Years ago I heard a famous radio preacher tell of an experience he had while doing a seminar in a large city. After he had gotten done speaking he returned to his hotel, got on the elevator, and as he touched the button of his floor, a couple of very attractive women got on with him.
"What floor do you need?" he asked trying to be helpful.
Leaning towards him, one of the girls replied, "I see you're getting off at the 5th floor - that would be just fine with us."
Flattered, the preacher began to consider just what he was being offered. And as he was telling the story he recalled that at that moment in time he didn't think of ministry, or of his church, or his family or his wife. All he could think of was the temptation of what he was facing.
But then a Scripture came into his mind: "Don't be deceived, a man reaps what he sows..."
Coming to his floor, before he stepped out of the elevator, he turned to the girls and said "I'm sorry; I have a very busy evening ahead of me."
When he got into his room, he closed and locked the door behind him… and collapsed trembling against the door. He realized how close he had come to destroying his life for one night of immoral sex.
What we’re going to talk about today is… (pause) sex.
After I preached this sermon at the first service I got the feeling that many were a little shocked that I even preached on this topic… but God actually says a lot about sexual sin in Scripture.
The old Bible term for this is this kind of behavior is “fornication”. The KJV translation of 1 Corinthians 6:18 says
“Flee FORNICATION. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth FORNICATION sinneth against his own body.”
Well, what exactly is “fornication”?
According to Webster’s dictionary: Fornication is defined as “unlawful or illicit sexual intercourse”
Now, the world has all kinds of phrases it substitutes for “fornication”. They call it
• “making love”
• “going all the way”
• “sleeping together”
• “having an affair”
• Or “pre-marital sex”.
But no matter what society thinks about the topic - and no matter what they may call it - sex outside marriage is a sin.
Hebrews 13:4 tells us “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”
Now, just so we’re clear, the Bible condemns all of the following sexual immoralities:
• Pedophilia – (with a child) Deuteronomy 22:25-27
• Necrophilia – (with the dead) Numbers 19:11
• Bestiality – (with an animal) Exodus 22:19
• Pornography – (lustfulness) Matthew 5:28
• Homosexuality – (man with a man) Romans 18:22; Romans 1:27
• Lesbianism – (woman with woman) Leviticus 18:23; Romans 1:26
• Any sexual activity outside of marriage (includes incest) I Corinthians 7:2; Galatians 5:19
• and Adultery – (sex with those in a Marriage covenant) Hebrews 13:4
And just in case you were wondering how seriously God took these sins… each and every one of these was punishable by death. People that did these things were stoned to death.
Now, the question of course… is why? Is God a prude? Does He oppose sex?
No. God created sex, and He created it to be pleasurable
But, as with all sins – God condemns certain activities that are harmful to us.
For example, immoral sex damages our relationships.
In the matter of “living together”, the world tries to portray this as a natural thing to do. In movies, books and TV sitcoms and dramas the hero and heroines are shown as becoming so passionate and drawn to each other that by the time they tumble into bed it seems like the most natural and logical outcome of their relationships. And just in case you miss the cue to approve their moving in together, the music in the background makes you sense the romance and the love that they have for one another.
But pre-marital sex is a really bad idea. Studies have found that such behavior later damages the couples who want to get married. On average, those who live together before marriage are about 33% more likely to have a divorce than those who don’t.
ILLUS: Years ago I was on an internet bulletin board (11/3/02) and read these words from a shattered man. “My wife and I DIDN'T WAIT. As our marriage approached, she became less interested in sex. She has remained that way through our 9-year marriage. Now that she wants a divorce, she shared with me that her sexual problems come from guilt over not waiting. I have to say that having sex one year early wasn't worth this.”
Then, of course homosexual “marriages” have become the darling of the secular world. We’re repeatedly told that this is their “right” and that it is actually better for gay people than the clandestine lifestyles they've been forced to live.
But these relations don’t usually work out too well.
ILLUS: In my files I have the statistics of how well different lifestyles stack up against traditional marriages, and this is what it showed:
82 % of traditional marriages lasted 8 years or more
60 % of cohabiting opposite sex couples lasted that long
BUT only 25% of same-sex couples reached that anniversary.
(http://www.canonandculture.com/are-same-sex-couples-just-like-you/)
Another study published in Demography found that even though same-sex couples enter their legal unions at older ages — a marker related to greater relational stability – male same-sex marriages break up at twice the rate of heterosexual marriages. And the break-up rate for lesbians? A stunning 77% higher than the same-sex male unions! When controlling for possible confounding factors, the “risk of divorce for female partnerships actually is more than twice than that for male unions.”
Why? One person suggested it was because they talked themselves to death. “Lesbians…tend to discuss things endlessly.” Few relationships can endure such relational intensity and it appears as if they don’t.
In addition, in male homosexual marriages, only about a 1/3 are monogamous (no outside sex). The majority of such unions have agreements that allow their partners to linkup with anywhere from 2 up to 2500 different other people than the one they are “married” to. When both partners agree to this kind of arrangement and honor the terms of their agreement they say that they are being “faithful” to one another.
