Sexual Immorality
By Charles Holmes
(A recent report listed an astonishing rate of STDs among Americans, likening it to a severe epidemic. Science clearly confirms one more negative consequence of sexual immorality.)
While on an ever changing slippery slope of morality, society has a way of imagining that God is winking at everything He has clearly said not to do. We delude ourselves and believe that there are no real consequences for all this immorality. Since everyone is now doing this or that, it has to be all good. We can’t listen to the radio or turn on the TV without being bombarded by situations that are contrary to what God intended for us. There are as many opinions as there are people of what is acceptable and how we should look at sexuality. Can opinions of creatures triumph over the unchanging word of the Creator?
Proverbs 21:2(ESV)
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart.
So what should we take to heart and what should we guard our hearts from? Probably the best indicator that shows whether or not God is winking at these types of sins in our modern day society is to look at the fruit and judgments that have recently transpired.
1 Peter 4:17(ESV)
For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And,“If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”
One of the biggest church scandals in recent history was the Jimmy Swaggart scandal. John Macarthur, an internationally known minister, started a teaching about the lessons from this scandal with the following words.
“….. You have lived, young people, to see what amounts to the most far-reaching scandal in the history of the Christian church. There has never occurred in Christianity anything of this proportion. This summer I will have occasion to be in Asia and many of the places where I will travel in Asia I will come across what reflects the extensive influence of Jimmy Swaggart. Coming out of the Manila Airport and heading for the city of Manila, you pass a large building, I’m told, that says, “Jimmy Swaggart Ministries.” This thing has scandalized the world from one end to the other because of the power of media. It has become a tremendous reproach to the name of Jesus Christ, to His church, to all who preach the Word of God, bringing them under suspicion. It has far-greater implications than the PTL scandal with Jim Bakker and Tammy ever had because when Jim and Tammy Bakker were discovered to be sinners who were hypocritically pretending to be something they were not, the world said to itself, “Isn’t that terrible that those people did that? I wonder if the rest are like that?” And when it was exposed that Jimmy Swaggart was involved in sexual perversion over a long, long period of time, most people in the world must have concluded,“Well, they are, aren’t they?” John also said, “The far-reaching implications of this are just frightening in terms of the integrity, the credibility of the church, and of those who name the name of Christ.”
What was it that had its hooks in Jimmy? What was it that shattered a ministry that was impacting the entire world for Christ and then became a huge ugly stumbling block to millions? The very root of the problem was this: Jimmy had a problem with lust. Confronted by pictures of himself with a prostitute, one of the things he admitted, in a 10-hour session with church leaders, that he had had a fascination with pornography since he was a child.
God judged, exposed, and disciplined Jimmy and despite whatever was going on behind the scenes, his problem with lust was what brought down one of the biggest ministers of our time.
God set a precedence with Jimmy as a warning to all, but sadly, many other ministers and preachers and so called men of God have been exposed and judged for the very same thing. Even a whole denomination, Catholicism, was decimated when Priests were exposed partaking in a particularly perverse and wicked sexual sin: pedophilia.
So now that those who claim to be Gods people have been judged and are being judged, men of great prominence in secular positions in our society are falling left and right. From President Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky, to Jerry Sandusky, the fallen Penn State assistant football coach accused of raping little boys, to a brilliant protector of this nation, Retired Army Gen. David Petraeus, who resigned from his post as CIA director when he was caught in an extramarital affair are to name a few. The list goes on and on.
Rest assured God takes no pleasure in the punishment of the wicked. Because of the destructive power of sin and His unlimited love for His creation, He exposes the leaders of these sins in the hopes of bringing them to repentance and as a warning to us all.
There’s more deadly fruit that most be examined on this sin sick list. We now have incurable diseases such as Herpes and Aids. We have unwanted and abandoned children, to murdered babies called abortions. We have adulterous affairs, to the deep devastating wounds of divorce that are overtaking and has overtaken our society. Awfully, one in three little girls are sexually abused as well as one in six little boys. Then there are the myriad of perversions that are too gross to mention that are taking place behind close doors everyday in our society. Clearly God doesn’t take any of this devastation lightly and isn’t winking at anything! The devil is stealing our innocence through these sins, he’s killing people , and he is destroying peoples lives.
John 10:10(ESV)
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
What is the common thread that runs through all of the above rotten fruit; lust on steroids!
Matthew 5:28(ESV)
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But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Job speaks about one of the keys to overcoming lust.
Job 31:(ESV)
“I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin.”
God understands and knows the powerful pull of our natural desires and the sin of lust in our lives.
Hebrews 4:15-16 (ESV)
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
The devil also knows, and is masterful at taking our natural desires and through deception, he tempts us to remove all restraint. We must eat food in order to survive, but we can’t eat everything in sight all the time, we must show some restraint and self control. It’s the exact same thing with sexuality and sexual purity.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV)
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Do not be deceived, we must–
Corinthians 6:18(ESV)
“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.”1
God reveals in his word the only sexual situation He does bless in the following scripture.
Hebrews 13:4 (ESV)
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
In conclusion, in light of all the damage that immorality has done in this world and all that the word of God says, to believe that God just winks at our own immoral decisions is foolishness. God has called us all to sexual purity, whether single or married, but clearly, we can’t walk it out unless we continuously abide in Him.
Young man, honor that woman with an undefiled marriage bed to God’s glory. Make a covenant with your eyes not to lust after other women. Admire God’s beautiful handy work but don’t give in to lustful thoughts. Save yourself for your wife.
Young woman, save yourself for your husband, don’t stir up love before its time. Embrace sexual purity and turn your back on the lies of this fallen world. If you already went down the road of immorality, repent and allow our Lord to cleanse and restore your innocence and purity.