Bernie Madoff enacted an enormous Ponzi scheme, an investment fraud that affected more people and lasted longer than any other such scam in history. His crime affected the sensibilities of the public especially acutely because it came to light during a major, global economic downturn. He was sentenced to 150 years in federal prison, and his response to the news showed unbearable remorse: “I live in a tormented state now, knowing of all the pain and suffering that I have created.”
Satan has also created a tormented state for scores of people. And the one issue he uses on the world is in the area of sexual sin. Have you ever noticed that sexual sin has a certain fundamentalness to it? Sexual sin goes to the core of our being and seems to be the quintessential expression of our sin nature.
That’s why Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 6, “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body” (v. 18).
Sexual immorality is wrong, Paul concluded, because it involves sinning against one's body, which in the case of believers who belong to the Lord through divine purchase.
When a person commits acts of sexual immorality, he or she sins against their own body. But you ask, “Wait a minute, Pastor Rich. Drunkenness and gluttony hurt the body as well, right? Aren’t these sins against the body?” Yes, gluttony and drunkenness hurt the body as well, but they involve excess in things morally neutral, and abstinence may correct their effects. But fornication is more destructive to the sinner than other sins because the people who engage in it cannot undo their act.
I have counseled people who have tried over and over again to stop. They simply cannot stop. I then tell them that there are two ways God may use to lift you out of your bondage: First, is through extreme separation. You or your partner will be forced to move to another state or halfway around the world. It will be an extreme separation. You will not be able to visit or hook up and the most that you will do is email one another and make periodic phone calls. If this emotional fornication continues, then God may perform the second extreme measure: DEATH! This to is separation but done in the extreme sense.
There is only one way for these two measure to possibly be avoided or greatly reduced: Divine intervention with God using another person or persons. This is where the pastor jumps in and / or his church board or maybe a group of friends. This is where church discipline occurs and loving pressure from the church and its members help the sinning saint to make tough decisions and to stick with it. However, people who are engaged in fornication will not stop on their own.
Fornication is also a specially serious sin because it involves placing the body, which is the Lord's (1 Cor. 6:19-20), under the control of another illegitimate partner (cf. 7:4). No other sin has this result. All other sins are outside or apart from the body in this sense.
Have you ever taken note that whenever the bible mentions certain practices that hinder people from entering heaven, sexual sins are included in the list (1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:19-21; Rev. 21:8)?
Also, when God sends His judicial wrath upon people, it is expressed in sexual sins (Rom. 1:18-32). Whether at an individual or a cultural level, when people exchange God for idols, embracing lies and suppressing truth, God allows the exchanging to continue. He hands them over to subverting forms of sexual sin.
Furthermore, have you ever noticed that what brought the flood in Noah’s time that God used universally to wipe out the whole world was because of sexual sins (Gen. 6)?
Also, because fornication is against the body, what does the bible give as a preventative measure to help avoid this sin? “FLEEING!”
1 Cor. 6:18 – Flee immorality
1 Cor. 10:14 – Flee idolatry – lust replaces the Lord.
1 Tim. 6:11 – Flee from these things (things that encourage people to love money above God and go after it through illegitimate means, such as illicit sex and prostitution.
2 Tim. 2:22 – Flees youthful lusts
Now to show you the dynamic of why God wants people to flee from fornication, let’s take the other two issues we mentioned above – drunkenness and gluttony.
Can a person be around drunks and not get affected? Yes. Can a person go to a bar and sit at a table or even at a bar and not get affected? Yes. A person can go to such places, look around and not be personally affected. Of course, there are always some exceptions, but by and large, such things will not have that great of a pull on most people.
Can a glutton go to a restaurant and not be affected? Yes. Can he or she go to a restaurant where there is a buffet and not be affected? Yes. Again, a person can go through a buffet line and even look at a menu and order items that will promote health.
But how likely would it be for a person to go into a porn shop and look around and not be affected? How likely would it be for a person to attend a massage parlor where it is precisely known what goes on there and not be affected? So much more examples can be given, but you get my point. When it comes to sexual sins, the only way of escape is to FLEE!
Jesus said that because sexual sins are reasons people choose not to enter heaven, the remedy is to “tear out your eye” (Matt. 5:29) if that is what it takes, or “cut off your right hand” (v. 30). Jesus’ conclusion: It is better for you to lose a member of your body which fornication sins against, then to lose your own soul in hell. That’s how serious this is in the mind of Jesus. Note: Jesus’ point is to make the hard choice to separate yourself from such sins before those sins ultimately separate you from God.
Finally, let me conclude with this thought. We often hear about how loving God is, right? And He most certainly is. But if you were to create a theology of God based on the sermons you had either listened to this past year, would your theology include the WRATH of God? It probably wouldn’t because from our pulpits and in our Sunday Schools, we seldom hear about such things.
Here is what Psalm 7 teaches: God is a righteous judge, a God who displays his wrath every day (v. 11). Notice that the wrath of God is displayed, how often? Daily. Which implies that God is angry how often? Daily. Based on what we often hear from most churches and its leaders, we would conclude that God displays His love daily and His wrath only now and then. Not so. God’s wrath and anger over sin is a daily occurrence. He hates it. It stirs Him up and causes Him to be angry.
Now let’s apply this to home. Ask yourself this: “Do I in some way contribute to the Lord being angry?”