(http://www.canonandculture.com/are-same-sex-couples-just-like-you/)
Now, if that sounds weird… IT IS.
When people do things that aren't Godly they end up living warped lives that have bizarre and painful consequences.
By contrast, traditional married couples don’t generally do stuff like that. And on average, studies have found that traditionally married folks have healthier families. One researcher analyzed 351 academic studies spanning over 13 nations from five continents. He found:
"The members of … traditional families (compared to those “live together” and those who have “gay marriages”) enjoy better physical health, less mental illness, higher incomes and steadier employment.
They and their children live in better housing, enjoy more loving and cooperative relationships and report less physical or sexual violence"… drug, alcohol and tobacco use is lower, children are better socialized and cooperative, they commit fewer crimes and they perform better in school.”
(Mexico's Autonomous National University, sociologist Fernando Pliego; http://www.onenewsnow.com/culture/2015/02/04/science-attests-that-traditional-families-happier-healthier#.VNOio9LF-f8)
In other words – traditional marriages are the gold standard.
Relationships based on Scriptural lifestyles do very well.
But those whose lifestyles are condemned in scripture suffer, as do their families.
Now that’s just the damage immoral sex can bring to your relationships.
Illicit sex also creates a series of physical problems for those who engage in it.
There is an epidemic in our day of at least 38 sexually transmitted diseases. And the number is apparently growing. There’s cervical cancer, Syphilis, Gonorrhea, Herpes, AIDS… and the list goes on and on. And that’s just in the heterosexual community.
When you examine the gay crowd – things get even worse.
The life expectancy of Homosexual men is about 40 years.
By contrast, Heterosexual men live (on average) into their late 70’s or early 80s.
Why?
Because their lifestyle is NOT normal.
The way they “do” sex, and the fact that most of them have multiple partners - just begs for disease and sickness and death.
As Romans 1:27 says about this lifestyle: “Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.”
My whole point is this - when it comes to immoral sexual behavior - whether it’s heterosexual or homosexual immorality – God condemns it. And God condemns it because it destroys people, it destroys their relationships, and it destroys their lives.
As one person observed: “God hates sin in the same way a mother hates disease that threatens the life of her child.”
Now, the World doesn't agree with that. All you need do is turn on the TV to see sitcoms and dramas preach impurity.
ILLUS: I was appalled by a fairly recent story on a TV drama I have liked in the past, called “Blue Bloods.” In that episode, the writers used a heavy handed and ham-fisted technique to paint homosexuality as a desirable lifestyle. Anyone who opposed acceptance of the “gay” choice was portrayed as bigoted, ignorant, or – as in the case of the one priest on that episode – slimy. Tom Selleck’s character denounced Biblical morality by stating that the Catholic Church had always been two generations behind on morality.
The world consistently paints those who oppose sexual immorality as “prudes”, “homophobic”, or “bigoted”. One site I visited had a cartoon with a man talking to a preacher, and the caption read:
“Good sermon preacher. I've never heard bigotry sound so virtuous.”
(PAUSE)
And I agree… I am a bigot.
I am!
By definition, a bigot is someone who is intolerant of those who hold different opinions.
So yes, I AM a bigot.
I AM intolerant.
I AM INTOLERANT of the opinions of men that would destroy people’s lives.
That would destroy marriages.
That would destroy families.
That would pave the way for devastating illnesses and early deaths.
YES… I AM INTOLERANT!!!
And so should you!
If God says something is wrong it’s wrong and there’s ALWAYS a good reason why.
And we should always be found as being those who side with God.
If God calls something immoral... it's immoral!
But now - our problem is – we live in a society that doesn't accept that.
A society where we’re told “Everything is permissible.”
That’s the mindset Paul was addressing in I Corinthians.
Corinth was one of the main cosmopolitan cities of the day. People from many cultures lived and traded there. Every form of pagan religion and immoral behavior were on display in its streets. And the immoral thinking of those outside the church had begun to infiltrate the church in that city. People actually were teaching “everything is permissible” – so Paul quoted them:
"Everything is permissible for me" Paul writes - quoting these false teachers.
But then he says “but not everything is beneficial.”
He states it again:
"Everything is permissible for me"
But then he declares “but I will not be mastered by anything.”
Then he states another prevailing argument of the day:
“Food for the stomach and the stomach for food.”
What they were saying was “food is only natural, and it was created for my body so I’ll eat as much of whatever I like because it was created… therefore nothing can be wrong with it. I've heard this kind of bizarre reasoning from a number of people in our present day society. I've heard this thinking used to excuse drugs, and cigarettes and alcohol and illicit sex: “God created it, so it must be good for me.
But Paul slaps the argument down by saying “God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”
1 Corinthians 6:12-13
Paul was quoting the insane comments of worldly people - comments of that day that people used to justify their impurity and immorality. And that kind of stuff was beginning to seep into the church itself.
Here’s the deal: As Christians we still live IN the world, and we can tend to be influenced by the thinking of this world. We encounter worldly thinking amongst people we work with, amongst people who are related to, with people we live next to. And we kind of like these folks.
It gets hard for us to simply say… “NO that’s wrong.”
We live in a world where the highest morality is to let people do what they want to do.
