to death, wore him down, and then it says in 19 She loathed him to sleep on her knees, and she called for a man and had him shave off the seven lungs of his head, and she began to torment him, and his strength left. He fell for it. He was that youthful man that thought, Oh, I've got the anointing of God. He had the anointing of God, and he fell. So I said, Lord, well, what's the best way? What what can I tell youth? What can I tell young adults? How how how do you not fall into the temptation uh of sin and be enticed? And then I thought of Joseph. What did Joseph do when he was enticed to sin by Potiphar's wife? He could have easily had her. What did he do though? He literally ran away. He turned tail and ran. And some might think, well, what a coward. What no? That's exactly what you do with the temptation to sin. You literally turn and you run as far away as you can. Because the more you put yourself in that position, the more you're going to be worn down. I also thought of Lot. Lot was a vexed man. He lived in Sodom and Gomorrah in the midst of an environment where there was such degradation, such corruption. And it says he was vexed daily. Why? Because he was the only one there. The only one there, surrounded. Why didn't he just leave? Why didn't he just go to Lot and say, Lot, I mean Abraham, I can't live here no more. This they're crazy. They're crazy. They're good. No, he stayed there. And he said, You can't do that. You can't be in the midst of the people that are running around in degradation and in sin and think that you're not going to be affected, that you're not going to be vexed. You can't carry that weight. You weren't supposed to. Jesus is the only one that was supposed to carry the weight of the sin of the world on his shoulder, not you. So get out of there. And so when I read those questions, I think, I think, how can I reach them, Lord? And and then I think I was just like them. And what they don't understand, what youth do not understand, is that you cannot ignore and neglect that we live in a fallen state of existence. You cannot ignore the power of that. We have an inherent propensity to sin. You think you can lie down with an opposite person and think that nothing's gonna happen? That's insanely crazy. That's insanely irrational for you to think that you're not gonna start touching and kissing and going further and further and further until you might as well just do it. And then after that, there's still the sin to keep at it. Oh, you've already done it. Like you said, I've already sinned, I might as well stay and relish in it. And then you don't stop, you don't turn away. Yes, ma'am.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Well, a couple of things I think that something she wanted to address with the moving on, but in terms of Samson, because I when I was studying it, what caught my attention is Samson willfully broke what God had what God had spoken to his parents, his life would be like. Um and they counseled him, but it said he refused to listen to them. And I didn't know even the part where he got the honey out of a dead carcass. I hadn't thought about that. That was a big thing. He wasn't supposed to touch it. He wasn't supposed to touch a dead. So he had been the point is he had been compromising.

SPEAKER_02 17:27

Gradually.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

Gradually, and there was pride there was a sense of pride in him. Now, you can balance it out with God knew what Samson was gonna do, and he still used it for his for his um good, you know, for for what to destroy the Philistines Philistines. But Samson's compromise ways and the pride building up made him destroy in a in a very irrational way. And the reason it's you know, the possibility when he finally told her the secret is he felt like God was gonna cover him, like he had covered him every other time. And it was like, No, you you went too far this time. So, you know, there there is something that Amber said addressing what you're talking about. There is a way of escape. The devil will tell you you went too far, you might as well stay in something, but that's not true. God wants us to come out from among them, and if we come out and and shut that door, he will meet us and he will help us, and he will redeem us and he will restore us. And I, you know, I can totally testify to that. I was blessed to have friends who knew what I was doing, what I was doing wrongdoing, as already in the faith, and kept telling me, get up and get out. Get up and get out of that. Don't stay there. So I praise the Lord for them and they were praying for me. But you were talking, she wanted to address the movie on. Um forgiveness and moving on.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 19:04

So go ahead. I was gonna touch forgiveness or oh we're good. Okay. So I want the young adults to understand that there is still hope if you've already fallen. And there is hope for those of you that have fallen and you fell and you didn't even know you fell. That's called the sin of ignorance. You actually trespass against and Lord and didn't know that you were trespassing against the Lord. If you read Leviticus 5, 14 through 19, or you read Ezekiel 45, 18 through 20, it speaks about if a person commits a trespass and sins unintentionally in regard to the holy things of the Lord, there's still a way to make an atonement. There was still a sacrifice, there was still provision made for those that unintentionally sinned against the Lord. Now we know, we're about versed in the scriptures, we know that if you sinned intentionally against the Lord, there was also a way to take care of that. So whether you knew it or whether you didn't know, there's still a way of escape, there's still a way of redemption. And it says in Hebrews 9 that the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle and they performed their services, and then they went into the second part where the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself or for the people's sin to the committed in ignorance. It says the Holy Spirit indicating this that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. So he's referring back to this is how the Levites did it. But if you've come into covenant with Jesus Christ, then you've got to understand that Jesus Christ took his blood and he went up into heaven where there was a mercy seat, where there was a tabernacle, and he sprinkled his own blood to take care of not only your sins, but the sins of the whole world. So if you're in that position, you just need to turn and remember what was the sacrifice, why did he die for my sins, so that he could rescue me, so that he can redeem me. David said, Hey, remember not the sins of my youth. And I have, I look back and I think of all the things that I sinned so badly, especially when I broke that vow and I and and I broke that covenant that I that I wanted to make. I say, in in echoing David's heart, remember not the sins of my youth, because I was so stupid and gullible and naive and ignorant. I deeply regret my own failures, just like David did. Because I know I can't do anything to change the past. And I know that y'all listen, you can't do anything to change the past. So, what is the only thing we could do? We could cry out to the Lord, Lord, forgive me, pardon me, remember not my sin against thee. He says in Psalm 79, do not remember former iniquities. Against us. Let your tender mercies come speedily to meet us. For we have been brought very low. We have been humble. Help us, O God. You are our salvation. For the glory of your name, deliver us, provide atonement for our sins and for your name's sake. He says in Psalm 25, Remember, O Lord, your tender mercies and your loving kindness. See, David, he doesn't dwell on the past. What he's asking for is the Lord, don't remember my sins against me. Lord, Lord, give me your loving kindness. I'm asking you to just share with me something that I don't deserve. And if we cry out to him in that respect, he is going to do that because that's his heart. His heart is not that any man should die, but that they should live and that they should live with a life more abundantly, that they should live in his love, in his mercy, in his loving kindness. So don't remember the sins of my youth, don't remember my transgressions. But according to your mercy, remember me. For your goodness' sake, O Lord. Not for mine. Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore, he teaches sinners in the way. The humble, that's key, the humble, he guides in justice, and the humble he teaches his way. So all those, that's why I said this message is not for the for the for the for the for those outside the kingdom, because it's the children of God that are the humble. And so if you're the humble, this is what you should expect of the Lord. You should be expect a complete absolving of all sin and all behaviors and all thoughts and all intentions of your heart in the past, they should all be dealt with. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth. To such, keep his covenant and his testimonies. Which is why when we talk about the new covenant, we talk about the gospel of the kingdom, what is the very first thing that requires a man?

