Purity Instead of Promiscuity

Sermon Transcript

Take your Bibles this morning, please, and turn to 2 Timothy 3. 2 Timothy 3. And if for some reason you don’t have a Bible with you, there’s one for you right under the seat there in front of you, at least there should be. And grab that Bible and turn to 2 Timothy 3.

It’s interesting that in a society that embraces the theory of evolution, that our culture is doing anything but evolving, that is. While we have the advantage of accumulated knowledge, it gives us better cell phones every year, I think reality should testify to the validity of the Scripture that says that the heart of man is going from bad to worse, and the heart of woman is not a whole lot better. I thought I’d throw that in for you.

1 Timothy chapter 3 called it for us. As God’s prophetic Word says, mark this, verse 1, there will be terrible times in the last days. People will be, note this now, lovers of themselves. They’ll be lovers of money. They’ll be boastful and proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good.
2 Timothy 3:4 says they’ll be instead treacherous, rash, conceited. Note this now, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness, well, sure they do, but they deny its power. It doesn’t transform their lives. Have nothing to do with them, Paul says to Timothy.

Then he lists some concerns locally there, provincially in Ephesus. And then in verse number 10, he says, but Timothy, you know all about my teaching, Paul says, my way of life, my purpose, my faith, my patience. You’ve seen the love that I have, my endurance, he says, and also all the stuff that came with that, which was persecutions, sufferings, what kind of things happened to me in Antioch and Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions that I endured, yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.

In fact, it’s not just my problem, Timothy. He says, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Why? Verse 13, because evil men and impostors will go, here’s our phrase, from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, Timothy, you continue in what you’ve learned and become convinced of because you know those from whom you’ve learned it, and you know how from infancy you’ve known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Because all Scripture, it’s God-breathed, it’s given by God, it’s God’s Word, it’s useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

If we take this calling seriously to hold firmly to God’s instruction amid the deteriorating world that we live in, then the distinction between us and them should become increasingly clear. That ought to be obvious. It will actually become more of a stark contrast. Consider that statement in verse number 4. Look at it again, that people will be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. God’s Word says that as the world runs headlong into whatever feels good, that we are to hold to God’s Word and to be able to find pleasure within the boundaries of God’s benevolent instructions.

As the courts in our United States now define marriage as, quote, an evolving paradigm, unquote, if we’re going to be distinctive people who hold to the teaching of God’s Word that’s been revealed to us in Scripture, then we’re going to have to champion God’s definitions and not change, not move. If, as it is in America now, that 60% of Americans say that sex before marriage is okay, it’s not really morally wrong, and note this, 21% now say that sex outside of marriage, extramarital affairs, well, they’re not necessarily morally wrong either, and we are supposed to hold to God’s Word, then we’re stuck having to call sin, sin.

And as our governator last month signed a Senate bill, I don’t know if you track this one, that now says that your gender is a matter of your stated preference and not your biological equipment, if we are going to hold tightly to God’s Word, we still have to govern our lives by God’s revealed definitions. Our morality has to stay centered on God’s Word.

We are called to uphold God’s instructions, God’s truth. In the midst of our successes and even in the wake of our personal failures, our calling is to uphold God’s holy standard. It’s not just for our good and our own benefit, though it does benefit us, but it’s ultimately for God’s glory that we are standing up in a world that is increasingly dark and holding up the light. And it won’t be easy, but it’s required. It’s not going to be simple. It’ll be increasingly more difficult.

But it is the essence of what Jesus was telling his disciples as he sat around and said to them, you’re the light of the world. You’re the salt of the earth. He’s not saying you’re the upper crust. He’s saying you are to stand in contrast to a world that just doesn’t get it. And increasingly, they continue to slide into their own quagmire of changing definitions about right and wrong. God is not indifferent on these matters of being lovers of pleasure versus lovers of God. As a matter of fact, he is intensely concerned about these issues.

As we’ll see here in Hebrews chapter 13, as we continue our study of this book, the writer of Hebrews only gives us one verse on this topic in the 13th chapter of Hebrews, but it’s packed full of concentrated truth. It’s telling us something that is poignant and potent, and it’s a reminder of some principles that need to be underscored regularly. Not a lot of aha moments in the sermon this morning. You’re not going to bend over taking copious notes saying I’ve never heard this before. I didn’t know God was into sexual purity. I mean, these are going to be old themes for you, but it bears repeating because God cares so much about it and states it in such a dramatic way.

Look at verse 4, Hebrews chapter 13. He says marriage has got to be honored by all. It should be honored by everyone, by all. And the marriage bed, it should be kept pure. For God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Look at that potent statement. Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.

This is a calling that we have regardless of our preferences, our temptations, our experiences. It is something that God is calling us to do about the institution of marriage. You read that sentence and you understand within the broadest possible context in the Bible that marriage has been given a definition in Scripture. Marriage is to be honored by all. Whose marriage? The Massachusetts Supreme Court or the marriage of Genesis chapter 2? We are bound by the revealed Word of God to affirm its definition of marriage. And it is to be honored.

You see that word there in the text? That is not a small word. It’s a big word, and it may help for you to understand what God is expecting from us by looking other places for this word in the New Testament. I won’t make you turn there, but if you’re taking notes, you might want to jot down, as we are called to, number one on your outline, affirm God’s plan for marriage. We should know that that affirmation is not just a nod of our head or, yeah, I agree with God. It is a kind of affirmation of our lives that should lead us to respect and to cherish the institution as delivered to us in the Bible.

Jot down these references if you would. How about 1 Corinthians chapter 3, Revelation 21, 2 Peter 1, 1 Peter 1. Was that too fast? Here you go. Let’s go over these slowly. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, that’s where God uses this word honor in the New Testament to describe our natural affinity to protecting, cherishing, and valuing precious metals like gold and silver and gems like diamonds and rubies. Those are things you just don’t, you know, lay on the dashboard of your car as you let it go through the car wash, you know. You protect them, you guard them. They’re valuable to you.

Or how about this one? How about Revelation 21, where the Bible says that we will one day stand in awe of the new Jerusalem as it comes down out of heaven like a bride adorned for her husband and we will honor that. We will value that. We will cherish that. That’ll be the most amazing thing and we’ll stand in awe of it.

