825 - The Marriage Journey

February 28, 2010
Sermon #826
The Marriage Journey

Introduction: Larry Christenson, in the book, The Christian Couple, writes that “marriage is the new land, pioneer land, full of difficulty, full of hope. ” To that, I would add that marriage is always a new pioneer land no matter when you started the journey or how long you have been on it. That is what makes it exciting, mysterious, dangerous, and worthwhile. The Apostle Paul calls it a mystery:

Ephesians 5:30 - 33 (NKJV) 30For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
I. Marriage is a mystery because it belongs to God
Romans 11:33 - 36 (NKJV) 33Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! 34“For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?” 35“Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?” 36For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
A. God is the “Wholly Other”
God is not an object, a thing. He is a person revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. While He does not change, my relationship to Him is in constant flux. I cannot relate to Him as to a chair that will be where I left it the next day. Because time and situation has changed, and I have changed, I will have to hunt and search to find Him.
B. Marriage means I am related, bonded, to one created in the image of the “Wholly Other”
My mate is not an object, a thing. She (He) is a person. She (He) does change and our relationship is in constant flux. Because we are both changing, both moving through time and situations, our marriage is always changing. That is why it is always a “mystery,” a journey, an adventure, a new page in a book to which I do not know the ending.
C. Like our journey with God, marriage must be a walk of faith and adversity
James 1:2 - 4 (NKJV) 2My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
Marriage translation, Make things joyful in the trials, for your marriage will be tested but keep faith that the testing of your marriage will become complete and lack nothing.
II. Your mate is wholly other
Psalm 139:13 - 17 (NKJV) 13For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. 14I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. 15My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. 17How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!

ILL: A Jewish teaching states that 40 days before a baby is formed in the womb, God chose a mate for it. The two of them coming together are a greater miracle than the opening of the Red Sea!
Men and Women are different, physically, soulfully, (in their thinking processes and emotionally) and spiritually.
Ephesians 5:25 - 33 (NKJV) 25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
A. The Husband
• A Covenant (not a contract between two people) - In the Christian marriage, God is the third person
• A Covenant is based upon a Word, not a feeling. If you will obey, you will love! The Will is the doorknob to the heart.
ILL: A man has to be careful who or what he lets turn the doorknob: Society, Self-Will, Temptation, Duty, Education, Friends, Enemies, Impulses, Charlatans.
• Husbands, Love – is a Command that demands obedience! Turning the doorknob means doing something – opening the door!
ILL: We showed the movie “Fireproof” in this church and ran the program. Remember what the “fireman” did to save his marriage. He started doing little things.
ILL: The wife said, “I don’t want him to love me because he has to. I want him to feel it.” The heart of a man will always follow his will.
ILL: The man said to me, “We got really acquainted at work. She had no way to get home so I drove her. Then I came in for a cup of coffee. I really had feelings toward her, she understood me, was attractive and I felt romantic about her. One day after I left her place, I turned the car around and went back opened the door and we made love. I am going to leave my wife because I am in love with the other woman.”
“Your will opened the door,” I told him. “You chose to turn the car around and go back and you chose to open the door. Your feelings toward her are following your will.”
• One of the big lies Satan tells is that you cannot say NO to your feelings!
John 14:15 - 18 (NKJV) 15“If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
• If you love Jesus you will keep His commandments, and if you keep His commandments you love Him!
Acts 5:32 (NKJV) 32And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.”
• My will opens the doorknob to Christ and Love comes in.
ILL: Mary comes home and hears hammering. She panics. She knows that I cannot fix anything. I tried to change the oil on a lawnmower and it had to be sent back to the factory. “It’s all right,” I call out, “Kenny is here fixing the door.” Now Mary feels good and loved.
“But you didn’t fix the door!”
No, but I opened the door and Kenny came in. Understand, that the man’s will opens the doorknob and love comes in!
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: “It is not your love that sustains marriage, but your marriage that will sustain your love.”
For a man, love is a choice.
B. The Wife
Ephesians 5:22 - 24 (NKJV) 22Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
Different and Equal
• In the Godhead
1 Corinthians 11:2 - 3 (NKJV) 2Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. 3But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
Philippians 2:5 - 7 (NKJV) 5Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
• The Bible makes no difference between men and women as to status.
Galatians 3:26 - 29 (NKJV) 26For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
1 Peter 3:7 (NKJV) 7Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.