SPEAKER_02 23:54

Repent.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 23:56

You want all of this? Repent. That's why he says, To such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. Why? Because you weren't before. You gotta repent. And for your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my there it is again, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. And so David talked about the blessed is the man, right? Who's the who's the man that is so blessed? The man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, in whose spirit there is no deceit. It says in verse 5, this is important. I acknowledged my sin to you. We've talked about so many sins, and we haven't named them as sins, but there's so many things we've talked about in this episode that are sins that if you come to the realization, then you've also got to come to the point where, okay, maybe I did that in the past, but I'm not gonna go justify that I did that in the past so that others can walk in it. I gotta come to the point where I acknowledge, yes, it was sin. And my iniquity, I'm not gonna hide from you. And I'm not gonna hide from my brethren either. You guys came out so honestly and said that I was floored with that. I was like, thank you, Lord, because there are other brothers and sisters, youth that are dealing with that as well and struggling with that, and they need to know that if they repent just as you did, and if they come clean and acknowledge it as sin, and say as David said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. For this cause, everyone who is godly shall pray to you at a time when you may be found. That's powerful. It says in 1 Peter that Jesus bore our sins in his own body on the tree. And having died in those sins, we might live for righteousness. By his stripes we are healed. So if you've made those mistakes in the past and you're struggling with the idea that, oh well, I've already fallen, I want you to know you can receive the forgiveness of sins where everything is pardoned. Everything is pardoned. You do not need to carry the weight of that sin anymore, because it says in 2 Corinthians 5 21, He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in order that you might become the righteousness of God in him. And I'm gonna leave you with this. If you've received the forgiveness of sin, if you're hearing this message and you're you're really, really holding on and wanting to obtain this promise, there's still something that is required of you. Romans 6 says, What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not. You are not allowed to continue in that sin from the past. You've acknowledged it as sin. You want the forgiveness of sins. Now don't walk in it anymore. Again, that's goes back to repentance. So, do you not know that whom you present yourself slaves to obey, you are that one slaves whom you obey. Whether sin leading to death, you want to go to death, then you continue sinning. But if you want to go to righteousness, you want to go to life, then obedience leading to righteousness. We're not slaves of sin anymore. We obey from the heart that doctrine that we were that delivered us. And that's the doctrine that I've given you. And if you've been a part of the podcast, you've already heard it from me before. But we've been set free from sin. We don't need to. I can't stand hearing Christians say, Well, I'm a sinner and I'm redeemed. No, you're not. If you're a child of God, you're no longer a sinner.

unknown 27:51

That's right.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 27:52

You may sin, but you're not a sinner. A sinner is one who's practicing in that sin. That's something we don't do. And if we did, well, there may be no more sacrifice for sins. And I've talked about that on another podcast. But the point is, if I've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, I am no longer a sinner. I may stumble, I may fall, I may sin here and there, but I always confess my sins to the Lord. I always acknowledge my sin to the Lord, and He's always faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1 9. So just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness and lawlessness, so now you present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. And that's what I leave you with. That's what I hope you take from all of this. It doesn't matter what where you've come from, what where you've been through, what it matters is where you're headed toward. Are you wanting to walk in holiness? Are you wanting to walk in righteousness? Because that is available to you. Wow. This has been a marathon. But if you have listened to it all, I I hope and pray, and I'm sure in agreement with uh my brethren here that um you will take to heart the words that have been spoken, and that you will, as I always say, be blessed in the hearing, but more so the doing. Apply God's word to your life, and you will be able to experience with great joy uh the things that we have experienced and the things we've testified to you of. So with that, I leave you all until our next episode. God bless you, and we'll talk to you again soon. Thus is the ministry of our Father's heart through us. Our utmost desire is to be in the Father's heart, to know the Father's heart, and express the Father's heart to you. If you appreciate listening to this podcast and we're blessed, pass it along to someone else by text, email, or word of mouth in the hopes that they might be positively impacted as you were. If you were interested in supporting our efforts, we would ask you to consider the following. One, pray for us. Two, leave a positive rating of review with whomever you listen to our podcast with. And three, if you desire to contribute monetarily, you can do so at paypal.me slash j benjesus. Or Cash App dollar sign J Ben Jesus. Or Venmo, J Ben Jesus. That's J B E N J E S U S. God bless.