 You know, one of my shows that I watch on television is that show Flashpoint and what's interesting about it is that when it comes on, when it comes on, when it begins, it begins and you're in this high-pressure situation, you know, there's like a hostage and you've got a guy and he's got a gun and he's pointing it at the hostage, it kind of looks like David Trujillo a little bit and, you know, and all of a sudden this intensity builds up and then right at the moment it like stops in the beginning of the show and it winds back and it takes you to the beginning and it builds you up to how we got there. And that's the scene that we come to with our passage today in 1st Corinthians 10 with verse 5 it says, but with most of them God was not well pleased for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. So imagine you walk up to the scene and you kind of come over this mountain and you look into this valley and all across this valley you see all of these scattered bodies all over the place and you're kind of looking at the scene and you're starting to ask yourself what happened to these people? How did this happen to them? What enemies are lurking in the distance? Who came and wiped them out? And am I in danger? Are they still around? And just as the tension is starting to build in this scene Paul comes to us in verse 6 and he says, listen, let me take you back and explain what has happened. These people lusted after evil things and Paul gives us four examples out of Israel's history as examples to us today and he warns us by saying do not lust after evil things. And one of the things that we're going to come back to over and over again in each of these examples and we saw it in Becky's testimony and that is that lust dehumanizes and destroys people. Lust dehumanizes and destroys people. And talking about lust, lust is that feeling of intense desire. It's usually sexual in nature but lust can take many forms. In first John 2.16 we see that you know John mentions the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. And so we can lust after people, we can lust after possessions and we can also lust after position. Now keep in mind that the basic fundamental desire behind lust is not evil. You say what do you mean? Well let me explain. You know it's not evil to be attracted to someone, it's not evil to be sexually attracted to someone. You know if you're a woman it's not evil to be sexually attracted to a man. If you're a man it's not evil to be sexually attracted to a woman. But apparently as we learned this morning you can't wear makeup. I'm just kidding. You know God created these very natural desires in us. But it becomes evil when we desire something that God has expressly forbidden in His Word. That's when it becomes evil. For instance her testimony was about same-sex attraction. You know in the case of same-sex attractions the writer of Romans tells us that the fundamental root of same-sex attraction is deception. Paul says that they exchanged the truth of God for a life. And one of the things that I've noticed as my wife and I have been involved in ministering to people with same-sex attraction for a number of years now is that the stories are all the same. It usually comes through abuse or neglect or coercion. They're coerced into it. They're groomed into it as we heard here this morning. And this lie leads them to exchange the natural use for what is against nature. And so now I'm in bondage to lust. And instead of being led by the spirit I'm now controlled by this intense self-seeking desire that is only looking for one thing. It's looking for release. It's looking for satisfaction. You know the word lust suggests that the drive is so strong that the thought of satisfaction gives pleasure but the thought of non-satisfaction gives pain, anxiety. And that's one reason why anger is a common emotion that is combined with lust because when lust is not satisfied the pain of not being satisfied is often released through anger. You know that's why when you're in that heated moment and your boyfriend your girlfriend says no I don't want to do that. They get angry because it's that intense desire that's seeking to be satisfied. And so we're going to look at these four examples from Israel's history and how they were destroyed by lusting after evil things. And the first example we come to is idolatry in verse 7 of chapter 10 of 1 Corinthians. And Paul writes this. He says do not become idolaters as were some of you as it is written that people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Now this first example is taken from Exodus chapter 32 where Moses goes up to Mount Sinai to meet with God. And they become anxious and they began to demand that Aaron make them an idol, a golden calf. And so Aaron tells them to bring all their gold to him and he made a molded calf for them to worship. And so in verse 32 verses 4 through 6 you can write it down and read it later but it says this. Then they said this is your God Israel that brought you out of the land of Egypt. And so when Aaron saw it he built an altar before it and Aaron made a proclamation and said tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. And then they rose early on the next day offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings and the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Now the Lord had commanded Israel in Leviticus 19 saying do not turn to idols nor make for yourselves molded gods I am the Lord. And an idol is anything outside of God that we worship, that we serve, that we adore, that we find comfort or value in anything that absorbs your heart or your imagination. An idol takes the place of God in your life and God said do not turn to idols and yet Israel did just that. And why did they do it? Well I think the answer is found in this phrase they rose