Or how about 2 Peter chapter 1, I said, where in 2 Peter chapter 1, the Christian’s response to the promise of the gospel, which is if you repent of your sins and put your trust in Christ, that we are forgiven, we cling to those, it’s used adjectivally in that passage, as precious promises of God. Do you value the promise of God that you don’t have to go to hell because you’re embracing Jesus Christ? You cling to that. It’s the most precious promise in Scripture, the promise of salvation. That’s the same word here, to honor.

Or how about this one? I saved the best for last. How about 1 Peter 1, where in 1 Peter 1, we talk in Scripture about the essence of our theology, that we are right with God, not because you do good works, but because we’re banking everything on the blood of Christ, that he died in our place. And Peter says it is the precious blood of Christ that you’ve been redeemed with. And that gives us a sense of what this word honor is all about.

I assume that if you turned on the television this afternoon and saw someone mocking the blood of Christ, they were making fun of the crucifixion of Christ, and that he died and shed his blood on a cross beaten by Roman centurions. I bet you would take an offense to that. I assume that if at the lunchroom at work on Thursday afternoon, they were there mocking the death of Christ and what a joke Jesus was to die on a cross, I’m assuming you have enough zeal for God and for the Lamb of God that you would be ready to go to blows over that. It’s the same word.

How do we respond when marriage is the brunt of jokes, not just with stand-up comics, but from platforms and pulpits across the country this morning, where people make fun of, malign, and make jokes about this thing that God says, marriage, it’s a top-drawer, top-shelf kind of thing. It ought to be honored. It ought to be revered. It ought to be held in your mind as a sacred thing. Marriage ought to be honored by all, held up as a precious reality that you’re willing to defend, you’re willing to cherish. Marriage.

You need to recognize that this is not just something that God utilizes in Scripture to help you understand something. It was created for the purpose to illustrate something sacred, transcendent, and divine. Are you tracking with this? He did not just look here and see how we figured out life and said, well, you know what? Let me just make some analogies about your relationship and my relationship. In other words, he didn’t say, well, it’s interesting that you came up with this thing called marriage. And you know what? The marriage relationship is kind of like my relationship with you. And you know, in Scripture, it’s a prevalent analogy to talk about Israel being the wife, if you will, of Yahweh, the husband, or in the New Testament, that we are the bride of Christ. He didn’t just kind of pick up on what we were doing. He specifically and purposefully designed this institution for that reason.

You remember back in Genesis 2, don’t you? He was done with the creative act on day six, and then he wanted to make a point. Okay, look at all the animals, look around, is there a perfect connection that you have with any creative being? And the answer was no, there’s not. Great. Got the point, go to sleep. Pulls out of Adam in this picture in Genesis 2, a rib, and fashions out of that rib something attractive, someone who’s a perfect complement to his life, someone that he would, in intimate fellowship, create a kind of intimacy and sensuality, be something so different than any other thing he would have in his life. It was called marriage. And he said, as Moses stands back and says, for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.

God created marriage, not because he sat around saying, well, I don’t know how I’m going to get them to procreate, and we need another generation of these folks, and how are we going to do it? God could have had Adam just pick a booger out of his nose and put it in the dirt, and out comes Cain and Abel, right? I mean, there are a million ways to do this. I mean, he put his finger in his ear and something seeps out from underneath his fingernail, and out his other ear, eight months later, comes a child. God could have done it any way he wanted. A world full of men just spontaneously regenerating.

God wasn’t forced to this paradigm. He chose it. And he said, I’m going to make people that are not exactly the same. They’re different. And I’m going to join them together in the most intimate, profound, and sacred relationship they will ever have, humanly speaking, and that will become something where they can touch the divine. Does this sound new age? I’m not trying to be new age here. I’m just telling you that is the transcendent and sacred nature of marriage.

And then he says in passages like Ephesians chapter 5, which we might as well look at this morning, he says, this is the point. God is trying to get us to experience something that will illustrate the profundity of God’s relationship, his desired relationship with his creation. We’re not like God. Well, not exactly. We’re created in his image, but he wants a kind of profound relationship with us that he says you should know something about the desire to have this because I created this thing called marriage and sex and romance, and it’s something that I created so you could understand this.

Ephesians 5

Ephesians chapter 5. We go here in preaching and seminars to help people understand how to have good marriages, but please understand that’s not the point of this passage. This passage is not about, well, I hope you guys have great marriages. This passage is about illustrating a profound doctrinal truth about God’s relationship with his people.

And he begins in verse 22 by saying, wives, you ought to submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he’s the Savior. He’s painted a picture now of an organism, an organic unit that has two parts that are inseparable. The head doesn’t live without the body, the body without the head. These two are one, and the connection is so vital that it’s like this perfect symmetry of two entities. And he says, that’s what it should be like. And he said, wives, you ought to defer to your husbands like a body defers to a head, and there ought to be that kind of connection there, because Christ is the head of the church.

Now, as the church submits to Christ, wives ought to submit to their husbands in everything, he says. And husbands, another side of this, you ought to love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, which is the point of the passage, to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water and the Word, to present her to himself as a radiant church, an attractive church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, a desire to be connected here, holy and blameless.

In the same way, you husbands ought to love your wives as their own bodies, for he who loves his wife loves himself. Do you see there’s something profound trying to be said here? It’s not just an illustration. And he says, that’s what it ought to be like for you. Because no one hates his own body, verse 29. He feeds it, he cares for it. That’s the norm, just as Christ does the church. He’s trying to make a point about the connectedness of God and his people. For we are members of his body.

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife. He now quotes Genesis chapter 2, and the two will become one flesh. Now, your head and your body don’t have that kind of sparks flying in the relationship they have. It’s just kind of an indicative reality. Yeah, head and body, they go together. But there’s something about man and wife that is supposed to be different. It’s supposed to be amazing. It’s supposed to be something special. It’s beyond the norm. It’s not just some indicative statement about, yeah, man and wife. There’s sparks here that are supposed to fly between this profound romantic sexual relationship. And he says, that right there, that’s the picture. God gave you this so that you can understand something about the divine desire to relate to his creation.

