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.”
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.”
God is a Spirit
John 4:24 (NKJV) 24God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
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.
The “US” in creation was the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
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”
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.
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
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.
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!
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?
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.
