The Will of God / Sexual Purity

Worship and the Hearing of God's Word

0:04 As we seek to worship the Lord in the hearing of his word. Not many of you were with us this summer. It was at our low peak when I brought a series of messages on the nature of true worship. And I at least hope that some of you who were there will remember that I sought to answer the question, what relationship is there between worship and hearing the exposition and preaching of the word of God?

0:28 And I trust that we answered that question somewhat adequately from scripture. For you remember that every, almost every instance in which it's recorded of any individual or group of people that they worshipped, they worshipped in a context of being prostrate before God as his servants. Therefore, when we come, assuming the posture of submission to God, willing to hear his voice, we are indeed worshipping if we are rightly hearing the exposition and preaching and application of the word of God. So may this be.

Introduction to 1 Thessalonians 4: The Framework for Christian Living

1:03 May this be for us this morning a vital part of our worship as we attend to the word of God, not as its judges, but as its subjects, as servants to the God who spoke it. We've spent two studies on the introduction to the fourth chapter, which forms a turning point in this letter. Beginning in chapter four, the apostle says, Finally then, brethren, or furthermore, from here on in, there is going to be a new subject. We beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as ye received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, even as ye do walk, that ye abound more and more.

1:45 For ye know what charges or commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. And in this introduction to the last two chapters, the apostle uses six key words or phrases, which in a very real sense form a beautiful framework for all teaching in all of scripture on the subject of practical Christian living. He used the words how, that is, there must be specific directive. The word ought, this is not something optional, it is mandatory.

2:20 He used the word walk, which indicates progressive action, not some experience that one receives, but rather a life that is learned in all of its habits, and patterns. He uses the word please God, which is the motivation for Christian living or sanctification. You know what commands we gave you, that is the directive. God directs us through specific precepts, and then the measure he wishes that they abound yet more and more.

The General Principle: God's Will is Your Sanctification

2:53 This brings us now to our study of verses 3 through 8. For this is the will of God, even, in your sanctification, that ye abstain from fornication, that each one of you know how to possess himself of his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who know not God, that no man transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified, for God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. Therefore he that rejecteth, rejecteth not man, but God who giveth his Holy Spirit unto you. In introducing this section we have very obviously, first of all, the statement of a general principle, and then the application of that principle to a specific area. the general principle is given in the first part of verse 3 for this is the will of God even your sanctification what is the will of God for his people how often do you hear people say oh if only I could know the will of God for my life if only I could know the will of God regarding this thing or that thing

4:23 and generally they think of the will of God in terms of two great matters occupation and station shall I be single or married I want to know the will of God about my life partner and I want to know the will of God about my life's work shall I be a missionary, a pastor, a housewife shall I be a secretary what shall I be and generally when we think of the will of God we limit it to these areas of occupation and station but the emphasis of scripture as touching the will of God only incidentally touches these other matters and clearly indicates that the person who has embraced the will of God in this broader more fundamental sense is the one who generally will have little trouble knowing the specific will of God regarding his station or his occupation the problem is that many times people want to play loosely with this foundational aspect of the will of God namely a condition a consistent full orbed sanctification and yet fearful of the consequences of being out of the will of God in their occupation or station they get very concerned about the will of God over here while living in glaring disobedience to the clear will of God over here now I suggest to you young people if you want to be dead certain that you won't miss the will of God

5:50 about your life's partner or your life's work you set yourself to perform the will of God in this area and this applies not not only to young people, but to adults as well. Very well then, what is the will of God as stated in this general principle? Well, here it is. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification.

Defining Sanctification: Definitive and Progressive

6:13 In other words, God wills that all of his people should be a sanctified people. What does this word sanctification mean? Well, in its development, beginning in the Old Testament, it has a rich accumulation of meaning. Originally, it was basically used for the things that surrounded the temple or the tabernacle worship.

6:38 The priests and the altar and the different instruments that were used in the worship of the tabernacle, when they were set apart for God, it is said that they became sanctified. Here is just an ordinary human being, one of the sons of Aaron, no different from anybody. Except that he is of the tribe of Aaron. But when he has been properly cleansed by water and oil, and properly clothed with the garments that God ordained, then the scripture says he was sanctified unto the service of the Lord.