And he says in verse 32, the mystery is profound. Now underline this phrase, but I’m talking about Christ and the church. That’s my point. I want you to understand something about Christ and the church. However, as a side note, and I know this is going to be used as a passage for marriage workshops, each one of you should love his own wife as he loves himself, and the wife should respect her husband. Fine, great, great, great. Do that. But the point is the connection between God and his people.

You realize that God has given us a special institution, he’s given us these guidelines for it, and he says you’re going to have a chance to experience some kind of foretaste, some kind of living analogy of the profundity of God wanting to desperately and romantically, if you will, profoundly relate to his people. Marriage ought to be honored by all. You and I ought to affirm it, which is a statement that doesn’t communicate as largely as it should. It ought to be a top-shelf, it’s an amazing thing. Hats off to marriage, it’s a big deal. God’s definition of marriage, by the way.

And sidebar for just a minute. To exalt marriage to its proper place in Scripture is not to diminish the role of what we call around here kingdom singleness. You understand what I mean by that? Kingdom singleness. Where Jesus said, yeah, there are some people that renounce the benefits and pleasures and profundity of marriage for the sake of the kingdom. And when they do, he says, it’s a great thing. And if you can accept that, you should accept that. And if you’re gifted to accept it, it means there’s a satisfaction in being a kingdom single. I’m not talking about a frustrated single. I’m talking about a kingdom single, an ability to focus all of my attention on the bride of Christ. And the Bible exalts that.

So I, in this statement of the profundity and the sanctity and the respect and honor we should give to marriage, I’m not downplaying kingdom singleness, see? But I want to make sure that we don’t invert it like they did in the early church and the medieval church, which started to believe that that was the great and exalted thing. And it is a great, and it’s a wonderful gift. But Paul said one has this gift and another has this one. The gift of marriage is also a gift of God. And it needs to be cherished equally in our minds. It’s not a concession to the base desires of life. That’s how it’s been presented, but that’s not true.

God didn’t add a whole book to the Old Testament just to give us a romance novel, because I guess they need that kind of stuff. It wasn’t a concession. It was an ultimate divine transcendent example that he says you can participate in, and I’m going to give some of you to have it, most of you to have it, and I’m going to give some of you to give your full-time attention to the body of Christ. So I’m not downplaying kingdom singleness, but I do want us to celebrate marriage as we ought to. It ought to be honored in the minds of everyone.

And let me drive it home with this reminder from 1 Timothy chapter 4. We looked at this last week, but what a great reminder for us just to recognize it needs to be embraced from all of those who are not gifted to be kingdom singles. So let’s revisit this passage. We looked at this last week as it related to the other half of what this says, because it has two clear doctrinal heresies involved. And there are some that downplay, that diss, that poo-poo. I don’t know how to word it, but they downplay this marriage thing as some concession. And though they don’t mock it as the stand-up comics do, they have some kind of lesser place in their minds for marriage. And the Bible says don’t do that.

1 Timothy 4

1 Timothy chapter 4, is that where I took you? Look at verse 1. The Spirit clearly says that in later times, some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits, things taught by demons. Good stuff or bad stuff coming up? Bad stuff. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. What do they forbid? Two things here that he gives by way of illustration. The first thing is they forbid people to marry. Oh, that’s not good. Shouldn’t do that. You really want to be godly? You shouldn’t get married. That’s how some people twist and contort 1 Corinthians 7. That’s not what he’s saying there. There is an advantage to kingdom singleness, but we shouldn’t say that’s the godly thing to do. One man has one gift. Another has another.

And they order them to abstain from certain foods. That was last week, right? Well, all of those things are created by God. I’m not talking about everything in this world. I’m talking about the things that God has specifically ordained, like eating of foods and the institution of marriage in this passage. He says, there to be, now note this word, received with thanksgiving. Embrace them. And ultimately, they are in the most profound and perfect sense to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

Remember last week I said prime rib was created for us? Do you remember that? You go to Ruth’s Chris. It’s really not for the non-Christians. We’ll let them have a little steak if they want some, but the good stuff created for us who believe and know the truth. Look what’s put on par with that, marriage, same thing. We can let the non-Christian world get married, sure they can, that’s fine. As a matter of fact, marriage should be honored by everyone, non-Christian and Christian alike, but really, it is a gift that is given by God to those who believe and know the truth. Does that help put this thing on another shelf in your mind? God created marriage for you if you know him and you affirm the truth. It’s a gift from God.

It is to be, circle that word, received, because he says it again in verse number 4, received with thanksgiving, because everything God created is good. Nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.

Let’s talk about that for just a second, received. Let me talk to you frustrated singles for a minute, and you know who you are. You’re not at peace with your singleness. Let me talk to you for a second. It needs, marriage needs to be received, embraced with a thankful heart. We need to reach out. Open arms, not crossed arms. Frustrated singles have crossed arms, right? They’re frustrated over this thing. It is not, there’s not open-arm embracing of this.

And a lot of times they say, well, okay, I’m all into the fact that maybe I’m called to be married, but you know what? God just hadn’t done it yet. It’s a lot of that. Because they’re passively waiting for this thing to happen. Let me ask you a question. If you are called to have a job, do you wait around passively for a boss to show up at your front door and ask you to work for him? There’s a little more activity involved in hunting for a job, right? It’s God’s will for me to work and have a job. Therefore, I go out and I find one. I go looking for it with open arms.

That’s not how we treat marriage. Some of you women right now, frustrated single women right now are saying, amen, preach it, Pastor Mike. Those men in this church, they need to understand this, right? They’re not hunting. I’m not letting you off the hook. Gals, 1 Timothy chapter 5 makes it very clear that the responsibility to look for a spouse is not just for the Proverbs 31, you know, I’m gonna go find this wife, and he who finds a wife finds a good thing kind of principle. You know what? You are commanded, if you are called to be married, to go get married. And that’s not a passive command. That’s an active command.

Hmm, that doesn’t sound right. God hasn’t called you to be a wallflower waiting for someone to ask you to dance. Do you realize that? That doesn’t sound appropriate. I don’t care if it sounds appropriate. That’s what the Bible teaches. You have a responsibility to fulfill your calling in life. And if you’re called to be married, and you’re not a kingdom single at peace with being single and devoting your full attention to the church, you need to get out there and find a spouse.

