Why Does The Bible Say that Sexual Sin is so Dangerous? + One of the FOUR Most Beautiful Women in the Bible! #249
Hello friends and happy Tuesday to you. Today’s Bible readings contain something for everybody. Two wonderful Psalms, including one that was made into an excellent U2 song. An Ezekiel passage where God tells Ezekiel to cook his bread on human dung, and when Ezekiel balks and pleads, allows him to cook it on cow dung instead (!) And, no – I’m not making this up; and yes, I’m aware that I’ve mentioned poop for two straight days in the introduction. I’m going to be honest with you, if it’s in the readings, I’ll probably bring it up. Turning to our Samuel passage, we find that 1st Samuel does NOT disappoint yet again – this is the most fun we’ve had reading the Bible in a long time, right?! You have this gem of a line from the amazing Abigail, about her ill-tempered, and seemingly abusive husband:
My lord should pay no attention to this worthless fool Nabal, for he lives up to his name: His name means ‘stupid,’ and stupidity is all he knows.
1 Samuel 25:25
Zing! Well, Nabal gets what’s coming to him later on. As a note of trivia, the Aggadah, one of the ancient rabbinical commentaries on the Bible, notes that Abigail was one of the four most beautiful women in the Bible. For those asking for the other three, it was Esther, Sarai/Sarah and Rahab. So men have been ranking the looks of women for thousands of years, those disgusting pigs. We’re also going to read a great scene in Samuel today where David basically tells his men to put on their gun belts and saddle up, because blood’s about to flow, or something like that. Stay tuned! Our readings include 1 Samuel 25, Ezekiel 4, Psalms 40 and 41 and 1 Corinthians 6, which is our focus passage, and contains the strongest possible warning against sin there could be – it is literally an eternal life at stake situation. So, let’s read our passage and then discuss it.
Sometimes we are tempted to make light of sin and to be in denial about its danger. Paul sobers us up quickly in 1st Corinthians 6. Let’s read that middle part one more time:
9 Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or males who have sex with males, 10 no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom. 11 And some of you used to be like this. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
Those who live a lifestyle of unrepentant sexual sin, or verbal abuse, or greed, or stealing will not inherit the Kingdom of God…full stop. You might be asking – wait a minute, I asked Jesus into my heart – that means I’m saved, right? And here’s the sobering truth Paul is pointing us to: A person made righteous and saved and cleansed by Jesus will NOT live a lifestyle of unrepentant sexual sin, verbal abuse, idolatry, adultery, drinking, etc. This doesn’t mean you won’t ever sin – but it does mean that you won’t be dominated by any of those sins. Further, according to Paul, sexual sins appear to be more serious than many other kinds of sin. How can that be? Let’s bring in pastor David Platt to give us some insight here:
Sexual sin is different. Recognize that sexual sin is extremely serious in the eyes of Christ. It is at this point that I want to address the thought or the words that are often said in circumstances like this. They’d say, “Well, you know, sexual sin is just like any other sin. He’s guilty of this or she’s guilty of this, but I am guilty of this over here, so what’s the difference?” What I want you to hear, based on the Word of God this morning, is that those kinds of statements are unbiblical. Sexual sin is different! Sexual sin is different!
Now, here me out. I am not saying sexual sin separates me from God while another sin doesn’t. All sin is the same in that it separates us from God. No question about that in Scripture, but did you hear 1 Corinthians 6:18? “All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but …” Here’s the difference: “… he who sins sexually sins against his own body.” There is a difference here.
Now, what we are not clear on … we are crystal clear there is a difference, but we are not exactly clear on what Paul means by that. Even if we were to study this passage, there’s still a little ambiguity there, and we can take a hold of Scripture and see over and over again, God has chosen to judge sexual sin very harshly. Deuteronomy 22–24; Leviticus 19; Leviticus 21; Proverbs 5, 6, 7, 9. Here: Ephesians 5; 1 Thessalonians 4; Revelation 2; it’s all over Scripture. What’s the difference?
Here’s what we do know. Paul is undoubtedly pointing out that sexual sin is so harmful and so controlling and so dominating, maybe even more that other sins. You saw from the very beginning, “… not mastered by anything.” This sin is so deep; it penetrates so deep in our hearts and our lives. It dominates and controls us. There is that compulsion, that inner desire there, that absolutely shatters our lives and shatters our relationships, and shatters any trust we have with the people that are closest to us. This sin is profound and penetrating and, as a result, any attempt to treat this kind of sin, sexual sin, lightly is extremely, very, very, dangerous.
Sexual sin is devastating
Not only is it different, but it is devastating, and I want you to see how that unfolds in 1 Corinthians 6. Do you see the picture here? The whole Trinity is involved in this thing. He starts with God the Father, up there in verse 13, “The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body …” Ladies and gentlemen, if you are a Christ-follower, your body does not belong to you; it belongs to the Lord! He sent His Son to die for it! That means that you and I are not free to do what we will with our bodies.
He brings God the Son in, verse 15, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!” Did you catch that? Your bodies are members of Christ. This is a picture of how your body is united with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in the closest, most intimate of ways. You are one with Him, and what that means is that when you take your body, and you commit sexual sin, then you have taken the very body of the Lord Jesus Christ and involved Him in illicit sexual activity. You have united the body of Christ with a prostitute. Paul says, “This is unthinkable, unfathomable. Never! No! No!” He said at the end verse 15, “Why would you ever do that?”
Then, he brings the Holy Spirit in, verse 19, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit [of God] …” Sexual sin is not a mistake or a slip up. It is not a biological act. It is a desecration of God Himself. That is the picture of sexual sin here. I can’t help but to think, with the way we have treated it lightly in the church, that many people go into sexual sin simply thinking, “Well, it’s forgivable”, but giving no thought to the deep, painful consequences, not just for them, but for the body of Christ Himself and for the relationships that are shattered, and the life that is devastated completely by that one act.
Ladies and gentlemen, our bodies belong to the Lord. Let’s embrace that. Unite ourselves with Christ with His Spirit indwelling us. If we have any love for God and any concern for His glory and Him personally in our lives, then let us avoid this kind of sin with everything we have. Let’s run from it. Flee from it. Let it get nowhere near your lives, because it is that serious.
David Platt, “How Do You Respond to Moral Failure in the Church?,” in David Platt Sermon Archive (Birmingham, AL: David Platt, 2007), 613–614.