ILL: My wife and I had a great example of Christian husband and wife relationships from her father and mother after her father became submissive to Christ.
Mary and I were engaged and I was away in the Air Force. Mary was at home sick and my father decided to visit her. He came unannounced and knocked on the door. Mrs. Roberts answered. “I’ve come to see Mary,” Dad said. “My husband is not at home, Mary’s mother answered. “I didn’t come to see Steve,” my father replied. “Well,” Mary’s mother answered sweetly, “you don’t come into my husband’s home unless he is here or he has invited you. You can come back after 6 this evening when my husband is at home.” My Dad was furious, but Mary’s mother held her ground.
On another occasion, after we were married, Mary answered the telephone. ‘Hi Dad.” Her father asked. “Can I speak to Paul?” “Sure, how are you and Mom?” “Can I speak to Paul?” he repeated. She gave me the phone. After some pleasantries, he asked, “Ruby and I would like to visit. Would that be appropriate, and if so, when would be a good time?” After we made the arrangements he asked, “Now can I speak to my daughter?” “Of course,” I answered. “But why didn’t you talk to her when you called?” I asked. “You are her husband,” he replied, “and I honor you as head of your home.” Wow – that made me feel good!
C. Different in soul (emotions & thinking patterns)
• A man gets his sense of identity from accomplishments
• A woman gets her sense of identity from relationships
ILL: A wife should never put her husband down, especially in front of other men with whom he desires respect, in anything concerning his job or accomplishment. A husband should never put his wife down concerning her relationships, family, or friends.
Men choose to love. Women fall in love.

III. What about if one becomes a Christian and the other doesn’t?
It is called, “Holy Matrimony,” but it can only be holy if the participants are. If your husband or your wife is not – the Christian sanctifies the marriage.

1 Corinthians 7:10 - 17 (NKJV) 10Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. 11But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife. 12But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. 13And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. 14For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. 15But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace. 16For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife? 17But as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all the churches.
A. What happens at the rapture
Proverbs 11:21 (NKJV) 21Though they join forces, the wicked will not go unpunished; But the posterity of the righteous will be delivered.
Psalm 103:17 - 18 (NKJV) 17But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children, 18To such as keep His covenant, And to those who remember His commandments to do them.

B. The greatest thing a husband or wife can do for their children is to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and serve Him.
ILL: The Tithe blesses the children.
Hebrews 7:4 - 10 (NKJV) 4Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils. 5And indeed those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham; 6but he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. 7Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better. 8Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives. 9Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak, 10for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.
Proverbs 13:22 (NKJV) 22A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.
Psalm 37:25 (NKJV) 25I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread.

Conclusion: There are two kinds of marriage.
• A contract – a civil union: God honors. He renders unto Caesar that which belongs to him.
• A covenant – a Holy union: God honors and blesses.

824 - Love and Romance

February 21, 2010

Sermon # 825

Love and Romance

Introduction: She whispers, “I love you.” What is meant? Where does it come from? What is love?

• God is the source of all love

1 John 4:7 - 16 (NKJV) ⁷Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. ¹⁰In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. ¹³By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. ¹⁴And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. ¹⁵Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

A. There are three kinds of love

• Agape - A love that requires no return

• Philo - A love of relationship

• Eros - Romantic love

B. All three are found in the Godhead

John 3:16 - 21 (NKJV) ¹⁶For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. ¹⁸“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. ²¹But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

C. God is light – light is made from a mixture of the spectrum

1 John 1:5 - 7 (NKJV) ⁵This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. ⁶If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. ⁷But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

D. Love, like light, contains a mixture

Galatians 5:22 - 24 (NKJV) ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long­suf­fer­ing, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. ²⁴And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

ILL: Note that fruit of the Spirit is singular. Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control are all parts of love.

• God loves us – He wants us to experience Joy

• God loves us – He wants us to experience Peace

• God loves us – He wants us to experience His Patience

• God loves us – He wants us to experience Kindness

• God loves us – He wants that which is good for us

• God loves us – He will be Faithful

• God loves us – He will be Gentle

• God loves us – He wants us to experience His Self-Control

Is that what you meant when you said, “I love you?”

• Light and Love are intangibles – you cannot hold onto them

ILL: Open your hand under a light and watch it. The light fills your hand. Now grab it! Your hand becomes a fist and inside is no light, only darkness. Love is the same way – grasp it and you will lose it!

1. God is love – He will never take away your free will, He will never force you.

2. To love someone, you have to be willing to let them be free

• When you say, “If you love me, you will” - means you do not love them!

