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And today, we are going to touch on a very relevant and powerful subject, I feel.  We're going to look at money, sex and power.  These words are buzzwords in our society, isn't it? When you hear the words money, your eyes light up, sex, you look up, power and you're excited about it.  Money, sex and power! This is what we're going to look at today. Now, these three words are powerful motivations for humanity. These three words dominate our media today as well. Just check out the news headlines.  It's likely to be about one of the three. Check out the television programs.  It's likely to be one of the three. In fact, a pastor mentioned once that money, sex and power are the towering gods of our age. We live in a day and age where people look to money, sex and power for happiness, for significance, for purpose and for meaning in life. They literally worship money, sex and power. In fact, this is so powerful that even for the church, for the Christians, for the followers of Jesus Christ we are still struggling with temptations in money, sex and power.

A well-known preacher, teacher today, his name is Russell Moore, he said this, “if you do not daily wrestle with temptations in the areas of money, sex or power, it is only because you have already surrendered to these temptations”.  So this is not a question of whether you will or not face these temptations or struggle with this, it's whether if you're already surrendered or not.  It is for granted, it's taken for granted, we all will struggle in these areas.

So today I think I'm speaking to people who know Jesus, you will struggle. I'm also speaking to people who do not yet know Jesus, you are living for these things, you are worshiping these things and so I think this is a very relevant subject for one and all.  Money, sex and power, however, they are well covered in the Bible and in particular here in Hebrews Chapter 13. I'm going to share with you what God has to say about these things and I hope you listen on because right at the end there's a beautiful twist, I think, that may be helpful to you.

So let's look at the verses before us. The Bible says “let marriage be held in honour among all and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from the love of money”.  So we see money, we see sex, right here in this few verses. The Bible speaks, first of all about this sexual sins, sexual immorality and adultery. You say, what's the difference?  Well, sexually immoral refers to people who commit sexual sins when they are not yet married or that when they are not married and then adulterous or adultery will refer to sexual sins when someone is already married, but in either case, they are both referring to sexual sins and God takes a very serious view about sexual sins.

See the Bible actually says that if you are someone who is living perpetually, habitually, unrepentantly in sexual sins you are not a Christian, you are not a child of God, you will not inherit the kingdom of heaven and you will be judged for your sins. Now say pastor, that's very severe of you to say, but that's exactly what God has to say.  Look at this verse, 1 Corinthians Chapter 6 “or do you not know, don't you know, that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God, do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters, nor adulterers”. So the Bible says “if you living in sexual immorality habitually, perpetually without repentance whatsoever”, then the Bible says “you will not inherit the Kingdom of God”. But you say Pastor, I was baptised before…. but Pastor, I've grown up in church, I have always been coming services. The Bible says “don't be deceived”.  If this is your lifestyle, you're not born again you're not a child of God.

Now let me be clear.  I not saying that Christians are immune to sexual sins. We may fall into sexual sins. King David fell into sexual sins but it must not be the pattern and the habit and the lifelong sin of any child of God, because if you do live in such a way, do not be deceived, you will not inherit the kingdom of God and this is not just said here, but also in Ephesians 5 “for you may be sure of this that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous, that is, an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of God and of Christ.” He's absolute, you can be sure.
See a Christian, is not just someone who comes to church.  A Christian is not just someone who has been baptised.  A Christian is someone whom God has worked in, his heart is changed, he is given a new heart that now loves God and beats for God and so surely he must not continue the same way he was before he came to know Christ and that's why Paul is able to be so sure that says if you are continuing in such lifestyle, you will not inherit the kingdom and John himself says in Revelation, “but as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the Lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death”, this refers to hell by the way. So you may come to church, but end up in hell because you have never been changed. Coming to church doesn't mean that your heart is changed you have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour your lifestyle will betray you.

