Good News for Those Trapped in Sexual Sin

“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” – Ephesians 5:11

 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes . . .. “ – Romans 1:16a

 “And such were some of you” – 1 Corinthians 6:11

 

Given the plethora of sexual offenses being exposed recently, I thought it worthwhile to publish this teaching on Good News for Those Trapped in Sexual Sin. The “good news” is not that sexual sin is acceptable. The good news is that those trapped in sexual sin can be freed. But what is “sexual sin”? How and why does “sexual sin” trap us? And what is the “Good News” for those trapped in sexual sin?

Why should we care about “sin”? Our secular world denies the relevance and reality of a Creator God. They willfully refuse to acknowledge the incredible signature of God on this ordered and beautifully designed universe. This article will mention those sexual practices that are considered sinful[1] by God as relayed and revealed to us in His word. The reason we should care about “sin” is because the One Who created us did so because He loves us. Humanity was created as an expression of God’s love. He didn’t need to create humanity. He simply expressed His love in creation. And because we are the objects of His affection, when He warns us about something, such as sin, we should take notice. As a child we may have thought our parents mean for telling us not to eat the entire gallon container of Fudgy Nutty Ice Cream. But disobeying their loving advice led to a painful “brain freeze” induced headache and maybe a stomach ache too. As we grow older, when we disregard the loving instructions of the One who loves us, the head ache and stomach ache become more serious with greater and more life challenging consequences. We should care about sin because God who loves us wants us to experience His best. When we leave His way (holiness) to do things our way (sin) we always settle for less than His best. And more often than not, we suffer the regretful pain and sorrow and injury that accompanies sin.

Sexual sin can be very addictive. It can be like a spider’s web or tar on our feet. It can ensnare us making us vulnerable to those who would consume and destroy us. It usually brings unwanted stains into our home where we live. Sexual sin can dominate us. Sexual sin can defeat us. And if we don’t deal with sexual sin, it will destroy us. It can roll us up like a boa constrictor and suffocate the life right out of us. It will destroy our reputation. It will destroy our character. It will destroy precious relationships. It will destroy us.

The depth of sin in our day seems darker than ever before. Our nation has set aside an entire month in June to “celebrate” and recognize the “Pride” of LGBT et. al. gender and trans-sexual practitioners. The LGBT movement is a glaring evidence of the confusion our world is grappling with. You can’t get much more confusing than not even knowing your own gender! It used to be when a child was born gender was a given. Boys had their parts. Girls had theirs. But not anymore. Now, in step with the LGBT movement, people had demanded an “X” gender be added to birth certificates, or a choice to allow for a child to determine their own gender later on in life regardless of the biological makeup of the child. We see the influence of LGBT in styles of dress that are becoming more and more asexual. It seems this multi or asexual world view is promoted everywhere. Have you noticed the murals in stores or on the street lately? More and more they cause you to pause and ponder, just what is that person; a man; a woman; a . . .. It’s sad It’s confusing. It’s disruptive and divisive. It’s a worldview being forced on the masses whether or not you agree with it. And if, heaven forbid, you respond with a more traditional or Biblical view of sexuality, you’re labelled a “hater.” Social media now stifles and censors any and all statements and information that does not follow the LGBT party line. Someone has said, “Truth is the new hate speech!” That’s true, I’ve experienced such censorship myself.

There doesn’t seem to be any end in sight to the lows and depths of depravity people will descend. There are those who have gone so far as to speak approvingly of pedophilia. There are those seeking to remove age of consent laws from society. Not only are children being assaulted in the womb, children are being assaulted outside of the womb now too. The devil and his demonic minions have targeted the weakest and most vulnerable in our world, children. The deepest and darkest kinds of perversion are being practiced by elites as well as the general public. Child pornography is a huge problem in our day.

