How's Your Sex Life

I met with a couple from out of town whose relationship was in trouble.
The long term engagement had been broken; they thought God had split them
up, but they were looking for direction.

After a few questions it was clear that they had not gotten along well at
all over the years, and yet they both had a continuing interest in each
other. I asked them about their physical relationship. They had been having
sex for a long time.

Sex is like spiritual super-glue. God created sex as a wonderful gift for
couples within the covenant commitment of marriage. It enhances a couples'
sense of closeness and unity.

Sex is so important and special God even separates sex sins from other sins.
"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 prostitute?
Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one
body with her? For, as it is written, 'The two will become one flesh.' But
he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the
body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body" (1
Corinthians 6:15-18).

How serious was this couples' sin? Making love with someone you aren't
married to is OK as long as you're in love and not just sleeping around,
right? God understands, doesn't he? How could it be so wrong when it feels
so right? It is wrong because it is a violation of God's commandments!

Even though both the young man and the young woman claimed to be Christians,
they seemed to buy into the Prayer of Salvation equals Get Out of Jail Free
Card mindset epidemic in the South. "We're saved, we are just characterized
not by loving Jesus, but by sexual immorality."
Listen to what God says.

"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of
God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the
greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the
kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 6:9, 10, emphasis added).

In case that seems fuzzy, listen again. "Now the works of the flesh are
evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery,
enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,
envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned
you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom
of God (Galatians 5:19, 20, emphasis added).

While true Christians are capable of committing gross sins, a true Christian
is not marked by a lifestyle of sexual immorality. John makes this lesson
abundantly clear. "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's
seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born
of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the
children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of
God, nor is the one who does not love his brother (1 John 3:9, 10).

My friends were shocked that I was letting these passages speak for
themselves. There must be some footnote at least! "But as long as at some
point you believed in Jesus, once saved always saved."

I believe salvation is totally of the Lord. I absolutely believe that the
Bible teaches a true believer is saved by God and kept by God. But the Bible
teaches these other things as well. How do they match up?

Earlier in this article I referenced 1 Corinthians 6: 9, 10 which said that
sexually immoral people will not be going to heaven. I left out verse 11,
which says, "And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were
sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by
the Spirit of our God."

Yes, salvation means total forgiveness for every sin you have ever committed
or will ever commit. But real salvation also produces /transformation/. You
used to be characterized by sexual immorality, homosexuality, or
drunkenness, etc., BUT you were changed. Such WERE some of you!

Far from the psychological presuppositions of today that proclaim that you
can't help your behaviors, that you are just a victim of your upbringing,
environment, genetics, or chemicals, the Bible has a different message. You
/are/ responsible for your sins! And that is wonderful news, because Jesus
specializes in forgiving sins and transforming sinners.

If you are like my friends and having any kind of sexual intimacy with
someone you are not married to, STOP IT RIGHT NOW! No matter how many ways
your mind tries to justify it, it is a sin against God. It could keep you in
a relationship you have no business pursuing. It also shows that you are on
the path that leads to hell.

Sex is great. I hope you get to have lots and lots of it. But I hope that it
only finds itself between you and that one you've committed your life to
before God and witnesses in marriage.

If you are a sexually immoral man or woman, please repent. Ask God for his
mercy and forgiveness. At Jesus' death on the cross, God poured out his
wrath on Jesus and will give his mercy to all who come to him. He will
change you. He will give you the strength to follow him. He has done it for
countless others, he can and will receive you.