A Word about Sexual Sins

A Word about Sexual Sins 

By Fred O. Blakely

Very much of today's society not only condones sexual sins; it actually glorifies them. Fornication among teenage boys and girls is euphemized as "sexual activity," and paraded in some circles as an acceptable norm. In case of the adults, it is dubbed "living-in," "trial marriage”, or the like. Adultery, which is the sin of sexual relation between a married person and someone other than the lawful spouse, is simply called "extramarital sex" and is increasingly practiced and "respectabilized".

Recently, on the news there has been brought to light a company that provides a service, via the Internet, enabling married persons to “cheat” on their spouses, only behind their backs.  This company made news headlines only because their database had been hacked, unveiling the confidential information of up to 32 million individuals who had used the “behind the scenes” dating site. According to one news report, there were only 3 Zip Codes in the United States that did not have records of persons who had patronized this company.  And those 3 Zip Codes encompassed areas either where there was no Internet, or had very low population levels.  The issues that were reported in the news pertained primarily to the consequences of the data breach, not to the gross impropriety and wickedness entailed in what this company is doing.

Whoredom, or harlotry, is more and more presented as something taken for granted, and is often toleratingly referred to as "the oldest profession" known to the race. Even sodomy, the ultra-degraded sex sin, is glossed as homosexuality, or “gay”, and depicted as an "alternate life-style", a life-style that is now demanding acceptance and equal rights.

But these attempts at softening the impact upon the conscience of the hard, ugly, and jarring reality of sin are wholly futile with those who know the truth of God's Word, and are determined to abide by it. Sin cannot be redefined, or reinterpreted as to its involvements and consequences by a pope.  Sin is not mitigated by majority practice, public approval, or by giving it new and more acceptable names. And certainly its direful consequences—which, if persisted in, is death—are in no degree whatever altered. Sin still separates from God, which separation in itself is spiritual death (Isa. 59:1-2), and its ultimate end is eternal death (Rom. 6:23: Rev. 21:8, 27), or everlasting exclusion from God's Presence and "the glory of His power" (II Th. 1:7-10).

 The Spirit by Paul plainly declares that "neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind [sodomites] . . . shall inherit the kingdom of God" (I Cor. 6:9-10). "Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge", the Apostle says in another place (Heb. 13:4). They shall "have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death (Rev. 21:8). 

Jude takes up the refrain in his very short, yet pungent epistle: "Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" (v. 7). The "strange flesh" of reference is any "flesh" outside the divinely ordained husband and wife relationship.

For those in Christ, the body is "the temple of the Holy Spirit," and they are not their own, having been "bought with a price," even the precious blood of God's Son (I Cor. 3:19-20).

Thus, whoever commits fornication or adultery both "sinneth against his own body," and against God (vv. 15-18; cf. Gen. 39:8). This is because the body "is not for" such desecration, "but for the Lord" (v. 13). The commandment, then, is to "flee" both sins (v. 18). (The Greek word from which we get our word "fornication" as used here, denotes the practice of sexual immorality, irrespective of whether the involved persons are married or unmarried.)

In view of this unequivocal condemnation of fornication and adultery, it is incumbent upon the church to make it known to this wantonly wicked generation. "God is not mocked" by man's impudent defiance of His laws (Gal. 6:7-8), but will, as Solomon declared, "bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing" (Eccl. 12:14). And, as we have seen from Corinthians and Revelation, that judgment against fornicators and adulterers, unless they repent, forsake those sins, and are forgiven of them, will be eternal banishment from the Divine Presence. Today's profligates desperately need to have that grave reality drummed into their ears and hearts.

The Evil Day in which We Live

The Evil Day in which We Live

By Al Stoner

“The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come” (Isa. 57:1).  “Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment” (Isa. 59:15).

To anyone today with enough courage to speak a word in behalf of the LORD and His Christ, the increasingly common response of those of this wicked generation is that which was summarized by the Prophet Isaiah: “Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us” (Isa. 30:11).  Jesus said, on the eve of His betrayal and crucifixion, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you” (Jn. 15:18).  And John, echoing the words of the Master, wrote, “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (I Jn. 3:13).  Those who are in Christ are not to be seeking the world’s hatred as proof of their association with Him.  Rather, all who are faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ will eventually find themselves becoming the objects of the world’s scorn and hatred, because they belong to Christ.