“Everything Is Permissible”
And if we dare to say: “That’s not a good idea” - folks tend to get upset.
They respond: “How dare you say that MY choices are wrong? People ought to be free to live as they choose and if you oppose it … you’re wrong.”
The world just wants us to shut up and go away.
But frankly… we can’t do that.
Not because WE’RE righteous… and they’re not. But because it’s our job to stand against immorality. It’s our job to say “this is wrong! You don’t want to do that!”
In Ezekiel 33:2-6, God gives the Ezekiel a job:
“Son of man, speak to your countrymen and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head. Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had taken warning, he would have saved himself.
But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.’”
ILLUS: This sermon series is called “Guard Rails for the Family”. Do you know what the purpose of a “guard rail” is? That’s right – the purpose of guard rails is to keep cars from going off the road.
And that’s part of our job description… we’re the guard rails.
God has commissioned us to stand up for righteousness. Not because WE are righteous… but because there are people out there whose cars are going off the road and it IS our job to warn them about that.
Jesus said it this way: "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.” Matthew 5:14-15
You and I are the light of the world… we are here to reflect the values of God into this world. If we allow the world to shame us and shut us up, we not only fail the world and God… we can also fail our families.
Our children and grandchildren look to us to see what we accept and we say is OK. Now they may not always agree with our moral stands, but over time they will respect us for where we stood. But if we just back off, and waffle on where we stand of sexual immorality - they’ll begin to think we DID believe “everything was permissible”. If it’s not important to us to oppose, it probably won’t be important to them either.
Once in a while, we need to stand up and speak up.
But not because we’re righteous like God is.
In fact, how many of you here today realize you are NOT as righteous as God?
That’s good. We don’t have the right to stand in God’s place.
Instead, we stand as His servants to speak to a lost world about their need for righteousness and for a righteous Savior.
CLOSE: I read of a father who went to a meeting at his 13 yr. old son’s school. The parents to preview the new course in sexuality and examine the curriculum.
When he arrived he looked through the syllabus and was surprised to find that the idea of abstinence was mentioned only in passing. After a short time, the teacher arrived and she asked if there were any questions. The father raised his hand and asked why abstinence did not play a noticeable part in the material. He wrote:
“What happened next was shocking. There was a great deal of laughter, and someone suggested that if I thought abstinence had any merit, I should go back to burying my head in the sand.”
The rest of the article didn't explain how he responded, but I get the impression he became angry by their rejection of Godly morality and may have said some things he wished he hadn't. It became obvious after a while that he wasn't winning the argument and that the teacher wasn't supporting his position.
The teacher explained that the job of the school was to teach “facts,” and the home was responsible for moral teaching. The next 20 minutes passed as the teacher and school nurse explained the how the course would be taught. The other parents seemed to give their unqualified support for the materials.
Then they took a break. The teacher announced there’d be Donuts, at the back. And then said “I’d like you to put on the name tags we have prepared – they’re right by the donuts – and mingle with the other parents.”
Everyone moved to back of the room… except that father. He was bothered by the way abstinence was ignored by both the teacher and the parents. He was a Christian and he was a little ashamed that he couldn't come up with a better argument for purity. He and God were having a little conversation as he sat there alone.
He said “My thoughts were interrupted by the teacher’s hand on my shoulder.”
The nurse smiled and said “Won’t you go and join the others, Mr. Layton? The donuts are good.”
“Thank you, no,” he replied.
“Well, then, how about a name tag? I’m sure the others would like to meet you.”
He replied “Somehow I doubt that.”
“Won’t you please join them?” she coaxed.
Then I heard a still, small voice whisper, “Don’t go.” The voice was unmistakable. “Don’t go!”
“I’ll just wait here,” I said.
When the class was called back to order, the teacher looked around the long table and thanked everyone for putting on name tags. She ignored the father.
Then she said, “Now we’re going to give you the same lesson we’ll be giving your children. Everyone please peel off your name tags… Now, on the back of one of the tags, I drew a tiny flower. Who has it, please?"
The gentleman across from me held it up. “Here it is!”
“All right,” she said. “The flower represents disease.
Do you recall with whom you shook hands?”
He pointed to a couple of people.
“Very good,” she replied. “The handshake in this case represents intimacy. So the two people you had contact with now have the disease.”
There was laughter and joking among the parents. The teacher continued, “And whom did the two of you shake hands with?”
The point was well taken, and she explained how this lesson would show students how quickly disease is spread.
“Since we all shook hands, we all have the disease.”
It was then that he felt prompted to speak. He got up from his chair and apologized for any upset I might have caused earlier he congratulated the teacher on an excellent lesson and then concluded by saying he had only one small point to make.
(PAUSE)
“I wish to point out that not all of us were infected. One of us… abstained.”
CLOSE:
The point is this;
You have to stand for righteousness because you stand with God.
You have to live in righteousness because you belong to God.
You've been bought with a price, you are not your own.
And lastly, you have talk about the ultimate righteousness – Jesus Christ. Because without Jesus and the power of His Spirit within us, all our self-righteousness will be meaningless. It’s only by HIS righteousness that we have any hope.
INVITATION:
