You may be seated.
I just want to commend you.
You guys are a hearty bunch to come out on a Sunday where in
our Sunday schools we are learning about Leviticus.
I mean Leviticus.
Amen.
It's been awesome.
And then to enjoy the weather and all that.
And you are here.
And who loves God's Word here this morning.
I love it too.
And so we are going to have a good time this morning.
If you have your Bible, first Corinthians 7 as you know is
where we are going to be.
And I have always loved the spoken word.
I recognize this now because of my dad's affection for talk
radio.
He used to love, still loves talk radio.
He loves.
And I listen to a lot of podcasts.
I like to listen.
I get to do it now.
I get to be a talker.
That's what I do.
And when I was young I remember my dad listening to two people
that maybe you haven't thought about in a while.
And I know that today you just got to bear with me today.
I'm going to sound old.
I'm just going to sound old.
I have old illustrations.
We are talking about marriage and stuff like that.
I'm wearing a tie.
It's my birthday on Tuesday.
I'm getting old.
I feel old.
Who feels old?
I feel old.
Okay.
So you can be that way with me.
If you are young, you are so cool.
Treasure it now.
Your hip, that's awesome.
But I remember two shows.
My dad would let us sometimes, my mom and dad would give my
brother and I turns to sleep at the end of the bed.
And we put a pallet down.
Did anybody do this growing up?
Were you sleep on the bottom?
Yeah, anyway, we would do that.
And my dad had this alarm clock.
I remember this very distinctly.
Who had this alarm clock?
Okay.
If you had that alarm clock or one that looked like it, raise
your hand.
Okay.
Who does not have an alarm clock now other than on your phone?
Okay.
That's pretty much where we are at.
Yeah.
I had one too, but it was much later.
Anyway, was that wood on the top?
I don't know if it was wood.
But anyway, you guys get back to me.
Anyway, he would play, and I remember two distinct voices on
that radio.
One was a guy named Bruce Williams on Talknet.
Does anybody know what I'm talking about?
Okay.
It was a national syndicated radio.
Okay.
The other one was a guy named Paul Harvey.
Who remembers Paul Harvey?
Okay.
Teenagers, do you know the word Paul Harvey?
No, you have no idea.
Okay.
I'm really relating to the young people.
I feel like really connected.
What was his saying?
He's like, Paul Harvey, good day.
The rest of this, you got to want.
He would say good day.
I think he had two things.
One in the morning, which was like a news thing.
And then one at night was the rest of the store.
Paul Harvey was like, Paul Harvey, good day.
And then Paul Harvey said, Paul, now you know the rest of the
story.
Right.
That was it.
I was, I would love listening to him.
And I love the rest of the story because it was always like this
intriguing.
He's giving you something and at the end he kind of helped you
know, oh, you knew all along who he was talking about.
You just didn't know the whole thing.
He said one, I'm going to actually give you this.
Ready?
This was more than 17 centuries ago.
The institution of marriage was abolished by the Roman Empire.
I said the institution of marriage was abolished by the Roman
Empire responsible for this edict.
I'm going to try to do my best Paul Harvey.
He had a very like deep voice.
I can't do that.
Anyway, responsible for this edict was Emperor Claudius II.
Some say he was insane, but there was a method in his madness for
military-minded Claudius was much concerned about the quality of
his army and the caliber of his soldiers.
And he grew convinced that married men did not make good fighting
men.
They became too homesick for their families, he thought.
They could not keep their minds on the business of killing, he
thought.
And thus did he seek to make his soldiers more focused and his
army more deadly by forbidding by outlawing marriage.
Members of the early Christian church while angry about this
proclamation still feared the wrath of Claudius and kept silent.
All except one, the bishop in Tiramda.
Marriage was God's plan, the bishop insisted, and no earthly
king must be permitted to interfere with it.
And he underscored his insistence by encouraging young lovers to
visit him in secret whereupon he would join them in holy wedlock.
Well, of course, Emperor Claudius found out and he had the
impertinent church man brought before him to answer for his
insolence.
It was said that when the two met Claudius, the two met Claudius
was much impressed by the sincerity of the bishop's convictions.
So much so in fact that the emperor offered him an alternative
to execution.
If the bishop of Tiramda would renounce his Christian faith and
embrace the tradition of Roman gods, then Claudius said his life
would be spared.
The bishop refused.
In fact, according to some, the church man even tried to convert
the pagan emperor to Christianity.
But in any event, following a brief imprisonment in the winter
of 270 AD, the bishop was taken to Terny, was beaten with
clubs, was stoned, and then beheaded.
