1 Co 6:9-20 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. 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. "Everything is permissible for me"-but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"-but I will not be mastered by anything. "Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"-but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh." But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
Galatians 5:19-21 (KJV) Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envying, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Justin Timberlake sings we should “bring sexy back.” I do not think the subject of sex has ever left. Our society is consumed with it. Sex sells! Sex would not be an issue if it did not feel good and wasn’t so stimulating.
I am not a prude. You also know this is not typically my modus operandi. I am usually positive and love to talk about other subjects more. But I have felt to address this because of the sadness of how people live overwhelms me at times.
Those of you who really know me and my relationship with my wife know we enjoy each other and are very healthy when it concerns intimacy. We think sex is a wonderful and enjoyable experience.
It is a gift from God for married couples to engage in. I do not believe it is just for pro-creation {having kids} but for fun, confirmation of love and acceptance. Not only this, sex is one of the chief reasons for marriage {see 1 Corinthians 7:1 -7}. Paul teaches marriage is not just for happiness, it is for holiness. We are to be married to keep from immorality. Consequently, it is so wonderful and powerful it can only be done safely in the context of marriage. That is the only safe sex. Heb 13:4-5, says “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.” NIV
You say, “Well, if God made us that way, is he tempting or tormenting me.” Is he holding out a cookie and then taking it away? No, just because there is food does not mean we have to eat it all.
James 1:13-15 Don't let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, "God is trying to trip me up." God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one's way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer. THE MESSAGE:
You see, God loves us and wants us to live the best life we can. He does not want us to be unhappy! God knows that sex without commitment is a one-way street to misery. He knows how our bodies operate well. He knows what will affect our minds and our spirits. Read the owner’s manual in your car. You will see that it tells you to change the oil every 3,000 to 5,000 miles. You can say, “Ah, that is oppressive. I’ll do what I want anyway.” But eventually, no matter how you feel your car will break down.
Can I be straight with you? What planet are we living on anyway? Can’t you take a look around and see what unbridled sex has done to our world. Can’t you see the breakup and destruction of marriages, families, businesses, ministries and even churches, how people have lost their life savings, children and people they loved, the mental and emotional holocaust it has caused? Child porn is a 4-6 billion dollar business. Priests are molesting ,children and there is hardly a month where the news does not report a rape that’s ended in murder.
30 million men watch pornography ever month. With a 55 percent divorce rate and the poverty, sickness and psychological injury it all causes, can you see why God said when and how to have sex? He is not limiting us, he is saving us. Immorality destroys the image of marriage, sex, family and overall commitment. People think that living together before marriage helps them, but every statistics says it makes their opportunity for a happy, healthy marriage almost impossible. You have taught your partner one thing, you can enjoy me with no commitment. Then when he or she moves on to the next person, why are you’re surprised?
Presently the craziness of the sexy generation has gone ballistic. People identify themselves by their sexual orientation. What’s wrong with that picture? Since when has sex become what identifies us as people? What happened to being identified by character? Why do we live as if our choices have no penalty, as if there is no judgment day when we will face Christ for what we have done?
There are people who have lost everything for immorality… But that will never happen to you? You are deceiving yourself.
I am may be the best friend you have today, if you listen to me!
I know people are at different stages of their walk with God, so if you are brand new to this, I have much compassion for you, and I am not here to hurt or condemn you. I know you love the truth.
Lately, I have been approached and confronted with this subject several times by different people in my life. I am not without understanding on this subject. I say this in much humility and pain, but I am a man too. I have been subject to these perplexing sins just like any other person. It is painful and sad how tritely we have treated this subject. But I refuse to justify it. For some of you this may be the first time you have ever had a pastor mention the subject or at least explain it. None of us can be perfect, but that is hardly a justification for evil. Playing with dynamite, no matter what our motives, cannot end well.
The scriptures teach us a few startling things about immorality. First, you cannot inherit the kingdom and be engaged in this lifestyle. Second, that sex causes a spiritual union that will make you spiritually associated with that person. After you read the definitions below, that statement will be clearer to you. Thirdly, that when you engage in immorality, you are sinning against your body. It is funny with all the organic foods, supplements and care for the body there is in our generation people do not realize this. We get in shape to have “sexy abs” and “buns of steel” not realizing we might as well have cake all day or live in a leper colony.[i]
Shockingly, there are around 50 different STD’s. Chastity.com posits, “Most people who have an STD are unaware of their infection and contagious state. This should especially alarm young people, because of the 19,000,000 new STD infections each year, nearly half of them are among people between the ages of 15 and 24. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the direct medical costs associated with STDs in the United States is $14.1 billion each year.
Recently a high school girl contacted me because she was considering sleeping with her boyfriend. She was a virgin, but he had been with eleven girls. If his previous partners were as sexually active as he had been (and depending on the types of STDs), she could be exposing herself to the possible infections of more than two thousand people if she slept with him once.”