The love for righteousness and the hatred of iniquity are at the very center and core of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, because of who Christ is in His essential Person.  He uncompromisingly loves righteousness and hates iniquity, and those whom He is reconciling to God have, in their measure, the same mind that He does with regard to good and evil.  Therefore, marvel not, if the world hate you. (Any purported “christ” that minimizes the issues pertaining to righteousness and unrighteousness, good and evil, is a false christ.)

Evil Men are Waxing Worse and Worse. “The Psalmist lamented, “I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree” (Ps. 37:35).  This is an exceedingly grievous phenomenon that is witnessed in every generation, except where the grace of God has taken hold of men, and turned them from darkness unto light, setting them on the upward pathway to glory.

Spreading himself like a green bay tree.  Like a tree planted in its native soil.  The wicked, in their brazen disregard for, and hatred of, the LORD, and His Christ, often seek to extend their evil influence over other men while they are here in the shortened time alloted to them.  But let righeous men and women take heart and be of good courage.  The meek shall indeed inherit the earth.  And of the poor in spirit, and to those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, the blessed Savior made this pronouncement: “Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  Let the righteous take courage, knowing that “the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment” (Job 20:5).

Men Declaring their Sin as Sodom. The indictment brought by the Lord against Jerusalem, and Judah, in Isaiah’s day is equally applicable to today’s evil generation. “The show of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves” (Isa. 3:9; see Gen. 19:1-29).  The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are indelibly associated with base lewdness that is shamefully loathesome to speak about.  “It is a shame to speak of those things which are done of them in secret” (Eph. 5:12).  To those engaged in such shameful acts, someone must rise up and boldly declare to them, “How can ye escape the damnation of hell?”

Perilous Times are Now Upon Us. The assaults against those “which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 12:17) are multilayered and multifaceted.  Some are deceptive and underhanded, while others are straightforward in their intent.  But all are proceeding from “that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world” (Rev. 12:9).

Some Current Day Examples of this Peril.  The present day phenomenon of evil men seeking legal acceptance among fellow men, with all the rights and privilege associated therewith, is a jeopardy to good men, and particularly to those who are living by faith in Christ. Wherever “mischief” or wickedness becomes framed by the laws of the land (see Ps. 94:20), this creates a circumstance of trial and proving for those who “will live godly in Christ Jesus” (II Tim. 3:12). The law, which they once considered to be protecting them, has now, in many instances, become contrary to everything that they have believed and stood for.  Laws written by men in the present day are seeking to redefine what is morally right and wrong, even to the point of legalizing that which is against nature, and contrary to nature: yes, even legalizing that which at one time was universally regarding as criminal, and against the law. The most recent example of this is the Supreme Court's ruling which enforces the legalization (and respectablization) of same-sex marriage. 

There are also assaults against those professing faith in Christ which are very apparent.  In many parts of the world those professing faith in Jesus are being persecuted, even mercilessly put to death, simply because of their faith in Jesus.  This past week in Kenya at least 147 people, mostly university students, were executed because of their faith in Christ. Their murderers asked them, “Are you a Christian?” If they answered “yes”, they were put to death.  If they said they were Muslim, they were let go.

The Church, the Pillar and the Ground of the Truth.  The church (that the Scripture speaks of) is “the pillar and ground of the truth” (I Tim. 3:15). We are speaking here of the truth of God, truth that is the faithful representation of all things, and the truth, which gives expression to God’s eternal purpose in Christ.  The truth faithfully represents the things which God loves, and the things that He hates.  The world is certainly not that pillar, but rather is bereft of the truth, except where God has left an indelible witness.  If the world is going to hear the truth, it must hear it from the church.

Wherever “the truth of Christ” (II Cor. 11:10) is proclaimed in the power of the Holy Spirit, methinks, that shockwaves reverberate throughout the kingdom of darkness, putting them in mind once again that they have but a short time.  When the Savior was yet here in the world “in the days of His flesh”, it will be recalled that the demons “cried out, saying, What have we to do with Thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art Thou come hither to torment us before the time?” (Mt. 8:28-29).

Apart from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who Himself is the embodiment of the truth (cf. Jn. 14:6), men have no moral compass with which to navigate safely through this present evil world.  The real issues of life have not to do with wealth or poverty, sickness or health, education or lack of education, but rather they have to do with “good and evil” (Heb. 5:14), and particularly, the issue of acceptance with God through the means which He Himself has provided in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  The real issues were well expressed by John Wesley, when he said, “This one thing would I know: how to get to heaven, and how to make it safely to that happy shore.”  “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still” (Rev. 22:11).