• Love in marriage should mean I am free, but I choose to stay with you because I love you

ILL: One of the most beautiful marriages and love affairs I have ever witnessed was between a professor of mine and his lovely wife. They were in love and engaged to be married before he went to war. He was wounded in the war. The wound left him paralyzed from the waist down and impotent. He wrote her a letter and released her from the engagement. She went to the hospital and married him. He was willing to let her go because he loved her. She was willing to marry a man who could never give her sex or children because she loved him. They both showed peace, joy, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control toward each other, and to look at them you knew that they were deliriously happy with each other.

• True love means “I will never leave you”

Deuteronomy 15:12 - 17 (NKJV) ¹²“If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. ¹³And when you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; ¹⁴you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the Lord has blessed you with, you shall give to him. ¹⁵You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today. ¹⁶And if it happens that he says to you, ‘I will not go away from you,’ because he loves you and your house, since he prospers with you, ¹⁷then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise.”

• Free to go but chooses to stay because of love – put a hole in my ear and a ring through it; I am yours forever!

ILL: Jesus, on the cross, made a love covenant with His disciples. He did not receive a hole in His ear – but in His feet, His hands, and His side – It is His pledge to give His believers eternal life.

1 Corinthians 13:13 (NKJV) ¹³And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

A. Love has to contain faith

• Faith is sexual control

ILL: When I council people for marriage, I ask them, “Are you now or have you had sex together – of any kind? If they answer “Yes” (and the majority do), I tell them I will not marry them until they can know each other for a minimum of six months as deep friends without sex.

Why?

They cannot trust each other. “If they will have sex with me without commitment, I cannot trust that they will not have sex with someone else after the wedding!”

ILL: The young lady told me that her husband was extremely jealous and she was having difficulty with it. When he came for counseling, I asked him, “Were you and your wife sexually active with each other before marriage?” He was puzzled at the question but answered, “Yes.” “Do you think that if she would have sex with you before she was married to you she would have sex with someone else after she was married?” He looked away, “Yes, I believe she would.” “Would you?” He answered quickly, “No!” “Then what makes you think that you are more moral than she is? That’s the root of your jealousy.”

• Faith in provisions

ILL: When I council people for marriage, I ask them about their finances – their budget. Why? If you are not taking care of your finances, how can I trust you to take care of me?

ILL: I’ve seen more marriages destroyed by bill collectors – not just because the people did not have the money but because the security was destroyed. No matter how humble the nest, a woman has to feel nested and love communicates that it is not temporary.

B. Love has to contain hope

• What are your dreams?

• What excites you about the future of your loved one?

• What am I going to work for that will please them?

• I want to know that we have a future?

ILL: I asked a young girl, “What upsets you when your parents argue?” She answered, “When daddy takes off his wedding ring.” I can still remember terror when my Dad came home from the war and they were fighting over which one was going to have me when they divorced. They both said that they loved me but hope was destroyed.

• Love has to be communicated

John 14:9 - 11 (NKJV) ⁹Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. ¹¹Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

1. Touch

Luke 7:44 - 47 (NKJV) ⁴⁴Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. ⁴⁵You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. ⁴⁶You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. ⁴⁷Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”

ILL: A touch can communicate many things. Mary has pets, they cannot speak in English but oh, they can communicate: a look, a touch, and that they want to be “petted,” the need - assurance.

ILL: In marriage counseling, it can be intimidating. Are they sitting next to each other, is he holding her hand, are they saying with body language we love each other?

2. Say it & listen

ILL: The man who said, “She knows I love her; I go to work every morning!” No! She needs to hear it and love needs to listen. Listen beneath the words.

• Men and Women speak different languages

• Men speak fact ( proven that the average male speaks 12,500 words per day)

• Women speak emotion (proven that the average women speaks 25,000 words per day)

ILL: We are driving and Mary says, “Honey, there is a McDonalds just ahead”

I keep on driving – I’m not hungry, and Mary says, “Honey, there is a Phillips 66 station ahead.” I keep on driving – I’m not out of gas, and Mary says, “Paul, the sign says that there is a shopping center down the next exit.” I keep on driving – I don’t know anything I want. Now the conversation does not begin with ‘Honey’ or even ‘Paul.’ “I’ve go to use the restroom and it’s twenty miles to the next stop!”

Why didn’t she say that? She did, but I wasn’t listening with love, because I was not responding with Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control.

• When a man goes to the store, he goes hunting.

• When a woman goes to the store, she goes shop-p-p-p-ping.

