How to Live a Victorious Life in a Morally Bankrupt World

Morals matter. That’s the message today, and, may I say, this topic is an unpopular one in today’s climate. The New Testament is full of admonitions along the line of right living. The fact that this message lacks the pizzazz that the world desires doesn’t matter. It’s still the right message for this hour. On typical nights, television networks run show after show of police activities, social problems, sexual problems, and perversion. For example, on Christmas Eve, a married couple separates after a fight; there’s a drunk in a bar menacing people with a broken bottle; a priest is killed viciously in a church; a drunken driver is there; there’s a stripper; a Peeping Tom; six other killings; and more than a half-dozen woundings. Researchers have found that by the time an American child reaches the age of eighteen, he has spent more than 20,000 hours before the television set, much more than he does in any of the classrooms. Last season, television showed the rape of a housewife, the story of a prostitute’s life and emotions, and a homosexual couple living together—topics that were unmentionable on the air not long ago. The morning and afternoon “soap operas” of the ’70s continue to mirror a version of the “typical” American life that includes abortion, premarital sex, extramarital relationships, blackmail, murder, drugs, wiretapping, and embezzlement. Violence is so much a part of television’s simulated “real life,” that studies have shown that it may occur five to nine times in one hour in “prime-time” television, as often as thirty times an hour during Saturday morning and after-school cartoons. In studying the responses of 120 boys from the ages of five to fourteen, researchers found clear evidence that “heavy TV watchers” were no longer shocked or horrified by violence.… It will be difficult for the children who are raised in this era when they reach adult life to be decision-makers about right and wrong because they have been without guidelines. They will have no idea what moral concepts are all about.¹ Now, this report is dated from 1974 — that’s 48 years ago, — five decades later! If all of this was going on then, you know it’s that much worse now. So, how do we live in a world that has gone bankrupt? ‘How to Live Victorious in a Morally Bankrupt World, that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 45 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. He and his wife Sharon of 40 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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Paul On A Morally Bankrupt World

Now, if you have a chance, listen to some of the other podcasts on Ephesians chapter four, and you will see the fact that Paul hits this subject of holiness and lifestyle in two separate sets of verses.
Paul references the manner in which ungodly people lived their lives in the 1st century in verses 17 through 20.
Then, he follows that up with how you and I as Jesus followers, should conduct our lives on planet earth in verses 25 through 32.
Now here in chapter five, starting at verse three, Paul hits this issue of morality yet another time!
You almost want to say, ‘What again?’
I mean, ‘Paul, what’s up with this?’
Don’t you have anything else to talk about except morality?
It’s like this is all he had on His mind.
Listen to these verses, I’m going to read them down through verse seven, but this string goes all the way down to verse twenty before Paul changes to a new thought.

Ephesians 5:3–7 (ESV) — 3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 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 Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them;

He goes on another thirteen verses in this vein.
So, what’s up with this?
Well, you maximize what you emphasize.
Paul strongly presses home the vital nature of living clean in a climate that was anything but that.
I mean, the first century was packed with greed for lust.
Now, that should be a clue for you and me.
I mean, it was super bad out there, and with that thought, here is the Historical Background of the Day.

The Morally Bankrupt Greco-Roman World

The moral life of the Greco-Roman world had sunk so low that, while protests against the prevailing corruption were never entirely wanting, fornication had long come to be regarded as a matter of moral indifference, and was indulged in without shame or scruple, not only by the mass, but by philosophers and men of distinction who in other respects led exemplary lives.”²

In other words, they said it was bad to be immoral, but that’s all they did was talk about it.
They didn’t back up the walk with any kind of corresponding action.
Now, this quote comes from Word Studies of the Greek New Testament by Kenneth Wuest.

A Morally Bankrupt World and Adultery

This is not just one commentator’s opinion.
Here’s another witness.

All ancient peoples agreed that adultery (sometimes called “wife-stealing”) was immoral, although it was apparently widespread among the Roman elite.

So, they said it was bad, but they didn’t live like it was bad.