There seems to be a spirit of our day to throw off restraints. There is little sense of morality. The idea of “holiness” is anathema to people today. Even amongst the clergy and church there is a sense of licentiousness. We look around and see a great deal of evidence that we are in the last days. Paul was inspired by God long ago to write, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: for men will be lovers of themselves, . . . without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, . . . lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.” Paul’s admonition in such a time is, “And from such people turn away!” (2 Timothy 3:1-5). “Turn away” because to even watch will pollute your soul.

In these days the Lord has impressed on me a portion of His word: “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. ¹² For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. ¹³ But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. ¹⁴ Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” ¹⁵ See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, ¹⁶ redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:11-15). These are words from God that call us to action. These are words to live by. They call us to holy living. They can be applied in all parts of life: secularly, politically, on the job, recreationally, in social media relations, and in our relationships. And for our purposes, these words can and should be applied in the realm of sexual activity.

The works of this dark world are “unfruitful,” (Greek akarpos) barren. There’s an emptiness that sexual sin leaves in a person. The way to deal with such sin is “expose them.” “Expose” (Greek elegcho) means to admonish, convict, tell a fault, rebuke, reprove, bring to light, expose. Sexual sins need to be dealt with. The aberrations of our sex-addicted world today can’t just be allowed to barrel on toward hell. The Church is called to be a “restrainer” (2 Thessalonians 2:7). Our purpose is to serve the Lord in the Spirit as a restrainer of evil in this sin-sick world. We are to use God’s truth to seek and to save the lost, just like Jesus did.

Sexual sin is “shameful” (Greek aischron) or dishonorable, base, shameful. Sexual sins are embarrassing, that’s why they are so often done in secret, in the dark. That of course is changing though isn’t it? Anyone who has experienced the unfortunate exposure to a Gay Pride parade either by watching the news coverage or actually brushing by in person will tell you that. Those parades of “Pride” provide too much evidence that there are people in this world who not only have thrown off all restraints of common decency, but they proudly flaunt their perversities in public exhibitionism.[2] Paul in this passage speaks of another exposure, a future holy exposure. He says, “But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.” Remember, “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).

Imagine if there were no secrets in the world. Imagine if there was no privacy. That day may soon be coming. In China they have implemented facial recognition to keep track of the movements of all their citizens. They use a ubiquitous camera system to watch people everywhere. They have set up rules for their society and each citizen is located and watched by way of facial recognition and graded on whether they abide by the rules of the state. Their grade will then be used to determine if they qualify for such things as a passport, loans, job advancement, etc.

We don’t have to go to China to be watched. Your IPhone and those who run its system are listening to everything you say. [3] Have you noticed how you can be talking to someone about something you need lately and then, conveniently, you get an ad on your IPhone about the very thing you were talking about? My wife and I were talking about getting a certain color carpet for our living room. Bingo! An ad popped up on our phones for a carpet down to the color we had discussed. That’s no accident. Every word, text and email, every place you’ve browsed online is fed into an algorithm that then links to sellers of products mentioned. That’s how social media and online companies make their money. Beware my friends, the 1984 days of Big Brother watching are here! But there is Someone else Who is watching too. Someone much more important than any government.

Jesus said, “There is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known” (Matthew 10:26). In Hebrews it states, “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account” (Hebrews 4:13). Does exposure scare you? There’s a big difference between how a fallen sinful human being will use information of your secrets and how a Holy God will. People use secrets to control and manipulate to their own self-serving ends. Holy God uses exposure of secrets to identify sinful problems and deal with them in a holy healing way.

If you are indulging in sexual sin, the fear of being exposed is a burdening bondage. Even if you are able to keep your “little” sin a secret, if you want to have a close relationship with God in Christ, His light will force you to deal with your sexual sin. And that is a good thing.

Sexual sin will put you to sleep spiritually. When you indulge in sexual sin, it deadens your spiritual sensitivity. Sexual sin creates spiritual static that makes hearing from God difficult. Sexual sin will shame you away from God and His people. There is even scientific evidence that watching porn has a similar physiological effect on the brain to that of drug addiction. [4] Sexual sin is not something to play around with; you need to deal with it. If you don’t it will deaden your heart and ultimately deaden your soul (if not your actual body too – see the many sexually transmitted diseases).