7:11 He was set apart unto a particularly holy task. Here is an ordinary basin, but once it is set apart for the worship of God, it is a sanctified basin. Now, nothing happens with the atoms and molecules, the brass that comprise that basin. Nothing intrinsically changes in the basin itself, but the fact that it is set apart unto God is what makes it holy or sanctified.

7:40 Therefore, the main thought of the word is that of being set apart for holy use. Now, that thought is developed in the New Testament in a most beautiful way as a very integral part of the salvation of God in Jesus Christ. By Jesus Christ. So that all who are saved by the grace of God are described as a sanctified people.

8:06 And that sanctification of the people of God has this Old Testament thought at its very root set apart unto God. But it involves a two-fold relationship. There is the sanctification that occurs the moment a person is born of the Spirit and by faith is believed. is joined to Jesus Christ.

8:28 That is the radical, definitive sanctification. Paul could write to the Corinthians with all of their problems in the second area of sanctification that we'll consider, and yet he says of them in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 2, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, even them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus. These people were sanctified in Christ Jesus because they were born of the Spirit and joined to Christ. They had been set apart unto God through the Lord Jesus.

9:06 So there is this sanctification. I don't want to call it positional because it does involve an actual cleavage from sin and the dominion of the devil unto God, but it is a definitive, once for all, sanctification in that sense. Christ is made unto us this sanctification in 1 Corinthians 1.30 and then in 1 Corinthians 6.11 he says, and such were some of you, but ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. Hebrews 10.10 uses the word in the same sense. We are sanctified once for all by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ.

9:51 But now the word sanctification is used in a second sense. Not only that, that radical cleavage that sets us apart unto God basically at conversion, but there is that personal, progressive conforming of the believer to the image of Christ. And it is this use of sanctification that we find in 1 Thessalonians 4. It's this use that the framers of the shorter catechism had in mind when they defined sanctification as follows.

10:24 Sanctification is a work of faith, a work of God's Spirit, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and to live unto righteousness. Now do you have clearly then in your mind what the word sanctification means? It's basically set apart unto God and in the life of the believer there's that initial setting apart when he is joined to the Lord Jesus by faith. And then there is that progressive continued process by which he's enabled more and more to die unto sin and more and more to live unto righteousness.

11:07 Now the implications of this are clear that there can be no progressive sanctification until first of all there is this radical sanctification. And Paul describes that beautifully in Romans chapter 6 and in verse 22 where describing the conversion of the Romans he says this, But now being made free from sin and become servants to God that was the radical cleavage of conversion ye are having your fruit unto sanctification. You see, the fruit of practical holiness and increasing conformity to the revealed will of God here called sanctification follows this radical change of dominion and government free from sin and become servants to God. So that 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 is saying basically only by way of application something to those of you who've not been truly converted. It is a word of direction for the person who is sanctified in this cleavage sense that he might go on in the personal practicalness and the spiritual experience of sanctification. But scripture also makes clear that if we've had that cleavage then this fruit unto holiness is not optional

Sanctification is Positive, Not Merely Negative

12:35 for it's this sanctification that we read of in Hebrews 12.14 in which the writer says follow after the holiness or the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord. Therefore as we come to study this doctrine of practical sanctification as it focuses upon a specific area I need have no doubt that this is the will of God that my life my thinking my conduct be conformed to this statement of holy scripture. Now we need to remember this because we are not holy because we don't do certain things.

13:16 The idea that I'm sanctified because I don't do this and don't do this that's unscriptural. If I'm sanctified I may not do certain things. If I'm sanctified and set apart unto God that relationship will mean there's certain things I cannot do. And the reason I don't do them is because I'm the Lord's.

13:35 Whereas there are people who don't do this and don't do that and don't do that and say well if I don't do that I must be sanctified. No, maybe you're just a good donter. You see if you're not set apart unto the Lord then there's no real sanctification. It's not a negative thing.

13:52 It's a positive relationship with some negative implications. So that as we come to this passage it's not enough that we sit back and smugly say oh well I'm not guilty of the sins mentioned there. You must ask yourself do I have the positive biblical perspective in this whole area that the apostle has. Moving then from the general principle that it's the will of God for all of his people to be sanctified will you notice the specific application of this principle that Paul makes.

