Burned: Destroyed By Desire Series

Do you have one of these in your backyard? It’s a fire pit. They’ve become pretty popular in the last number of years. We have one in our backyard … or we did have. It’s actually here now. (Laughter) My wife after the service last weekend … she was like, “I wondered what happened to that.” It’s part of being married to a preacher. Anything is fair game for the sermon. So this is our fire pit from home. And the kids love it. They’re kind of at that age where they enjoy being outdoors and roasting hot dogs and making s’mores. So we’ll get a fire going in the fire pit and we’ll use it for cooking. In the fall and the spring it’s kind of nice on a cool evening to go out, and we’ll gather around the fire pit and we’ll use it for heat. Even on a hot summer night sometimes we’ll get the fire going. It’s a nice, kind of relaxing source of light. So fire in a fire pit is a great thing. It’s good for cooking and for warmth. It’s good to, you know, light up the night air. But it’s interesting. There are quite a bit of warnings that come with a fire pit. Now I wouldn’t have guessed this, but I pulled up online the manual that goes with this fire pit and there are all kinds of warnings. For example, one warning is, “Don’t use it indoors.” Seems obvious but it’s good to know. For some of us, we need that extra help. And it says, “Don’t use it on a wood surface,” which actually I’ve used it on the deck before, but apparently that’s not a good idea. “Don’t use it in windy conditions” is one of the warnings that comes with the fire pit. “Don’t use gasoline to start the fire in the fire pit,” which, admittedly, I had done that and learned the hard way it’s not a good idea. The explosion was so loud—it’s true, it’s true—that neighbors came from outside their homes to see, you know, what the preacher had done now. (Laughter) It got rid of the unibrow, though, so that’s… (More laughter) In all things God works for good. That’s what the Bible says. So it also said, “Don’t let children get too close to the fire,” and that’s true with fire, right? I mean, you don’t want children to get close. It requires constant supervision. They warned about the importance of always having a hose nearby or some kind of a fire extinguisher just in case. And there are all these warnings that go along with the fire pit. Why? Because fire inside the fire pit is very helpful. It’s a good thing. I mean, it serves a great purpose. But fire outside the fire pit can be very dangerous. It can become very destructive.

This is how the Bible talks to us about sexual sin. Sexual sin is…or sex is not necessarily sinful if it’s used and if it’s practiced in the context that God created. Sex between a husband and wife in a married relationship is a beautiful thing. It’s a great gift from God. Next week we’re going to talk a little bit more about this and finding fulfillment, sexual satisfaction, within marriage. It’s great within the fire pit, but outside that (the) fire of sexual sin then can become very destructive. It can do all kinds of damage. So there are all kinds of warnings in Scripture—warnings that go along with sex. It appears that God gives us this gift of sex, but then He warns us about where we should not use it and how it should not be practiced, because it’s a powerful thing. And outside of the context for which He created it, it can become very dangerous and very destructive.

So in this series we’re talking about sexual sin, and we are seeing just some of the devastation, some of the destruction that it can bring. The Bible… In Job chapter 31, Job describes lust as a fire. Here is what he writes in verses 11 and 12. He says, “Lust is a shameful sin. It is a fire that burns all the way to hell.” Then Job says, “It would destroy everything. It would wipe out everything I own.” And he just identifies how dangerous this fire can be when it’s outside of the fire pit, when it’s outside the context for which God created it. “It could destroy everything I own.”

And what we’re doing right now in this series is we’re looking at some different stories where the fire of sexual sin has caused destruction. Last week we looked at King David and his affair with Bathsheba from 2 Samuel 11 and chapter 12. This week we’re going to be in 2 Samuel 13. So if you have your Bible you can go ahead and turn there—2 Samuel 13.