You know how they did it in the Old Testament, right? Remember when Isaac needed a wife? What happened? Got the family together, packed up the camels, sent people out hunting for one until they found Rebekah. Maybe you need a little family meeting this afternoon. I’m sure your parents would love to get involved in the process. Right? That sounds silly to you? Well, maybe we can take at least a step toward the fact that I’m going to actively engage in the process. Maybe if I were looking for a job because I knew it was God’s will for me to have a job, I might ask a few friends, hey, I’m looking for a job. And you know what? If something you know is out there that might fit my skill set, hey, maybe you’d let me know. You wouldn’t think twice about that if it were a job you were looking for.

But you want some romantic, unrealistic picture of some guy floating through the window and falling into your couch. Proverbs 18:22, Genesis 24, 1 Timothy 5:14. We could go on all morning to say you need to embrace it, receive it, open up your arms, and let’s look for it. It’s to be received.

We’re going to make some subpoints. That’s letter A. Here’s letter B. It is to be received with thanksgiving. Letter B, you got to be thankful for this thing. You have been asked to participate in a divine institution. You’re going, yeah, you don’t know my wife, man. If you knew my wife, it’s not easy to be thankful for her. You know, I’ve lived with her now for 21 years. She’s saying the same thing about you, buddy. Okay?

We’re imperfect people in an imperfect world. And I know, again, we get sold a bill of goods, watching the television, thinking all those romantic airbrushed people have wonderful lives. You know what? Every person on the planet has bad breath. That’s a good way to remember it. Everybody’s armpits stink, right? Everybody has issues, and so does your spouse. Welcome to the imperfect world with imperfect people. But God is saying, with that imperfect person, I’m inviting you to step into a transcendent, profound institution that is going to reflect something you won’t experience in any other relationship in your life. Are you willing to go after that and be thankful for it?

And if you’re single, frustrated single, can you at least start to begin to thank God for God’s future provision in your life? Let’s thank him ahead of time. Let’s start the day with thanksgiving about our participation in this institution of marriage. Again, I’m not downplaying kingdom singleness. It’s fantastic. You ought to thank God for your gift. For the rest of us, we need to be thankful. Receive this good gift that God has created, verse 3 and 4 says, with thanksgiving.

Because, verse 5, are you still there, 1 Timothy 4? 1 Timothy 4:5. Because it is consecrated, two more things, letters C and D, by two things, the Word of God and prayer. What does consecrated mean? To consecrate means to set apart. It will be what it’s supposed to be. It will be different. It will hit God’s target for what it’s all about by two things, the Word of God and prayer.

Let’s start with that, letter C, the Word of God. I am trying to, as a Christian involved in the institution of marriage, to shape my marriage according to the parameters and template of God’s Word. That’s the goal. And the more I shape my marriage to reflect the biblical pattern and the model, whether from Ephesians chapter 5 or whether from the Song of Solomon, as I try to make my marriage look more like Scripture, it is set apart to be what it’s supposed to be. So I need to constantly open my Bible and find out how I can make my marriage more like what the Bible says it should be. Are you looking at the Bible that way? I know we look at the Bible about temptation and issues and ministry. Do we look at our Bibles to say, I want my marriage to look more like this? And you can point at your spouse and say, well, he’s not helping, right? Let’s worry about you by the Word of God, consecrating more of your relationship to look like what Scripture asks it to look like.

Letter D, it’s also consecrated or set apart by prayer. Let’s just do that a little more often. How often do you really pour out your heart before God in requests and petitions relating to your marriage? Let’s start doing that. And not when we’re hitting crisis. Crisis, we pray about things in crisis. Before the crisis comes, hopefully in lieu of the crisis, we are praying for God to assist us in our marriages.

I know we’re imperfect people transgressing our imperfect lives into a sacred and sanctified thing that God said is profound, transcendent. But let’s ask God to help make that more of what it needs to be. And if that puts a little pressure on your marriage, fantastic. Because you and I ought to feel pressure. It’s not two roommates living under one roof with a piece of paper in the file. It’s not what it’s about. It’s about taking those barriers that exist between you and your spouse, deal with those issues, and you’ve got to get face-to-face, not back-to-back, and you need to make that marriage more of what it needs to be. Imperfect people, I get it. But let’s work on it.

Do you date your spouse? Are you spending time trying to cultivate that kind of intimacy that you can’t have according to Scripture, or shouldn’t have, with anybody but her or him? Let’s work on that. It is consecrated by the Word of God and prayer, and ask God to assist the whole way through. Receive it. Thank God for it. Set it apart by the Word of God. It’s the template. And consecrate it by prayer.

Affirm God’s plan for marriage. It should be honored by all. Okay? So that statement, it’s a simple explanation of this obvious statement. Put it on the top shelf and honor it.

Secondly, Hebrews chapter 13, verse number 4 says, look at the next phrase, and the marriage bed kept pure. Unfortunately, that phraseology in the NIV in English gives us perhaps the wrong impression. This is not a statement to govern the activity in your bedroom. Not it. This is a statement, a defensive statement, about things that, here’s the real word, here’s what the word actually says. It says to keep it undefiled. Don’t let it get messed up.

This is not about some kind of template for, well, be careful in the bedroom. It’s not keep the marriage bed pure. It’s about make sure that nothing messes up the marriage bed. That’s the idea. Your sexual intimate relationship with your spouse, don’t let anything infringe on that. Don’t let anything get in there and mess that up. And there’s two things, according to the last phrase, that can mess it up. The adulterer and the sexually immoral. What’s that? That’s premarital sex and extramarital sex. Those two things. Those are things that can mess up the marriage bed. Don’t let it happen.

God is all for the marriage bed. He’s all for pleasure within the benevolent guidelines of His Word. He’s all about that. Read the Song of Solomon. He wants us to experience the joy and intimacy of marital relations. He wants that. But he’s saying, if it’s going to be what it’s supposed to be, you have to keep it undefiled. And that means you’ve got to guard against things that’ll infringe upon that, which are stated clearly in the bottom of the verse. Premarital sex messes up the marriage bed. Extramarital sex messes up the marriage bed. And those two things we’ve got to guard ourselves against.