So, the Bible says, God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Now the question you may have right now, then is ooh, looks like sin or sex is a terrible sin. Now, be careful, I didn't say, sex is a terrible sin, sex outside marriage is a terrible sin, but sex is not a bad thing in and of itself, because the Bible does say, let marriage be held in honour among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled.  So the word marriage bed here is a euphemism. In other words it's a nice way of saying something rather sensitive.  Marital sex is pure. This marriage relationship is honourable- it's not a dirty word.  Sex properly viewed in the Bible is a good thing. In fact, if you look at 1st Corinthians 7, a healthy marital relationship is vital to the prevention of extramarital sexual sins, it's vital.  Now concerning the matters about which you wrote you, you asked me this question so let me tell you, Paul says it is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman. It's wrong outside the marriage, marriage relationship, but because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time that you may then devote yourselves to prayer, but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. So what is it all about?

Let me crystallise it in just a simple statement. If Satan can discourage sex inside the marriage bed then he will encourage sex outside the marriage bed. Then I think this is good advice. This is good teaching from the Scripture. This is important. Well, 1st Corinthians 7 tells us so. So when they are religions and the teachers who say ooh, to be a holy man, you must remain celibate and everyone must remain celibate. I tell you that is clearly not from God.  The Bible says there are deceitful spirits and teachings of demons. You say what are they?  They teach you to worship demons? No, it may appear in something like this, when they forbid marriage because these people don't understand the Bible, they don't understand the Word of God. They think that marriage and sex, physical acts, are terrible, dirty things, so they forbid marriage. But the biblical teaching is, no, the marriage bed is pure, it's undefiled, and it is a demonic thing to impose celibacy on everyone. There are of course some who are called to celibacy, to singleness in their lives, that's fine, but if a teacher or a religion says everyone who wants to be holy should not be married, then you know this is not of the Lord.

So this is a rather interesting take and teaching on sexual purity or sexual sins. Sex, that's what is dealt with here. What about money, well, money is spoken of in verse 5, where it says, keep your life free from the love of money. I want to be very clear.  God is not against money.  Money is not a sinful thing.  Sex is not a sinful thing. Money is not a sinful thing, but the love of money, the craving for money is a problem. In 1st Timothy it is said, but those who desire to be rich, it's not those who are rich, but those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.  I think if you watch enough television, it will tell you that la! Hollywood, TVB all dramas circle around that, right, they climb, they sacrifice everything so that they will be rich and they plunge themselves into all kinds of problems and then it goes on to say, for the love of money, not the not money per se but the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs so it can happen to you.  You're coming to church, you're hearing the messages, you have been baptised before but right now in your heart, you're craving to be rich. The danger here is that those who do so may wander away from the faith. This is not hypothetical-this is real. Paul said it has already happened amongst you and I'm saying this could happen amongst us.

See covetousness is such a covert sin. Very few people admit I'm a covetous man.  Have you heard people confess?  God forgive me, please pray for me I'm a covetous man.  Hardly! I hear people confess pride, confess slothfulness maybe, immorality in their thought life but I hear very few people say I'm a covetous man but this is a serious sin because, likewise those who are habitually covetous are not the people of God. It says here for you may be sure of this, same verse that we read just now, everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous has no inheritance.  If you're a covetous man, if you are desiring and craving to be rich as your goal in life. This is a scary statement you are not God's child. When you love the world perpetually and unrepentantly in your life, you are not God's child you have no inheritance in the kingdom of God and he says covetousness is like idolatry.  There you say I don't have “tua-pek-kong” [Chinese deity in charge of prosperity] at home…. no, no, no idolatry.  No, no this is not about that. This is about having something else that replaces God in your heart. That's what idolatry means.  So if you worship money and said if I have money, I'll be happy and I'll be purposeful, I'll be… I'll find meaning in life then money has become your god. No wonder there is no inheritance in the kingdom of God.

So these are two powerful temptations we face and they are absolutely destructive. So what is the cure? You know there's one thing about talking a lot about a disease and then sorry there's no cure.  That's very depressing but the Bible is not long on the disease and short on the cure.  There is a beautiful deliverance. There is a beautiful reality truth and doctrine that sets you free from sex and money as gods in your life, say what would it be?  Well, this is the verse.  In verse 5, it says and be content with what you have, for he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So this, you may say, what's what's the big deal?  Well let me try to explain what's the big deal about what God says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. The word leave is interesting. It means to let go, to loosen the grip of, so God says I'll never leave you nor forsake you.

