Sexual Immorality Part 3
Lessons From 1 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted
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Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
Theme: Lessons From 1 Corinthians.
Hope: To grasp a better understanding of God’s word through the vastly different doctrinal subjects found in this wonderful letter.
Over the last two weeks we have been using 1 Corinthians 5:1-2 as a jumping off point, if you will, to discuss sexual immorality and its devastating effect on the world and Christianity.
We have certainly discussed “God’s view” on what a proper biblical sexual relationship looks like between “one man and one woman.”
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
We have also studied man propensity to corrupt God’s biblical teaching and seek out his/her own lusts and desires.
4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
So, in reality sexual immorality is not a “new sin” but one that has been around for a very long time.
However, as our country and especially our “young people” get inundated with more and more sexual perversion it is appropriate to have discussion on topics that we are facing currently.
So, with that in mind let’s examine our sermon this evening on “Sexual Immorality.”
The Reality
The Reality
People Struggle Sexually.
People Struggle Sexually.
Solomon famously said over and over, “there is nothing new under the sun” and that fact that humans have struggled with perverting God’s design for sexuality is no different.
It was only seven generations before we find the first sexual perversion with Lamech taking two wives (Genesis 4:19).
There is only 400 years between Noah witnessing the destruction of the earth by water and Abraham witnessing it by fire and brimstone against Sodom and the other four cities who were destroyed in part due to their sexual perversions.
7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
So people struggling with sexual perversions is nothing new.
And just like any other sexual perversions such as homosexuality, transgenderism, adultery, and the like there are ups and downs as to how people respond to such.
It wasn’t long ago that these types of lifestyles were hidden and never publicly discussed but like all sin, if it is not stopped, it will grow.
Now there have been thousands of sermons on homosexuality, of which I have done several, but because that is the case I want to focus on a different sexual sin that is sweeping our country right now and infecting our young peoples minds more and more.
I say young peoples minds because studies have shown that the most vulnerable to these specific types of sexual sins are the young.
That isn’t to suggest that older people cannot get caught up in such but if you teach, promote, and encourage little kids to think biology is only what your imagination is limited to it’s no surprise we start seeing more and more kids start promoting and thinking they are any number of the so called 53 plus genders.
Because transgenderism and its offshoots is the prevailing sexual sin I want us to consider it today and then examine how we as Christians can help those struggling with their sexual identity.
So what exactly is…
Transgenderism.
Transgenderism.
Transgenders are men that feel they should have been born a woman or women that feel they should have been born a man and then they do whatever they feel appropriate to strive and “make themselves” as close as possible to that reality.
Hence a trans-man is a woman that has gone through any number of medical procedures to make themselves as close as possible to a female and vice versa.
This can be hormone treatments to surgical treatments.
Scientifically speaking there is no doubt that some, not near as many as is typically purported, but some from a very young age simply feel different.
In the past the “treatment” or “therapy for this disorder was designed to reduce the feelings the individual had toward the wrong biological sex.
Secular psychiatrists would endeavor to bring into harmony one’s mind with their body with varying levels of success but it was far from a “sure thing.”
In fact, the suicide rate did not change much with youth who were struggling with this.
In 2015 one third of those that identified as trans attempted suicide that year.
Even among those struggling with other sexual sins trans youth are two times more likely to consider suicide than say those struggling with homosexuality.
That reality is one of the reasons the medical field has changed course and stopped trying to harmonize mind and body and instead has embraced changing the body to “fit the mind.”
Summary
Summary
However, like with all sin, simply becoming more sinful never makes a person “feel complete.”
Just because society makes something more popular and just because people in general become more accepting of sin it will never make the one struggling with that sin feel complete.
This is why suicide is still the leading cause of death amongst those claiming to be transgender.
So, if we know someone who is struggling with their sexual identity what can we do to help them from a biblical point of view.
So…
How Can We Help?
How Can We Help?
By Lovingly Not Perpetuating The Lie.
By Lovingly Not Perpetuating The Lie.