Number two on your outline, just jot it down that way. You and I, we need to protect our marriages. Protect your marriage. Put some defensive posture up in your mind and say, I’m going to make sure nothing messes up the marriage bed. I’m going to make sure that we protect it because God is all for it being what it’s supposed to be.

But he knows the real thing to mess up fire in your house is not lighting a fire in the fireplace. It’s lighting one in the middle of the dining room. He doesn’t want this combustible part of the depth of the profundity of our hearts expended, expressed, or in some way utilized outside the benevolent parameters of His Word.

Protect the threats to your marriage. The Bible is very practical in this regard. And again, protecting your marriage, you’re going, okay, I expect that in church. No aha moment. These won’t be either. But let me give you four subpoints here from various places in the Scripture that may be a good and helpful reminder of things you’re going to have to do if you are going to keep things from messing up your intimacy in your marriage relationship. Four things. And this is clear and repeated throughout Scripture.

If you are going to protect your marriage, specifically your intimacy with you and your spouse, then number one, you’ve got to police your eyeballs. Police your eyes. You’ve got to police your eyeballs. Here’s how the Scripture puts it over and over again. Look at this one, for instance. You don’t have to look at it, just jot it down. Job 34 verse 1. Job, trying to be a godly man, says, I’ve made a covenant with my eyes that I will not gaze lustfully at a woman. I’ve made a covenant with my eyes. That means he, as a godly man, had to work at controlling his eyeballs because he knew that was an avenue through which would take him down a path that could violate his marriage.

And by the way, Mrs. Job wasn’t such a peach, right? Have you read the book of Job? He’s a godly man. I mean, he could have been looking around. Maybe she’s a little nicer. Maybe she’s more understanding. Maybe she’d support me in crisis. No, I’ve made a covenant with my eyes, the Bible says, that I will not sin by gazing lustfully at a woman.

Isn’t that what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5? Do you know the Bible? Matthew 5:27 and 28. Very clear. And that is, he says, you’ve heard it said, do not commit adultery. I tell you, anyone who looks lustfully at a woman has already committed adultery with her in his heart. You say, well, that’s not real adultery. No, it’s not. But it’s the first step. You’re not going to commit adultery unless that gets in your head. And that gets in your head primarily, guys, through your eyeballs.

You know the next verse, by the way? If your right eye causes you to stumble, do what? Close it. Is that what it says? No? Look the other way. Pluck it out. Gouge it out. Now again, that’s a hyperbolic statement to tell you you need to deal ruthlessly when your eyes wander. That’s what that’s saying to you. Because if you’ve got a problem with lust with your right eye, guess what? The left eye is still there after you gouge the right one out. And you’re going to have the same problem. The problem is there may be some things that need to be gouged out in your life. There may be some things that need to be unplugged in your life. There may need to be some avenues that bring images into your mind that you need to shut off, turn off, cut off. That’s true. But you need to be ruthless about it.

And again, some Christian women are like, oh, you preach it, Pastor Mike. Those lustful guys looking at women all the time. I hate it. And you need to preach, preach, preach, preach, preach, preach, preach it. You’re not off the hook on this one either, right? I know you’re not wired the same way we are. I get it. But you can be part of the problem, right? Maybe not every woman can be a part of the problem, but a lot of you can be a part of the problem. You understand that, right? The Bible says that you can be the source of causing your brother to stumble. You realize that.

And I know what you’re saying, oh, we’re just trying to look nice. We’re just trying to look nice, just want to look nice. Here’s the deal. This would work well in some churches, preach well. You might hear the organ when the preacher says, you can look nice, but don’t entice. Does that sound good? Look nice, but don’t entice. You find God’s all for you looking nice. He just doesn’t want your look to entice. Do you see the difference there?

And I know you’re like, oh, that was cruddy, man. They messed up all of this because I just want to look nice. Sorry. You’re living in an imperfect world. And you’ve got to recognize that some things you think look nice really entice, and you need to be careful. Burlap sacks are going to have to be around. I’m going to wear gunny sacks, just like Muslim women. I’m not for sacks or robes from head to toe. You understand that. As Scripture is clear about this issue.

If you want to see some of God’s frustration over this, you might want to look sometime at Isaiah chapter 3, verses 18 and following, where God says, look at you women, you’re out of control. All you care about is trying to draw attention to yourself by what you wear. And he didn’t talk about, well, you really got a nice sweater on there, and that’s really nice. God’s not torqued about a nice sweater. God is torqued about things that are constantly done in fashion that are drawing attention to you that you may think looks nice, but it causes your brother to stumble.

And you know this is all throughout the Scripture. 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 9. You are to dress modestly. How about 1 Peter chapter 3? Your focus on beauty needs to be your character. A little more attention to your character and a little less attention to your jeans or your blouses. And God is all for you looking nice. Do you understand that? He just doesn’t want you to entice.

I just came up with that this week. That really preaches. Look nice, but don’t entice.

Oh, I know that opens a can of worms, and I know it doesn’t solve the problem, because if every Christian woman dressed modestly and carefully, we’re still living in a world that doesn’t, right? So it’s an issue primarily of making that covenant with our eyes. Police your eyes. But Christian women, you don’t want to be the avenue through which temptation comes, right?

Secondly, letter B, you’ve got to police your ears. Police your ears. And if you felt, women, like you’re off the hook of temptation with your eyeballs because you’re not as visually wired as men, I do understand that this is a source of temptation for you ladies. Oh, he’s so charming. He’s so nice. He says such nice things. You’re lured, and so are men, by the flirtatious client or the flirtatious boss or the charming man who says just the right things, and he’s so understanding. His words are so… oh, it just makes me feel so good inside. You’ve got to guard your ears.

Proverbs chapter 5, turn there with me. And I understand it’s put in a context of a man being lured by a woman, but you do recognize it works both ways. And there’s hardly an adulterous affair that takes place or a premarital sexual encounter that takes place that doesn’t involve some kind of wording that draws someone’s heart into a place of compromise. Words are a big deal. Police your ears. Guard your ears.