And Claudius, the second, renewed his determination that there
would be no more marriages.
Ironically, with a little more patience, the bishop of Tiramda
might not have died so cruelly for within weeks in the midst of
the planning of a new military adventure, the emperor himself
fell ill and died.
On the other hand, had the bishop, had the defiant bishop not
been martyred, he would surely have been forgotten by posterity.
And as it is, he has been hailed down through the centuries as
the friend of lovers everywhere.
Now regarding what you've just heard, I'm aware that scholars
offer a wealth of versions, variations, and elaborations,
but on one thing they agree, the core of the story is true that
once upon a time, a man did give his life in the name of love,
and the world reveres him still.
Some remember him as the bishop of Tiramda, others refer to him
simply as the priest.
You know the sainted friend of lovers who died more than 1,700
February's ago by his Christian name Valentine.
Only now you know the rest of the story.
Now I don't know if that's true or not.
Paul Harvey thought it was true.
I like to believe stuff like that, I don't know.
But I tell that to you, who celebrated Valentine's Day?
You at least, guys who got flowers for your wife?
Okay, who did not get flowers for their wife?
Okay, don't admit it.
Don't admit it.
But there may be no subject that's so universally relevant to
women over three years old and men over 12 years old as the
subject of marital status.
Girls start thinking about marriage, family and motherhood
from the time they're handed a baby doll, I think.
Guys most likely start thinking about it much later.
But 1 Corinthians 7 is a chapter that is full of practical
advice and commands helping to answer questions that the
Corinthian church had in this area.
There seems to be, and you'll see it in verse 1 of chapter 7,
that the Corinthian church had written a letter to Paul asking
him questions.
And Paul, at least in this part of the letter, begins to answer
those questions.
And in this particular section he's talking about marriage,
people who are married, people who are single, and what our
responsibilities are.
And what's interesting is he doesn't think that marriage is
for everybody.
Marriage isn't for everybody.
Some people, God calls to be single.
Some people are called to be married.
That's part of how life is.
But we're all called, no matter where we're at, we're all
called to purity.
And that seems to be, and we're called to peace.
That's another thing he says that we're called to.
We're called to purity, we're called to peace.
And so in this particular text he deals with this subject.
Every person is called to live out their marriage status,
whether you're married or where you're single.
Or widowed, widower, whatever you find yourself to be, we all
should live out our marriages, our family life, our single life.
We should live out our lives with purity.
And we should do that by following Paul's instructions that
we're going to see in 1 Corinthians chapter 7, 1-9.
Now, over the next couple of weeks, I love being tied to
teaching what the scripture teaches.
Okay?
Because if it was up to me, I'd mess up.
Right?
It is kind of up to me sometimes and I still mess up.
Right?
But I want to teach this and I know that not everybody in here,
Mary, not anybody in here is single.
There's a larger and larger growing population in our
population of people who are single.
And I think that's interesting.
I think there's a lot of reasons for that.
But whatever, wherever you find yourself, God has given us
this instruction and all of this is for all of us.
Who agrees?
It's all for all of us.
So let's dive in.
Okay?
Here's the first instruction that Paul gives in verses 1-2,
chapter 7.
Here's what it says.
And this is the point I want to make because I believe this is
the point that texts make.
Sexual purity is required for single and married people both.
Sexual purity is required for single and married.
Now, let's read it.
Verse 1.
Now, Paul is there.
The Corinthians, like I said, had written questions to the
apostle Paul and that's not a surprise.
He's been kind of dealing with them.
After six chapters of us going through this, who agreed that
Paul knew Corinth?
He knew those people, right?
And they knew him.
And he knew them enough to correct them where they were wrong.
And now he's instructing them to try to help them.
And he's instructing them to correct them where they were wrong.
And now he's instructing them to try to help them to be right.
And so he's like a father to them spiritually and they were
looking to him for fatherly advice.
He gives this statement and it seems like he's reading it.
Now, concerning wherever you wrote it into me and in our King
James version it has a colon and it says, it's good for a man not
to touch a woman.
There are some who believe that that was like him quoting what
they were saying, okay, in the text.
In their text.
You see they wrote a letter to him.
You see that in verse 1, right?
Concerning the things you wrote into me, answering questions.
And so it seems like he's definitely getting at the thing
that they wrote.
There were some that taught this asceticism that like you're
just holier if you don't have sex no matter if you're married
or not.
And that's kind of what they were saying.
It's better to be single than to be married.
