Sexual Purity and the Sanctity of Life

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1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 and various Scriptures

INTRODUCTION: Our topic is a challenging one – “Sexual Purity and the Sanctity of Life.” Sexual purity is very much related to the sanctity of life. As we have lost respect for the sacredness of the sexual relationship in marriage, it should come as no surprise that we have also lost respect for the sacredness of human life in the womb. There are some messages that are a joy to preach, and then there are messages like today’s. And although it would be nice to always preach about green pastures and quiet waters, the church is called to preach the whole counsel of God.

Please know that I am not thinking about any specific persons or situations as I preach, so if this message hits too close to home, I am not picking on you. It just means that this message applies to you, and you need to do something about it. In fact there is probably something in this message to offend just about everyone here, so at least I am an equal opportunity offender.

Also if you have failed in any of the areas that we address this morning, please know that you are not alone and that God’s forgiveness is available to you through Jesus Christ. We are going to be talking more about that during the message, but I want you to hear that word of assurance up front, especially if this is going to be a difficult message for you today. Let us stand together for the reading of God’s Word. (Read 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 and pray)

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Today is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, a day that we set aside to reflect on the sacredness of human life not only in relation to the child in the womb, but also as regards the elderly, the weak and infirm, the mentally challenged, and those with physical limitations. All of human life is sacred, and all human life should be equally valued and protected under the law.

This past Tuesday, January 22, was the fortieth anniversary of Roe versus Wade, the court decision that made it legal across the United States for a woman to terminate her pregnancy anytime up until birth. Since that time there have been over 50 million abortions in our country. And with all the talk about making abortion safe and rare, let me assure you that abortion is neither safe nor rare. And although it is easy to get overwhelmed with the numbers, we must also remember that each individual abortion is a personal tragedy and represents the loss of a precious human life.

This morning I want us to focus on the relationship between sexual purity and the sanctity of life. For the two are very much connected. The vast majority of abortions (83%) take place because of an unplanned pregnancy occurring outside of marriage. Now it is sad that abortions also take place within marriage, but so many abortions would be avoided if we simply followed God’s way of sexual purity before marriage and sexual faithfulness within marriage.

And so this morning as we consider sexual purity and the sanctity of life, I want to address the following three points.

1) As followers of Christ, we must be committed to absolute sexual purity in our lives.
2) As followers of Christ, we must extend grace and forgiveness to those who fall.
3) As followers of Christ, we must support those who choose life.

I. We must be committed to absolute sexual purity in our lives.

So, point number one: As followers of Christ, we must be committed to absolute sexual purity in our lives. That’s what the passage we read earlier from 1 Thessalonians 4 tells us. People often say, “I want to know God’s will for my life!” Well, 1 Thessalonians 4 tells you part of it! “It is God’s will … that you should avoid sexual immorality.” (1 Thessalonians 4:3) So how can we as a church and as individual followers of Christ be committed to absolute sexual purity?

    A. We need to affirm the goodness of sexual relations in marriage (Proverbs 5:18-19; Song of Songs)

First of all, we need to affirm the goodness of sexual relations in marriage. God created sexual relations as a good and vital part of a healthy marriage. The Bible not only affirms sexual relations in marriage, it celebrates it! Proverbs 5 says, “Rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer, – may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love.” (Proverbs 5:18-19) In fact we have a whole book of the Bible, the Song of Solomon or the Song of Songs, which is devoted to romantic and sexual love as expressed in marriage.

Sexuality is God’s idea. It is God’s good gift to humankind. But it was designed for the safety and security of the marriage relationship. Within marriage the sexual relationship fosters a bond of love and intimacy between husband and wife, and marriage provides a stable environment for the children that will naturally arise from that relationship. Reserving sexual relations for marriage respects the sanctity of life, because it recognizes that life comes from sex and seeks to protect that life within the proper boundaries of marriage.

So as followers of Christ committed to absolute sexual purity, the first thing we need to do is to affirm the goodness of sexual relations within marriage.

    B. You need to keep your heart pure (Mark 7:21; Proverbs 5:23; Matthew 5:8)

Secondly, you need to keep your heart pure. God has commanded you to avoid sexual immorality, and obedience begins with the heart. The heart is the seat of your affections. Your heart determines what you love, what you long for, what you think about, what you seek, what you serve. Jesus said it is not what goes into you that makes a person unclean; rather it is what comes out of you that makes a person unclean. “For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, and adultery.” (Mark 7:21) No one ever wakes up one morning and goes out and commits sexual immorality. First you entertain it in your heart, and once you allow it in your heart, it is only a matter of time until you act it out in your life.