If you want to know what to do with your ears, Proverbs chapter 5, verse number 1 says: “My son, pay attention to wisdom. Listen well to my words of insight, that you may maintain discretion, live a discreet life, a careful life, and your lips may preserve knowledge. For the lips of the adulteress,” and you might want to add adulterer, “they drip honey. Oh, they sound so good. It’s so appealing. He’s so nice. And her speech is smoother than oil.”

The words work. They make us feel a certain way. And the Bible says, be careful. You’ve got to remember, it may sound good, but in the end, it or she or he is bitter as gall. It’s as sharp as a double-edged sword. Her feet or his feet, they go down to death. Don’t follow there. Her steps lead straight to the grave.

Verse 6, she gives no thought to the way of life. Her paths are crooked, but she knows it not. My son, he says, verse 7, now then listen to me. Don’t turn aside from what I say. Keep a path far from her. Stay away from her house. Stay away from his cubicle. Don’t go near the door of his house, lest you give your best strength to others and your years to one who is cruel. Lest strangers feast on your wealth or your toil enrich another man’s house.

Anybody, any divorcees here want to get up and testify to this one? Think about that, right? I mean, I often tell Carlin the best financial plan for us is just to stay married, right? I mean, think about it. You know, I mean, first it starts with lawyers, and then it’s child support, and it’s alimony. The Bible wants to save us from the trouble. He wants to save us from the harm. Invest in your marriage and stay away from the flirtatious words of a colleague or client.

Verse 11, because you know at the end of your life you’ll groan, look at that, when your flesh and your body are spent. You’ll say, oh, how I hated discipline, how my heart spurned correction. I wouldn’t obey my teachers. I didn’t listen to my instructors. I blew off that sermon. I wouldn’t listen to the pastors. I’ve come to the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly. You’re going to hate life. That’s another way to put it.

So don’t listen to the flirtatious words of those around who make you feel so good, so loved, so appreciated, and “he doesn’t appreciate me anymore.” And by the way, while we’re talking about things that come into our brains, let’s not forget the provocative scripts of movies that we watch that warm us up to the idea of infidelity. How about the provocative and enticing words of the lyrics of our songs that we love so much and they’ve got such a great beat? “I just love that guy.” Watch the lyrics. Listen to what you’re listening to.

Do we want to surround our lives with a soundtrack of infidelity? Think about it. Is that really what you want to kind of hum your way through life? You know, woo-hoo, love that song. And it’s all about just following the pleasures of your heart and not finding your pleasure within the benevolent guidelines of God’s Word.

Guard your ears. You’ve got to stick your fingers in your ears sometimes and not tolerate the things that are going to lead you down the wrong path. Protect your marriage. Why? How? Police your ears, police your eyes.

Thirdly, you need to police your words, because the acts of infidelity are going to be preceded by words that come out of your mouth that are going to take you to the next level.

Ephesians chapter 5. Take a look at this text. Immoral behavior will be preceded by immoral speech in one way or another, whether it’s you now becoming the flirtatious, charming person, or whether it’s just living your life by a soundtrack of immorality, and you begin to parrot those kinds of principles and values.

Ephesians chapter 5, look at verse number 3. Among you, you Christian people, there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality. I didn’t want to hear it. There’s not even a hint of it. Or of any kind of impurity or greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.

There shouldn’t be any, note this now, obscenity. Now think about that for a second. Obscenity in our culture—expletives, people hitting their finger with a hammer, people being mad at each other—the words that come out, how often are those words associated with some kind of sexual immorality? That’s not a mistake. That’s Satan’s plan, right? That’s how it works. He wants to desensitize us to this.

And not only that, talk about stand-up comics. Look at this: foolish talk or coarse jesting, coarse joking. Think about it. You can’t listen to someone on a stage on a Saturday night trying to make people laugh before in five minutes we’re talking about something sexually immoral. Am I right? That’s how it works. And the Bible says it can’t happen. Don’t parrot it. Don’t fall into that. These are, look what it says at the bottom of verse 4, out of place.

If you want to know something to talk about, here’s what you should talk about. Bottom of verse 4: how about being thankful? How about talking about what you’re thankful for? How about we talk about our gratitude toward God?

For of this you can be sure: no immoral, impure, or greedy person—because a greedy person is an idolater, it may not look like one, but he is—but the immoral, impure, and greedy, they don’t have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes upon those who are disobedient. Therefore, do not be partners with them.

Watch your mouth, because your mouth will precede action. Actually, look up in verse 29 of chapter 4. You’re there in Ephesians. Ephesians 4:29: let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths. You just want to talk—talk about things that are helpful for building people up according to their need, that it may benefit those who listen. Police your words. Our words will precede actions. The soundtrack of our world is discussion, expletives, jokes, obscenities that are all about sexual immorality. No place for that in our lives. The Bible says, police your words.

Lastly, letter D, obviously and most obviously, you need to police your actions. And I don’t just mean crawling into bed with someone who’s not your spouse. There are so many actions that precede that, although that obviously is included. We need to learn to control our lives in such a way, with God’s help, that we don’t set ourselves up for these things. There has to be something that characterizes our life according to passages like 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.

1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Look at this one with me. This changes the way we live—not just the things we look at, the things we listen to, the things we talk about, but the places we go, the things that we do, the kinds of connections we make in this world. Our actions have to be policed. Police your actions. We have to marshal our behavior, as Romans says, the members of our body to do righteous things, not unrighteous things.

1 Thessalonians 4, verse 1: finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. But now we ask you and urge you in the Lord to do this more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. This is not just a talk show. He says, this is God’s Word.

It is God’s will that you should be, what’s the word? Sanctified. I know that means growing in Christ, but you know what literally the word means. It means to be set apart, to be different, to be the contrarian to our culture. You are to be different. How do you do that? Well, you’ve got to avoid—what’s the next phrase say? Sexual immorality. Don’t go there.

And how do you do it? Verse 4: that each one of you should learn to control his own body, his own vessel, who he is, in a way that is holy and honorable. I want to go places that are holy and honorable. I want to do things that are holy and honorable. I want to avoid things that are going to lead me down a path of sexual immorality. The text is control yourself—not in passionate lust. People love to be entertained with this. They love to involve themselves in this. They love to recreate as it relates to these things. Don’t do it.