Sexual sins such a pornography, fornication (any and all sexual interaction outside of marriage), adultery, homosexuality/lesbianism, transgender, pedophilia, bestiality, et.al. are rampant in our day. There have been international sexual scandals among government officials. There will inevitably be scandals that will surface and shock us in the future. Most of us can’t even imagine the depths of sin that this world indulges in. And we shouldn’t want to know. But we have to know, to some degree, in order to deal with the problem. Th early church father Jerome wisely said, “You cannot understand the antidote until you first understand the poison.” You have to identify the problem and acknowledge that there is a problem, before you can begin dealing with the problem. There is a problem, a very dark sexual sin problem. We need a deep-heart-cleansing revival from on High.

Too often the secular world, when faced with a problem they can’t solve, simply throws up their hands and attempts to remove the problem by christening it as “acceptable behavior.” Society doesn’t have the answer to a sinful heart. So deep is our world in such sins that governments both national (e.g. the United States) and international (e.g. United Nations) are passing legislation to legalize and protect those who indulge in sexual sin. Laws are being passed to justify those who indulge such sins as those listed above and prevent people from discriminating against them. It is socially anathema to speak against those living immoral lifestyles. Standing for holiness and speaking against such immorality is becoming more and more of a “criminal” offense. Our world is twisted. These are days when evil is called good and good is called evil (Isaiah 5:20). But there is a greater truth. There is a higher reality.

The acceptance of immorality as “good” in our world today is bad enough, but the greater tragedy is that the world refuses to see the addictive nature of immorality. Immoral thoughts and actions release chemically addictive elements in the human body and brain.[5] The images of immorality scar human memory. And the end result is slavery to the sins of immorality. Sexual sin affects every aspect of people; body, mind, and spirit. Sexual immorality is one of the greatest addictive enslavements in our day. But there is a way to be freed. There is a way out. You can make an exodus.

Sexual sin perverts our view of humanity. Sexual sin reduces people to objects rather than seeing them as people created in the image of God. This is literally happening. The life size sex doll industry is growing fast.[6] Sex robots are proliferating. These sexual robots are being combined with Artificial Intelligence and offered online for purchase. Why go through all the trouble of actually having a relationship with a real human being when you can have an object to fulfill your pleasures at your beck and call? Romance is overrated! It’s a heart sick reality proliferating in the world today. The obsession with sex is leading to a dehumanization.

Jesus said sexual sin wasn’t limited to physical interaction. “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). “Adultery” is sin according to the Bible (Exodus 20:14). Watching porn or visualizing sexual fantasies of others is sinful according to Jesus. We need to be “renewed in the spirit of our mind” (Ephesians 5:23). Jesus has the solution to this problem.

Sexual sin ruins relationships, marriages and families. It is frequently the cause of infidelity, unfaithfulness and covenant breaking psychologically if not actually. It wreaks havoc on people financially. People lose homes, jobs, reputation, everything to feed their sexual appetites. All of this is an allurement of a spirit of hedonistic “pleasure.” That “pleasure,” is far from God’s definition of pleasure. Sexual sin leads to putrid sexuality. God’s better way leads to sexual purity.

In the opening lines of Paul’s letter to the Romans he says, “I am a debtor” regarding the sharing of the gospel (1:14). Paul felt the good news of the gospel of God’s grace and salvation was so incredibly awesome and great, that it would be criminal to hold it back from anyone. The powerful gracious love of Christ that he experienced compelled him to share the gospel (2 Corinthians 5:14-15; Romans 5:5). Why did he feel this way? Sin is mercilessly captivating and enslaving no matter the form it takes. It chokes the life out of the one it holds in its grip like a dark dead eyed great white shark. Sin starts a slow death in people. But it will eventually swallow you whole.

