Immorality

RIVERSIDE INDONESIAN FELLOWSHIP
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Immorality

Riverside Indonesian Fellowship
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2018 · 14 October 2018
The society in which we live today, we would have to call this the sexy 21 century. That seems to be the thing that dominates everything. Every product that is sold, is sold with some sensual overture. Movies have gone to the place where pornography is matter of fact, every day routine. We are constantly having propagated to us that sexual activity is just like eating and drinking.

We have big problems with morality and immorality. They have exalted homosexuality, same sex marriage, abortion where all kinds of things have become commonplace. It is difficult historically, whether you're talking about Israel or the New Testament church, for God's people to exist as an island in a sea of paganism and not be affected by it. And more than that, and become tolerant of it.

The media has communicated sexual aberrations through its music, radio, television, internet, books, and magazines and on and on it goes to the place where it's almost with an indifferent attitude that we look at any of it. And they were based on philosophical and intellectual sins, but also by fleshly, physical sins as well. Sin does not exist in isolation. If people walk in the flesh, it's going to manifest itself in every other way as well.

In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul begins to deal with immorality. There was a situation where sexual immorality in the church was actually shocking to people outside the church. And it wasn't as if they didn't know what God's standards were. Paul had taught them and they had Apollos and some teachings from Peter on how God viewed sexual immorality. In spite of all of this information they continued to allow immorality in the church.

1 Corinthians 5:1 says, “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife!” The word for immorality is ‘porneia’, meaning any kind of sexual involvement. Pornography is our word today. The root word, porne, means a harlot for hire. The masculine form, pornos, means a male prostitute.

Corinth and Athens, according to historians, were the two most immoral cities. Even their worship was immoral. They had prostitutes in their temples where the people went to worship. The Greek’s view of life was this idea that sex was just a biological urge and so sex was treated just like your need for sleep or exercise or eating. But they forbid any woman to do it outside of her marriage, while a man could do anything he wanted.

In the Pentateuch, the Law of Moses, God laid down His basic attitudes. In Deuteronomy 22 for instance if a man marries a woman and he finds out that she is not a virgin, the parents need to prove that with physical evidence to the elders that their daughter was in fact a virgin. If the elders agreed, the fine for that man was 100 shekels of silver and he had to stay married to her.

On the other hand if she wasn’t a virgin, she would be stoned to death. If there was adultery, then both of them would die. But if a man raped a girl in the field where she can’t be heard crying for help, then the man only that raped her shall die. Now, all of that is just to show you how God feels about immorality. It was the cause of execution in the Old Testament.

In the New Testament, the Lord speaks of harlotry, immorality and adultery and says that any kind of immorality is incompatible with the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor revilers, nor extortionists will inherit the kingdom of God.”

1 Corinthians 10:8-11 says, “Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; 9 nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; 10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition.”

They are written and recorded for our benefit, that we might know how God feels about that kind of activity. There is to be no immorality, not sexual activity, not sexual promiscuity, that is fooling around, nothing of these things, not being effeminate, no masochism, no sadism, no homosexuality, no lesbianism, no bestiality, all of those things in that category are forbidden.

The Christian attitude about sex should be one of reverent responsibility. We should not joke about sex, the same reason we should not joke about Holy Communion. It is not that sex is nasty; it is that sex is sacred and to joke about it is profanity. Sex is a God-given endowment to be kept in trust for the beloved, that person to whom one is able to offer oneself in the beautiful and responsible union of lifelong marriage.

Roman 12:1-2 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” My body is the possession of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sexual sin not only harms, it also controls. 1 Corinthians 6:12 says, “All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” The more you give into it, the more it controls you. One of the things that this particular sin does, like all other sin, is that it makes people a slave. But there’s another thing that sexual sin does, and that is it perverts us. Our mind is controlled and perverted.