up to play. It sounds innocent doesn't it? You know oftentimes lust when you begin to go down that road it begins in innocence. I just desire you. We have a connection and you begin to want to explore that connection. It seems innocent and harmless enough. But in pagan rites people ate and drank to honor an idol to honor a false God. And after the feast they would play. They would engage in games. Not games for sport but games for sexual play. And the games were often characterized by humiliation or mockery and they would culminate in this forced sexual orgy. The worship was abusive and it was fueled by lust. And we see in Israel's history that as a result of participating in this they brought upon themselves God's judgment and were told that 3,000 men died that day. You see lust destroys and dehumanizes people. You know one of the accepted idols we have in our culture today is our bodies. It's one of the things that is acceptable to worship. I see people in the gym all the time shaping their idols. You know I go to I work out four times a week. I know it shows. I know at some point I have to jump on the machine not just look at it. But I'll watch them. They're there shaping their idols working out hard to get their idols in the place that they want them to be. They take pictures of their abs and they post it on Facebook and they're trying to get all the likes they can right. I took pictures of my abs and Facebook took it down. I should say ab single. It's not abs. You know some shape their idols with plastic surgery. Some starve themselves to shape their idols. You know and our lust for the perfect body has created a culture that is obsessed with physical appearance. And no longer do we value people based on who they are as individuals. We base our value on them based on how they make us feel when we look at them. Wow you are so good looking. I just want to stare at you. You know when I look at someone and I'm more concerned about how they're going to make me feel than I am concerned about God accomplishing his purposes in their life that now becomes to me an idol and I'm lusting after them. I'm no longer seeing them as Jesus sees them. I'm seeing them for what I can get out of them. Lust dehumanizes and destroys people. The second example we see is sexual immorality in verse 8 of chapter 10 it says here nor let us commit sexual immorality as some did and in one day 23,000 fell. Now the word translated sexual immorality is the great the Greek word pornaio and it's where we get our word pornography from. And so pornography is a form of sexual immorality. It's not a marital aid. It's not something to help you if your marriage is in trouble and you're lacking you know excitement in your marriage. It's sexual immorality that's what the Bible defines it as. And so we have this example from Israel's history that comes from Numbers chapter 25 where Baelic the king of Moab wants to defeat the Israelites but he knows that he's not much match for their God who wins every battle for them. And so he hires Baelim to curse Israel only the Holy Spirit forbids him from speaking anything but blessing and this makes Baelic very angry. And so Baelim tells him look I can't say what you want me to say I can't do what you want me to do I can't curse them God won't let me but I'll tell you how you can cause them to fall. And in Numbers 31 we read learned that Baelim instructed the king to use the women to tempt the men into sexual immorality. And so in Numbers chapter 25 verses 1 through 3 we read now Israel remained in a case of grove and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab and they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel. And so Baelim's plan worked the people committed harlotry with the women of Moab. Now this word harlotry is translated fornication it's sex outside the covenant of marriage any sex outside the covenant of marriage. It's also used in reference to sex with a cult prostitute or in today's language a sex worker. If you're having sex with a sex worker. Now in our culture we think immediately of prostitutes but sexual immorality includes sex of any kind outside the covenant of marriage and sex with the sex worker of any kind including the image of a sex worker. The image of a sex worker that's what pornography is it's sex with the image of a person. And because Israel lusted after evil things they not only committed sexual immorality but it led them to bow down and sacrifice to other gods. And I've counseled many men who have bowed down and sacrificed their jobs their families their marriages at the altar of pornography. It always leads you to bow down and sacrifice to something other than Jesus. They cheated on the very God who loved them and delivered them from Egypt and as a result 23,000 men died that day. You see there's no victimless crimes with sexual immorality. Every two seconds a baby is aborted because of sexual immorality. By the time my message is done 900 babies would have died because of sexual immorality. This year alone up until this point 228,000 babies will die at the hands of Planned Parenthood alone all because of sexual immorality. According to the Journal of Adolescent Health prolonged exposure to pornography leads to increased marital distress, decreased marital intimacy and sexual satisfaction, infidelity, devaluation of monogamy and marriage and child rearing become devalued and there's an increase in the number of people struggling with compulsive and addictive sexual behavior. You see lust dehumanizes and destroys people. The third example we find here is dissatisfaction. In verse 9 of 1 Corinthians 10 we read, nor let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed by serpents. This example from Israel's history comes from Numbers 21 where the people spoke against God for bringing them out of Egypt. And