Can I ask you?   What is the longest word in this verse? Forsake? Very fast but what if I were to tell you the answer is not forsake?  The longest word in this verse is the word “never”, why? Because never is a long time don't you think ? Have you thought about it?  Never is a really long time.  God says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you”. I would also put it this way,  “I am always with you”, always is a long time and that's what God promises.  So I find it strange sometimes.  Have you been to churches where people say, oh, we invite the presence of God into our worship service today, I say, you don't understand the Bible, you don't have to invite His presence, He's always with us. Amen, amen ok hahaha.  He's always with us that's right.  Now we do need to recognise His presence. We do need to respond biblically and properly to His presence but we don't have to invite His presence.  He's always with us if you are in the Gospel, if you believe in Jesus, if you're someone who has received the grace of saving faith. So the Bible says “I'll never leave you nor forsake you”, but then again, the English is still not strong enough.

Let me show that to you, “I would never leave you nor forsake you” sounds good. I'll never, but it's, it could be stronger.   You say why? Because in the Greek, it looks like this. Okay, I know it looks Greek to you but let me trans…I don't know Greek myself, but I certainly understand that some of these words are stronger than what the English translation has brought out.  If you were to translate each of the Greek words here, literally to English, it will look like this. This will be “never”, this would be “no”, this will be “you”, this will be “leave”, “nor never no you forsake”!  So if you were to read it in the Greek, it literally sounds like “never no you leave nor never no you forsake”!  So if I were to highlight the nevers here you would see that they occurred five times and almost all good commentators of the Bible latched on to this reality and lament the fact that our English doesn't bring out the strength of this verse.  God is saying, I Never No You Leave Nor Never No You Forsake!  I will never no never no never forsake you!  You could almost write a song I think, love song for that but that's what it is in the original language.   Spurgeon, the Prince of preachers, he had a sermon on Hebrews 13:5 simply entitled “never no never no never”.  That's the strength and the force when we read this verse, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

For those who are struggling in the temptations of money, sex and power, you need to hear these words.  “I will never leave you nor forsake you”, so that now you may be content with what you have so that you do not need to say to yourself… oh I need to keep up with Ah Seng, he just bought a new car. I need a new car, you don't have to say to yourself if only I could get that one more zero in my bank account then I will be really, really happy.  You don't have to say to yourself if only I could sleep with more women, I will be a happy man. You don't have to, if you know you have God who will never no never no never leave you, He's always for you. He will never loosen his grip upon your life, then I can truly be supremely happy.

Timothy Keller is a well-known pastor, preacher, author today.  He has written several books like the reason for God and the prodigal God and one of the popular books he's had is also the book counterfeit gods and is very simply about the empty promises of money, sex and power and the only hope that matters. He's saying that money, sex and power are first of all counterfeit gods.  People today worship money, Singapore classic.  Sex! Look at the media saturation about sex today. Sex sells, that's what the world tells you, it's a god.  People worship power!  Money, sex and power are the towering gods of our age, but they are counterfeit gods.   They're not real gods.  They're not gods who can really satisfy the human soul. They give you empty promises.  In other words, they promise so much when you get it, you realise it does not satisfy. That's why you see superstars commit suicide, you see rich people ruin your life.  You say why? Because they have found that at the end of that journey for the god of money, the god of sex, the god of power, it doesn't really deliver.  To people who has succeeded in life it's absolutely disillusioning, disappointing and so despairing of their lives, they end their journey here.

Empty promises from counterfeit gods, then the only hope that satisfies, Jesus!  Jesus went to the Cross to die for our sins. Someone has to pay for your sins and that is Christ, and because of His finished work on the Cross.  He paid for all your sins on the Cross with His blood, now, God will say I will never leave you nor forsake you because my Son paid for your sins and because of what Jesus has done, we were enemies and aliens to God, foreigners to God.  We're now His children and which parent here would forsake his children?  Certainly not our heavenly Father, He will never leave you no, never, no never, forsake you and when you know this love of God when you know this unconditional, unchanging eternal love of God for you, you will love Him.  The true child of God when he sees this love of God will love Him because the Bible says we love Him because He first loved us.  When we know of His love, we now have a love for Him and when we love Him, we will not love the things of the world.   This is what Thomas Chalmers says, as the expulsive power of a new affection. Expulsive power of a new affection!  Your your heart has only room for one. You either love God or you love the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him but if you love the Father, the love of the world will not be in you, because there's only room for one. So when you know God's love, the, the, you love God and you will now not love the things of the world. Now you can truly be set free. Now, you no more will be ensnared by the temptations of the 3 gods of this age.  You can truly live a life that is not worshiping counterfeit gods but the worship of the true God sets you free.  Now let me say something even more amazing.  When you know the love of God in Christ, money, sex and power will no more be your dominant gods, you will no more be the slaves of these things but you will use these things to serve God.