Sin always kills, murders, and destroys. Sin wrecks lives and leaves spent bodies and broken promises in its wake. Deviating outside the parameters of God’s word of truth and into sin always carries cancerous consequences. But there is a cure; a gracious cure from God that is good news for the person bending and near breaking under the weight of sin and in particular, sexual sin. The gospel sets sin-captives free and that liberation by God of the sinner is what Paul was indebted to pass on to all slaves of sin. And that’s why I’m sharing this good news with you. The love of Christ compels me too.

I’m not shallow enough to believe that this short article will solve all your sex related sin problems. But it can start you in the right direction. Many have been freed from the bondage of sin.[7] That’s my prayer for you. Freedom from sin. I pray that just as you were once a slave to the unrighteousness of sexual sin, you can become a slave of righteousness. If that interests you, read on.

In the beginning of the book of Romans, the magnum opus of doctrinal truth of the Bible, the Apostle Paul is inspired to write these life-changing powerful words:

• Romans 1:16–18 (NKJV) – ¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” ¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

What was it that so impressed and moved the apostle Paul and caused him to feel indebted to write this epistle and share the gospel? There are four reasons stated by Paul in Romans for his feeling this way and they are immensely pertinent to anyone caught in a lifestyle of sin. In these opening words of this great portion of scripture there is truth for those who have yet to know Jesus as their Savior as well as for those who already do know Jesus as their Savior. These verses are powerful. They can punch out sexual sin. Why and how is that true?

First Paul says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ” (Romans 1:16a). Paul would not shrink back in shame because some did not receive the gospel or God’s truth. He was not inhibited by peer pressure or public denunciations by his enemies. He cared more about serving God and Christ’s opinions than the opinions and opposition of people. The philosophy of the world is one of “tolerance.” But that tolerance is selective in that only those views that do not challenge the comfort of those living in sin are tolerated. You have to go with the flow of the status quo to be tolerated in the world today. Go against that flow, (like a baker refusing to bake a wedding cake for a homosexual couple because such a union is religiously offensive to him and against his beliefs), and you will be labeled, libeled, repeatedly sued and discriminated against in the most intolerable ways. You’ll be fined and punished and prosecuted all the way to the Supreme Court. You will be persecuted. Even if you win in court, you’ll be subjected to trauma and great expense. But just as Paul stood and courageously proclaimed in love the truth of God, no matter what, so should we (1 Corinthians 4; Ephesians 4:15)

Second Paul says, “For it is the power of God to salvation for everyone” (Romans 1:16b). The good news is that the gospel of Christ is God’s powerful tool to save people from their sins. The gospel empowers people to live righteous lives. The gospel of Jesus Christ provides the way to live life to its fullest. The gospel provides us with God’s best. That is what makes the gospel worth sharing. We are saved from the death sentence of sin by the free gift of eternal life through faith in Christ (Romans 6:23).

But not only that, God’s gospel introduces us to a grace that helps us to overcome sinful lifestyles and habits that on our own we could not overcome (Romans 5:20; 6:4, 14,22; 7:24-25; 8:1-4, 37; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11). The gospel introduces us to the Holy Spirit who gives us spiritual life (Romans 5:5). The Holy Spirit helps us live a holy life. And the gospel introduces us to the family of God who are called to help you bear your burdens sand fulfill Christ’s law (Galatians 6:2). Too often the church has failed in this area. The church is to be a hospital for those injured by sin and life to come and find healing. An unloving church is not a “church” as defined by scripture and our Lord. Jesus disciples are to be known by their love (John 13:35). Jesus embraces us through the church. Power to overcome sin, life in the Spirit, and a loving church community are all offered by God as a gift of His grace. The grace of God is able to set the slave of sin free. That’s one great reason to share the gospel.