[ii]Adultery, Fornication, Uncleanness, Lasciviousness
Obviously, we live in a day when moral standards have deteriorated. Things that were considered sinful and shameful one generation ago are now practiced in a widespread manner throughout the world and even among God’s people. Rather than acknowledge their sin and repent, people try to justify their actions as they can continue in their deeds. But no matter how painstakingly we may try to dress up sin, God still sees it as sin, and sin caused the death of his Son Jesus on a cruel cross. God hates sin because of that reason and above all his holy nature.
If I just gave you my personal commentary, it carries little meaning. So let’s see what God’s word has to say on the subject. I will talk about these words purely from the viewpoint of their linguistic meaning. I believe the Greek definitions of these words in themselves will speak loudly enough for you to get the point. After reading these definitions, please take a few minutes to examine your own view of such actions. Determine if you see them as God sees them, or if you have been affected by a generation that has grown numb to the consequences of sin.
Adultery and Fornication:
When Paul begins his list of the works of the flesh, he begins with the sexual sins of adultery, fornication, and uncleanness. The word "adultery" and "fornication" both come from the same Greek word—the word porneia. This word includes all sexual activity outside of marriage—including both adultery and homosexuality.
When referring to a woman who has committed adultery, the New Testament used the word pornos. This is the word for a prostitute, and it very vividly informs us that a woman who has committed adultery has prostituted herself. She may not have sold herself for money; perhaps she traded her heart, her body, or her emotions for romance, for emotional support, or for a variety of other things. But regardless of why she did it, God says she has sold herself and entered into the sin of prostitution.
Don't deceive yourself into thinking that this term refers only to a professional prostitute who walks the streets at night or who works in an escort service. This word pornos describes any woman who has committed adultery. It leaves no room for doubt that in God's view a woman who commits adultery has fallen into the sin of prostitution. She is a prostitute. One may try to give a myriad of reasons or excuses to explain why the illicit relationship occurred, but the fact is, God views such a relationship as an act of prostitution.
When referring to a man who has committed adultery, the word porneia depicts a man who has had sexual intercourse with a prostitute. Although his emotions may try to tell him that he has found the sweetheart of his dreams, the Greek word porneia means he has slept with a prostitute. A person may try as hard as he can to put a different light on this subject, but this is how God sees it. Whenever a man has sexual relations with a woman who is not his wife, God says his action is equivalent to seeking a prostitute for a cheap and dirty thrill. There is nothing sexy about prostitution, especially based on the stats of how much sex she or he has had with how many. You are not only putting your spiritual life in danger, but your physical life as well.
I must point out that the word pornography comes from this same Greek word. In fact, pornography is from the Greek word pornos (the same word used above for an adulteress or a prostitute) and from the word grapho, which means to write. Thus, pornography refers to the writings or reflections about prostitution. This means that when an individual meditates on the writings or the photography contained in pornography, it is the equivalent of committing mental prostitution. Such a definition sheds new light on what Jesus said in Matthew 5:28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. NIV
What I have shared with you thus far today is not my opinion; it is the actual meaning of the Greek word "adultery" that is used throughout the New Testament. So how does this affect your view of someone who has committed adultery? If you have committed adultery, how does this affect your view of what you have done? And how does this affect your view of pornography?
If you are reading the King James Version of the New Testament, the next word in the works of the flesh is "fornication” which means just premarital sex. However, this word does not appear in this text in the original Greek; it speaks only of porneia, the word discussed above, which includes all forms of sexual activity outside of marriage. In Greek, the next point that Paul lists is "uncleanness."
Uncleanness:
The word "uncleanness" is the Greek word akatharsia, which is the word kathairo with the prefix a added. The word kathairo means cleansed or pure, but when the a is added to it the condition is reversed, making the object dirty or unclean. In the New Testament, this word refers to lewd or unclean thoughts that eventually produce lewd or unclean actions. As it is used in the Gospels and Paul's epistles, it strongly suggests that these actions begin in the mind as unclean thoughts before they manifest as unclean deeds.
Mark 1:23 says, "And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit...." The Greek actually says that this man was "gripped by the control of an unclean spirit." It seems this man had pondered on lewd thoughts for so long that he had thrown open the door for these thoughts to seize and control him, so that eventually he found himself "in the clutch" of an unclean spirit. Although the text doesn't explicitly say it, the usage of the word akatharsia makes one wonder whether or not this demon found entrance into this man's life because he allowed his mind to dwell on things that were forbidden. Had he committed mental prostitution to such an extent that it opened the door for him to be completely controlled by spirits of uncleanness? The Bible doesn't say exactly so, but the usage of the word akatharsia definitely makes this a possibility.