Roman law punished adultery, and it affected divorce settlements, though a wronged husband could kill the adulterous pair only if he caught them in the act [Now this Roman not righteous law.] Roman law required that a man divorce his wife if he learned that she was committing adultery; one who failed to comply could be charged with “pimping” her, i.e. that is, financially profiting from her behavior. Adultery involved sex with a married woman who was not a prostitute; Gentiles did not punish married men’s affairs with unmarried women.³

This was amoral life in the first century.
The NIV Application Commentary adds additional remarks.

Sexual attitudes in the ancient Greco-Roman world were similar to today’s, although at times more blatant. Often a double standard existed so that wives were expected to have sexual relations only with their husbands. Chastity by a woman was valued, but not necessarily practiced.

So, here it is again.
Everybody agreed that adultery was wrong, but that didn’t stop anyone from committing it.
Everyone placed a high value on a wife who maintained her purity and integrity and only engaged in sex with her husband.
So, this generation admired morality from a distance — they waved at it — they did a drive-by right in front of it, but they went off and committed adultery anyway.
The article went on to say this.

Men, however, had various sexual outlets, as long as they did not commit adultery against another man’s marriage. A famous statement illustrates the laxity: “Mistresses we keep for the sake of pleasure, concubines for the daily care of our persons, but wives to bear us legitimate children and to be faithful guardians of our households.”[Demosthenes, Against Neaera, 122 (fourth century b.c.)]. Plutarch (first century a.d.) argued that a wife should not be angry if her husband had sexual relations with a paramour or slave, but should see that her husband respected her and did not share debauchery with her. See his Moralia: Advice to Bride and Groom 140B (16). Cicero wrote approvingly of the legitimacy and antiquity of young men having affairs with courtesans. [Pro Caelio, 20.48.] He asserts that such affairs were never blamed or forbidden. Prostitution, homosexuality, and bisexuality were common; slaves were often abused sexually.⁴

The Morally Bankrupt and Impurity

Now, notice here again our opening verse in Ephesians five, verse three.

But sexual immorality and all impurity…

Did you hear the word all?
All means all, so all impurity includes all forms of wrong sex.
Homosexual behavior is impure, and it was hugely prominent in the first century.
Pedophilia, men having sex with boys, was no big deal in the first century.
So, we are talking about a morally bankrupt society.
When you understand that, maybe now we can see why Paul hit this issue of morality so hard – why he mentioned yet again a third time.
What’s the lesson for you and me here?
How do we live victorious in a morally bankrupt society?
Well, Jesus’ followers need to speak up.
We need to declare God’s moral standard loud and long.
We shouldn’t keep silent in a morally bankrupt world.
That’s one way you live victoriously.
Sex sins are not OK.
Impurity is not the new normal.
Sexual misconduct is not acceptable.
It doesn’t matter how many holler about their rights concerning their bodies.
People say, ‘It’s my choice,’ that’s the going thing today.
It’s my body.
They say, ‘I can do what I want to with my body.’
What they are really saying is, ‘God, I don’t want you to tell me how I ought to live.’
‘I don’t need your input — I will live any way I want to — it’s my choice.’
But, immorality is not the standard of Jesus’ followers.
Paul is talking here in Ephesians five to believers.
He’s admonishing them because some of this stuff from the world was clinging to those believers.
But, he shouldn’t have had to say anything because Jesus’ followers should speak up.

Paul: A Witness Against the Morally Bankrupt

Speaking up is the example of Paul, and it’s our example.
Paul talked about right living — he kept referencing that we are to not be like the world.
We are to live like we used to live before we came to Jesus — there should be a difference.
When the ungodly maximized wrong sex — Paul maximized holiness.
He didn’t sweep it under the rug, and you shouldn’t either.
Paul didn’t act like the problem didn’t exist, or that’s just the way it is in the world.
No, despite how it was outside his jail cell because if you remember, Paul is incarcerated while he’s writing this letter to the Ephesians, he declared morality with a loud sound.
He beat the drum for right living and holiness, and, he marches to that tune.
He didn’t hide behind his headphones or his cell phone.
Paul’s response should be our response.
Pick up the trumpet and blow it.
Take the Word of God on your lips and declare it.
It is not right to lie down, back, down, and roll over because of an abundance of evil.
No, it’s not proper to accept the social norms in silence if they are contrary to God and to his Word.
It’s God’s opinion that counts, and He is right.
He is always right.
And with that thought, here is the Illustration of the Day.