I came across an article from the La Vista church of Christ on this very subject wherein a person saying they were a transgender woman had listened and explored their site and was “just disturbed” at what they had found.
The person wrote into this congregations “questions and answers” page…
“I will be honest I am not a Christian, I am an atheist. I grew up Southern Baptist, I used to hold Bible studies every morning in the cafeteria during high school. The funny thing is that I have wanted to believe in a God, but I look at the church today and see so much hate that even if God was real, I would choose not to believe in Him solely because of the church…As much as I would love to argue with your church about the issue of transgenderism, I am genuinely curious about what you would do if your son/daughter came out as trans? Let’s assume that you know that you are never going to convince them otherwise. They still love God and still believe in the teachings of the Bible, but they think God made them trans…As you can probably tell I have experience in this. My brother doesn’t talk to me, my parents are not supportive, and my grandparents pretend I am dead.”
I think anyone hearing this would be hard pressed to find someone who does not have empathy for this person.
It’s obvious by their language used that they are upset at their families lack of support and I feel for that.
However, it’s important that we, who know the truth of God’s word, do not perpetuate a lie to support someone’s sin.
As we discussed last week, God is truth, and therefore this teachings are true.
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
Just because someone claims something is true does not make it true.
People lie all the time to others and themselves but God never lies.
4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”
And someone’s feelings about what is true are irrelevant when it comes to determining what is actually true because feelings change constantly and rapidly.
26 Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.
Not even the majority opinion matters when it comes to determining truth.
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
It doesn’t even matter what one’s relatives think.
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
If something is a lie it is a lie no matter how many people believe the lie, perpetuate the lie, or scream at the top of their lungs the lie, it is still a lie.
How do we know transgenderism is a lie and not the truth?
From a scientific point of view we know there are only two genders male with XY chromosomes and females with XX chromosomes.
This has been confirmed and proven true since time began.
From a biblical point of view, and God is truth, we know this is true as well.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
In fact, transgenderism requires that there be only two genders because you only have “men thinking they are women” or “women thinking they are men.”
The truth is, it isn’t hate to point truth out.
Must we defend the truth with gentleness respect, yes.
1 Peter 3:15 (ESV)
15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect
Must we defend the truth in love, yes.
15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
If we speak the truth to those struggling with their sexual sin with gentleness and respect and show them we love them there is always the chance they will repent and turn to God.
Will that person who struggles with this “find peace” in Christ through?
The answer is…
There Is Only Peace In Christ.
There Is Only Peace In Christ.
When a trans person acknowledges that God did not create them wrong and accepts God’s word as true this is when real peace can begin in their lives.
However, just because they know the truth doesn’t mean that feeling or urge goes away.
Like an addict one can over come their addiction through Christ but that doesn’t mean they don’t struggle everyday or most days, because they do.
The difference is they learn to over come that struggle “through Christ.”
The great apostle Paul is a great example of this.
There was no one more dedicated to the nation of Israel and the Hebrew people.
4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
Paul was a model Jew who took every advantage of the opportunities and blessings of being a Jew, then he was called to be a Christian.
Regardless of how much he loved being a Jew and appreciated Judaism, he could not remain in Judaism and please God. He describes this reality in Philippians 3:7-8.
7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
Paul made the conscious decision to give up everything for Christ.
It wouldn’t be easy and it would cost him dearly but having made up his mind, he never looked back.
13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
The apostle Paul understood that there is only peace in Christ and that believing a lie cannot bring actual peace in anyone’s life no matter how hard and difficult that is.
Summary
Summary
As Christians we are not allowed to lie to someone to “make them feel better.”
But we can point them to that which give them the greatest peace they will ever know this side of heaven.
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Some will argue that finding one’s identity in Christ does not solve the problem but no one said it solves or makes the challenge go away.
All we are saying is that best, most peaceful, fulfilled, and joyful life is one that is in Christ not outside of Christ.
Not everyone will want to hear the truth.
That is ok, we are not to make them, we can only provide the truth and let them decide if they want to listen to it or not.
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.