That's kind of what they were asking.
And so this particular statement, this phrase to touch a woman
was a Jewish expression that's used in the Old Testament many
times, multiple times.
It's not talking about the kind of touching that would include
simply a handshake or a high five.
So this is not forbidding us.
Did anybody shake the hand of someone of the opposite sex when
you came today?
Did anybody pound, who pounds it?
Did you do that?
Did you and Lauren, you guys high five real quick.
Okay.
They didn't violate anything just now.
You guys understand that?
This is talking about beyond just a normal greeting.
This is talking about sexual activity.
He's saying that's good for a man here not to be, they're
asking is celibacy inherently better?
Or is celibacy is staying away from that bad by definition?
And I will say that.
And I think what Paul gives is this answer is it's not bad.
Of course, one could imagine then that the question they were
asking was something along the lines of the following.
Is it okay for a man to be unmarried and have no intention
of getting married?
This then was his answer yet he gives a caveat.
Yeah.
Nevertheless, verse two, to avoid fornication let every man
have his own wife and let every woman have her own husband.
Paul understands that not every person has the ability to be
single and to live a single lifestyle in a way that honors
God.
We see in verse two what he says, to avoid fornication.
Who agrees that God's plan is for all of us to avoid sexual
sin?
That is God's plan for us.
That is God's will for us.
That is what he wants.
Sexual expression of any kind outside of the bonds of marriage
is fornication.
Marriage is not simply to be taken on as a means of avoiding
sexual sin, but Paul is saying that celibacy and singleness is
not possible for everybody.
So both of these things are in view.
It is good.
It is acceptable for a person to be single and not to be engaged
in sexual activity.
That's okay.
It's even good.
It is also good to be single and not to be engaged in sexual
activity.
It is also good.
It is acceptable for a person to be married and to enjoy what God
intended for married couples to enjoy in family life and child
bearing.
Paul is expressing that both paths are good and acceptable
before God.
What is bad is when non-married people do married people things.
Is that clear enough?
Okay.
We're keeping it PG because that's what the scripture does,
but you get the point.
What is bad is when married people do married people things with
people who they're not married to, right?
And the definition of marriage given to us by God who ordained
and designed marriage, this design is that all marriages include
a man and a woman.
Okay.
What is good is purity.
We ought to be pursued.
What ought to be pursued is God honoring purity.
Okay.
Is that clear?
Not a surprise probably to most of you.
We live in a culture that says that what God sees as impurity is
normal.
Let me say that again.
We live in a culture that says that what God sees as impurity is
normal.
We live in a culture that denies the very idea of impurity.
In fact, that has been the normative in most cultures and most of
the world.
It's pretty clear that this was the case in Corinth.
It is certainly the case with us.
Yet God has made his design and his intention for sexual
expression and marriage known.
It is clear that this vision that God had for marriage in the
way that he revealed himself to us is for one man and one woman to
be committed to each other in a covenant of lifelong marriage.
I believe that God's intention is for parents to be committed to
each other in raising their kids.
And that is at least part of the reasoning for demanding that
lifelong commitment before participation in the act that
brings children into the world.
Does that make sense?
This is God's intention.
And that leads us to the next idea, number two.
Sexual expression is promoted in the marriage relationship.
So there's two ditches when it comes to this idea of sex.
One is that sex is really, really bad and icky in all of
circumstances, right?
That's not true.
And that God made it for married people.
That's his gift to married people.
It's good for married people.
The other ditch is to say that it's no big deal and you can just do
whatever you want with whoever you want.
Here's what God promotes.
Verse three.
Let the husband render unto his wife due benevolence and likewise
also the wife unto her husband.
Paul expresses a principle that comes from the idea that we said
this last week, two become one.
That's what marriage does.
It makes two people one.
He tells married people not to keep themselves from each other
within the bonds of marriage.
And trying to be sensitive, let me be clear.
Let me just say it this way.
Physical expressions of love for each other, physical expressions
of love for each other should be the normative rhythm in a healthy
marriage relationship.
Okay?
That's what he's promoting here.
Look at verse four.
He says, the wife hath not power over own body but the husband
and likewise also the husband hath not power over his own body but
the wife.
Now this verse is not saying that individuals in a marriage should
be abused.
It is not saying that there is a slave to master relationship
within the bonds of marriage.
Remember, what is the husband's responsibility to the wife?
Husbands love your wives how?
As Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.
Wives see that you reverence your husbands, right?
What is, what is, it's not saying that there's a slave master
relationship here.