Your body was not created for sex; your body was created for God. And God has a specific design for it. That's why 1 Corinthians 6:14 says, "As God raised up the Lord will also raise us up by His own power. 1 Corinthians 15:53-54 says, “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory.” We will enter into a new and glorious existence. Our sinful body will be changed.

In other words, you've got to realize that your body is sanctified as a vessel onto God. It not only belongs to God but it is one with Christ. 1 Cor. 6:15-16, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For He says, “the two shall become one flesh.”

Verse 17, “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” Because of such seriousness notice verse 18-19, “Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”

Every other sin approaches from the outside, but this one rises from within. Other sins have external stimulus. This seems to have an internal one. The cause of other sins may be outside. The cause of this is inside. This is more destructive than drugs, more destructive than alcohol. Something deep within a person is affected by this sin, so that he sins against his own body in a very serious way.

Jesus says in Matthew 5:28, "Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her, has already committed adultery with her in your heart.” So you certainly don't want to feed whatever does that on the inside, even if the act is not itself consummated. The point is, God's will is that you stay away from sexual sin. And it's not to get as close as you can and avoid it, it's to stay far enough away to be completely separate.

All venereal diseases are a divine reaction against sin. But not all the victims of venereal disease or AIDS or the other ones are necessarily the sinners. There are many people who may be innocent bystanders who acquire the disease through means other than sexual sin. But surely it is a judgment of God on a sinful society and the persons who commit these.

Therefore the conclusion is in verse 20, "Glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are God's, glorify God." Ephesians 5:3 says, "Let fornication not even be named among you." Hebrews 13:4, "Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers God will judge." There's no escape from the consequences. Can you be enslaved by it? Yes. Will you be perverted by it? Yes.

Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:22, "Flee youthful lust.” Run away from the source of temptation. This is very important for young couples who love the Lord and are planning for marriage and find themselves in a compromised situation because they can't control their physical desires. The best thing to do is stay apart. Watch what you see, watch what you read and watch what preoccupies your mind.

Look at David, who had committed the sin of immorality with Bathsheba. And in that terrible situation that resulted from that, where the man Uriah, her husband, was killed and David lived with this incredible guilt. Psalm 51 says he became sick, and he became weak, and he became lonely, and he became sad, and he became guilty, and the great harm that came to David. There are many things that harm us, so avoid them all.

"How do you avoid sexual sin?" You walk in the Spirit. What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? The key to walking in the Spirit is being filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:17 says, "Be not drunk with wine which is excess but be being kept filled with the Spirit." Well, the key to being filled with the Spirit is to let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. Ephesians 5:18 says, "But be filled with the Spirit."

To be filled by the Spirit, to be energized by the Spirit is to be directed by that which the Spirit has revealed in the Word of God. It's not just to know the Word of God, but to let it dwell, let it dominate you in all its richness. We are all back to the point of letting the Word of God into our minds and our hearts as the controlling factor.

What is the instrument of sanctification that God has given us? It's your body. So we're talking here not about controlling your wife, but controlling your body. It's about self-control. What do I do to get control of myself? Well Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:27 says, "I beat my body into submission." In 1 Corinthians 6:12 Paul said, "I will not be mastered by anything." In verse 13 he says, "The body is not for immorality, but for the Lord."

Just learn self-control. Just learn to create a disciplined environment. People who eat too much, or sleep too much, or goof off too much, or talk too much, or shop too much, or play games too much, or fool with whatever too much, are candidates for major disasters because they don't have self-control. The last one of the Fruit of the Spirit mentions self-control. Ask God for that blessing!

God has also given you a device and all of us have it, it's called a conscience. Romans 2 describes the conscience as that which excuses or accuses you. It is a warning device, it is a warning system built into every human being. Now you basically have two warning systems. The first one is called pain and the second one is called conscience. Pain is God's way of protecting you from destroying yourself.