• Men generalize.

• Women are detailers (Mary actually wants to read those historical markers).

1. Communicating security

John 10:27 - 30 (NKJV) ²⁷My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. ²⁸And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. ³⁰I and My Father are one.”

ILL: Look at the word picture. I am a sheep – I hear His voice – I follow Him – No one can take me away from Him – He gives me eternal life! Wow!

What do I mean about communicating security to the one I love? I mean giving the assurance that I am committed to love and value my loved one for a lifetime. To be aware that whatever difficulties we face, we’ll work to solve our problems together. Our love is not just a feeling. It is a decision!

ILL: Larry Christenson tells how romance is fading by the communication of security.

The loved one is hurting physically

• 1^st year, “Sugar, I’m worried about my darling. You’ve got a bad sniffle. I’m putting you in the hospital for a general check-up and a good rest. I’ve got it arranged.”

• 2^nd year, “Listen, darling I don’t live the sound of that cough, and I’ve called Dr. Miller to rush over here. Now you get into bed.”

• 3^rd year, “Maybe you’d better lie down, honey; nothing like a little rest when you feel down. I’ll bring you some hot soup.”

• 4^th year, “Look dear, be sensible. After you feed the kids and get dishes washed you had better go to bed.”

• 5^th year, “What don’t you get yourself a couple of aspirin”

• 6^th year, “If you’d gargle or something instead of sitting around barking like a seal”

• 7^th year, “For Pete’s sake, stop sneezing! Are you trying to give me pneumonia?”

• Romance – The lifetime process of discovery

1. Romance is not heavy petting – that’s porneia - part of sex - foreplay.

2. Romance is becoming friends.

ILL: Men and women should become friends before they become lovers! Your wife, or husband, should be your best friend.

• Find out what they enjoy and do it with them!

ILL: Mary, my wife, enjoys historical places – it’s not my favorite thing – but I take her and enjoy the dining if I can find it. I enjoy boating. Though we courted on a boat, it’s not Mary’s favorite thing, I’m planning a boat trip this spring to a historical site, that way we each get to do something we like together.

ILL: Mary and I courted on the dance floor. For years, religion kept us from dancing together, but today I find holding her and showing her off on a dance floor to be romantic. We have our romantic songs.

• Romance is just being together, holding hands, and massaging backs, doing little things she does not expect.

  1. Romance is always new, discovering new exciting things about the other.

Conclusion:

There is a song “Love is a many Splendored Thing” It’s not just sexual desire, it is that – ‘Hallelujah’ - but it is more. It is like a brilliant diamond, complex, made of many facets and many parts. It is like God, so totally other that it is impossible for a finite mind to understand it. Love will sacrifice itself for the other. Love will give its own life to assure the life of the other. Jesus said:

John 15:9 - 17 (NKJV) ⁹“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. ¹¹“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. ¹²This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. ¹⁴You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. ¹⁵No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. ¹⁷These things I command you, that you love one another.

• This is the Love He had for you that placed Him on a cross.

• This is the Love He expects you to have in marriage!

822 - Sex and Spirit

February 7, 2010

Sermon #822

Sex and Spirit

Genesis 1:26 - 28 (NKJV) ²⁶Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, overall the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

1. The plurality of God

Matthew 3:13 - 17 (NKJV) ¹³Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. ¹⁴And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” ¹⁵But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. ¹⁶When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. ¹⁷And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

1. God is a Spirit

John 4:24 (NKJV) ²⁴God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

2. Jesus was in God from the beginning

John 17:1 - 5 (NKJV) ¹Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, ²as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that Heshould give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. ³And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. ⁴I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. ⁵And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

3. The “US” in creation was the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

4. The “Image” of God in creation was Mankind,

Man is a spirit, who has a soul (mind and emotions) and lives in a body (flesh) and was created in perfect sexual unity. He created “them, male and female”

5. Mankind was created to reproduce the image of God

Genesis 2:21 - 25 (NKJV) ²¹And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. ²²Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. ²³And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” ²⁴Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ²⁵And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

2. Illicit sex is also spiritual

Exodus 20:4 - 6 (NKJV) ⁴ “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; ⁵you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, ⁶but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Baal and Sin were sex gods and worship of them gave power to spirits – demons. They were not to be mixed with the Spirit of God and His worship!

Numbers 25:1 - 9 (NKJV) ¹Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove,^ and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. ²They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. ³So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel. ⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and hang the offenders before the Lord, out in the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.” ⁵So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Every one of you kill his men who were joined to Baal of Peor.”