What it is saying is that the physical relationship between a
husband and wife is a powerful thing and once that begins, it is
something that should continue.
It is right and good for each spouse to give themselves to each
other.
There are some who would read this and express that this seems
patriarchal or chauvinistic.
Notice that he tells the husband the same standard as the wife.
Do you see that?
It's the same standard.
They would have been very different in the ancient culture that
did not have our modern, feminist extensivities.
In Paul's estimation, expressed in the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, the husband had obligations to the wife and not just
the wife to the husband.
He goes on and to express his intention in verse 5.
He says, defraud ye not one another.
You know what he's saying?
He's saying, don't manipulate the spouse with your body.
Don't try to get something out of them by keeping yourself from
them.
Does that make sense?
Defraud not one another.
Give, he says, do benevolence, here it is, to each other.
But he gives this caveat.
He says, accept it be with consent for a time.
What is with consent, man?
He literally is saying, unless you agree that for a time you are
going to do that for a time.
He says, for a time.
Right?
If you are going to keep yourself from each other physically,
talk about it, he says.
In the verse, there is a legitimate reason for keeping
yourself from your spouse for a time.
He says, here that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer.
If there is a reason where there is a focus on the Lord and it
means you avoid your spouse for a time, he says, that's okay.
But he says, communicate about it because it could be confusing
for the other spouse.
The other spouse may think, is she mad or does he still love me?
What is going on?
This would not be good for the marriage relationship.
That's what he says, hey, don't defride one another.
Don't keep each other from each other.
Don't manipulate each other.
Give yourself, unless you are doing it for some spiritual reason
that you communicated about, then it says at the end of verse
five, come together again that Satan tempts you not for your
incontinency.
The idea is that these seasons of prayer and fasting are not to
last for years, they are short seasons.
And he says that at the end of these times, come together
physically again.
Why?
Because fornication can become a temptation when someone is
deprived of a pure way to satisfy the physical desires that
come.
Satan can use this to damage and even destroy a marriage
relationship.
So Paul's command is this, be careful.
Now, God has given appetites to us and that's not a bad thing.
It's a good thing.
It aids in the forming of the next generation.
That does not mean that we do not have the ability or even the
responsibility to exercise self-control.
And within a marriage relationship it means that the husbands
ought to pursue their wives even after they get married.
Don't stop loving your wives in every category and arena
possible.
Same thing with wives.
The marriage bed is undefiled.
He that loves his wife loves himself.
It means that wives ought to understand the needs of their
husbands and seek to be a help to him.
It means that we ought to be careful with our kids and the
things we allow them to see and where we allow them to spend
their time.
Did you catch that?
Who agrees we have to protect our kids?
We really need to.
So that's what he's, I'm just trying to tell you what he means.
Okay.
Is this helpful?
I hope it is.
Number three.
Sexual abstinence is necessary for single people.
Here's what he says.
Verse 6.
But I speak this by permission and not of commandment.
What is he saying?
Permission, commandment.
What is he trying to say?
What he is saying here is this.
He is not commanding for everybody to get married.
Okay.
He is not commanding for everybody to be single.
Okay.
Is there a command in the Bible to get married?
The Bible says be fruitful and multiply.
That's what he gave in the creation mandate.
That is his general command to everybody.
That's what we, that's part of what he's talked about.
But in terms of every individual, not everybody has to get
married.
You don't have to get married.
Right?
There are some people that shouldn't get married.
Right?
That's what God has called you to.
So he is saying this is not a commandment.
This is what he is saying by permission.
He is saying it's not talking about what he just said.
Everything he just said, there is a command to this.
But he is saying that command is applicable not to everybody
but to married people.
The word here for permission is Greek word,
which could be translated concession.
What he is saying here is he is not prescribing marriage for
everybody because of the temptations of singleness.
He is not commanding that people be married or that people be
single.
What he says is, verse 7, for I would that all men were even as
myself.
What Paul is saying is he sees a lot of advantages to being single
and not married.
There was a flexibility for Paul as a single person to serve the
Lord in ways that he would not have been able to do if he was
married and had a family.
He acknowledges that everybody though does not have this
calling.
Right?
I am going to give you a pitch down the middle if you are
married.
Who is glad they are married?
I am glad.
Right?
That's good.
That's an awesome thing.
But it doesn't mean that everybody ought to be.
Okay?
He says here, verse 7, for I would that all men were not even
as myself, but every man has his proper gift of God, one after
this manor and another after that.
Some are called to marriage and family and have been equipped
by God for that role and responsibility.