Specific Application: Abstain from Sexual Impurity

14:22 For this is the will of God even your sanctification general principle now specific application that ye abstain from fornication and then throughout the rest of this paragraph to the end of verse 8 he deals with the specific matter of sexual purity. Now the subject Paul is dealing with is translated in our Bibles as fornication. Now in a very strict sense the word fornication when you say used in contrast with adultery speaks of illicit sexual experience amongst the unmarried adultery a breach of fidelity amongst the married. But in this context and I believe it can be demonstrated from a number of other passages and even the lexicographers those who make dictionaries of the Greek language concur that Paul is not using the word here in that strict sense of impurity only amongst the non-married. For the word for fornication is often used in a general sense of all sexual impurity and uncleanness. So that I would rather translate it for ye know what charges we gave you through the Lord Jesus this is the will of God even your sanctification that ye abstain from all forms of sexual impurity.

15:50 And then he's going to show us what is involved. Now you ask why should Paul have to write to Christians in 12.5 in 12.5 by the Holy Spirit wonderfully transformed according to chapter 1 they turned to God from their idols they were serving the living God bringing forth the fruits of holiness and zealous evangelistic endeavor really isn't this just sort of superfluous well most of us find it difficult although in a few more years I don't think we will to project ourselves backward into the day in which Paul lived for the end of his life for the influence of heathen philosophy and pagan religion and idolatry had so blurred the moral standards of God that these things were not looked upon as sin in the society of that day. These people having come out of idol worship much of that idol worship as I mentioned in our exposition last Sunday night heathen worship almost invariably has some form of immorality connected right with the sacred rites of the worship and this was no less true of the people at Corinth because up until a few years ago you and I in the western hemisphere were so influenced by the heritage of biblical principles it's hard for us to conceive

17:17 that such instruction needed to be given but the trend to which we are moving where in the world and in the church we have nothing but a resurgent of raw pagan philosophy and a form of idolatry the corresponding influence will be a blurring of the scriptural concepts of sexuality as given in holy scripture so that this passage is just as relevant as I've said before as the Beatles or Wallace Nixon and Humphrey there's something God has to say to us that fits the situation of our day now how is the apostle going to deal with this he obviously had dealt with it previously in his evangelistic ministry to them for he says in verse 6 as we forewarned you and testified we gave you some instruction before and now we're repeating it and going on into more detail as we try then to work our way through this passage I want to this morning give some introductory material that I trust will act as a framework within which we can interpret and in which we can expound these few verses perhaps it will help you to think with me first of all about the two extremes that have been manifested in the church and in the world throughout all of history when it comes to this matter of sexual morality

Two Extremes: Libertinism and Asceticism

18:47 on the one hand there is the extreme of libertinism or its modern form a form of hedonism now the philosophy of libertinism is the philosophy or hedonism is basically this pleasure is the principle good in life and should be the aim of all our actions and if in the pursuit of pleasure I don't need to hurt someone else then anything that brings me pleasure is right and is good and that should be the end and the aim of my life in our day this is the result in great measure of the evolutionary thinking that has created the attitude well if we're basically animals we are not creatures made in the image of God but we are creatures who come up on the ladder of the evolutionary process and here we look at ourselves and we find we have sexual drives and appetites there can be no restraints or restrictions upon them so we will just adapt the expression of these appetites in the way that pleases us on the other hand in the religious world you have this influence as you had in Paul's day of people who say well really if you're going to be free then you must throw off any sense of restraint you read about it in Jude 1 in verse 4 let's look at them to see that this is no new thing this is the philosophy of the libertines and often they come within the pale of the

20:16 professing church to peddle their wares in Jude we read verse 4 for there are certain men crept in privately crept into the church even they who were of old written of beforehand unto this condemnation ungodly men now notice what they do turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness that is a license for sin and denying our only master and Lord Jesus Christ look at verses 7 and 8 as he further describes them but even as Solomon Gomorrah and the cities about them having in like manner with these given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh are set forth an example suffering the punishment of eternal fire yet in like manner these also in their dreamings defile the flesh we have a similar reference in 2nd Peter chapter 2 where speaking of false teachers who had arisen within the church what was their doctrine well we find it described in similar words as those of Jude notice verses 1 and 2 of 2nd Peter 2 but there arose false prophets also among the people as among you also there shall be false teachers who shall privately bring in destructive heresies denying the master that bought them bringing upon themselves swift destruction

