Word of Salvation – Vol. 34 No. 34 – September 1989

 

Sexual Purity And Responsibility

 

Sermon by Rev. W. J. Bosker on L.D. 41

Reading: Exod. 20:14; 1Cor. 6: 12-20

Singing: 222: 1,2,4; 164 1,2,3;
            vs.5 after rule of gratitude; 222:5,7; 289: 1,2,3,5; 490: all vss.
            (Call to worship: Ps. 84:10-12)

 

Dear congregation, brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ,

The seventh Commandment brings us face to face with a very sensitive issue: Our human sexuality; the way God made us as male and female.

Some parents might quietly wish that we wouldn’t speak about this subject in such a public setting as a worship service.

Others are grateful that such a sensitive yet important matter does receive attention in the Church.

It may even help Mums and Dads to finally bring up this topic in the home setting where parents have a responsibility to follow up and continue the Lord’s instruction to their children.

The Lord deals very specifically with our sexuality in His Word.  In the Church, preachers are to declare the whole counsel of God because:
            “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,
             rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…!” (2Tim.3:16).

God speaks to us very clearly in the seventh Commandment:
            “You shall not commit adultery.”

The Heidelberg Catechism summarizes this specific commandment of God, call it a prohibition if you like, as
            “God condemns all unchastity…
             He forbids everything which incites unchastity,
             whether it be actions, looks, talk, thoughts, or desires.”

This Commandment is not all negative.
None of God’s Commandments are!
Where there is a prohibition, there is also a permission.
When God spells out what we may not do, then you can also be sure that He correspondingly instructs us as to what we should do.

The Catechism refers to this in the motive for living out our lives in sexual purity:
            “We are temples (dwelling places) of the Holy Spirit,
             body and soul, and God wants both to be kept clean and holy.”

You can also see by the footnotes that there are references to other parts of Scripture, mostly in the NT, even though the 7th Commandment is in the OT.

So while the text is LD 41, we must take into account the whole testimony of Scripture in preaching on this 7th Commandment.

Let us note a couple of brief opening observations.

1.  When God gave His people Israel the Ten Commandments, God gave them in the context of His covenant faithfulness.

God had promised to Abraham long ago that He would make of him a great nation.  The Lord would come to rescue and deliver His people.

This had just happened.  Out of Egypt, on the way to the Promised Land, here was Israel assembled at Mt. Sinai, hearing from a faithful covenant God how He wanted His people, His bride, to live out their lives in gratitude and covenant faithfulness.

In other words, we see in the very setting of the Ten Commandments a picture of a marriage and the requirement of physical and spiritual purity on the part of the marriage partners.

2.  A second observation:

We see in our study of the various Commandments that the whole law can be summarized into two tables.

The first table Jesus summarized as:
            “Love the Lord your God with all your heart
             and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

The second table, which is like the first in importance, Jesus summarized as:
            “Love your neighbour as yourself” (Matt.22:37-40).

The Commandments of the first table deal with our relationship to God according to His will.

No less important are the Commandments of the second table which deal with our relationship to our fellowman or neighbour according to God’s will.

In other words, the 10 Commandments are placed in the context of God’s love to us, a sacrificial love fulfilled in the coming of Christ, and our love to God which is also expressed in love to our neighbour.

Combining these two observations now, the seventh Commandment, “You shall not commit adultery”, finds itself in the context of God’s covenant faithfulness, and is fulfilled in loving God first of all and our neighbour as ourselves.

The way God wants His children to live is to love the Lord and our neighbour which translates itself into a thankful and obedient keeping of the Commandments.

That is actually the way of freedom and liberty!  To live our lives as the Maker intended.

What a contrast to the prevailing attitudes and values in our society today!

A society which prides itself in an almost boundless freedom, a so-called freedom, to express our sexuality.

Our Western culture is saturated with sexuality.  It has degenerated so far that it is considered immoral if one cannot express one’s sexual desires.  It is considered an abuse of basic human rights if one is denied the expression and experience of their sexual desires.

The motto for many is “If it feels good, do it.”

No longer is it a bumper sticker.  For many it is their philosophy of life.

With the seventh Commandment God places a wall between the Church and the World.  It is a protective wall against evil and self- destruction.

God forbids pre-marital sex, which used to be called fornication.  God forbids extra-marital sex in any form, which is called adultery.

God condemns it as sin.

