Three Letter Word

Heb. 13:4

 

This Valentine weekend is a great time to say something that needs to be said in our nation:  God’s plan for sex includes 1 man and 1 woman, within the marriage relationship.  Anything outside of that formula is sin.  Sin is cursed.  Jesus died for sin.  He did it in order to save us from sin.

 

Pornography is sin.

Looking with lust is sin.

Watching other people sin is sin.

Self-gratification is sin.

Flirting with sin is sin.

Shacking up is sin.

 

Let’s be honest, we’re all guilty at some level or another.  It’s the devil’s most often used weapon because it works so well.  So let’s not be offended today, let’s be humble, and correctable.  Perhaps you’ll make a new decision based on new information.

 

“It’s ok what we do, our situation is unique.”

I was born at night, but not last night!

 

More than a billion dollars will be spent this year on sex-ed, most of it centering on what has become known as “safe sex”.  There is no safe sex other than sex within God’s plan!

 

The world’s version of safe sex is not based on morality at all.  Their theme is:  “Since you can’t be good, be careful”.

 

God’s version of safe sex is abstinence until marriage,

I Peter 2:11

    Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul…

 

Yet Biblical morality is laughed at, belittled, called archaic, and old-fashioned.

 

Entertainment:        Rarely in daytime TV will you see lovers who are married to each other.  (evening sit coms as well) If it’s not pre-marital sex it’s extra-marital sex…

 

Advertising:            Sex is the #1 seller of everything from beer to perfume to jeans, toothpaste, and breakfast cereal.

        “appeal to mankind’s baser instincts”

 

In the ‘60’s, Hugh Hefner said, “sex is a normal function of the body, it is a desire that man shares w/ the animals, just like sleeping or eating, therefore it is not wrong to satisfy these normal desires”.

 

Society has swallowed that philosophy, hook, line, and sinker.  “Just throw off all your inhibitions, and if it feels good, do it.”

 

As kids we were taught evolution in the classroom…and now we are acting like it.  If you tell a teenager that they are an animal for long enough, he will eventually prove you right!

 

Josh McDowell was one of Christianity's foremost experts on teenagers. 

His research showed that in evangelical church circles:

65% of teens have had some kind of sexual experience before the age of 18.  43% say they have actually gone all the way.

        He asked them where they learned their values in this area, and 73% said, “from the movies.”  The numbers have worsened since his day.

 

The good news is that of the 35% who had no experience, the vast majority said the reason was because of a commitment they have made to God.

 

I’m thankful for a handful of teens who have pledged that, from this day forward, I will abstain until marriage…I will live by God’s plan…/adults who recommit to purity/faithfulness.

 

A Senator in Washington, promoting birth control, once said, “Today’s teens are just hormone hurricanes, and you can’t stop a hurricane.”

 

I’m thankful for a power greater than a hurricane, He’s the Creator of the hurricane, He’s the One that kept my wife and myself pure for each other, He’s our powerful God!

 

We’ve allowed sex to become a dirty word.  What should be a beautiful picture of love, marriage, and home, it’s now associated w/ words like perversion/STDs/prostitution/lesbianism/homosexuality.

 

Society is learning that there is a penalty for sexual immorality.  But rather than coming back to God’s standards, and obeying God’s laws, society says, “Let’s see what we can do to alter the consequences of our actions.”

 

Let's find cures for STDs, since they are inevitable!

 

Unwanted pregnancy?  Just do away w/ the consequences!

Don’t let anyone get in the way of you having a good time!

 

3 Words:

SEXUALITY/IMMORALITY/PURITY

1. Sexuality

Sex is not a dirty word. 

Teenagers:  your generation did not discover sex.  God originated it for the benefit of all, within His guidelines.

 

Parents:  Don’t make faces at me for using the word sex.  Your kids are hearing lies about it every day and today they will hear the truth.

 

Older folks:  Don’t look so holy at me for talking about God’s gift…you’re here because of it.  (The has been only 1 virgin birth and you’re not it!)

Heb. 13:4 (on screen)  “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled.”

 

Listen carefully:  When a man and a woman enter into a marriage contract, the seal of that covenant is their union physically.  To give away your virginity before marriage is far more serious than you ever thought possible…as you give away the seal to your marriage contract.

 

Someday you will fall in love for real with someone and marry them, and you will wish with all your heart to give them the most wonderful gift you ever could, your purity, but I remind you today you can only give it away once!

 

Married couples:  Just as the physical union [consummation] w/in marriage seals the covenant of marriage, so a union outside of your marriage w/ anyone else is what breaks the covenant.

 

Sex is not a physical act alone.  There is a spiritual and emotional dimension to sex.  If you leave them out, then you lower it to the level of animals.

 

That’s what the pornography industry is doing.  Making women into things, objects to be used.  “Bunnies” & “Pets”  - Just animals.  Nevermind that you have feelings and a soul and a heart.

 

Any blurring of the sexual distinction is wrong.  Girls are wearing guys clothes and guys are decorating themselves up like women.

 

My wife and I drive around town and have to ask each other, is that a male or female?  Is it a Mr., and Miss, or a mistake?  The girl walks like Tarzan, the guy like Jane, and they both smell like Cheetah!

 

Like the preacher who stood before the couple at their wedding and couldn’t tell bride from groom, he said, “Will whatever you are take whatever that is to become whatever you're gonna be!”  This is no joke as our Supreme Court has basically paved the way for the nation as a whole to approve of same sex marriage!

 

God made us different for a reason, and any blurring of that difference is wrong.

1^st word:  Sexuality…

 

2. Immorality

 

We looked earlier at Heb. 13:4…here’s the rest of the verse:  “but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge!”  Think about that.