21:44 and many shall follow their lascivious doings doings that are marked by license and promiscuity and no restraint upon the flesh notice verse 2 verse 10 but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement verse 14 having eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin verse 19 here's their doctrine promising them liberty while they themselves are the bondservants of corruption isn't that the new morality these young men have come on the scene saying look you don't have to be a slave to the law the people in the church have been bound by a puritanical ethic that fit the day of Moses and fit the day of John Owen and Goodwin but listen in the 20th century we now have come with a marvelous insight we're going to lose you from those terrible chains of puritanic and mosaic morality we're going to give you real liberty while they themselves and all who follow them are made the servants of corruption so you have on the one hand in the world and in the other the church this extreme of libertinism hedonism this is the playboy philosophy if you were to ask Hugh Hefner give me your philosophy of life in a sentence he'd say easy my philosophy of life is

23:13 the chief end of man is to be continually sexually stimulated period that's his philosophy you say oh would you sweep that aside with a wave of the hand no you don't when regular subscribers run over five million that's a lot of the poison of hedonism that is inundating our land in the church the new morality bishops advocating premarital relations extramarital relationships that's one extreme now on the other pole of the extreme you have the doctrine of asceticism both in the world and in the church now that doctrine is based upon the idea just perhaps an oversimplification but it will help you that matter is essentially evil and since the body is comprised of matter its needs and desires are the enemy of the soul so all who would attain true spiritual and intellectual maturity must batter down the body and as it were put the body in chains and any bodily needs and bodily appetites must be looked upon as first cousin to the devil and there must be no compromise struck with it now as I mentioned this idea lay at the root of certain forms of heathen philosophy and it wasn't long before it crept into the

24:38 church and one of the first heresies of the church you've heard about the Gnostics one of the most powerful forms of Gnosticism was what is called Manichaeanism a certain man named Manny who claimed to be a prophet of the Lord came up with this doctrine dressed up in a more subtle form that at its root was this heathen philosophy of asceticism that Manichaeanism was the root of certain forms of heathen philosophy of asceticism that Manichaeanism was the root of certain forms of heathen philosophy therefore batter it down Paul predicted this in first Timothy chapter 4 verses 3 and 5 for notice what he says about the doctrine of these people who follow the teaching of demons first Timothy chapter 4 the spirit saith expressly then the latter time some shall fall away from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons what will be their doctrine notice verse 3 forbidding to marry the marriage relationship the conjugal relationship is essentially evil they forbid marriage and notice commanding to abstain from meats do you sit down and drool over a nice juicy steak ah evil evil that's the body that's the sensual appetites enjoying something evil just go out and eat plain brown herbs with no salt and pepper on them standing commanding to abstain from meat and meat and meat and meat and meat and meat and meat and meat and

26:02 abstain from meat which God created to be received with thanksgiving by them that believe and know the truth and then he goes on to expose their heresy but here you have it in the world as well as in the church and they say that the way you get deliverance from the flesh is to beat it down and to deny it and batter it into absolute submission until its whimperings for gratification are not recognized now I must say that in the world there isn't too much asceticism in our day you have to look pretty far to find any real asceticism in the 20th century western world you may find a few people who in their reaction against the terrible sexual promiscuity have retreated but beloved I say and I say it with a heart that's been wrung out in the pastoral experience counseling and ministering there is much of asceticism left in the church of Jesus Christ

27:04 so where parents rear their children teaching them to accept as the gift of God their appetite for food and when the child said mummy I love ice cream would you like some more they give it to him they don't make him feel ashamed of his capacity to eat ice cream and like it when his eyes can appreciate the beauty of the world about him the moment he beings to ask the very natural normal questions as to why he is made the way he is why he functions the way he does and begins to inquire about the birds and the bees, suddenly the parents get all flustered, and this becomes a hush-hush subject that is not to be discussed and stamped upon the mind of that child with some idea that, well, I can't look at this in the relationship that I do, my appetite for ice cream, and my appreciation for the beauty of the turning leaves, and the appreciation of beautiful music, this is something that must be intrinsically evil. And so the terrible curse of asceticism has warped the minds and spirits of many, if not overtly as far as teaching this as a doctrine, as Manny did, and as the followers of that system did, at least by the spirit that is conveyed.