We can be thankful that God our Creator makes this decision for us.  That’s a relief, young people, in a society where moral standards are like shifting sands.

God decides what is right and what is wrong.

He decides it for our good in order to protect us from evil and from self-destruction.  And that we may live in the liberty that Christ has won for us.

In that liberty there is true joy, happiness, freedom and fulfilment.

Satan never gives up trying to tell us otherwise!

Didn’t he tempt Adam and Eve in Paradise by implying that God’s restrictions are a brake on happiness, a damper on freedom and enjoyment?

In the same way, Satan tempts us again today.  He implies that with the seventh Commandment God deprives us of pleasure, of freedom, of something which is wholesome.

Satan is a liar.

He promises sexual freedom in the breaking of God’s Commandments.  But he doesn’t deliver his promises.

Instead, Satan leads people into enslavement, into bondage, into unspeakable misery of body and soul.

God has in mind our freedom.  True freedom…!  The world preaches freedom, but in reality it is a bitter enslavement.  God, in Christ, has delivered His people from bondage.  He is not going to lead us into enslavement again.

The seventh Commandment is a blessing.

As with all of God’s Commandments they are be esteemed and to be valued as more precious than gold.

As Christians we need to understand that our lives have been redeemed in Christ.  His precious blood, shed for us on the cross saved us from the Devil’s enslavement.

We have been bought with a price.

God didn’t even spare His one and only Son, but He gave Him up for us.

Our freedom has been purchased by Another.

We belong not to ourselves…
            but body and soul,
            in life and in death
            we belong to our faithful Saviour Jesus Christ (L.D. Q&A 1).

As the Bible says in 1Cor.6, the fact that we belong to Christ means that He has taken up residence in our hearts.

Christ lives in us through the Holy Spirit.  Our hearts and lives are His dwelling place.  A holy dwelling place, that means our lives are set apart, dedicated to the service of God.

We are temples of the Holy Spirit through whom Christ lives in us.

That has an important implication.

Whether we are male or female, single or married, Christians should view each other as belonging to Christ.

We should see a purity in each other’s life and in our own lives which is not inherent, of ourselves, but which is imparted, by Christ.

If we would see each other as the possession of Christ, as being washed spotless in His blood, wouldn’t that affect the way we see each other?  When boys and men look at girls and women, would you then see them as sex objects?

Girls and women, you have a natural beauty.  What’s the purpose of tight clothing and revealing dresses?  Don’t you know that men and boys are easily led on?

You might gain their looks but not their respect.  Do you want to be responsible for causing another to stumble or sin?

You know that Jesus applied the seventh Commandment not merely to the act of adultery but also to looks, talk, thoughts and desires.  As the Catechism summarizes it, God the Holy Spirit lives in us.  That’s why God forbids everything which incites, or arouses or entices us to unchastity or moral uncleanness.

Young men and teenagers, when you find girlfriends or begin your courtship, what sort of physical contact do you have?

Is holding hands or kissing enough for you?

I used to think that males had the greater problem with sexual temptation.  The male is certainly easily aroused.  But I’m sure the problem of temptation afflicts us all.

God’s Word is very instructive here, and also very clear.
            “…among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality,
             or of any kind.  of impurity or of greed
             (wanting something that is not yours)
             because these are improper for God’s holy people” (Eph.5:3).

Paul says to Timothy:
            “Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers,
             and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity” (1Tim.5:2).

If we would look at each other first of all as purchased by Christ and belonging to Him, we would be much more careful and considerate of each other with respect to keeping this seventh Commandment.

And if we would view the person of the opposite sex as our father or mother, brother or sister with absolute purity, we would be spared many a temptation, more readily resist the Devil, and turn to God’s Holy Spirit (who lives in us) for help.

Our sexuality as male and female is a gift of God.  There is a rightful place for the sexual union.  It has God’s blessing and contributes to true happiness only in the marriage relationship.

We have no right to explore each other’s body outside of the marriage bond.

This is where the Devil is so subtle.
He says,
            “God is limiting your freedom.  He’s only restricting your pleasure.
             How can something so beautiful be wrong?”

The Devil’s temptation is a sugar-coated pill of bitterness.  What seems sweet for a moment leaves a long-lasting bitter taste.

People who have engaged in pre-marital or extra-marital sex are often guilt-ridden, often suffer a loss of self-respect and are burdened with anxiety or depression.