Not in passionate lust like the, here’s a good word, like the heathen, right? Who do not—what’s the difference?—know God. Apparently that’s supposed to be a difference. We know God, and it leads to a different lifestyle. They don’t know God. It leads to passionate lusts, and they live their lives a whole different way. Is the distinction clear? It ought to be clear between the way we live and the way they live. And we need to recognize that the difference is knowing God.

Why does that make a difference? Glad you asked. We don’t have time for this, but let’s turn there—Galatians chapter 5. The difference between knowing God and not knowing God as it relates to sexual immorality and the issue of self-control, it’s kind of analyzed here at a deeper level.

Galatians chapter 5, drop down to verse 16. If knowing God provides a level of control, how does that work? Verse 16: so I say live by the Spirit, live in step with the Spirit, walk in step with the Spirit, defer to the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Your body is designed to have impulses and appetites that aren’t necessarily in keeping with God’s Word. They need to be controlled. They need to be directed.

Verse 17: for the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, because it’s just going to want to love pleasure if you let it lead. And the Spirit, what is contrary to the flesh, the Spirit wants you to walk in a different path. They are in conflict with each other so that you do not do what you want.

Any philosophy of “let go and let God” is not biblical. You understand that. You are in a fight until the end of your life. You are in a fight with the impulses and appetites of your life. Just know that’s going to be where we’re going to live until we say with Paul on our last day, we fought the good fight, we’ve kept the faith. Then we’ll walk into a place where we won’t have the fight anymore because God is going to give us a body that is rejuvenated, remade, refurbished one day that is not going to have these impulses anymore. But for now, there’s going to be a battle going on.

If you’re led by the Spirit, he says, verse 18, you’re not under the law. You’re not going to get dinged, not going to get in trouble. There’s not going to be repercussions, not negative ones at least.

Verse 19: for the acts of the flesh are obvious. What’s the first one on the list? If you let your flesh control, you will end up in sexual immorality. You see that? First thing on the list. And he’s got a lot of other things—impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, verse 21, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice things like this, they’re not going to inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit, the outworking of the Spirit, if the Spirit leads and not your fleshly impulses, the Bible says, here’s what you’ll have. You’ll have things like real biblical agapē love. You’ll have real joy, not just temporary pleasure. You’ll have peace, not guilt, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, fidelity, gentleness, and look at the last thing on the list. What is it? Self-control.

See the chiastic nature here. We started with the most obvious outworking of the flesh, sexual immorality. We end the list of the fruit of the Spirit with the thing that counters sexual immorality, and that is self-control. 1 Thessalonians 4 said it. That’s what we need, the text says. Against such a thing there is no law.

Verse 24: those who belong to Christ, they’ve got kind of a bad attitude toward the impulses of the flesh. They’re all about the pleasure in the right place. They’re all about finding God’s happiness and satisfaction within the confines of his benevolent instructions, but they’ve crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. I’m not going to obey it.

Verse 25: since we live by the Spirit, since we have life by the Spirit, since we’re forgiven by the Spirit, then let us keep in step with the Spirit. You do recognize you have an enablement in you that if you would just defer to that in the midst of temptation, you will follow a path that the world can’t follow because they don’t have that enablement. They don’t have the Spirit of God. Knowing God provides a level of control. We can’t unpack that fully in the middle of this message, but just understand, policing your actions is not just pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and trying to do better. It’s a reliance and a keeping in step, a deference to the Holy Spirit that wants to help. And he is in you to change your behavior.

The text ends with something very difficult in Hebrews chapter 13. It’s difficult to hear. It may even be difficult for us to state outright, but it says what it says. And it says that God is going to judge the adulterer and the sexually immoral. Hebrews 13:4, last line: we’ve got to keep the marriage bed undefiled. Why? Because God will judge the adulterer and the sexually immoral.

The singular motivation is God’s disciplinary action in this text. The one thing—and there are lots of things—but the one thing he leaves us with in this very short verse is you should do the right thing and avoid the onslaught of either premarital sex or extramarital sex because God will judge you if you do. And I know this may sound odd to word it this way, but number three on your outline, hopefully you’ll see the connection: you and I need to know how much God cares.

God cares immensely about this topic. He cares immensely about this topic because it is the most profound and the most transcendent human thing you could do—have some kind of sexual intimacy with a person. I mean, he said, even if you join yourself to a prostitute, didn’t Paul say this to the Corinthians? I mean, you’re making yourself one with her. There’s something profound about this, and he’s desperate in his heart. And I don’t mean desperate in a negative sense. I mean, he’s anxious, he’s intense about the response. And it shows how much he cares about it.

I mean, isn’t that true? When your kid rushes outside to play without his jacket and it’s chilly outside, that invokes one response. If he rushes into the busy street to chase a ball, that invokes another response, doesn’t it? Which one’s more intense? The one that is more dangerous, right?

I mean, if you find your kid at the kitchen table with dirty hands, that invokes one response. If you find cocaine in your kid’s backpack this week, that invokes another response. One is more intense than the other, I trust. Why? Dirty hands, I don’t know. He might get cold, might get the sniffles, might get sick. But you know what? You could trash your life down that path. And God may get up out of his chair, so to speak, and have a pretty violent response to our sexual indiscretions. But the reason he does is he knows that this sin is serious stuff and can mess your life up.

God cares about this. So God is not going to overlook it and say, well, you know, strike one. God is going to respond every single time. The Bible says he will judge the adulterer and the sexually immoral. God cares, and he shows it in two ways.

Letter A: he shows it by his disciplinary action like a father. Didn’t we read about this in chapter 12? We did a whole series on this. He is a God who responds in discipline. He is a father who cares enough about our holiness that he is going to respond by applying pain to our lives. Discipline.

God is a disciplinarian. You don’t believe in spanking, but God does. I’ve said that a hundred times. And he will apply pain to your life if you do this. That’s what he’s saying. He is promising to hurt you if you let your marriage bed get defiled. He will cause pain in your life.

