Friday, March 21, 2014

The Letter to the Hebrews - A Reading

A very close friend of mine needed some encouragement, today. So, he asked me to record a reading of The Letter to the Hebrews.

I hope it encourages you, too.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

The Truth About Sensuality (Parental Discretion Advised)

I have written a new tract for One Million Tracts titled "The Truth About Sensuality." The tract will be available for pre-order on Friday, March 21, 2014. You will find the tract in the Tracts by Tony section of the website.

I believe this may be the most important gospel tract I have written to date.

Here's the tract text:

Mark Twain once said, “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” The great American author and humorist was wrong on both counts. Clothes do not make the man (or the woman). And naked people have far too much influence on society. Clothing doesn’t make a person. Clothing simply reveals who or what a person is, or what a person wants other people to think of him or her.

Today, many societies see the public display of sensuality as a virtue and not a vice. Today, many men and women dress to attract members of the opposite sex. By and large, the attraction sought and received does not result in thoughts of “I want to marry this person,” but rather, “I want to fornicate or commit adultery with this person” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).

Here is what Jesus said about sensuality. “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person” (Mark 7:21-23). God sees sensuality, whether committed in darkness or in the light of day, as sin. He sees it as the byproduct of an evil heart.

Author Paul Washer wrote: “If your clothing is a frame for your face, God is pleased with your clothing. If your clothing is a frame for your body, it’s sensual and God hates what you are doing.”

Solomon wrote the following proverb: “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven things that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers” (Proverbs 6:16-19).

If you choose your clothing with the intent of enticing a man or a woman to look at your body, then you have devised a wicked plan in your heart. You have sinned against God.

The Bible says, “The soul who sins shall die (Ezekiel 18:4). “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Because God is good, if He finds you guilty of sinning against Him, He will do what is holy, righteous, and just. He will punish your sin; the punishment God ascribes for sin is eternity in Hell.

The prophet Isaiah wrote this about Jesus: For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isaiah 53:2-3). The beauty of Jesus was never seen in His physical appearance. It was seen in His sacrificial love for sinners like you.

God has provided only one way for you to receive forgiveness of your sins and freedom from the eternal punishment of Hell. God the Father sent His Son to earth in the person of Jesus Christ—fully God and fully Man, yet without sin. He voluntarily went to the cross where he shed His innocent blood and died—not for sins He committed, but to take upon Himself the punishment you rightly deserve for your sins against Him. Three days later He rose from the grave. God commands you this day to repent and believe the gospel—to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

Sensuality never leads to happiness and fulfillment. Sensuality only leads to shame, a loss of self-respect, and making one’s self the sinful object of another person’s sinful desires. Sensuality replaces God-given beauty with God-hating depravity.

However, dressing more modestly will not make you right with God. The immorality that leads you to dress inappropriately comes from a heart that is “deceitful above all things and desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9). It is a heart you cannot change. But if God causes you to be born again (1 Peter 1:3) and, because of His goodness (Romans 2:4), extends to you the gifts of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, He will take your wicked heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26), forgive your sins (1 John 1:9), and grant you eternal life (John 3:16).