Their lives are dragged deeper into the mud and their marriages can and often do fail.

All this goes to prove how true God’s Word is.
1Cor.6 says,
            “All other sins a man commits are outside his body,
             but he who sins sexually sins against his own body” (v.18).

In an age of sexual promiscuity how many people wear the scars of a physical disease or mental affliction?

Government Health Departments encourage “safe sex” with the use of condoms.

What they are really trying to offer is a way to have “safe sin”.  But sin is never safe!

The Devil promises freedom, but he delivers slavery.

Young people, brothers and sisters in Christ, stand firm against the Devil, our Adversary.

“Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power” (Eph.6:10)

“Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

We can claim that promise in the power of Christ who died for us on the cross to make us His own.

That has to be good news.  The Lord is good!  He is also gracious!

He knows we are all fallen creatures.  All of us have a corrupted nature, and we live in a fallen world.

God knows that Satan tries to ensnare us, always enticing us into sin.

Many Christians get trapped, stumble and fall and find themselves caught in sexual sin.

Who of us could claim to be totally innocent and blameless with respect to this Commandment?

It was the Lord Jesus who said
            “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first
             to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7).

Where then do we turn with our sins against the seventh Commandment?

Turn to the Lord!

He said to the woman caught in adultery: “…neither do I condemn you.”

Brothers and sisters, God does not reject us.  God has never rejected the sinner who turns to Him.

By the miracle of His grace, God justifies the ungodly, reconciling the repentant sinner to Himself.

If we turn to the Lord, even 70 times a day to confess our sin, He does not reject us.

If we admit our failures in the struggle against sin, if we don’t hide our sins or justify ourselves, if we don’t blame others or our circumstances but come out before Him in all our misery and brokenness, HE DOES NOT REJECT US!  He forgives us again and again… and again.

Such is the power of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ!

Forgiveness.

Being made right with God.

All for the sake of the blood of Christ.

That’s what we need first of all and all the time.

You might think it is hypocritical to keep coming to God for forgiveness.  To ask Him repeatedly for forgiveness for the same sin you commit over and over again.

After a while you get the feeling that you better not fail God any more, and when you do, you feel reluctant to ask for forgiveness.

Beware of Satan’s subtle work.  He aims to keep the sinner away from God’s forgiveness, because then he has you in his grasp.

If you don’t turn to God to find forgiveness and acceptance and to be washed clean in His love, then you will have no hope of deliverance.  Your conscience will not rest; you’ll have no place to turn.

God seeks to deliver us from slavery.  If we follow His ways He will give us true sexual freedom in the way He designed it to be exercised.

Remember Jesus’ words to the adulteress:
            “…neither do I condemn you…!  Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Deliverance from the power of sin is a promise of God which comes with the seventh Commandment.

God’s grace is so great that He promises to give us what He asks from us!

So there is no reason to despair.  Though it is a struggle and will never be easy, we are not to give up hope.

Instead God demands our co-operation.  He calls us to think about the right things and in that way replace our sinful thoughts.

God commands us to put pure and right thoughts into our minds.  Through the Holy Spirit working in us, we can control our emotions and learn to take action, the right action.  Walk away from temptation.  Give ourselves into His gracious hands.

The Lord, our Redeemer, wants nothing more than our holiness, true freedom and genuine happiness.

But we must be willing to be renewed.  Willing to be transformed and healed.  Without our willingness it will never happen.

We are to give our lives fully to the Lord.  In obedience to the Spirit of Christ living in us, we will begin to make the right choices.

We will still stumble and fall.  We will have to keep coming to God asking for forgiveness again and again.  Each time accepting His pardon.

In that way we will experience His strength and continuing presence and submit to His power to choose the right thoughts and do the right actions, so honouring God with our bodies.

I had wanted to say some words on the rightful place of the sexual union between a male and a female.

The rightful and God-given place for the sexual union is in the covenant of marriage.

In Christian marriage the sexual union between husband and wife is an expression of the commitment, love, faithfulness and acceptance of one another as partners in the Lord.

As such it is a wonderful privilege, a true freedom, a great blessing and also God- honouring.

We will deal at greater length with this subject in a future sermon.

But for now I want to emphasize, for our young people particularly, that it’s worth waiting until marriage.

Your patience will be rewarded.  And you will have God on your side.

AMEN