28:22 And I submit to you that in the sight of God, sanctification in this area involves not just separating ourselves from the evils of hedonism,

28:36 but being separated unto the pure biblical doctrine of man's sexuality. And only when our thinking parallels God's in a positive way, and from that perspective we're saying no to certain things, are we sanctified men and women in this area. Now, what is the only antidote on the one hand to libertinism, and on the other, on the other hand, to asceticism? Well, it's to come to the scripture and see the whole matter of human sexuality set in the context of the teaching of the word of God.

Biblical Framework: Creation, Fall, and Redemption

29:14 And so what I want to do in the time that remains this morning is to try to give you that biblical framework from several passages in Genesis, and then, the Lord willing, when we move in our next study into the exact teaching of Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4, I trust it'll break open to us, with greater richness. We return then to Genesis chapter 1. I want to suggest, as time permits, that like every other basic issue, it must be viewed from the standpoint of the doctrine of creation, the doctrine of the fall, and the doctrine of redemption. You can't understand yourself, your place and your role in life, in any area, unless you face these three cardinal biblical doctrines, creation, the fall, and redemption. All right? We are specifically concerned with this matter of sexual purity. Why?

30:16 Because Paul was. And seeking to follow the thought of Paul, we will then apply ourselves, first of all, to the doctrine of creation. You remember that's how he dealt with the problem of these men who said, you can't eat foods? He says, for every creation of God is good.

30:32 He takes them back. Back to creation. When he's dealing with the problem of whether women ought to teach in the church, what does he do? He takes them back to creation.

30:41 1 Timothy chapter 2. He says, the man was first formed, then the woman. Therefore, I suffer not the woman to teach, nor you serve authority. When he's teaching about a woman's place in the church in 1 Corinthians 11, what does he do?

30:54 He takes them back to the doctrine of creation. And so, as we try to understand this teaching of scripture, we go back to the doctrine, the doctrine of creation, and we see in Genesis 1, verses 26, 27, and 28, the first mention of this subject. And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, over the cattle in the earth, and everything that creepeth upon the earth. And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created, he, him, male and female, created he them.

31:39 And God blessed them. And God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion. Then down to verse 31, And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and morning, the first day.

Sexuality in Creation: Good, Foundational, and Commanded

32:06 Of everything else that God created, it says, it was good, it was good. But after he makes man in his image, male and female, he beheld what he made, and it was very good. Now what principles do we learn that will help us? Oh, I plead with you young people, if you've fallen asleep on me before, please don't this morning.

32:26 You're not going to make it through your age, unless by the Spirit of God these principles are wrought into your heart. And by the same, in spirit you're enabled to walk in the light of him. Principle number one is this, man's sexuality was a foundational aspect of the created order. Verse 27 says, God created man in his own image, and how did he do it?

32:54 By making them male and female.

33:00 In other words, woven into the warp and woof of God's created purpose is, is that there should be a marked difference sexually. Why don't you say, well anybody accepts that. Well, I'm not quite so sure.

33:15 The attitude many have is, this is just sort of a necessary evil that sort of came in as an afterthought. God made some and figured, well boy, how are we going to get the world filled with these people? So I guess it's sort of a necessary evil. We'll have to make a distinction of the male and female and all that's involved.

33:30 No, no. This was the result of the wise, gracious design of God that man, sexuality would be a foundational aspect of the creative order. Secondly, the full expression of man's sexuality is the will of God. For having made the male and female, God blessed them and commanded them be fruitful and multiply.

33:54 Now I don't mean to be irreverent, but I ask the question, did God know the facts of life?

34:00 When he told Adam and Eve be fruitful and multiply, did he know the facts of life? He was commanding them then to have the fullest expression of sexual experience that is possible between a man and a woman. He was commanding it. He wasn't just sitting by and saying, well, I'll let you just do what comes naturally now and I won't look.

34:22 You say, Pastor, you're being ridiculous. I want you to see how ridiculous it is if we have an attitude that is sub-biblical. Here's the scriptural perspective. God commanded them be fruitful and multiply and notice what verse 31 says.