Some are called to singleness and have been equipped by God for
that ability as well.
He says in verse 8, I say therefore to the unmarried and
widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I.
I want you to hear this clearly because I see a lot of pain in
both of these areas.
In counseling, I deal with people.
I say deal with people.
I try to help people.
I try to talk to people.
And this has been throughout the years.
And I have seen a lot of pain from people getting married who
should not have been married.
Right?
You guys ever see pain like that?
People getting married who should not have been married.
And I see pain in people being single and being discontent in
their singleness.
Sing their singleness as a blight.
Sing it as a problem.
Right?
And or a curse or something that makes you inferior to married
brothers and sisters.
I want to tell you this, being single doesn't mean you are less
than.
I want to say that loud because I think there are people that
feel that.
And just because you are single doesn't mean you are bad.
In fact, that may be, in Paul's mind that is a really great
thing.
Look at the advantage that it brings.
Especially if it is something that God has equipped you for.
Love and romance are good gifts.
Sex and childbearing are good gifts but they are not the only
gifts that God gives.
When is it a good indication that singleness is not for you?
Verse 9, he says, for if they cannot contain, they are not
for you.
If they cannot contain, let them marry for it is better to marry
than to burn.
But if they cannot contain, it means to contain their desires,
especially their sexual appetites.
The idea is that because it is so dangerous relationally,
spiritually, and even physically to get caught up in sexual sin,
it is better to use that appetite to do good in marriage and
childbearing.
He says, for it is better to marry than to burn.
The idea here of burn, paromethi, could be taken two different
ways.
One, could be talking about judgment.
Some people think he is talking about judgment.
Sexual sin is closely connected with unbelief among so many
people.
What I mean is that atheism has been sparked in many people's
lives if they were truthful because they do not like the
idea of authority telling them what they cannot do with their
bodies.
It should not be surprising to us that the term my body, my
choice would be employed by the unbelieving world.
Unborn babies in the womb are clearly not the bodies of the
mothers that carry them.
And how they steward their bodies is the issue that brought that
child about in the first place.
The sacrifice of children in the womb for the sexual freedom of
their moms and dads is evil.
It's evil.
Our permission of that as a society is something that God
will judge.
When people participate in pornography, they are affirming
the exploitation of men and women.
They are participating in the oppression and abuse, especially
of women.
This industry has been connected to sex trafficking and beyond.
The idea that this is something that is harmless is not true for
the people on the screen or for the people viewing the screen.
And this is something that God will judge.
When someone commits adultery, they are destroying the trust
their family has in them.
They are destroying more than their marriage.
They are destroying so many of the things that should happen when
a family strives to be all that God called them to be.
And God honoring families are essential to great neighborhoods,
to great cities, to great churches, and even to great little
leagues.
When families are not in the church, they are in the church
and they are in the church.
When families are unhealthy, it impacts all the rest of us in
all these areas.
When someone unrepentantly participates in adultery, it will
be judged by God.
So, God judges.
But secondly, the word could be taken.
It says it's better to marry than to burn.
It could be taken as to burn with lust.
The idea is to stay consistently in the heat of temptation,
to be constantly fighting the urge to sin sexually.
He says if the single person is single and cannot deal with that
temptation, let them marry because it's better to marry than to
burn.
And you can say here to burn with lust.
Paul, I believe, is likely saying that it's better to pursue
your spouse through the institution of marriage.
Raise your kids to love the Lord and make a difference.
Hey, you know what I think is really important?
Have kids.
Get married, have kids.
In that order.
Get married, have kids.
Kids are on a curse.
Kids are a blessing.
If that's what God's called you to do it, it is better to be
married and to do things the right way than to live in constant
temptation and desire that could lead to sexual sin.
I believe he, at least here, has the idea of burning with lust
as the most likely interpretation.
Here's why.
The context seems to support it.
This is Paul's point when he's comparing and contrasting the
benefits of singleness and the benefits of married life.
He's speaking to believers and there is something that is true
believers that you need to hear.
The Bible says this.
This is so important.
Romans 8-1, there is now therefore no condemnation to them who
are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the
spirit.
In terms of judgment, there is no ultimate punishment for those
who are saved.
Should believers sin sexually?
No.
Do believers sin sexually?
Sometimes they do.
Will God send you to hell if you're a believer who sin
sexually?
No.
There's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
Are you grateful for that?
I'm so grateful for that.
That's good news for all of us.
Our sins were judged and our Savior paid for them on the
cross.