A Morally Bankrupt Illustration

Sharon and I went to New Orleans just recently to to be part of our daughter’s wedding. We were there for a week and so one of the things that we did was go on the tour of the French Quarter. We listened to the tour guide explain all of the extravagant stories that went behind some of the architecture of that area. He talked about the French, and he talked about the English and the battles that they had. It was interesting, but, he lost my attention totally when he tried to try to crack a joke. I don’t think it was just a joke. I think that’s how we really felt and he just tried to covert it with humor. This is what he said — listen to it now. The tour guide said, ‘Everybody knows what the problem is in this country — it’s children and religious people. So you see, that’s the mindset that the enemy is trying to paint. If you talk the things of God, you are an enemy of society.

Wear the crown proudly.
God’s standard has always been righteousness and holiness, and, it doesn’t matter that the world votes the other way.
Purity, righteousness, holiness, is God’s way and, it’s the right way.
It’s up to us as Jesus followers to side in with that and be a shining moral light in a morally corrupt world.
It’s up to us to live in line with the Word and not be like the immoral hypocrites of the first century.

The Morally Bankrupt and Moral Believer

There should be a difference between them and us.
There is always a difference between light and darkness.
Rise up, like the apostle Paul, and declare the clear message that God is a holy God and He expects people to live accordingly.

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.

So, clean is cool.
Porn is putrid.
The Greek word for sexual immorality is the word porneia.
It’s a broad term, as I already mentioned, and, with that thought, here is the Definition of the Day.
The Greek word for sexual immorality [porneia] means unlawful or unsanctioned sexual intercourse, prostitution, unchastity, fornication William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 854.
But, the word doesn’t just stop at fornication.
It refers also to incest.

The Morally Bankrupt and Incest

1 Corinthians 5:1 (ESV) — 1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife.

A man having sex with his father’s wife is incest.
Even the heathen thought that was wrong and, it was happening in the church!
Incest is sexual immorality.
So, again sexual immorality is a broad term.
Porneia covers this word.
But, now, go on and read verse two.

1 Corinthians 5:2 (ESV) — 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

Responding in the Face of the Morally Bankrupt

What’s Paul saying here?
He’s saying, ‘Corinthian believers’ why did you not respond?
Why did you not mourn?
There should have been a response!
The Greek word mourn is one we want to look at.
The word means to experience sadness as the result of some condition or circumstance, be sad, grieve, mourn William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 795.
How do you know a person is mourning?
What is it about a person that you know they are sad?
How can you tell if someone is grieving?
Just listen to them talk.
There should have been some conversation about the gross sin being committed right in front of them in the church.
Someone should have said something — but no one said anything.
This lack of response has a name — it’s called apathy.
Apathy is showcased by silence.
Indifference makes no difference — it brings about no change.
Church! Rise up and speak.
Let your lungs can power to your voice and fill the air with righteousness.

Your Body and Moral Bankruptcy

1 Corinthians 6:13–17 (ESV) — 13 “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

Sexual immortality is associated with food and gluttony here in verse thirteen.
The Greeks of Corinth thought that the appetite for food and the appetite for sex was one and the same.
They thought, and this is what I’m referencing, that society has the wrong thinking – my body is mine – I feed my body food — I feed my body sex. What’s the big deal?
The big deal is your body is not yours!!!
It is not designed for sexually immoral activity.
You can put triple exclamation marks here.
People say, ‘It’s okay to have an abortion; it’s my body.’
No, it’s not your body.
Your body is the Lord’s.
Listen to it again.

The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body… Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!