 

I Thess. 4:3 “for this is the will of God…that ye should abstain from fornication.” (pre-marital sex)

 

Illustration--Let’s build together An ice cream sundae:

 

Bowl—intellectual union

Ice cream—emotional union (like turns to love)

Toppings—spiritual union (share goals and dreams)

Whipped Cream—physical union after marriage

 

Here’s the danger:  if you enter into the physical relationship before marriage, the other 3 parts stop growing immediately!

        All you have is the whipped cream…not in love…but in lust!

 

5 Dangers of pre-marital sex:

1. Counterfeit love

Relationships based on sex do not last!

Start w/ physical and then find out you don’t even like each other.  You never grew together intellectually, emotionally, or spiritually!

You stand there w/ nothing but a handful of whipped cream, and it gets old, and you throw that away too!

 

        But…if you start the physical after marriage, the other 3 parts just keep on growing!  Then you have more than a sexual partner, you have a best friend who really loves you.

 

        Real love is patient, pure, and unselfish.

 

        Girls, when that guy says, “I just can’t wait”, you’ll know he doesn’t love you.  When he says, “If you really love me, you’ll prove it!”, you take it as the insult of the ages and slap him so hard his brains ring like church bells on a cold morning!

Danger of counterfeit love…

 

2. Emotional consequences

 

Young ladies:

Studies show a direct correlation between pre-marital sex and personal emotion problems…

Guilt/anxiety/loss of self-respect

 

Guilt is the most destructive emotion we can have.

        It robs you of sleep, peace, joy, self-worth, and your fellowship w/ God.

        It leaves you shattered, uncertain, and unproductive.

And you lose that “glow” that always accompanies sexual purity…you’re just somebody’s used leftovers.

 

Hear this ladies, and I’ll tell you how men think…

        …there’s something mysterious about the unknown.  There’s something very attractive about the unknown.

 

9 times out of ten, once you reveal yourself to the guy:, once the mystery is gone, so is he…he’ll drop you like a hot rock!  And that won’t feel like just another break-up, it will feel like a divorce.

 

3. Physical consequences

Wages of sin is still death!

Drunkard—in danger of cirrhosis of liver

Smoker—cancer in the lungs

Glutton—cardiovascular disease

Sexually impure—in danger of diseases w/ no cures.  There are many diseases besides AIDS which have no cure, and all carry long-term consequences, and all are spread around thru a crowd of people willing to have sex outside of the protection of marriage!

 

You say, he’s only willing to be w/ me, she’s only willing to be with me.  Don’t be so sure!  If they’re willing to do it w/ you then they’ll do it w/ others and probably already have.

 

When you go to bed w/ someone, you go to bed with their entire sexual history, and w/ everyone who THOSE people had been with.

 

The wages of sin is still death.

Danger of counterfeit love, Emotional, Physical consequences…

 

4. Marital consequences

 

I’ve counseled w/ people who say, “It’s ok for her and me to do this, because we know we’re gonna get married.”  No, it’s not ok.  Why?

        Because God said it’s not ok…who are you to rewrite the rules?          You may not marry them!

The average teen falls in love 10 times before they get married.  The average teen on Facebook is in a relationship w/ a different person every other week.

Even if you do marry them, you have reduced your chances for a happy marriage because you have chipped away at the foundation of trust.  In the back of your mind you will always know that the person you married is capable of immorality.  They were willing to sin w/ you before marriage and they’re capable of sinning against you now that you are married.

 

Then there’s…

5. Spiritual consequences

 

But, Bro. Jerry, don’t you believe that God forgives?   YES I DO!

But forgiveness and consequences are 2 different animals.  (ill.—line)

We think that both exist on the same line, that the closer we get to forgiveness the further we move from consequences…not so!

 

David sinned w/ Bathsheba, then committed murder…and in 2 incredible passages of scripture we see an awesome forgiveness that David requested and received--but let me ask you, were there still consequences?

 

Yes.  God said, “David, you will live in a valley of tears the rest of your life.  The sword will not depart from your house.”  [2 lines!]

 

He buried a baby that died.  Then one of his sons raped his daughter.  And God said it was direct results of his sin.

Sexuality, Immorality…

 

3. Purity

How to stay pure:

1. Protect your mind

 

The eye-gate and the ear-gate are so important…the pathways to the mind.

II Pet. 2:14 (on screen)  “eyes full of adultery”

 

Once upon a time a boy was born to Christian parents, he was active in church in the youth group.

 

One day his g’pa introduced him to soft-core porn.  After a few years it was no longer enough, so he moved on to hard-core porn.  After a while, it was no longer stimulating, so he began to see prostitutes.  Then he began raping prostitutes.  Then he started killing them.  His name was Ted Bundy!

 

Men, protect your eyes.  The Bible says, “I will set no wicked thing before my eyes.”  Claim that verse.

Job said, “I have made a covenant w/ my eyes, why then should I THINK upon a maid?”

 

Get away from music whose theme is predominantly lust and sex.  (difference between the sex spoken of in rock music and country music is one is easier to understand!)

 

2. Don’t accommodate sin

Your computer screen should be where others can see what you are looking at. Maybe you can't have an unfiltered computer!

If you can’t flip around the channels w/out looking for something dirty to look at then cut it off!

If you can’t be alone together in that car then don’t be.

“Make no provision for the flesh.”

 

3. Decide in advance

Make a pre-determined decision to stay pure, and that you won’t date anyone who hasn’t made the same commitment.

 

 

You say:

“It’s too late for me, preacher.” (I’ve already given it away)

 

Good news!  One day a woman was brought to Jesus, taken in the very act of adultery.  She expected to be condemned, but Jesus said, I don’t condemn you, go and sin no more!

 

Can’t change the past, but your future is spotless!

 

That applies to all our sins for which Jesus died.  Let Him save you now!