34:39 And the Lord looked upon it and behold, it was very good. How do you think the Lord looked upon Adam and Eve as they went out into the garden and began to explore the beauty of that garden and Adam would come with a flower and just delight? Oh, Eve, look at this one that I found over here in this part of the garden. And when they heard a new bird chirping and together they said, shh, shh, shh, let's listen.

35:01 God looked down and behold, it was very good. As they found some new delicious fruit and Adam shared it with Eve and Eve found one and shared it with Adam, and as they were, they licked their chops and said, isn't this delicious? God looked down and behold, it was very good. I submit to you, if you cannot with equal ease picture God delighting in looking down upon Adam and Eve in an embrace of one another, then you have a sub-biblical view of your sexuality in the light of Holy Scripture.

35:33 As God looked down upon the creatures He made, as He made them, all that was true to their humanity delighted God. For it was His work and it was subject unto Him.

35:48 So that the third principle I see in this first passage in Genesis is that this arrangement was not a necessary evil but was good in the sight of God. So if you've got the three principles, man's sexuality, foundational to the creative order. Secondly, the full expression of that sexuality is the will of God. Thirdly, this arrangement was not a necessary evil but well-deserved.

Sexuality in Creation: Companionship and Marriage

36:12 Now turn to Genesis 2 in verse 18 where we have an expansion of the count of the creation of man.

36:22 Now, it's very significant that in verse 18 the Lord says, notice, it is not good that the man should be alone. He didn't say it's not practical. If I'm going to get the world full of people, this is not practical for the man to be alone. So I'll make the woman simply to be an instrument through which children can be brought into the world.

36:42 That's the heresy of the Romish teaching on sexuality. When the Pope issues his decree that there should be no form of planned parenthood, behind that is the Romish heresy that could be cleared away by simply facing this principle here in the order of creation. God did not say it is not pragmatic that the man should be alone. He says it's not good.

37:11 I will make and help meet or I'd help answering to him. In other words, if we may say reverently, that which motivated God to make a woman and bring him to the man was that he might have a companion, someone answering to the totality of his need. So God makes the woman and he brings her to the man and the scripture tells us that when he did, Adam looking at Eve saw his compliment. This is bone of my bones.

37:41 Verse 23, flesh of my bones, my flesh. She should be called woman because she was taken out of man. Taken from man, she answered to man. She was different from man, but she complimented man.

37:56 Therefore, and we don't know who states this, whether God does or whether Adam makes this. We don't know who's speaking in verse 24. We know that it's inspired of the spirit, but who the mouthpiece is, we don't know, but the conclusion is clear. Therefore, shall a man leave his father and mother?

38:13 Shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh and they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Because the man was incomplete without the woman, the woman is made of the man. Now listen carefully. And they are not completely man or woman until fused together as one flesh in the will of God.

38:39 And the one flesh reference here is something more than physical union. It involves, the union of two total personalities, but it is nothing less than physical union.

38:51 Something more, but it's nothing less. And so we find in this second chapter is that God takes the initiative in creating a creature to perfectly compliment man. And God orders the leaving and the cleaving in the one flesh relationship.

39:12 And it's in this state that God is saying there was no shame. That's why he adds, here, and they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. And it's interesting. I checked the commentators and many of them pass over this verse.

39:25 I believe it's an indication of a form of asceticism. God was not embarrassed to put it here. And he put it for a purpose. And I'm convinced that one of the purposes is to show us that as Adam and Eve entered into the fullest expression of the purpose of God in complimenting each other, they did so with consciences unsmitten with guilt.

39:48 And with the recognition that this relationship was pleasing to God.

39:55 Now there's one other principle that I want us to see from this passage is that all of their sexuality as well as every other area of life was under the dominion and direction of God. We saw that in verse 28. The God who made the male and female says be fruitful and multiply. The God who has brought the woman to the man says you shall leave her leave father and mother and cleave to the wife and only in this relationship which we now call marriage where you're severed from your previous relationship.

40:29 You were the son or daughter in a home. Now when you're ready to establish your own home and sever that relationship that's marriage. Well it's only then within the confines of the protective relationship of this leaving and cleaving that men and women are to know the full expression of their sexuality. So that the God who ordained this relationship is the God who stands over it to govern it for his glory and for the good of his creature.