Now this is where it's interesting, I think.  Many people after being a Christian, after coming to faith they say oh now that I'm a Christian, I must not fall into sins of money, sex and power so I'm going to avoid these things.  Actually that's not quite biblical you know.  After being a Christian, you shouldn't avoid money, you shouldn't avoid sex you shouldn't avoid power. Say why? Because a true born-again man, not only is delivered from the slavery of these things, he would use these things to worship God and to serve others.

Let me demonstrate that to you.  It says here in Ephesians 4:28, let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.  What does the Bible say?   The Bible says last time  you're a naughty thief but now that you have come to know Jesus, now that your heart has been changed by Him, then let that thief no longer steal but what does he do?  Avoid money altogether?  No, he works, he labours, he does honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something, he may have what? Money! To share with anyone in need.  So now he's not enslaved by money, he's not living for money, but he works so that when he has the money he uses it to give to others in need, as in an act of worship to God.

Now you still don't get it, let's look at sex.  You say sex, sexual sins is terrible, I don't want to have sex anymore. Well, the Bible says, no sex is not a bad thing. Sex, according to the Bible is where you serve your spouse. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights and likewise the wife to her husband.  In our sermon on family, focus on the family, some years back, we did mention that sex is serving your spouse with your body.  It's not self-gratification alone.  It is serving others- your spouse.

How about power you say?  Well power I see it in earlier verses we've read that we have covered last week.  You are someone who is at home.  You are in your own territory, your own terrain, your own domain. There is a stranger who came, there's a foreigner who comes, and the foreigner comes, he is in a sense, without power. He's without influence. You have power, you have relationships, you have influence, what do you do?  Bully the stranger, abuse the stranger? Now the Bible says, use your power to show hospitality to strangers, love the stranger, meet his needs, help him belong, serve him. Remember those who're in prison, you who have the authority, you who have the power, you who have the privilege, serve.  So the Bible flips money, sex and power around because the world worships money, sex and power, but the Christian uses money, sex and power to now worship God by serving others.  So, this I think is the biblical goal with regards to money, sex and power, not avoidance, but utilisation for His glory, it's redeeming it for the glory of God.

So in simple summary Piper said money, sex and power are good gifts of God, they're not bad things, sure, fallen man has used these things for sinful desires, but it doesn't mean that in and of itself, they are bad. So now that I've a new heart, now that I know Jesus, now that I have His love, I don't have to crave for these things, I'm set free, I'm going to use these things to serve other people and glorify God.  That is the biblical view to money, sex, power. And I pray it will be the biblical way you live your life. This sermon is not just to give you information, I hope it informs you, but I hope you will be transformed by a renewed perspective to these three powerful motivations in life.

So, in summary, this is what the Gospel is about.  The Gospel the good news of Jesus Christ is not about man trying to earn his way to God, mission impossible!  We're too fallen, too sinful.  God is too holy for anyone to be able to get it, get there to God by ourselves. So, the Gospel begins with God.  In his infinite wisdom, kindness, He has chosen to show grace. Grace is that undeserved favour bestowed upon humanity.  He has chosen, when we are not deserving, when we are hopeless and helpless, and deserving of damnation, He still chose to give His Son, Jesus Christ to die on the Cross. That's grace and when you recognise this grace and you believe it in your heart, naturally, there will be gratitude and with a heart of gratitude, you can't stay with this emotion alone, it'll be expressed in acts to glorify God, you'll render all things unto His name and it includes money, sex and power.  This is what the Gospel is about and you know when you do this, you're telling the world something.  Say how do you glorify God?  Let me tell you how you glorify God.  The way you handle your money, the way you look at sex, the way you handle power, you are showing something to the world that they have never seen before.  You're showing to the world that you're worshiping someone so great and so worthy that you are not craving after these things, but you will gladly use these things for His namesake.  You are showing how glorious and how supreme God is in your life. That's what it means to glorify God. So often we think glorifying God is just about singing loudly, no it's in the way you handle your money, sex and power.