Third Paul says, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith” (Romans 1:17). The gospel of God is received by faith and lived by faith. “Righteousness” refers to, “the character or quality of being right or just.” Righteousness was formerly spelled “rightwiseness.” Righteousness refers to the right way things are to be done. Righteousness is right living. Righteousness is determined by God’s word.  When “righteousness” is used to refer to an attribute of God it is equated with God’s faithfulness or truthfulness (Romans 3:25-26). God is “righteous” in that He is faithful, consistent with His word, and keeps His promises. [8] When we talk about the righteousness of God, we mean the highest, most holy, just and good standard of what is right. Since God is the highest and holiest of all, so is His righteous standard of governing the universe.

 Part of the good news of the gospel is the bad news of sin. Unless a person realizes the bad news of their sinful state, the good news of God’s gospel will not be worth much to them. Remember, “You cannot understand the antidote until you first understand the poison.” Sin is the poison we need to identify before the antidote of the gospel can be administered.

It is the law of God that is meant to expose the poison of sin in life (1 Timothy 1:8-11). Two sins that the law exposes as sinful are “fornicators” and “sodomites” which are sexual sins. The law of God states that sex outside of marriage is sinful; that is fornication. Jesus elevated sexual sin beyond the act to the thought or “lust” of the mind (Matthew 5:27-28). Homosexuality is included under the umbrella of sexual sin according to the Bible (Leviticus 18:22; Romans 1:18-32). The world tries to dismiss such sin by saying, “Love is love.” But “love” is not loving when harmful sinful practices are endorsed as “love.” The only love that is truly loving is the love defined in scripture (e.g. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8). True love is obedient to Jesus (John 14:15 and 21). “Love” if it disobeys Jesus, His teaching, and the truth of God’s word, ceases to be love and crosses the line to lust.

God cannot simply overlook or dismiss sin. To do so would tarnish and contradict His righteousness and justice. God’s righteousness, His faithfulness to His word, holds the universe in order. Pagan gods are capricious; they are not faithful to their word. But the God of the Bible is righteous and true. You can depend on Him and His word. That is a source of great security and comfort. That brings stability to life. And the order of the universe is based on God’s standard of justice. Murderers will not go unpunished, nor will the greedy, the covetous or the sexually immoral. All sin will be recompensed justly. It would be criminal to allow a murderer to go free and unpunished. God’s oversight of the universe does not allow for unpunished criminals so that there is order and deterrence.

And because all sin is ultimately against God (Psalm 51:4), no sin is a “little,” or “small” sin. One sin, because it is against God, is enough to dam a person for eternity. You might respond, “Really?” Yes. We often categorize sins in terms of little and big. We think of “harmless” white lies versus big perjuries on a witness stand. But that is a totally inadequate definition of sin. Let me illustrate. If a person goes outside with their friends and has a snowball fight hitting each other with some snow balls, it’s acceptable and no problem. But what if the mischievous at heart throws a snowball at a passerby? That’s a little worse because there’s a victim; someone who wasn’t playing or expecting to be hit with a snowball. What if a snowball is thrown at an elderly person? That’s bad. What if a snowball is thrown at a police officer? That’s really bad. What if a snowball is thrown at the president of the United States? That will result in you being tackled by secret service agents, taken into custody, and likely lead to some hard prison time. In each instance a snowball is thrown, but what makes the action more offensive is the personal target it is thrown at. Every one of our sins is thrown against the “blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15). That makes all sin serious.

There is a penalty, a “wage” for sin that God’s righteousness has set forth, and that is “death” (Romans 3:23; 6:23; Jeremiah 2:19). All those who sin are deserving of death according to God’s standard. That’s because sin doesn’t only offend God, but it offends God because it causes pain to those God loves. Sin victimizes. Sin hurts. Sin causes sorrow. Sin separates people from God (Isaiah 59:1-2). Sin is like cancer; even if it starts out “small,” it always grows; it always spreads; it always becomes “big.”

And sin at its root is proud and rebellious. Sin always has a part of it that exalts self over God and God’s word and will. Therefore, God will not allow sin into heaven. He won’t allow dirty sinful humans to track their sinful dirt into His eternal living space. There’s no sorrow in heaven and therefore there are no sinful rebellious sinners there either.