Creation's Antidote to Hedonism and Asceticism

41:02 Now with those simple principles do you see the error on the one hand of hedonism? What does it say? It says no sex is not a gift of God to be governed by God. It's just an appetite that we people have to be gratified the way we want to.

41:18 Well you see the doctrine of creation strikes a death blow to the doctrine of hedonism or libertinism. It looks upon sex isolated from the God who gave it and from his directive. Now do you see the area of asceticism? It says behold everything God made was good except the sexual distinction.

41:43 That's an effrontery to God. In some ways not quite as harmful in a given individual as the former. But not as harmful but nonetheless it is displeasing to God. And so I submit to you young people this morning listen carefully if you view your sexuality any other way whether with the philosophy of hedonism I've got this capacity and appetite and I'll express it any way I want and I don't care what God says you'll destroy yourself.

42:11 And I say if you don't view it from the biblical perspective but have an ascetic perspective that you've picked up along the way that this is something basically and intrinsically evil and sinful and I just better try to act on it. Not like I don't have it. You'll never attain to the degree of sanctification that God wants you to. And I speak to any of you adults and married folk and single men or women and submit to you that your sanctification must involve a biblical perspective and then biblically oriented conduct.

Sexuality in the Fall: Corruption and Manifestation of Sin

42:41 Now I hurry on to the doctrine of the fall. And I can only say this much and I have to do it by a brief summary but I dare not stop without giving these three. The doctrine of creation, fall and redemption. Chapter 3 records how man has been estranged from God.

42:58 Man sins. Now notice, when he sins he doesn't lose his physical appetites, his emotional, psychological, biological needs. He still has to eat. He still has a sex appetite, a sex drive.

43:12 He still has a hunger for fellowship and relationships with people. But what has happened? Having cast God off as his ruler and the end and the government of his appetites he makes his appetites an end in themselves and he puts himself up over as the governor. So that John says all that is in the world the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world.

43:38 Now man's sexuality didn't escape this terrible estrangement from God. So man now makes a god of the gifts of God and ignores and flagrantly defies the giver. Romans 1 says they worshipped and served the creature more than the creator and it's in this context of sexual impurity. Now if that's true that the fall is basically man shoving God out as the end of his life and the governor of the totality of his life follow me closely when the effects of that terrible pushing away of God come to light do you see why in the area of sexual impurity you have one of the greatest manifestations of the fall? For what is perhaps the highest gift God gave to man? Where is man most like God?

44:39 Isn't it when he cooperates with God in bringing human life into the world? Procreation makes man most like God.

44:50 Isn't it?

44:53 He's bringing life. And secondly when man is having dominion God says be fruitful in my life. Then multiply and have dominion. Man was made in the image of God.

45:03 Is God a life giver? In some sense man cooperates with God in the bringing forth of life. Is God a ruler? Man in some sense will be a sub-ruler having dominion.

45:14 Therefore therefore when man shoves God aside this that was the greatest gift under the dominion of God now becomes the greatest curse under the dominion of self and of sin. So when God lists the expression of sinful depraved humanity again and again what comes at the top of those lists? What comes at the top? I want you to look with me very carefully at several passages.

45:42 First of all we look at Galatians 5 that very familiar passage on the works of the flesh that is man as he finds himself depraved estranged from God fallen in sin and what are they? Verse 1. Verse 19. Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these and what's at the top of the list?

46:12 Fornication uncleanness lasciviousness sexual impurity. You find essentially the same thing in the words of our Lord Jesus in Mark chapter 7 where he speaks of those things that come out of the human heart beginning with verse 20 that which proceedeth out of the man that defileth him for out of the heart of man evil thoughts proceed fornications the top of the list. Revelation 21a but the unbelieving the abominable whoremongers sorcerers in all of these lists we find these sins of sexual impurity placed if not at the top central in the description of God concerning fallen man. Now what does this tell us? Well this tells us that not only is this a wonderful gift from God to be looked upon as good and intrinsically good in itself but in a fallen world it can be terribly dangerous.

47:17 At any point that I regard my sexuality separate from the control of God and the glory of God this thing that is such great potential for good can become the greatest potential for evil.