From a spiritual standpoint, conscience also does the same thing. Conscience screams to you about a violation of a moral law. Conscience is not the moral law. It is only a mechanism, it is only a warning device. It has to be informed by reality. It reacts as a warning device telling that person whether they are abiding by their moral constraint or not. Two things have to happen. One, listen to your conscience. Two, inform your conscience correctly.

There are generations of people now whose conscience can't function because it's so ill-informed. The world has turned morality completely upside down. Conscience is not the Law of God, it only reacts to whatever your law is, whatever your moral structure is your conscience will react to. Once the conscience is rightly informed by the Word of God, only then it's a God-given warning device to keep you from disaster.

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1:12, "Look, my testimony is the testimony of our conscience.” You can accuse me of anything you want, but the testimony of my conscience is that in holiness and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God we have conducted ourselves in the world and especially toward you.” You can accuse me of anything you want but my conscience is clear.”

Respond to the first impulse of that conscience. Titus 1:15 says, "To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, both their mind and their conscience are defiled." That's the world. They're going quickly down the path to hell because their system of belief is corrupt and their conscience is also corrupt. The world misinforms and then it tells you to not feel guilty.

Two, don't act like the godless pagans. 1 Thessalonians 4:5, "Don't operate in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God.” You are the very opposite of that. You know, we are called to holiness. Verse 6, “that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified.”

Do not transgress and defraud someone in the matter of sexual conduct. And the issue here is sexual sin. Do not take advantage of another person for your own sexual fulfillment. Ladies, if a guy comes along and tells you he loves you and then wants to steal your purity, that's not love. That is ignoring God’s law to defraud you, to take something valuable from you for his own gain.

Listen, if a guy really loves you, he is going to hold you up and do everything to sustain your purity. That's what love does, love doesn't defraud, love doesn't rob, love doesn't steal, and love doesn't plunder. People say, "Well what's wrong with having a little sex, we're going to get married anyway?" You don't have any guarantee that if he would do that because he's already proven that he's willing to defraud.

In Matthew 18:6 Jesus said, “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” That's the most serious statement that Jesus ever said to His church. Be careful how you treat My children, you'd be better off if you were drowned." Jesus is not talking about babies, He is talking about believers.

1 Tess 4:6, “because the Lord is the avenger of all such.” I don't know about you but I'd rather have His blessing than His vengeance. Please notice, the Lord is the avenger in all these things. It's inescapable. What that means is the Lord is the one who exacts judgment. Verse 7, “For God did not call us to uncleanness.” He didn't call you to filthiness, that's how sexual sin is described by the Bible.

Verse 8, “Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.” He gave you His Holy Spirit. That is to say the Spirit of Christ. That is to say the Spirit of God. That is to say the Holy One Himself has taken up residence in your life. You have all that God could give, Himself. Will you join Him to a harlot? Will you dishonor Him?

God doesn’t expect us to struggle along the path of spiritual maturity all alone. But He expects us to move along in the company of one another. We are to be interacting. Nobody grows in a vacuum. We grow by unity. The closer I am to the circle of people around me, the easier it is for me to live a righteous life. And if something isn’t right, they point it out, and that forces me back into the truth.

The Bible tells us, that we are to grow. 2 Peter 3:18 says, “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” That is a command and if we say yes, how do we get there? The Bible says, “Live your life to My glory.” David said in Psalm 16:8-9, “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices.”

Learn to cultivate a love for the Lord. If you love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, you wouldn't bring shame on His name. You cultivate a love for Christ by your prayer life, by your time in the Word and by focusing on knowing Him. And don't play with fire, stay away from the situations that capture you and snare you. Don't let your body tell you what to do and don't feed it those things that excite evil desire.

Everything God has done is to make you pure. Don't be deceived, the problem is you and it's in you, it's not outside of you. How am I going to live a holy life? Control your flesh by feeding it what builds up the spiritual and not exposing it to those things that pander to your fallen flesh. But you have to do both. So you feed it what strengthens the spiritual part and you starve it of what feeds the flesh, Amen?



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