Instead, in His just and holy judgement, the rebel sinner is deserving of eternal separation from God. The sinner, if they persist in unrepentant sin, will not be annihilated. The sinner, if they persist in sin, will spend eternity in a place of torment called hell. This is a place of just punishment as determined by the Creator of the universe (Matthew 25:46; cf. also Revelation 20). Therefore, sin is a serious problem for all humanity.

What makes this predicament even worse is that the Bible says all humanity has sinned and falls short of what God requires for entry into heaven (Romans 3:10 and 23). Humanity is born sinful (Psalm 51:5). Sin doesn’t prove humanity sinful. Because humanity is sinful, they sin. And sin drags down every human disqualifying them from living eternally after death with the One who created them in love. There is nothing, no good work or effort of our own, that can save a person or offset our sinful behavior and offense (Titus 3:4-7). Thankfully the Bible says, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Ephesians 2:4-5).

How can, how does, a righteous God reconcile sinful humanity to Himself and still maintain His righteousness, His justice? The answer to that question is found in Christ. By God’s grace through faith in Jesus, we can be made righteous before Holy God. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). And what is even more astounding is the truth that, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). God set the bar of requirement to a holy standard. Humanity chose to sin and fell far short of what was required. God didn’t just cast us aside; He made a way for us to be redeemed and reconciled to Him. God, Himself, in Jesus, paid the price He set so that we, when we trust in Jesus as Savior, can be legally justified, relationally reconciled, and spiritually regenerated freely as a gift of His grace by faith. That’s how much God loves you. He loves you enough to tell you the truth. He loves you enough to help you out of your darkness and bring you to His light.

Salvation is by grace. It’s a gift to be received by faith. Salvation is possible only because the Holy God of this universe is merciful. Salvation from sin is only possible because God in love decided to make a way of salvation for lost humanity. And that salvation is offered in love at the great expense of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Truly, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Jesus died for us. He took our place on the cross to pay our debt of sin. Jesus was made sin for us. Jesus paid what we owed because of sin. This is God’s plan and even though Jesus paid a horrific price to attain it for us, God looks on the outcome with pleasure (e.g. Isaiah 53). That’s how much He loves us and wants us to spend eternity with Him.

And because of that, “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:9). In sin we are helpless and hopeless. On our own we are the weak prey for the predator of sin. But the Good Shepherd Jesus came to save His sheep (e.g. John 10).

Fourth Paul says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18). For those who have not received the gospel of Christ by faith, the wrath of God is revealed and coming against them. God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31). There will be no plea bargaining on that day. Saying you are sorry will not be enough to gain a dismissal of the charges against you. You should feel sorry for your sin! God requires repentance (e.g. Matthew 4:17; Acts 2:38; 17:30). God is holy and just and His judgment will be fair, just and proper in accordance with His nature. For those who rebel and persist in denying God’s word and law and live on in sin, and come to stand before God’s judgment alone, it will be a time of great fear and doom (Hebrews 10:26-31). The time to repent and deal with your sexual sin is now. Don’t put it off! Don’t wait! Come to Jesus now!

While we would rather preach and teach about the love of God, the wrath of God is part of God’s character and gospel truth. The holy justice of God results in the wrath of God on sinful injustices. Without God’s wrath on sin, God would cease to be holy and loving. A God who condones or casts a blind eye on sin, is neither loving to the victims or just and powerful to maintain His law.

Sexual sin has an added dimension that other sins don’t. Sexual sin is a more dangerous sin because it strikes to the heart of the soul. The apostle Paul wrote, “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! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For ‘The two,’ He says, ‘shall become one flesh.’ But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 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? For you were bought at a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Corinthians 6:15-20). These inspired words tell us that it’s totally inappropriate to have sexual relations outside of marriage, especially with a prostitute or someone who sells themselves for sexual use.

Sexual sin is more serious than other sins because of the effect it has on those who indulge in it.