So it is Christ that changes everything in my life.  It is the Gospel that changes my approach to some very powerful things in my life. Jesus changes it all, and because of Jesus, I can hear those words, “I will never, no never, no never leave you nor forsake you”. So I can be contented I don't have to crave for these things, I'm set free.  But you know God actually did forsake someone, He did.   He forsook His own Son, Jesus Christ.  When Jesus went to the Cross, Jesus cried out, my God, my God why has thou forsaken me?  Our Father, our God forsook His Only Son so that He would never say, I forsake you, so that He could say to us, I will never leave you nor forsake you, because My Son was forsaken for your sins. This is the love of God and I pray you will have a deeper appreciation today, that there will be the expulsive power of a new affection, that your life will be a worshipful one and all that God has given in your  life will not become your gods but it'll be used to serve the only one true God.

Let's bow for a word of prayer together.  The Bible speaks of the supremacy of God in our lives,  He's the great high God worthy to be worshipped and praised not just because He's great and powerful, He's the creator of all things, but He's worthy of our worship because of His amazing love for us. His love is staggering. His love is life transforming.  His love is demonstrated on the Cross, when he gave His Son for you and me who don't deserve anything and my friends, this morning I pray you will ask God to show you His love, to appreciate His love and to soak in His love. This is not mushy, sentimental love, folks, this is strong love, a strong love that make God forsake His Only Son and how can we live to worship money, sex and power, when we know how great our God is.

This morning, you are living in sin, immorality, pornography, covetousness, lust, pride?  Do you know that it's very scary when God tells us, if you are habitually persistently living in such a way, you're not saved? My friends I plead with you that you will today humble yourself, repent, confess and return to your God.  Maybe it may be a time when you realise, maybe I was never really saved, I was just a churchgoer, I was just someone who has been baptised somehow along the way.  I don't really have that life changing me. I don't really have this passion for God and today I realised I need to have then I say to you, great it's still not too late today if you were to repent and come to Jesus.  Maybe you're here today for the first time, you say, I, I, I need to know a lot more before I can trust Jesus. Well, maybe, but maybe all you need to know today is that you are sinful, you're helpless and hopeless, you're worshiping other gods in your life, but there is one true God, the God of the Bible who gave His Son to pay for your sins and He calls you, He commands you today to repent and believe.

I ask you simply today, will you be willing to say yes to God, I will repent of my sins and believe in the sufficiency of Jesus, Your Son.  It's a choice you have to make. And brothers and sisters in Christ, you know money, sex and power are fake gods, they promise so much, don't they?  In fact, these gods cry out to you, every day when you turn on the television, when you read the newspapers, when you turn on the Internet, they're crying for your blood, they're crying for your life, they say worship me. Ah but look at the countless lives that has been wasted when they worship such gods.

Today from the quietness of the preaching of God's Word, we know there is a true God who truly satisfies because we're made in His image and we're made to know Him and He has given you the way back to Him, though we're sinful, He has given you His Son. I pray you'll know this love and I pray you'll live for Jesus.  When we go to Punggol, how will this church shine in Punggol because our building has bright lights? What a sad day it will be, if that is so but we'll shine in Punggol with the way we demonstrate Gospel generosity, in the way we use our money, in the way we look at sex, in the way we use our power, that generosity speaks of the supreme worth of God and when people see that, they come and seek after the God who is made to look so glorious.  I pray that will be your life because this is what matters at the end of day.

Father this morning we are thankful for your Word. Bless it now to each and every heart as we respond, as we pray, as we repent, as we cry out to you.  I pray this will be a church that demonstrates amazing servant heartedness because You first loved us and gave us Your Son.  Save souls dear God right here today, pray none will be deceived but all will come to the true knowledge of Jesus so thank you, we pray all this now in Jesus name, amen!

 

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