From Impure To Pure

From impure to pure

Satan and his host work hard to draw men and women into sexual sins and perversions because it is a direct attack on the only institution God established before the fall. I’m talking about marriage. God created mankind in his own image (Gen 1:27). After he had created Adam and put him in the Garden of Eden, "The Lord said, ’It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him" (Gen 2:18). "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh" (Gen 2:24)

Today, there are those who are trying to redefine marriage by marrying man to man and woman to woman. Others see no harm in having extra-marital relationships. They justify their actions by saying that it helps the marriage.

Marriage, as God has ordained, is the foundation of a family and families are the foundation of society. When marriages are destroyed, families are hurt severely and society eventually is affected in an adverse way. This is all part of Satan’s plan to divide and conquer.

God spoke very clearly through Moses as he warned the Israelites concerning sexual sins. In Leviticus chapter 18 Moses provided the people with a set of laws addressing their sexual practices.

18:6 "No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations."

18:7 "Do not dishonor your father by having sexual sins with your mother."

18:8 "Do not have sexual relations with your father’s wife." (Stepmother)

18:9,11 "Do not have sexual relations with your sister." (Including stepsister)

18:10 "Do not have sexual relations with your son’s daughter or daughter’s daughter."

18:12,13 "Do not have sexual relations with your father’s or mother’s sister."

18:14 "Do not have sexual relations with your father’s brother’s wife."

18:15 "Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law."

18:16,18 "Do not have sexual relations with your sister-in-law."

18:17 "Do not have sexual relations with a woman and her daughter."

18:19 "Do not have sexual relations with a woman having her monthly period."

18:20 "Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife."

18:22 "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.

18:23 "Do not have sexual relations with an animal. That is a perversion.

"Everyone who does any of these detestable things, such persons must be cut off from their people. Keep my requirements and do not follow any of the detestable customs that were practiced before you came [from Egypt] and do not defile yourselves with them. I am the Lord your God." (18:29-30)

Now the above list is not all-inclusive, but it laid a foundation for understanding what constituted sexual sins.

We notice in Deuteronomy 27:20-23 that sexual sins are included in the list of sins that release curses upon those who practice sin. The impact of curses often lets us bear the full consequences of our actions. Those consequences diminish the quality of life for the person. That is what bondages are all about.

"Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised. Amen." (Rom 1:24-25)

Even today, people continue to exchange the truth for a lie. They say the scriptures have been misinterpreted and that Christians are being mean spirited and intolerant on this issue. There are some that deny that any sexual activity is a sin, but a natural process.

"The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself?" (1 Cor 6:13b-15a)

Those who have become one with Christ should be horrified to take such a glorious relationship and expose it to that which is detestable to God. The Lord dealt with such a person in Corinth through his servant, the apostle Paul. A believer in the church had been involved sexually with his father’s wife or stepmother. The sin was compounded by the fact that it was known, but the leaders did not discipline the man and put him out of their fellowship. So Paul instructed the church to assemble and "hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord."

Many scholars tell us that this action was only excommunication. I happen to believe there is more happening here than putting the man out of the fellowship of believers. I believe he was removed from the protective power of the Lord and placed into the power of Satan for a period of time. It was done for his soul’s sake. It wouldn’t be the first time God’s people had been placed under the power of their enemy until they experienced repentance for their sins.