"To every thing
there is a season, and A TIME to every purpose under the heaven" (Ecc 3:1), Solomon
clearly spells out that there is a season for everything. There is a season to
have sex, which is the marriage season. There is also a time to every purpose
under heaven, showing us that sex also has its right time. "True, God made everything beautiful in itself and IN ITS
TIME" (Ecc 3:11 MSG), showing us that sex is beautiful, but can become
ugly when used at the wrong time. There is a difference between a teenage high
school girl being pregnant and a married forty year old woman being pregnant.
Everyone knows that it is not the right time for the teenager to be pregnant,
though we know that pregnancy is not bad in itself. The difference is the
timing. God has ordained a right timing for every good thing He has created and
the right timing for sex is when you are married. He never placed the sexual
desires in you to simply torture you and wait to hit you with his hammer from
heaven when they rise up. That is very unlike our God, maybe that is the
religious "god", but not the God of the Bible whose son is Jesus
Christ. "Whoever obeys his (God's) commands will avoid trouble. The mind of a
wise person will know the right time and the right way to act" (Ecc
8:5 GW), as a wise man you will know the right time for sex and the right way
to act in abstaining from it till you are married.
One
of the sins spoken about so much in the Bible and especially the New Testament
is sexual sin. Adultery and fornication are jointly spoken about in the Bible
as some of the rebellious acts committed by men in disregard to His command.
Adultery involves the sexual intercourse of any man, with a married woman, who
is not her husband and vice-versa. Fornication is the sexual intercourse of any
man with an unmarried woman. This is clearly shown to be the only sin which is
done against someone's body and is different from other sins, "There is a sense in which sexual sins
are different from all others. In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our
own bodies, these bodies that were made for God-given and God-modeled love, for
"becoming one" with another" (1Co 6:18 MSG). Your body does
not belong to you but to the Lord. Your body is a temple where the Holy Spirit
dwells, no longer does He dwell in temples made with human hands. "Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither FORNICATORS, nor
idolaters, nor ADULTERERS, nor EFFEMINATE, nor ABUSERS OF THEMSELVES WITH
MANKIND... What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost
which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought
with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are
God's" (1Co 6:9, 19-20). God promises that the unrighteous will not
inherit the kingdom of God. This speaks about our ability to operate in the
kingdom of God on the earth and if we persist in these wrong deeds it may even
lead to one missing the heavenly kingdom. Paul clearly lists sexual sins as
being the chief sins that hinder people from operating in the fullness of God’s
kingdom on earth. God's kingdom involves righteousness, peace and joy in the
Holy Ghost. It involves Jesus reigning as king over sickness, disease, demons
and poverty in your life. When you violate these principles, your ability to
reign in this life is hindered. "Or, do you not know that evil people will not
possess God’s kingdom? Do not be
misled: neither will sexually immoral
people, nor idolaters, nor those who are sexually unfaithful to
their mates, nor homosexual
perverts. [Note: The Greek uses two words here, denoting both the passive and active partners
in male homosexual acts]" (1Co 6:9 AUV-NT), this Understandable
version brings out these sins verse clearly. Apostle Paul even speaks about
sexual sins as being on e of the primary works of the flesh, "Now the works of the flesh are
manifest, which are these; ADULTERY, FORNICATION, UNCLEANNESS,
LASCIVIOUSNESS" (Gal 5:19). One of the sexual sins described is
lasciviousness which means looseness or tendency to excite lust. Even dressing
in indecent clothing is tantamount to lasciviousness since it indicates
looseness and excites lust in the onlookers. These are all works of the flesh
that need to be crucified, "Those
who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their corrupt nature along with its
passions and desires" (Gal 5:24 GW).
The
scriptures give us clear ways how to avoid falling into sexual sin, the primary
one being to flee. "As time went
on, his master's wife became infatuated with Joseph and one day said,
"Sleep with me." He wouldn't do it. He said to his master's wife,
"Look, with me here, my master doesn't give a second thought to anything
that goes on here--he's put me in charge of everything he owns. He treats me as
an equal. The only thing he hasn't turned over to me is you. You're his wife,
after all! How could I violate his trust and sin against God?" She
pestered him day after day after day, but he stood his ground. He refused to go
to bed with her. On one of these days he came to the house to do his work and
none of the household servants happened to be there. She grabbed him by his
cloak, saying, "Sleep with me!" He left his coat in her hand and ran
out of the house" (Gen 39:7-12 MSG). Joseph became very great because
he knew when to run. Paul advise his spiritual son, Timothy, to flee or run
away from sexual sin, "FLEE ALSO
YOUTHFUL LUSTS: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that
call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (2Ti 2:22). You have to flee
from individuals whose minds are not renewed and who will drag you down the
path to fornication. Solomon speaks of a foolish young man who passed near the
house of a prostitute and was finally enticed by her, "For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, And
beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of
understanding, Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way
to her house, In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:
And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot, and subtle of
heart. (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: Now is she
without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) So she caught
him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him... With her much
fair speech SHE CAUSED HIM TO YIELD, with the flattering of her lips she forced
him. He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a
fool to the correction of the stocks" (Pro 7:6-13, 21-22). This is the
same thing that happens when a Christian dates or starts relating with
unbelievers. I knew of a lady who was born again and would frequently attend
church but was always in the company of heathen men. She would fall into sexual
sin not less than once a month. Thank God she did not become pregnant or get
AIDS, but this does not mean other repercussions are not following. Illicit sex
can cause future marriage break ups and even leads to higher chances of
yielding to the same sin in the future. I prayed for this lady and she was
baptized in the Holy Spirit and she is still free till this day.
God
created sex, but he also created a right time for its use. Choose to obey God
and stay sexually pure and a virgin every day till you marry. God is not
withholding something good from you, He simply is helping you to avoid an early
grave. "Or didn't you realize that
your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don't you see that
you can't live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price
for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the
spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and
through your body" (1Co 6:19-20 MSG).
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