God has now given us his spirit to help us live and walk, not
after the flesh but after the spirit.
And that's why Paul later says in Romans 8, for they that are
after the flesh do mine the things of the flesh, but they that
are after the spirit, the things of the spirit, for to be
carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life
and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, but it is not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
So then there that are in the flesh cannot please God.
But here's the good news, you are not in the flesh but in the
spirit.
If so be that the spirit of God dwell in you.
If you are saved you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you.
Is that good news for you?
That is good news.
Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of
his.
If you don't have the spirit, you are not saved.
And our challenge to you, to be to say, you should get saved.
You should get saved.
You need the Holy Spirit living inside of you, helping you to be
saved.
You need to do what God has called you to do.
Now I know that this is a very straightforward message.
I know that to go through this text and to teach it like it
teaches, means that there is a whole lot of emotion and a
whole lot of questions for a whole lot of people because we
are dealing with some of the most sensitive areas in people's
lives.
There may be people in this room, probably are.
There may be people in this room dealing with addiction to
pornography.
There may be people in this room committed in abortion.
There may be people in this room that are in adulterous
relationship.
That may be going on, right?
There may be people in here that are in unhappy marriages.
There may be people like pastor Ben, I don't want to be single.
I do want to get married but I don't have anybody to marry.
I don't know what I am supposed to do.
And to that I say, I can't answer every question about
this.
But here is what I do know.
God loves you.
And God's grace is sufficient for you.
And with obedience comes blessing.
And with disobedience comes discipline.
Comes pain.
In the Old Testament, Josh, I think it was Moses that said, I
said before you death in life, choose life that you may live.
Someone that maybe you are here for the first time, yes.
Are you saying that sexual sin is way, way, way bad and that
sexual sin is what sends me to hell?
Will sexual sin send me to hell?
Well, I would say yes and no.
What do I mean?
All sin has to be paid for.
Whether it is sexual sin or not.
You guys with me?
All of it does.
Telling a lie.
Stealing.
All of it.
All that sin has to be paid for.
But like if you sin sexually, it's not like I send all these
other ways but I am good with God.
But when I did that sin, now I am going to hell.
I am going to hell.
Does that make sense?
God is not willing that any should perish but that all should
come to repentance.
That all would be made right with him.
And so that sin doesn't uniquely send you to hell where other
sins do not.
Does that make sense?
Are you with me?
We are sinners and because we are sinners we will stand before a
church.
And I am trying to say what the Bible says.
There is all kinds of pain and heartache that comes from getting
this wrong.
Right?
And here is what happened.
Jesus Christ came and took on flesh and he was pure.
He never did anything wrong.
He kept the law you and I could not keep and then he died the
death that you and I deserve to die so that he could forgive us of
sexual or otherwise.
He died for you.
He loves you.
And not only does he save you from the penalty of your sin and
from the position of being a sinner, he wants to come live inside
of you and help you to grow in purity as a believer.
Does that make sense?
He wants to help us out.
What if I have already messed up?
Is there forgiveness for sexual sin?
Yes!
Absolutely 100%.
Remember the woman at the well?
Bring me your husband.
I don't have a husband.
You said right.
You live with five husbands and the one you are living with now is
not your husband.
And what did that do for her?
I perceive that you are a prophet.
What did God do for her?
What did Jesus do for that woman?
He forgave her.
And I believe you go back and read that text.
It's to the men.
To the men.
Come see a man who told me whatsoever I did.
I believe this is me reading between the lines.
This is my conviction.
I believe it is very likely that some of the men she brought were
some of the men she had sinned with.
There is forgiveness.
I found the Messiah.
Come see him.
Come meet a man who knows what we did.
What we did.
Does my husband or wife have the right to abuse me sexually?
100% no.
Do you understand?
No.
What should I do if I have trapped in sexual sin?
You should repent and you should seek help.
Confess your faults one to another that ye may be healed.
That's what James says.
There are dozens of questions we can answer.
This is a tough thing.
And even giving an invitation.
Hey, stand up.
Come down forward.
Who is going forward?
If I go forward it will end up on Facebook.
Maybe what you are thinking.
Can we agree all of us mess up?
And we all need forgiveness for a whole lot of things.
That's why Jesus came to die.
I am not up here preaching this as a perfect person.
I am standing up here as a called person who has been forgiven.
Are you with me?
So, the gospel is the good news.
The good news that Jesus Christ came and he died for all of us.
For all of our sin.
There is freedom that is available.
There is forgiveness that is available to us.
As sons and daughters of God.