Proverbs 5:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” We live in a highly sexualized culture, and this guarding of the heart is not an easy task. It takes diligence, it takes prayer, it takes accountability, and it takes daily dependence on God. But it is worth it. Jesus said in Matthew 5:8: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Purity of heart will not only guard you against many pitfalls in life, it will also allow you to draw closer in relationship to God as you enjoy unbroken fellowship with him.

    C. You need to repent of any sexual immorality in your life (1 John 1:9, 2:1-2)

How can we as a church be committed to absolute sexual purity? First of all we need to affirm the goodness of sexual relations within marriage. Secondly, you need to keep your heart pure. And thirdly, you need to repent of any sexual immorality in your life.

In the book of 1 John, the apostle John writes: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) And then just a few verses later, he writes: “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin.” (1 John 2:1)

Repentance simply means turning away from your sin. When we first come to Christ, there is an initial repentance, as we confess our sin and receive God’s forgiveness. But then as we continue in Christ, there is a continuing repentance, as we continue to confess our sins to God and turn away from any sin in our life.

We all sin, but it is a dangerous thing to become complacent about your sin. God gave you new life in Christ, so that you could live out that new life, so that you could know the joy of fellowship with Christ and be a shining light for Christ in this world that has rejected God and his ways.

Sexual immorality will kill your relationship with Christ. And so you need to repent of sexual immorality in your life.

    D. The church must confront willful, unrepentant sin (Hebrews 13:4; Ephesians 5:25-27)

And then the fourth thing is this: the church must confront those who persist in willful, unrepentant sin. This is not out of a spirit of judgment, but rather out of a spirit of love and concern. Hebrews 13:4 says, “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.” God will judge the sexually immoral, and so the purpose of church discipline is to restore the person who has put sexual immorality before God in their lives and help them get back on track in their walk with the Lord.

There is a difference between the person who makes a mistake, who messes up and then confesses their sin to God, and the person who persists in sin with no repentance.

I am thinking particularly here of people who choose to live together outside of marriage. When you choose to live together in a sexual relationship outside of marriage, you are persisting in willful, unrepentant sin. God has made his will clear concerning sexual relations and marriage, and you are choosing to go against his will.

And I am not just talking about young couples here. A Lifeway article reports that one of the most rapidly growing age groups of people living together outside of marriage is couples over the age of 55. The article states: “Many senior couples are living together for financial reasons. Although they want the benefit of companionship, whether made single by death or divorce, many decide that they simply do not want to get remarried.”

Folks, this is a problem. We need to hold God’s standard for marriage high, and we need to set the right example for our younger couples as well. Ephesians 5 tells us, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Ephesians 5:25-27) Christ died to make his church holy, and the church must confront those who persist in willful, unrepentant sin.

If you are living together, God’s will for you is clear. You need to move apart and abstain sexually until you get married. You cannot ask God’s blessing on your relationship while you are disobeying God’s will in your relationship.

So that’s our first point as we consider sexual purity and the sanctity of life. As followers of Christ, we must be committed to absolute sexual purity in our lives.

II. We must extend grace and forgiveness to those who fall.

The second point is just as important. We must extend grace and forgiveness to those who fall. And there are three things I want to say about that.

    A. God’s grace is greater than any sin (Romans 5:20-21, 6:23)

First of all, God’s grace is greater than any sin. Paul writes in Romans 5: “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness.” (Romans 5:20-21) Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God’s grace always trumps sin. No matter how badly you may have sinned in the past or even this week, Christ’s death is sufficient. If you confess your sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive you your sins and purify you from all unrighteousness. God’s grace not only brings you forgiveness of your sins, but also righteousness and power through the Holy Spirit so you may live a new life in Christ.

    B. We must not stand in judgment over each other (Romans 3:23)

A corollary to this is we must not stand in judgment over each other. Romans 3:23 says we “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” I cannot stand in judgment over you as a sinner, because I am a sinner too. I can stand with you as a sinner, and I can share with you God’s grace that has brought me new life and offer the same to you. But we must not stand in judgment over each other.