The one who participates in sexual interaction actually becomes “one body” with the other person. God designed sexuality to connect, join, unite those who had made a life commitment to each other in the sight of God. Such a union is holy matrimony in God’s ordained marriage.

Sexual activity in marriage solidifies the marriage bond and is holy and joyful. But outside of marriage sexual activity creates connections that are inappropriate. And entering in and out of such sexual relations deadens the power of such connections. The multiple sex partner practices in our world today are ruining God’s wonderful intended purpose of sexuality. The world writes of the joys of sex, but their sexual promiscuity and unholy practices stifle the real joy of sex God intended.

The book of Proverbs, a book of wisdom for life, addresses the issue of sexual immorality. Wisdom is the ability to apply practically to life the revealed truth of God from His word. In Proverbs it states:

• Proverbs 6:27-28 – “Can a man take fire to his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?”

The context for this verse is a proverbial warning against the deception and danger of being drawn into sexual sin by a temptress; a harlot. But there is a broader application here. A modern-day translation would be “If you play with fire, you’ll get burned.” The natural sexual desires that God has built into the human being to be used in marriage, can be inflamed into an inappropriate burning lust that burns up our purity. And it doesn’t take much. A seductive look, a seemingly innocent touch, a caress, a song, a picture, an image on the screen, certain words, all of these can incite passions that are sinfully lustful and need to be avoided. This is true for both men and women.

God loves us and He has given us sex as a wonderful gift. But He has also prescribed certain boundaries for sexual activity, marriage (between one biological man and one biological woman). Don’t have the attitude of, “I can handle it.” You can’t! You can’t because God never intended you to handle aberrant sexual behavior, inflamed sexual passions and lusts. That is not God’s will for you! Your sexual desires were meant by God to be fulfilled with one person (of the opposite sex) to whom you have entered into a holy life relationship of love and commitment in the sight of God.

Your sexual purity is a precious gift to give to the one with whom God has ordained you spend the rest of your life. Unfortunately, many have cast that precious gift aside prematurely. They have prematurely entered into sexual relationships with those they thought they would spend their lives with only to find that the person was not their God ordained life partner. There is no room for slipups with your sexual purity. If you relinquish it, it cannot be regained. You can be forgiven by God. But that precious gift God gave you to share with the one human you love supremely will have been lost forever. Don’t take the chance. Submit to God and the words of the Holy Spirit; you won’t regret it.

Hope of Deliverance from Sexual Sin. Sexual sin can be addictive whether it manifests itself in the actual physical or visual act or the lustful fantasy of the mind. Trying to overcome such sin in one’s own strength is futile and frustrating. But there is hope. As we mentioned earlier, the gospel is powerful and God is able to deliver the person caught up in sexual sin from that sin.

The Bible states:

• 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 – ⁹ Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Notice what Paul says, “But such WERE some of you.” He is inspired to speak of the sin of the Corinthians in the past tense because it was a thing of the past; it had been put behind them.

How were they able to put their sins behind them? Later in the same epistle Paul writes:

• 1 Corinthians 10:13 – ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear

God’s promise is to not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear but will make a way of escape so you can stand and get through it. That’s His promise and the person caught in sexual sin needs to pray long and hard over that verse. God is faithful, He will show you the way out of your sinful lifestyle or addictive habit. That way out starts with turning from your sin to God and putting your faith in Jesus. You put your faith in Jesus by asking God to forgive you based on His sacrifice for you on the cross. Receive God’s forgiveness through faith in Jesus. The Holy Spirit will then give you spiritual life; eternal life; abundant life.

It’s time to take action. It’s time to decide. It’s time to break the shackles of sexual sin that have been weighing you down. It’s time to act in faith. It’s time to put your sin behind you and press on with Jesus to His higher calling for you (see Philippians 3:13-14; Jeremiah 31:34; Micah 7:18-19; Romans 6:14). That means leaving your LGBT lifestyle behind or whatever sexual sin you are caught up in. And the time to do that is NOW. It is time to put your faith in Jesus and seek forgiveness for your sin. That forgiveness is based on the cross work of Jesus. Confess your sins to God. Believe and accept that Jesus died on the cross for you. He did you know. Jesus died on that cross for you. He would have died on the cross for you if you were the only human being in God’s creation. That’s how much He loves you. That’s how much you’re worth to Him.

