Dakota Community Church
August 17, 2014
Sanctified Sexuality
Summer Series at Dakota: The 10 Commandments
Exodus 20:14
You shall not commit adultery.
What is the meaning of the 7th commandment?
Of course we know that the call is to faithfulness and exclusivity between a husband and a wife but a look at the New Testament expands on this and paints a clearer picture of what God has in mind for His people.
Matthew 5:27-30
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification:[holiness] that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honour, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. 8 Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
The Bible is clearly teaching that sexual purity is part of God’s will in sanctification.
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality {4:3}
This phrase "sexual immorality" (porneia), means mainly fornication; that is, two people acting as if they are married when they are not married. Touching each other and sleeping together in a way God designed only for a man and a woman married to each other.
God said, this close physical relationship is for married people only.
Genesis 2:24
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
1 Corinthians 7:1-2
Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.
Sexual immorality therefore includes sexual relations before marriage and wrong sexual relations among married people.
That’s the meaning of the seventh commandment, "You shall not commit adultery”
…that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter… {4:6}
How do I transgress and wrong my brother in the area of sexual immorality?
That person you are using illegally is someone’s son or daughter and someone else's future wife or husband. You are taking something that is sacred and belongs to another.
…control his own body in holiness and honour, not in the passion of lust… {4:4-5}
This goes beyond the mere behaviour of sleeping with a woman not your wife or a man not your husband but also includes any sexual desires that dominate your life in ways they should not.
What motivates my obedience to this command?
A.) Sexual purity is God’s will and it pleases Him.
…you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God… For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality {4:1,3}
Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength!
I know that this is a statement of the obvious but where sexual sin and temptation are concerned this fact cannot be overstated. We desperately want to go our own way on this front; however, God’s standards do not evolve and all sin is slavery.
You may really crave the onion and leek soup but if you go back to Egypt you are not free.
B.) Sexual purity is an honourable way to love neighbour.
…each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honour… that no one transgress and wrong his brother… {4:4,6}
Love your neighbour as yourself.
You cannot love and act honourably toward your neighbour while lusting after his/her spouse.
You cannot love your neighbour and act honourably toward him/her while indulging lustful desires in fantasy and self pleasure.
What if you don’t know the person, they are just a stranger in a movie or picture?
Remember how Jesus answers the self justifying question, “And who is my neighbour?”
He includes the stranger, the enemy, the despised foreigner in the Samaritan parable.
C.) The Lord is an avenger in all these things.
…that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. {4:6}
I debated about whether or not to use the most famous case of adultery in the bible.
2 Samuel 11:2-11
It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. 3 And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. 5 And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”
6 So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was doing and how the people were doing and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king's house, and there followed him a present from the king. 9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. 10 When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” 11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.”
2 Samuel 11:26-27
When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband. 27 And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.
…the Lord is an avenger in all these things…
David was a man after God’s own heart but he did not escape the consequences of his treatment of Uriah.
2 Samuel 12:1-15
And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds, 3 but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. 4 Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” 5 Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, 6 and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”
7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man! (Me too, and you; let us weep in repentance) Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. 8 And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. 9 Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbour, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’” 13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.” 15 Then Nathan went to his house.
What follows in the scripture are some of the most gut wrenchingly sorrowful events anywhere.
The consequences of this sin are massive in David’s life.
The family is torn apart, the rape of Tamar by Amnon and his subsequent execution by Absolom.
Absalom’s rebellion and the fulfillment of Nathan’s prophecy:
2 Samuel 16:27
So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof. And Absalom went in to his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel.
As the father of three sons I find the following one of the hardest passages to read.
2 Samuel 18:31-33
And behold, the Cushite came, and the Cushite said, “Good news for my lord the king! For the Lord has delivered you this day from the hand of all who rose up against you.” 32 The king said to the Cushite, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” And the Cushite answered, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up against you for evil be like that young man.” 33 And the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”
Do you think David would have done things differently if he had the chance that day?
Do you have anything you need to repent of and do differently?
I didn’t bring you here to leave you sorrowful and guilty.
What part does the gospel play in sexual sanctification?
1 Thessalonians 4:3-5
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honour, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God
How does the Christian deal with sexual impurity?
Not by looking to self, not by white knuckling it, not by biting the bullet and trying harder; no, the Christian overcomes sin by repentance, forgiveness, and eyes fixed on Jesus.
Confess, receive grace, ask for transformation by the Holy Spirit.
Repeat as necessary.
PowerPoint available (Free of charge) on request dcormie@mts.net
Follow Dan on twitter: @DanCormie