⁶And indeed, one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ⁷Now when Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand; ⁸and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel. ⁹And those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.

Deuteronomy 7:1 - 6 (NKJV) ¹“When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, ²and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. ³Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. ⁴For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. ⁵But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down theirwooden images, and burn their carved images with fire. ⁶“For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.

1 Corinthians 6:15 - 20 (NKJV) ¹⁵Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! ¹⁶Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” ¹⁷But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. ¹⁸Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. ¹⁹Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? ²⁰For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in yourbody and in your spirit, which are God’s.

• 82% of adolescents reported that they had experienced sexual intercourse before age 19

• 70% of “Born Again” Christians are having sex outside of marriage

• 85% of infectious diseases in the US are sexually transmitted

3. Sex is not just physical

ILL: The first sexual encounter always involves six people (The two having sex and the two each of them learned sexual expression from.)

Every affair multiplies the number of people.

1. It’s not “just” genetic

ILL: You will never be an alcoholic just because of genes – you have to drink alcohol!

• You may have the tendency in your genes for cancer but it does not mean you will have cancer

• You may have more of one hormone or another but you will never be gay until you try it!

ILL: Today the “Gay” community is asking that Marriage include homosexuality as an “Equal Right.” As one African American Pastor stated, they are confusing skin with sin!

1. It is spiritual

Judges 14:1 - 3 (NKJV) ¹Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. ²So he went up and told his father and mother, saying, “I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife.” ³Then his father and mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” And Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well.”

• Samson already knew that it was forbidden by God

2 Corinthians 6:14 - 18 (NKJV) ¹⁴Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? ¹⁵And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? ¹⁶And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:“I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” ¹⁷Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” ¹⁸ “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.”

• You cannot break God’s laws and not be broken on them – one violation always leads to desire for more.

Judges 16:1 - 3 (NKJV) ¹Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. ²When the Gazites were told, “Samson has come here!” they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, “In the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him.” ³And Samson lay low till midnight; then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.

• Sampson was appointed by God – He had a gift of the Spirit, the gift of supernatural strength – gifts have nothing to do with character!

Judges 16:4 - 6 (NKJV) ⁴Afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. ⁵And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.” ⁶So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you.”

• The demon spirit is looking for your weakness: loneliness – charming men – good looking women – Masturbation – Homosexuality – Adultery – Pornography?

Judges 16:15 - 17 (NKJV) ¹⁵Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.” ¹⁶And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, ¹⁷that he told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”

• There you go – “If you love me, you will!” The oldest trick, play the “love card”

Judges 16:18 - 21 (NKJV) ¹⁸When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. ¹⁹Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Thenshe began to torment him, and his strength left him. ²⁰And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. ²¹Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison.

• Sexual addiction will put out your vision, and, like any addiction, it will control you and imprison you! – It is spiritual possession!

• It can take your life!

Judges 16:23 - 30 (NKJV) ²³Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice. And they said: “Our god has delivered into our hands Samson our enemy!” ²⁴When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said: “Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy, The destroyer of our land, And the one who multiplied our dead.” ²⁵So it happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may perform for us.” So they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. And they stationed him between the pillars. ²⁶Then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars which support the temple, so that I can lean on them.”

²⁷Now the temple was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there—about three thousand men and women on the roof watching while Samson performed. ²⁸Then Samson called to the Lord, saying, “O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!” ²⁹And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left. ³⁰Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.

• Who is “Dagon”? Their demon spirit - the same one who entered Samson through sex.

• Satan is praised when a Christian falls into sexual sin.

• Samson killed 3000, but he committed suicide.

ILL: Playing Russian Roulette with sex.

• Christian young woman, why are you taking “birth control pills”?

• Christian young man, why are you carrying a “condom” in your pocket?

• Why are you cruising bars at night?

• How are you going to explain to your “real love” your HIV infection, or the incurable herpes?

4. How do you get free from sexual addiction?

Psalm 32:5 (NKJV) ⁵I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

Colossians 3:1 - 5 (NKJV) ¹If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. ²Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. ³For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. ⁵Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Conclusion: Sex, according to God, unites His creation together and to Himself to create life – not death!

The Bible began in a garden with a marriage. In the middle is the “Song of Solomon,” one of the greatest love stories ever written, and it ends with a wedding.

Genesis 2:23 - 25 (NKJV) ²³And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” ²⁴Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ²⁵And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Revelation 22:17 (NKJV) ¹⁷And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.