look what they said to the Lord in Numbers 21 verses 5 through 6 they said this, the people spoke against God and against Moses and said, why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food, no water, our soul loathes its worthless bread. And so the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people and many of the people of Israel died. You see the people were dissatisfied, they were impatient, they blasphemed God, they denounced Moses, they loathed the man of the food that God had provided and they complained about the water. You know they didn't recognize what God had done, only they recognized what they didn't have because they were lusting for something else. You see lust keeps you from seeing what God has provided and it opens you up to always being dissatisfied with what you have because you're looking for something else, something that God hasn't provided. It keeps you from enjoying what God has given. Paul says they tempted Christ, literally means they questioned Christ. And here's the truth, people who are ruled by lust are dissatisfied because they're controlled by the unrestrained desire for something else because God doesn't really have the power to keep his promise, he's untrustworthy. That's at the root of lust and so God sent fiery snakes and we're told that many died from their bites. You see their lust dehumanized them, it destroyed them because it kept them from seeing what God had done in their lives. That's what lust does. The last example is found in 1 Corinthians 10-10 and we read about how they complained against the Lord. It says, nor complain as some of them also complained and were destroyed by the destroyer. This example from Israel's history comes from Numbers chapter 16. Nicorah led a rebellion against Moses and Aaron. Why? Because he lusted after their position. He wanted to be them and so he questions Moses publicly. Who made you the boss? I mean we're all holy, God is with us. Step aside. Why are you there? Why am I not there? I'm just as capable as you are and Moses and Aaron fall on their faces and they cry out to God and to make a long story short God judges Korah, the ground opens up, swallows him, his family and all those who were with them and all the people saw this and they ran for their lives. We got to get out of here. But here's what's interesting. The next day after the people witnessed this incredible move of God, that was a move of God, they complained and we read about it in Numbers 16 verses 41 through 42. It says, on the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron saying, hey you killed the people of the Lord. Moses and Aaron didn't do it. It was the Lord that judged them for what they had done. And now it happened when the congregation had gathered against Moses and Aaron that they turned toward the tabernacle of the meeting and suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared. They were singing, let it rise at that moment. Sorry, I wrote that song and it's not I throw it in there. Literally the word complained suggests that the people were bringing a legal suit against God. They were bringing a legal suit against God. They were accusing God saying he had never kept his word. He never fulfilled his promise and no intent to do so. And then you wipe out the only people that could help us. You see people ruled by lust do not respect any authority in their lives, including God. They see themselves as their own authority and whatever keeps them from satisfying their lust becomes the target of their complaint. And they'll even use legal means to protect their rights to lust after evil desires. And I thought it was so amazing and appropriate Rebecca mentioning that. Those that are in our country right now trying to use the law to protect their legal rights to have this lustful lifestyle. That's what we see with the legislation against same with supporting same sex marriage. And in this case, 14,700 people die because of Kora's lust for power. See, lust destroys and dehumanizes people in our years of counseling. I've seen lust dehumanize a wife where she now feels like she has to compete against an image that she thinks her husband finds attractive. I've watched women change their appearance to try and appease the lust of their husband. I've watched husbands try to conform themselves into an image of lust that their wife has concerning what a real man is. I even went out and bought a fireman outfit. Is that too much information? I've watched young children brutally abused and years later have had the joy of bringing them to Jesus and seeing Jesus healed them. But the pain of that abuse and the wreckages cause. I've seen a whole industry in our country, the number one, one of the biggest industries in our country that is built around the ritualistic abuse of everybody that participates in it in the pornographic industry. And every time you click on an image, every time you view something on the internet or watch a movie or buy a magazine, you are supporting the abuse of hundreds of thousands of people. Over 90%, they say, up to 90% of the women that participate in pornography in the making of it were abused as children. And that's the culture that is being perpetuated because of the demand created not only by the world, but by the church. Over 50% of men in the church have admitted to viewing pornography. That's 50% too many. Lust dehumanizes and destroys people. And here's the thing, maybe you're in that place today. And as David so beautifully painted the picture of that living water, the rock of Christ that comes and cleanses, you can be cleansed today, you can be delivered today, you can be set free today by coming to Jesus and letting him cleanse you, letting him wash you, letting him renew your mind and letting him set free your heart to not lust, but to love, but to love.