Confess your sins to God. Believe and accept that Jesus died on the cross for YOU. Ask God to forgive your sins because Jesus paid your penalty for sin on the cross. Then by faith receive that forgiveness offered by God through faith in Jesus. Receive the eternal life and in indwelling of the Holy Spirit God promises in His gospel.

A story is told of a man who purchased a white mouse to use as food for his pet snake. He dropped the unsuspecting mouse into the snake’s glass cage, where the snake was sleeping in a bed of sawdust. The tiny mouse had a serious problem on his hands. At any moment he could be swallowed alive. Obviously, the mouse needed to come up with a brilliant plan. What did the terrified creature do? He quickly set up work covering the snake with sawdust chips until it was completely buried. With that, the mouse apparently thought he had solved his problem. But the truth of the situation was that sawdust chips wouldn’t hold back the snake. If he depended on his cover up, he would eventually be eaten. Are you like that mouse? The solution to the mouse’s problem came from outside of the cage. The man looked down at the plight of the mouse and took pity on him lifting him out. In the same way, no matter how we try to deny our sinful plight by covering up the truth of our need, in the end the snake of sin will fatally bite us. We need help from outside of our cage. We need Jesus.

The Bible states you can know for sure whether or not you are going to heaven?

• 1 John 5:13 – ¹³ These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

How can you know for sure? 

1. Realize you are a sinner –

• Romans 3:23 – ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
• Galatians 3:10 – ¹⁰ For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
• James 2:10 – ¹⁰ For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.

1. Realize there is a price for sin –

• Romans 6:23a – ²³ For the wages of sin is death,

3. Realize Jesus paid the price for you –
   • Romans 5:8 – ⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Galatians 3:10-13).
   • 2 Corinthians 5:21 – ²¹ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
4. Realize your salvation is a free gift that requires only a heart decision from you to receive it –
   • Romans 6:23 – ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5)
   • Romans 10:10 – ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

1. Realize you must now call upon Jesus to save you –

• Romans 10:13 – ¹³ For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

A SALVATION PRAYER: “Dear God, I know and admit I am a sinner. I repent of my sins. Please forgive me for my sins. I know that on my own I don’t deserve Your forgiveness. But I believe Jesus died for me on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins. Please give me spiritual life. Send Your Holy Spirit to indwell me and help me to live the life that you have for me. Please make me what I need to be, to do what You call me to do, for Your glory, until Jesus returns. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

 This is the good news for those trapped in sexual sin. I hope and pray you’ll look up and escape that snake bitten cage. I hope and pray you’ll look to Jesus and be saved from your sin, all sin, including sexual sin. God be with you. In Jesus name. Amen.

[1] i.e. against His Law and outside of His will

[2] https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/lewd-pride-parade-leaves-me-weeping-for-a-nations-lost-innocence/

[3] https://www.vice.com/en_au/article/wjbzzy/your-phone-is-listening-and-its-not-paranoia

[4] https://fightthenewdrug.org/how-porn-changes-the-brain/ and https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-things-you-should-know-about-pornography-and-the-brain/

[5] https://www.focusonthefamily.com/lifechallenges/love-and-sex/pornography/heading-in-a-new-direction

[6] https://www.christianpost.com/news/sex-robots-against-gods-plan-christian-ethicists-warn-ban-child-sex-robots.html

[7] https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/ex-gays-petition-amazon-to-stop-banning-books-that-help-with-unwanted-same-sex-attraction ; https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2019/january/jeffrey-mccall-from-transgender-to-transformed

[8]W.E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger and William White, Vine’s complete expository dictionary of Old and New Testament words [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, c1996.