Why does he cause pain? Because he’s a meany, meany, meany. Is that why? God’s so mean? No, because he loves you. What son does he have that is not disciplined? He disciplines those he loves. He loves you enough to stop you. That’s the whole point. He wants you to stop.

And if you’re his child, he promises to discipline you, and you will stop. One way or another, he’s going to stop you. He will not let you play in the freeway. Are you catching this? He will not let you be a drug dealer. He’s not going to let you engage in long-term sexual immorality. God will judge the adulterer and the sexually immoral. Oh, and by the way, let me flip this over, because I know some of you are crossed arms right now. “I wish my husband 12 years ago would have heard this sermon. He needed it. He trashed our marriage.”

Turn back, if you would—this is the last service of the day, we’ve got time for this—1 Thessalonians chapter 4. I just want you to see that God is not just into disciplining the violator. Those statements are true, but there’s another side to this. Just for review: verse 3, sanctified, avoid sexual immorality. Verse 4, control your body. Verse 5, not in passionate lusts, they don’t know God.

Now verse 6, this is one we didn’t read. He says, “and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. For the Lord will,” circle the word, “punish.” Does that sound a lot like our passage, “judge the adulterer”? It’s really a different word. Draw a line to the margin and write this word in: avenger. He will avenge. He will avenge the one who’s been wronged.

Don’t let anybody wrong his brother in this or take advantage of him. The Lord will avenge all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but rejects God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

What’s the point? Someone trashed your marriage because of sexual infidelity? God’s upset about it. And not only is he willing to inflict pain—and does he promise to do that to those that violate the covenant—but he is there as your defender. You realize that. His frustration and anger is not only for his glory, although that’s primary, it is also for your vindication. He is not happy with the fact that someone violated your marriage covenant. He is your defender. He is your protector. He is your avenger in this text. It clearly says. God is going to discipline. That’s the first thing.

The second thing, look back at Hebrews 13—it’s printed on your worksheet there—God will judge. Now, that word’s not avenger. That’s the word krinō. Were you here Thursday night for our eschatology seminar? Our whole session was about this. Krinō. Krinō means to judge. Judgment is a scrutiny and an evaluation of our lives at the end of our lives.

For us as Christians, what do we learn? It’s not the great white throne judgment. It is the bema seat of Christ. And the bema seat of Christ is an evaluation of my life that is supposed to, as a promise of God that he’s going to evaluate and scrutinize my life, invoke fear in my life so that I don’t do the wrong thing. And the text here says God will judge the adulterer and the sexually immoral in two ways. One, he’ll apply pain to their life. And two, he’s going to call us to account.

If you weren’t there Thursday, crash course. A couple of quick passages: Ecclesiastes 12:14—he will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil. Luke 12:2—Jesus said there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, nothing hidden that will not be made known. Romans 2:16—God will judge the secrets of men’s hearts. The whole point of judgment is disclosure.

Now, most adultery is done in secret. At least the attempt is to keep it secret. The fear that should be invoked when God says he’s going to judge the sexually immoral adulterer is that one day you’re going to have to stand before God and answer for that.

And if that doesn’t jibe with your theology, get the CD from Thursday night. I know that your sin is cast into the deepest sea. I know that you’re not going to receive any condemnation. I understand that there’s no purgatory, but there will be accountability. Romans 14:10–12, 2 Corinthians 5:10, 1 Peter 1—get the CD. It’s all on there. And you need to understand that we’re going to stand before God and answer for our lives, right? God will judge the adulterer and the sexually immoral.

Does that put a little fear in you? Don’t you say when you hear that, “I don’t want to do it again”? Not only do I not want to gamble with, well, is the pleasure worth the spanking—like our kids do, right?—it’s not about that. It’s about exposure before God on the day of judgment. I don’t want that.

Know how much God cares. He cares enough to make you stop. That’s the point. He will discipline. He will judge. He will uncover. Now with all of that—and again, nothing’s new, like “oh, I didn’t know they were against adultery at that church,” really?—let me add this very important postscript to the whole thing.

A sermon like this, where I restate the high value of marriage, warn that the marriage bed needs to be undefiled, and tell you that you will be judged if you violate God’s rules here—you need to understand that those of you who have failed in this regard, Satan wants to target you. Oh, I know he wants to target you to get you to do it, but after you do it, he has schemes to do things in your life that are detrimental. And God’s Word says we are not ignorant of his schemes.

So let’s talk about that for just a second.

Number one strategy: Satan would love to get you to think that if you’re messed up already, messing up more doesn’t matter as much. “I already blew my perfect track record.” That is Satan’s temptation. Do not fall to that. God is about fixing what’s messed up. He wants to take what is stained like scarlet and make it white as snow. God is a God of forgiveness.

Second scheme: overwhelming you with excessive sorrow. You think God doesn’t love you anymore. But the whole point of forgiveness is restoration. If you’ve repented, then get up, dust yourself off, and move forward.

Third scheme: overwhelming you with excessive guilt. Peter denied Christ, then sat on the bench. Jesus had to restore him and say, “Feed my sheep.” Don’t sit in the dugout. Get back in the game. Excessive sorrow leads to doubting God’s love. Excessive guilt leads to an unproductive Christian life. Don’t let that happen.

God knew you would fail. He still called you. Imperfect? Welcome to the club. Let’s embrace God’s forgiveness and move forward. Bottom line: fear the sin. But if you’ve sinned, reach out for forgiveness. And remember this—God is a redemptive God. Rahab. Tamar. Bathsheba. David. God redeems. He restores. He still uses broken people. God has called us as his people to uphold his holy standard, whether in our personal integrity or in the wake of our personal failure. This is God’s Word. Let us hear it and respond.

Pray with me.

God, we want to respond rightly to your Word. We know you oppose these sins, and we need to be reminded of their gravity so we protect ourselves—starting with our eyes, our ears, and our mouths. But God, for those who have failed, help us to trust fully in your forgiveness. You are a God who restores what’s broken, who makes scarlet sins white as snow. Keep us from excessive sorrow, excessive guilt, or apathy. Give us strength to live for you, walking in step with your Spirit, exercising self-control, and finding joy within your good boundaries. Help us hold to your Word unflinchingly, without fear.

In Jesus’ name, amen.