So, Paul uses the word porneia in relation to prostitution.
Sexual immorality includes fornication; it includes incest; it includes prostitution, it includes adultery.

How to Live Victorious In A Morally Bankrupt World

So, how do we live victorious in a morally bankrupt world?
We looked at the first thing: say something.
If you see something, and the Spirit of God stirs you in your heart, then say something.
See something — say something.
The second thing you should do might surprise you.

1 Corinthians 6:18–20 (ESV) — 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Look at the Greek word ‘flee.’
Flee sexual immorality.
The second thing you should do if you are confronted with a compromising situation is to flee.
The first response is grief and mourning; it’s not turning a blind eye.
But what if you are on the wrong end of temptation?
If you are, run!
The Greek word ‘flee’ means to seek safety in flight.
Do you want to be successful in a morally bankrupt world?
Then a flight response is a proper and right reaction.
We can say tt this way — run, baby run — do all you can to put distance between you and the temptation of wrong sex.
Note Joseph’s actions in the Old Testament.

Genesis 39:2, 4, 6, –12 (ESV) — 2 The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master… 4 So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had… 6 So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. 7 And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” 8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. 9 He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” 10 And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her. 11 But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, 12 she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house.

What was Joseph’s response? — flight!
He left his outer garment and fled.
The Hebrew means to escape; it means to move quickly.
Joseph fled — he was moving fast — he had a sense of urgency about getting out of there.
He ran — he ran so fast, he left his clothes behind — his outer garment, that is.
Why? Joseph was in the presence of an adulterer.
Did you ever read what the Word of God says about this kind of person?
If you did, you would know why Joseph ran so fast.

Proverbs 5:3–5 (ESV) — 3 For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, 4 but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. 5 Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol;

The end of sexually immoral conduct with forbidden women is bitterness, death, and hell.
Do you want to Live a Victorious Life in a Morally Bankrupt World?
Run, baby, run.
You guys have a great God week, and we will see you next time for another edition of Light on Life.

Is Praise and Thanksgiving Pillars of Your House?

__________
References:

U. S. News and World Report, October 13, 1975 Charles R. Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart and 1501 Other Stories (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2016), 394–395. ↩
Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: For the English Reader, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 120. ↩
Craig S. Keener and John H. Walton, eds., NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible: Bringing to Life the Ancient World of Scripture (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016), 1990. ↩
Klyne Snodgrass, Ephesians, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996), 275. ↩

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How to Live a Victorious Life in a Morally Bankrupt World

Podcast: Light on Life Season Nine Episode Forty-Six

by Emery Horvath

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Accept the Challenge

Join the Conversation

Episode Resources:

We are currently teaching in the book of Ephesians. You can click on the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

About Emery

Subscribe to the Podcast

Share the Love

Podcast Notes

Paul On A Morally Bankrupt World

The Morally Bankrupt Greco-Roman World

A Morally Bankrupt World and Adultery

The Morally Bankrupt and Impurity

Paul: A Witness Against the Morally Bankrupt

A Morally Bankrupt Illustration

The Morally Bankrupt and Moral Believer

The Morally Bankrupt and Incest

Responding in the Face of the Morally Bankrupt

Your Body and Moral Bankruptcy

How to Live Victorious In A Morally Bankrupt World

Listen to the Audio

Click to Listen | Right Click to Download | Subscribe in iTunes

Read the Notes

Accept the Challenge

Join the Conversation

Episode Resources:

We are currently teaching in the book of Ephesians. You can click on the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

About Emery

Subscribe to the Podcast

Share the Love

Podcast Notes

Paul On A Morally Bankrupt World

The Morally Bankrupt Greco-Roman World

A Morally Bankrupt World and Adultery

The Morally Bankrupt and Impurity

Paul: A Witness Against the Morally Bankrupt

A Morally Bankrupt Illustration

The Morally Bankrupt and Moral Believer

The Morally Bankrupt and Incest

Responding in the Face of the Morally Bankrupt

Your Body and Moral Bankruptcy

How to Live Victorious In A Morally Bankrupt World

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