How Shall the Young Flee Immorality?

Introduction

I know it’s been a number of years, but I still cannot come to Decker Prairie without thinking of W. R. Jones. He was the one who helped start the Kleinwood Church where I grew up. And my friends and I would always sit where these young men are, and we would try to copy down his overhead charts as fast as we could. As he preached on things like heaven and hell and the judgment and the church. And one night, I’m sure he thought I was taking very diligent notes when what I was doing was drawing a picture of Brother Jones baptizing someone who at that time was very important to me. Was the incredible Hulk. And I took Brother Jones the picture after services and showed it to him in the foyer.

And he kind of adjusted his glasses up and down, and he held it out so he could make certain that was really what he was seeing. And where most preachers might shoe a little boy to go play in the parking lot, he said, Well, the gospel is for all.

Thank you so much for your participation and what we are doing together this weekend. There are so many things that go into a weekend like this, not just the coming together and making certain that the building’s ready, but all the things behind the scenes that go unnoticed. I want you to know that I notice them, and I appreciate all that has been done for my benefit and for the benefit of these young people as we’ve considered these things from the Word of God. So thank you once again for your invitation to come. I’m going to be reading first this morning from 1 Corinthians chapter 6, and I invite your attention to this text as well. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, and begin reading with me in your Bible at verse 12.

There, Paul said, All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? May it never be. Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her?

For he says, the two will become one flesh. But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with him. Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body. As was prayed so eloquently this morning, God is the creator of all things. He spoke them into existence in the beginning. And that means that God is also the creator of the body. That we have been bought with a price.

And one of the greatest uses of our body is to use them to glorify the Creator. You see, that takes away this popular thought that this is my body, and I can do whatever I want to do with it. No, it is not your own. You have been given your body from the Lord, and you are accountable to him as to how you use it. And the best use of all is to make certain that it is being used according to his word. Others might say, Well, I just can’t control myself. I just don’t have any control over my passions. It’s kind of like the ad I once saw in the paper advertising free puppies. It said, half German shepherd, half sneaky neighbor’s dog. Some people seem to think, well, I just don’t have any control.

Anything my body wants, I just have to give it to. You have been bought with a price. Glorify God in your body. And one of the ways in which you do that is what he said in verse 7, verse 18. Flee immorality. Is there a greater example in the scriptures of somebody who fled from immorality than Joseph back in the book of Genesis? When Potiphar grabbed his coat and Potiphar’s wife grabbed his coat and said, Lie with me, and we read that Joker that Joseph ran and fled outside, leaving the garment in her hand. Flee immorality. That’s our responsibility. If we’re going to possess our bodies and use them to God’s glory, we’re going to have to run away from things that might be a temptation to us.

You say, Well, how can I do that? Well, I want to submit to you this morning that you do that by viewing sex from God’s perspective. When you see the sexual relationship from the perspective of heaven, you will be better equipped to flee from immorality. Now I want to say at the beginning that I understand that we have a mixed audience assembled this morning, and I will be very respectful of that. But I will also be very plain and firm about our responsibility to flee all forms of immorality. You want to do that? Then start seeing the sexual relationship from the creator’s perspective. When we do that, we will see that it is three things. I want you to see first of all that sex is sacred.

1. Sex Is Sacred

When we think of it from God’s perspective, we will see that sex is sacred. It’s not something that’s a dirty word. It’s not something that’s smuddy, even though our world has made it into something casual, God says it is sacred. It’s holy. In Hebrews chapter 13, we find in these last admonitions of the epistle, this encouragement in verse 4. Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 4. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled. For fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. Now, sex certainly needs to be something kept that is private. I don’t mean that we just speak about it like we do every other subject, but we need to understand first of all that it’s something God created that is holy.

It’s sacred between a husband and his wife. If sex is something that is wrong, then why would God say to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth? If it’s something that is unholy, why would he say to Noah and his family after disembarking from the ark, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. God created this as something that is holy. He said in our verse of Hebrews 13 and verse 4, let marriage be held in honor among all. This is an honorable institution. It’s something that God has created that ought to be respected. Do you see that when you read the headlines in today’s paper? Or see the advertisements about the news? Are people honoring marriage today?

And the marriage bed be undefiled. Doesn’t that indicate that there is a marriage bed that is pure? That is holy, honorable, and righteous. I mentioned this point first for this very important reason. We need to preach flea immorality. We need to preach fornicators and adulterers. God will judge.

There have been couples who have gotten married, who’ve grown up hearing about the dangers of sexual immorality, and then when it is to be able to be rightfully and righteously enjoyed, they have feelings of guilt and shame about it. Sex is sacred. God made it that way. Again, if it was something unholy, why would he give that to husband and wife? It was like the man who was going through the police academy, and he’s trying to learn how to how to become an officer. And one of the things that he said all of us struggled with is when we were pointing our gun at somebody, and the captain walked by, we would all drop our guns because that’s what we’ve been taught. You don’t point your guns at people.

2. Sex Is Stimulating

What if that person’s pointing a gun at you? You’re going to have to shoot them. We need to make certain our young people understand fleeing immorality. But there will come a day when it will be sacred. This is God’s gift to the marriage relationship, and you embrace it as that which is righteous and holy. Sex is sacred. When we view the sexual relationship from heaven’s perspective, not only do we see that sex is sacred, but number two, sex is stimulating. It is something that involves the passions within our body. To illustrate this, I want to ask you to turn back to the Song of Solomon and read a passage that is mentioned three times in this book, a warning that keeps coming back as you go through the book.