In Mark 5:2, we find another example of a man with an unclean spirit. It says, "And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit." The word "unclean" is also the word akatharsia. Just as Mark 1:23 depicted the man in the synagogue as being "gripped by the control of an unclean spirit," this word could be translated exactly the same way in this verse. In the first five chapters of Mark, we thus have two very demonized individuals whose demon-possessed condition seems to have begun with impure, lewd, dirty thoughts, since this is exactly what the Greek word akatharsia means that is used in both texts. Did Satan lure them into the pornography of unclean ideas or into adultery, and then build a stronghold of uncleanness so robust in their minds that he was able to eventually cause unclean actions to be manifested in their lives and thus completely control them?
Never forget that Paul told us, "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey..." (Romans 6:16). Whatever you give your mind to will eventually be your master. Was this the case with these two demon-possessed men in Mark 1:23 and Mark 5:2? I am not stating it emphatically, but the Greek suggests this very strongly However, it should certainly make us want to take charge of our thought life and not allow uncleanness to have any place in our minds!
Lasciviousness:
As Paul continues listing the works of the flesh, he next mentions "lasciviousness." This strange word comes from the Greek word aselgeia. This Greek word describes excess, but it primarily refers to the excessive consumption of food or wild, undisciplined living that is especially marked by unbridled sex. The word aselgeia is listed as the principal sin of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (see 2 Peter 2:6) and the reason that God overthrew them.
It must be noted again that the word aselgeia also refers to the excessive consumption of food. This means that in God's mind, it is just as perverted to overindulge in food as it is to engage in sinful sexual activities! So how does this make you feel about overeating? Now it is not talking about people who are fat in general or about metabolism. This is binge eating. In fact, in ancient time they would eat so much and then regurgitate and then eat and regurgitate, sometime for days on end. That may be reprehensible to you, but it is the picture God wants in our mind about unbridled sex.
All of the works of the flesh can be forgiven—but before forgiveness comes, sin must be acknowledged. This is why we must understand exactly what these words mean. Once sin is comprehended, it can then be repented of and confessed. This is God's requirement.
If you have fallen into any of these works of the flesh, ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to see these sins as He sees them. Once you get a revelation of His perspective, you won't want to be the same! You'll understand the grossness of sin in God's sight, and you will want to be changed!
Once you confess your sin, God will forgive you and you can move on with your life. If your actions have violated your spouse or anyone else, pray for God's mighty grace to be upon them to forgive you. Then begin to take whatever steps are necessary to make that relationship healthier than ever before.
Dear friend, God is with you, and He wants to change your life. Open your heart and let the Holy Spirit be your Helper. He wants to help you get clean, get free, and become morally strong and stable. With His help, you can do it!
PRAYER FOR TODAY
Lord, I thank You for opening my eyes to the truth about how You see these works of the flesh. Forgive me for being too tolerant of these areas in my life. Help me to see these fleshly works the way You see them and to detest them as much as You detest them. Teach me to hate sin! Show me how to say no to ungodliness and to yield my mind and my body as instruments of righteousness. After what You have shown me today, I never want to be the same! I pray this in Jesus' name!
CONFESSION FOR TODAY
I confess that I think clean thoughts and that I don't allow the devil to mess with my mind. My mind belongs to Jesus. It is filled with the Word of God. That Word renews my mind to think God's thoughts; therefore, Satan has no entrance into my mind or emotions to deceive me with thoughts of sin. I crucify my flesh, and I bring my body under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I am no longer the servant of sin—I am the servant of righteousness! I declare this by faith in Jesus' name!
Mk 8:34-38 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels." NIV
Please, know that I love you and am here for you. No matter what you have done, God wants to forgive you!
1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. NIV
1 John 2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense — Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. NIV
Ps 130:3-4 If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared. NIV
Pastor Mike
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Pastor Mike Gibney New Gathering {New Jersey} Life Connections {PA} www.newgathering.com 908-688-3331-NJ 484-505-0991 PA Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail communication and any attachments may contain confidential and privileged information intended for the use of the designated recipients named above. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you have received this communication in error and that any review, disclosure, dissemination, distribution or copying of it or its contents is prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify me immediately by replying to this message and deleting it from your computer.
Blog: http://mikegibney.blogspot.com/
Church Web Site: www.newgathering.com
Messages on line: http://sermon.net/NewGathering
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pastorgibney
Pastor Mike Gibney New Gathering {New Jersey} Life Connections {PA} www.newgathering.com 908-688-3331-NJ 484-505-0991 PA Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail communication and any attachments may contain confidential and privileged information intended for the use of the designated recipients named above. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you have received this communication in error and that any review, disclosure, dissemination, distribution or copying of it or its contents is prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify me immediately by replying to this message and deleting it from your computer.
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