Sexuality in Redemption: Restoration and Glorifying God

47:33 So the doctrine of the fall then brings in the whole area of the gospel of the matter of watchfulness the whole area of a holy distrust of my flesh natural man he cares not for the regulations of God Romans 8 7 the carnal mind's enmity against God he doesn't care about the glory of God so when the effects of sin come to light we find it in this area but then the third great doctrine that sets its canopy over this whole matter of man's sexuality is the work of God in redemption. What does God do in redemption? That creature made for him that all of his capacities and energies be subject to him to bring glory to him that creature marred by the fall what does God do in redemption? On a totally different footing now he seeks to restore that which was lost in the fall to have a man that once again loves his government a man that once again has all of his energies and capacities subject to him to God in order that he might live to the glory of God even when he what? Eats or drinks 1 Corinthians 10 31 so that in redemption God stoops to even say that these very bodies of ours become the temples of the Holy Spirit 1 Corinthians chapter 6 in Romans 6 13 he says the members of our body

49:00 all of our physical members have become the servants of righteousness all of our physical members have become the servants of righteousness all of our physical members all of our physical members oh blessed be God for such a redemption that comes to capture the whole man as God and it's him now to restore him back to the purpose of God and I want to say it in a way that I hope it will stick in your mind when God saves a man he saves not only his soul but his body and if he saves his body he saves his sexual appetites and capacities that's Satan to play to now that means that my sexuality is not mine it's God's and that's precisely the context in which Paul deals with this in 1 Corinthians 6 he says if you join yourself to the harlot you're one flesh with the harlot but he says you're a Christian you're one spirit with the Lord shall you take the members of the Lord and make them the members of the harlot Paul used straight plain language he said look your body belongs to Christ and all your sexual capacities and members are his therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit and it's in the context of glorifying God in our bodies in terms of our sexual capacities and appetites so then where does that bring us I trust it brings us to the place where we now realize this is why scripture gives us an entire book to show the purity

50:30 of the relationship between a husband and wife the song of Solomon is not primarily an allegory about the relationship between Christ and the church it's a poem of the beauty and the sanctity of the human love that exists between a husband and wife Proverbs chapter 5 he warns about adultery and then he says the way you escape it is delight in the love of your own wife and then uses very simple but blunt language on how a husband and a wife ought to recognize the gift of each other to one another and not to downplay their sexuality but to accept it as the gracious gift of God Ephesians 5 the very picture of the love of God of the union between Christ and the church is the picture of a husband and a wife now the Lord willing in our next study will pick up from here but I hope that you will ponder these passages that set the biblical framework of man's sexuality in the light of creation the fall and redemption and when you do I believe by God's grace as the spirit applies these things to the heart you and I will be kept in the one hand from libertinism and the hedonism that is sinking our own generation to hell and from the asceticism which in great measure I fear has in some ways prepared the soil for the hedonism I've been asked to speak to secular groups

51:59 of unconverted college students on this subject and I've said to them look I'll open it up for questions and after but give me one hour to lay out what the Bible teaches to give you a biblical philosophy of sex and when I was done I said any questions and they sat there like this and there's a man no questions they said well we didn't think the Bible taught that I said sure you've been rejecting a caricature haven't you you thought that the Bible taught and that the Bible said and the Bible inferred that sex was evil and that man's sexuality was to be downplayed but you never read the scriptures and I've had unconverted kids say that just makes good horse sense makes good sense they didn't say they were going to walk in the light of it because see their hearts are rebellious against the standard but they saw that the standard was reasonable that if the God who gave it to us tells us how best to use it then we ought to credit him with enough wisdom to know what he was doing and to love us enough to give us directive oh dear young people don't don't don't be brainwashed by the philosophy of hedonism don't be influenced by an unchristian asceticism but by the grace of God have a biblical perspective you husbands you wives you get your soul soaked with a biblical perspective because your attitudes are being conveyed to your children whether you know it or not and God grant that they'll not become hedonists because you've made them little ascetics by an unscriptural attitude and you who contemplate marriage you have holy longings for that complimentary fulfillment

53:28 don't look upon that as sinful God made you that way if you're a single woman it's natural that you should have longings to be married if you're a single man now the question is this must be subject to God I must await his time await his will well I must stop let's pray