2005-06-03
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
We’ve been looking at the difficult subject of sexual immorality, and there is still more that our Lord, through His word, has to say about it. We all know the story of David and Bathsheba. She was the wife of Uriah the Hittite, and David found her beautiful. David arranged for Uriah to be killed in battle and then acted on his lustful feelings. After giving Bathsheba time to mourn for Uriah, David had her brought to the palace and made her his wife. The Lord, Who never misses a single detail of our lives, was not pleased [2 SAM 11: 2-4, 14-17, 25-26]. Their baby that was born didn’t live [2 SAM 12: 18]. Solomon, in PR 6: 25-26, wrote about how sexual immorality reduces personal worth. “Do not be tempted by their beauty [that of bad women]; do not be trapped by their flirting eyes. A man can hire a prostitute for the price of a loaf of bread, but adultery will cost him all he has.”
Just in case the believer should miss God’s attitude in these matters, there are several places in the Scriptures where Israel’s sinning is compared to sexual immorality. It is compared to a wild camel in heat in JER 2: 23-24. “How can you say you have not defiled yourself that you have never worshipped Baal? Look how you sinned in the valley: see what you have done. You are like a wild camel in heart, running around loose, rushing into the desert. When she is in heat, who can control her? No male that wants her has to trouble himself; she is always available in the mating season.” This is not a pretty picture that God, through Jeremiah is painting of His chosen people just before the first dyaspora. EZK 16:25, in reference to Jerusalem prostituting herself, reads, “You dragged your beauty through the mud. You offered yourself to everyone who came by, and you were more of a prostitute every day.” Her “suitors” at that time in history were the Egyptians and the Assyrians. Once again, in HO 1: 2, this same point is made. “When the Lord first spoke to Israel through Hosea, He said to Hosea, ‘Go and get married; your wife will be unfaithful, and your children will be just like her. In the same way My people have left Me and become unfaithful.’”
The NT also has its share of messages about how distasteful to God sexual immorality is. Christ spoke of the mind-heart connection in regard to this issue in His citation of the messages first given in EX 20: 14 and DT 5 :18. MT 5: 27-28, which bears repeating. “You have heard that it was said , ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But now I tell you: anyone who looks at a woman and wants to possess her in is guilty of committing adultery with her in his heart.” Paul, in 1 COR 6: 9-10 is even more descriptive of the acts and their consequences. “Surely you know that the wicked will not possess God’s Kingdom. Do not fool yourselves; people who are immoral or who worship idols or are adulterers or homosexual perverts or who steal or are greedy or are drunkards or who slander others or are thieves-none of these will possess God’s Kingdom.” COL 3: 5 further clarifies what God wants His people to do. “You must put to death, then, the earthly desires at work in you, such as sexual immorality, indecency, lust, evil passion, and greed (for greed is a form of idolatry).” James, in JAS 1 :14-15, deals with the pathway to spiritual death. “But a person is tempted when he is drawn away and trapped by his own evil desire. Then his evil desire conceives and gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, give birth to death.” Peter also deals with the consequences of this evil behavior in 2 PET 2: 9-10, “And so the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials and how to keep the wicked under punishment for the Day of Judgment, especially those who follow their filthy bodily lusts and despise God’s authority. These false teachers are bold and arrogant, and show no respect for the glorious beings above; instead, they insult them.”
A message like this one should end with an indication of how much God reveres sexual purity. In reference to the 144, 000 who will be the evangelists during the Tribulation, REV 14: 3-4 reads, “The 144, 000 people stood before the throne, the four living creatures, and the elders; they were singing a new song, which only they could learn. Of all mankind they are the only ones who have kept themselves pure by not having sexual relations with women; they are virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They have been redeemed from the rest of mankind and are the first ones to be offered to God and to the Lamb.” This citation should be read in its proper context. It doesn’t mean that people shouldn’t get married and have normal sexual relations. All it means is that this group didn’t. This walk that I have taken through the OT and NT in the last couple of weeks is meant to impress us with just how important sexual behavior is to God. There is no way it would have been mentioned this many times in the Scriptures had not mattered so much to the Lord. Our task is to examine our lives without guilt and to make whatever changes are necessary to conform to God’s standards for us. Remember that even a murderer and adulterer like David was forgiven for his past wrongdoing, and that he became a wonderfully faithful king for Israel. So, if David can be forgiven after repenting of his behavior, any person willing to do the same can be forgiven for his past wrongdoing. The key is that the behavior must stop and there must be confession and a real change in one’s heart-attitude [1 JN 1: 9].
PRAYER: O Most Holy Father, today we live in a largely fallen world, one in which fornication and even, adultery, are rationalized as acceptable. My heart breaks when I think of all the children who are forced to live in households where their parents are not married, and their mothers have given birth to children from more than one father. Where is the love in this? It is not my place to judge; it is Your Son’s. These children are innocent of wrongdoing, but must grow up learning that there is no value in making commitments to others. All around me, I see the breakdown of the family unit and feel the consequences of that. I am on my knees before Your mighty throne to ask You to intervene for all these children. Somehow, they need faith, a loving, moral upbringing, the opportunity to become a part of nurturing congregations. Some of these children end up rejected by their parents and on the streets in some countries-starving, uneducated, and ill. Some are even addicted to drugs or carry the AIDS virus. Pastor Bruce Wilkinson was called to begin a ministry in Johannesburg, South Africa, to do what he can to help as many of these children as he can. Some rejected children in this country are shifted from one foster parent to another, never growing up with the love a godly parent can give. Some children, who are the products of uncommitted relationships, are raised with no faith at all and no opportunity to gain faith other than what You are willing to give them through the Holy Spirit. David prayerfully confessed in PS 51: 10-12, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” You are a great, powerful, sovereign, and glorious God-One Who richly deserves eternal thanks and praise. I beg that You hear my prayer that these children can be brought to You today and always to live lives that will please and serve You. My plea is for their protection, education, and nurture by loving adults willing to commit to You and to each other. In Christ’s name, I pray. Amen.
Next week, I am led to discuss the long-term effects on an individual of sex outside of marriage and punishment of sex offenders-tough subjects indeed. Nevertheless, the Spirit cries out that we should tackle them. With Scripture, we can put these tough subjects in God’s perspective, rather than mankind’s rationalizations about them. When Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount, He spoke from a wealth of the Father’s teaching which He knew. Not one single time did He ever stray from the Father’s teaching, which is why He could say in JN 14: 9a, 10b-11, “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father…The words that I have spoken to you do not come from Me. The Father, Who remains in Me, does His own work. Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. If not, believe, because of the things I do.” Christ is rightly able to make the promise of JN 14: 21, “Whoever accepts My commandments and obeys them is the one who loves Me. My Father will love whoever loves Me; I too will love him and reveal Myself to him.” We can not only believe in Christ, but we can also be forever grateful for the heart-attitude He displayed in His ministry, His death on the cross for us (to give us a way to salvation), and His resurrection to service as our Advocate and Intercessor with the Father. MK 10: 45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.” We must never doubt how blessed we are for being given faith and for remaining obediently faithful to the Lord.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn