Sexual Purity
- Rev. Jerry Lepasana
- May 29, 2005
- Series: State of the Union
SEXUAL PURITY
Hebrews 13:4; 1 Corinthians 6:18-20
- Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
- Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.
- Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
- you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
Today, the marital bond is constantly being attacked on its foundation by a culture that is saturated by sex. In our society, sex is just everywhere – television, movies, internets, magazines, novels, even cartoons. It is even a booming business. Consider internet pornography for example, research show that there is an average of 18 million people who are flooding the internet porn sites. In 2003, these people spent about $18 billion dollars ordering from cybersex videos, magazines, and accessories. Because of this environment, many marriages were destroyed, many hearts were broken, and many homes were shattered. Perhaps we have seen this happened in our families, friends, neighbors, or even brothers or sisters in the Lord.
This is the reason why I strongly believe we need to address this issue in the church. We need to sound the alarm against sexual immorality and its painful consequences. You see, God has some strong words for us about it. If you go back to our chosen passages, both speak concerning God’s inevitable judgment against those who practice this sin. Clearly, we cannot be involved in this, and think that God will just look away and spare us. God wants us to honor our marriages by keeping it pure. If we take it for granted, we will surely suffer its tragic consequences.
Now, what can we do to keep ourselves pure? How can we maintain fidelity in marriage? There are three responsibilities that we need to consider carefully:
I PRACTICE SEX WITHIN MARRIAGE:
Marriage is the only location where God ordains sex. In Hebrews 13:4, the phrase “Marriage bed” is use to mean sexual relation. This allows readers to conclude that sex must always be in the context of marriage.
In her book, What Every Woman Wants in a Man, Diana Hagee identified in the Bible the four God-given purposes for sex:
A. Unity:
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
B. Comfort:
Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
C. Procreation:
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
D. Defense for Temptation:
- 2) But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.
- 5) Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
In God’s desire that our marriages be filled with joy and be truly satisfying, He has gifted us with sex. But like any other gifts, we can easily abuse it if we are not careful. The greatest abuse against it is to practice it away from marriage.
II PROTECT YOUR HEART:
More than honoring our marriage, another responsibility is found in Paul’s teachings to the Corinthian believers regarding purity. As believers belonging to God, our hearts must be centered in Him. We should shift our pursuit from satisfying ourselves to bringing honor and glory to God. How can we keep our hearts centered on God?
A. Guard Your Eyes:
"I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.
Job made a covenant with God concerning his eyes, promising not to look with lust upon a young woman. He understood that temptation often enters through the door of our sight.
Satan has succeeded in destroying so many men and women through internet pornography. Experts give several reasons for its effectivity:
- Twenty-four hour accessibility
- Anonymity
- Immoral extremities
- Affordability
- Protected privacy
But, we have to remember that when we fail to guard our eyes, we will surely suffer its consequences.
B. Guard Your Thoughts:
Someone has said, “We can’t always help what comes into our minds, but we have all the control in the world over what stays there.”
The Bible clearly teaches us that we must all discipline our minds to dwell on the right things if we want to be victorious over our temptations.
C. Guard Your Associations:
One of our most important choices in life is the friends who we allow to influence us.
This verse warns us about the progression – if we hang around with the wrong crowd, we will move from an acquaintanceship to being absorbed as one of them.
III PREPARE TO RUN:
The apostle Paul in our text leaves no question about our response from every sexual temptation we have – FLEEING.
This is the example we have from Joseph in Genesis 39:7-12:
- 7) and after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, "Come to bed with me!"
- 8) But he refused. "With me in charge," he told her, "my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care.
- 9) No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?"
- 10) And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.
- 11) One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside.
- 12) She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come to bed with me!" But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.
In contrast, David’s response was the opposite. He made the mistake of overestimating his strength. He should have fled like Joseph, but he stayed (2 Samuel 11-12). While Joseph’s decision to run resulted in God’s blessings, David’s carelessness resulted in many complications in his life. Here are some:
- The baby conceived illegitimately with Bathsheba died at birth.
- In attempting to cover his sin, David killed Bathsheba’s husband.
- David’s daughter, Tamar, was raped by his son, Amnon.
- Absalom murdered Amnon.
- Absalom rebelled against David, dethroning David and sleeping with some of David’s wives.
- David’s successor and son, Solomon, struggled with sexual addiction (700 wives and 300 concubines.)
As God had impressed in our original texts concerning the fact that there are inevitable judgments of those who practice sexual immorality, David suffered severely. I hope that we will learn from these two men – Joseph and David. Let’s do our best to keep the marriage bed undefiled so we can reap his blessings. I know if it’s our desire to honor God, He can help preserve us.