    C. We must hold high the values of grace and truth (John 1:17, 8:11)

And then thirdly, we must hold high the values of grace and truth. John 1:17 says, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” This means we do not just hit people with the law. Rather, we hold high the twin values of grace and truth. We do not separate grace from truth, or truth from grace. When you try to give someone grace while withholding the truth, it is not grace you give at all. And truth without grace is not really the truth. You cannot extend grace and forgiveness without also acknowledging sin, and you should never confront sin without also extending grace and forgiveness.

Jesus is our example here. Jesus never held back on grace, and he never compromised on truth. To the woman caught in adultery, he said, “Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:11)

The church needs to be a safe place for people to rebuild their lives in Christ. But in order to do so, we must extend grace and forgiveness to those who fall.

III. We must support those who choose life (Proverbs 24:11-12)

So let’s move on to our third point as we consider sexual purity and the sanctity of life. 1) As followers of Christ, we must be committed to absolute sexual purity in our lives. 2) As followers of Christ, we must extend grace and forgiveness to those who fall. And 3) As followers of Christ, we must support those who choose life.

According to the National Abortion Federation, a pro-choice organization: “Each year, almost half of all pregnancies among American women are unintended. About half of these unplanned pregnancies, 1.3 million each year, are ended by abortion.” That means there are over 3,500 abortions every day in our nation.

Proverbs 24:11-12 says: “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’ does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it?” These verses apply to a variety of situations, but they certainly apply to the protection of innocent life within the womb. So what can we do as a church to support those who choose life? Here are three application points to close with.

    A. We need to love and welcome single mothers in the church

First of all, we need to love and welcome single mothers in the church. There was a time when single mothers felt very unwelcome in many churches, but I pray that time is over. There are many reasons why a woman may find herself in a position as single-mom – whether through divorce, or through the death of a spouse, or through having a child outside of marriage. Whatever the circumstances, and whether the original circumstances involved sin or not, the single mother has chosen life, and as followers of Christ we must support those who choose life. Quoting from a recent article by Jonathan Parnell:

Believing [sex before marriage] is sin and that every life matters doesn’t form two opposing truths…. We must love single mothers without a stigma on their situation. The church must be clear on what sin is, but scarlet letters are not in the gospel’s alphabet. This plea has even greater urgency in some Christian subcultures … [where] the silent consensus suggested that the guilt of abortion is preferred over the shame of unwed parenting. Loving single mothers means the stigma must go. (http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/raise-your-hand-if-you-agree)

The circumstances of conception do not affect the value of the life within the womb. Every child in the womb is a new human being created in God’s image. The single mother has chosen life. Praise God! We need to love and welcome and single mothers in the church.

    B. We need to support adoption, foster care and pregnancy care centers

Secondly, we need to support adoption, foster care and pregnancy care centers. One of the common criticisms leveled against those in the pro-life movement is that supposedly we only care about the child in the womb, and we forget all about the mother or child after the baby is born. Perhaps that is true of some people somewhere, but that has certainly not been my experience. Most pro-life people I know care intensely for both mother and child both before and after birth. And this love is expressed in concrete and tangible ways. Our church has certainly taken a stand for life, and I praise God for the people in our church who support women and children through adoption and foster care and through the Hope Women’s Centers we support.

    C. We need to support candidates who choose life

We need to love and welcome single mothers in the church. We need to support adoption, foster care and pregnancy care centers. And thirdly, we need to support candidates who choose life. Remember, Proverbs 24:11 says to rescue those being led away to death. We may have a positive influence on the few people we know, but our elected officials have influence on a national and state level. We need to make sure that we support candidates who choose life whenever we can.

CONCLUSION: This may have been a difficult message for you to hear this morning. Perhaps you had an abortion in the past, or perhaps you’ve been involved sexually outside of marriage. Perhaps you are living with someone outside of marriage even now. Perhaps you’ve been sitting in judgment over someone else. Let me remind you that God’s forgiveness in Christ is never more than a confession of sin away. Christ died for all your sins, and if you are in Christ, all your sins are forgiven. If your sin is in the past, you may confess that sin freely to God and know the wonderful, cleansing relief of forgiveness. If your sin is in the present, you need to turn away from your sin and turn back to God, so that you may know God’s forgiveness in the present. Remember, God’s grace is greater than any sin. There is no sin so deep that God’s grace is not deeper still. Come to Christ today, and know the blessing of new life and the joy of your sins forgiven.

© Ray Fowler

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