Now, I don’t know about you, but if I were to read something not once, not twice, but three times, that might in my mind cause me to say, Well, this is important. I better pay attention to this and not forget God’s instructions. I want to look at just one of them in Song of Solomon, chapter two. And look at verse 7. Song of Solomon 2, verse 7. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the hinds of the field, that you will not arouse or awaken my love until she pleases. You may have a note in your margin next to the word she that could also be translated it. The idea is don’t awaken something within the body until it pleases, until it’s time, until it’s sacred and holy.

We don’t study the Song of Solomon very much. At least not in our Bible classes at the church building. It’s a song between two lovers. It’s about them experiencing the joys of marital love and finding one another and enjoying that which God has created as sacred and holy. Now, it’s not usually spoken in the same language that we would say to someone that we love. Wives, you wouldn’t say to your husband, your neck is like the tower of David. Unless, of course, you married E.T., maybe. The husband wouldn’t say to the wife, your hair is like a flock of goats coming down from Mount Gilead? But this verse we do understand, don’t we? Do not arouse or awaken my love until it pleases? There will come a time when it is holy.

But for now, don’t stimulate until it’s ready. We must set the proper boundaries as we learn how to possess our bodies and use them to the glory of God. Solomon would say in Proverbs chapter 6, just turn back and notice very quickly what he said in verse 27 about the responsibility for understanding the power of passion. Proverbs 6 and verse 27, can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Or can a man walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? Why even go to the dance, young people? Why be in an environment where the lights are low and the bodies are pressed together and you’re moving with the music? Why even set the stage for immorality if you’re going to try to flee from it?

Why take fire into your bosom and arouse something before it’s time? Why do men view pornography? Besides the very point of seeing something you have no business seeing. What is the point of it? Why are you stimulating something that cannot be righteously and rightfully expressed? Why take fire into your bosom and think, well, I won’t get burned? Why send text messages and have conversation with members of the opposite sex who are not your spouse that are flirty, that are suggestive, and think, well, I’m not speaking them face to face, I’m just sending them through the computer. Why arouse or awaken something when it is not time? We must see the importance of respecting the power of this relationship. It is stimulating. And the greatest way to flee immorality is to not even awaken it.

3. Sex Is Singular

What did the Japanese say after Pearl Harbor? I fear we have awakened a sleeping giant. Do not arouse or awaken my love until it pleases. Sex is sacred. Sex is stimulating. We must respect its power. But I want you to notice number three, when we view this relationship from God’s perspective, we will see number three that it is singular. Sex is singular. It is exclusive. Remember, he said, the two shall become one flesh. That means the only person you have the right to become one flesh with is the person that God has joined you together with, your spouse. This is a relationship that is singular. It is for you and you alone. Look to Proverbs chapter 5, and I want you to notice the words that Solomon uses that are exclusive about this relationship.

Proverbs 5 and verse 15 beginning. Drink water from your own cistern, and fresh water from your own well. Should your springs be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets, let them be yours alone, and let your fountain be blessed and rejoice in the wife of your youth. Husbands and wives have the godly right to tolerate no rivals. Just as certainly as there is a thing as godly anger, be angry and do not sin. There is such a thing as godly jealousy. You say, Well, I thought that was wrong. Well, how then does God say in Exodus 20 verses 4 and 5, when he is giving the law to the Israelites, he said, I’m the one who brought you out of Egypt, I’m the one who rescued you from slavery, therefore you don’t have any other gods before me.

For he said, I am a jealous God. He had every right to say that. Where were the other gods when they were crying for deliverance? Where were the other gods when it was time to bring them up and destroy the armies of Pharaoh? God was the one who did that, and he had the right to say, You can have no other gods but me. Well, husbands and wives, you have that same right of ownership in the marriage relationship that it be singular. Look to first Corinthians chapter seven, and notice how Paul spoke both of the husband and the wife, and they’re right in this matter.

The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise also the husband does not have authority over his body, but the wife does. You belong to one another, husbands and wives. You have an exclusive right to tolerate no rivals, and part of this relationship involves a sexual union which is exclusive and singular.

Drink waters from your own sister.

Let them be yours alone. Married people. Why would you want your spouse to dress in such a way where other people would see things that are yours alone? Young people, you only get one first time. Let it be something that you and your spouse have a singular relationship about. Wouldn’t you like to say that you gave that to one person and one person only? Sex is singular. When you’re married, it’s not only your right, it’s your exclusive right. Flee immorality.

Conclusion

It was a pellet rifle. And one of the first things he did was to take me outside into the pasture and show me how to load it and fire it. And I can still see him there. We were pointing it to the ground as we were loading it because he said, if it goes off accidentally, you’ll shoot the devil. So we were pointing it to the ground. And he was making certain I knew all the safety features about it to possess this powerful weapon. Oh, that we would have such concern for our bodies. Given to us by the Creator. That which we will give back to him as we’ve used them to his glory. Oh, that we would see the importance of knowing how to possess our vessel.

Not in lustful passion, but in sanctification and honor.

It is the will of God that you abstain from sexual immorality. There will come a time when it can be righteously fulfilled. But for now, you flee all forms of it.

But you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. The Lord has made provision, not just for our earthly bodies here, but for a time when we will put on an immortal body and we will dwell with him in heaven. And for times in which we have forsaken him and we’ve sinned against him.

To come and repent of your sins and be baptized, to have all your sins washed away. We want to invite you to come and make your life right with God if you need to seek the prayers of your brothers and sisters and whatever need in the gospel this morning. Would you make that known right now while we stand while we sing?