Fatal Attraction Series

What If They’re Wrong Series Exodus 20:14 "Fatal Attraction"

Today we’re talking about the Seventh Commandment, "You shall not commit adultery."

• I read a true story about a pastor who was leading a Bible study on faith and obedience. Abraham and Sarah were cited as Old Testament examples. The preacher said, "Abraham looked old, felt old, acted old, and was old. Sarah looked old, felt old, acted old, and was old. The angel had brought good news to this old couple, ’You are going to have a baby at your house.’" Then he paused for effect and asked, "What do you suppose Abraham and Sarah went home and did after the angel finished with this message?" The pastor said he was initially shocked by a period of absolute silence. Then the chuckling started, and quickly turned into gales of laughter. The only thing left for him to do was say the closing prayer.

That’s the kind of trouble we can get into whenever we talk openly about sex.

Lots of people are uncomfortable talking about it, especially in a church.

Other people talk routinely about sex around the dining room table.

Fact is, the Bible has much to say about the topic of sex.

Our culture also has lots to say about sex...and the two do not agree.

Our culture is obsessed with sex.

Look around and you’ll see that we have been inundated with sex.

Sex on billboards while we drive down the streets.

Sex on prime time television and in television commercials.

Sex in magazines.

By the way, what does a half-naked girl on the front of a magazine have to do with sports?

Sex in schools.

The "wisdom" of the day says that teens are going to do it anyway, so we might as well prepare them for it.

Today we’re going to look at two cultural lies that are prevalent in our society today.

Then we’re going to focus on some Biblical principles that counter those cultural lies.

I. First cultural lie: Sex is merely a physical act.

It’s nothing more than a primal instinct that’s been built into us.

We classify it as a need and place it on the same level as getting a midnight snack to satisfy our hunger, or scratching an itch, or going inside because it’s cold and rainy outside.

Because it only satisfies a physical need I should be able to indulge myself as much as I want, with as many people as I possibly can.

Variety is the spice of life!

Folks have tried to justify this cultural lie biblically.

Their thought is that God put the desire for sex into us at our creation because he told Adam and Eve to "be fruitful and multiply."

So, I should "be fruitful and multiply" with as many people as I can!

Now, God did put the desire for sex into us at our creation.

But, Adam’s desire was for Eve.

He said, "...This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ’woman’, for she was taken out of man. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh." (Genesis 2:23-24)

The point is that God gave us a desire for one special person, not bunches of them.

• Do you know what epoxy glue is? You can buy it almost anywhere. When you buy it you get two tubes of "stuff." If you squeeze a little bit out of each tube and let them sit around, nothing happens, except that they dry out. But, if you mix them together they can bond metal and all sorts of neat things. Apart from each other they do nothing. Together they become very strong because of a chemical reaction that takes place when the two are mixed.

Sex in a marriage relationship is sort of like the chemical reaction that allows that stuff to become one durable substance.

It solidifies two people into "one flesh."

It bonds them emotionally, spiritually, and psychologically.

It "sets" and strengthens the relationship between husband and wife - that’s the purpose of the sexual component of the relationship.

So, sex isn’t just a physical act.

It joins two people in a very special way.

When we reduce it to nothing more than a physical act it becomes nothing more than a fatal attraction between two people.

I say that because there are always consequences.

Those consequences aren’t always physical.

You might not get pregnant.

You might not get a disease.

But there are spiritual, emotional, and psychological consequences.

What happens when the sex stops being fun?

What happens when somebody better comes along?

And what about your reputation?

You see, part of this lie is that you can have all the sex you want and nothing bad will happen to you.