Why True Love Waits

YOUTH SERMON

Why True Love Waits

Scripture: Various

Introduction: True love waits. Is that true? It sounds boring. Sexual abstinence isn’t a popular concept. We don’t want to wait on anything in our culture. But, I want you to understand that waiting is awesome. Waiting for your husband or wife is not passive; it’s very active. It’s a challenge, an adventure, and a commitment to a God who deserves everything, and to your future spouse who deserves your purity.

1. True Love. Before we dive into our topic of sexual abstinence, I want you to understand one very important thing. You will never have the strength to hold up a commitment to purity until you are totally committed to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. The greatest commandment in Scripture is to "love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength." Without this commitment, you will never be able to commit yourself to true purity. If you have not made this commitment, I invite you to do so today.

2. True Love Waits. Scripture clearly teaches that we shouldn’t commit sexual sin, but these passages don’t make sense until we understand why sex is an important and wonderful gift from God. That’s what I want to focus on. Why wait? Because sex, the way God intended it, is too wonderful to pass up.

A. The Lies of Satan and Society. What do your friends at school think about sex? Do they joke about it? Brag about it? Is casual sex normal? Most teenagers view sex as a goal to attain quickly, not a gift to understand biblically. Some adults tell us we need to wait until we are mature enough or until we understand all the consequences of sex. Some kids are more mature than others, I know. Most of you are aware of the consequences of sex. The real problem is that most of your generation does not have a biblical view of sex.

B. The Truth of Scripture. I know most of you are expecting me to say, "The Bible says sex is bad," or, "You need to just suck it up and wait no matter how hard it may be." But I’m here to tell you that sex is an incredible gift from God, and waiting to have sex is a worthwhile adventure.

(1.) The Goodness of Sexual Love. Let’s look at Scripture. When God created the world, He said that the light was good (Gen. 1:4); He said the land was good (Gen. 1:10); He said the vegetation was good (Gen.1:12); He said the solar system was good

(Gen. 1:18); He said all ocean creatures and birds were good (Gen. 1:21); He said land animals were good (Gen. 1:25); He said that man was good, along with everything He had made (Gen. 1:31)! God only saw one thing out of all creation that was not good, "It is not good that man should be alone." God saw that man could not emotionally or sexually express himself in a marriage relationship, and it wasn’t good. See! God doesn’t want you to wait your whole life while you burn with desire. He wants you to have one sexual partner, one spouse to share yourself with. Notice that in all these verses Satan never created anything! All Satan does is twist things. He takes the perfect model of the sexuality God gave us, twists, and perverts it. God gave us this gift of sexual love to be shared in marriage, but Satan lies to us through the media, through friends, and through our own selfishness to twist sex into a self-gratifying sin. We must focus on how wonderful sex really can be if we follow God’s model.

(2.) The Goal of Sexual Love. Genesis 2:24, 25 tells us, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." (NKJV) I’m willing to bet that many of you here today are ashamed. Perhaps you’ve had sex, or sinned through pornography or fantasy, or maybe you have just been too physical with another person; whatever it is, you feel or have felt ashamed. Imagine being in a marriage relationship, where there is no shame. You can express every physical desire and have a deep, loving, wonderful relationship. You can share your hearts, your goals, your strengths, your weaknesses, your futures, and your bodies together and without shame! God doesn’t want to torture you by telling you to wait, but He wants to bless you by keeping you pure for this incredible gift. Sexual sin is like eating too many hamburgers when you are promised a steak dinner. Why do that? Don’t spoil your appetite! Don’t make yourself ashamed!