Two of the most difficult areas of our lives to completely turn over to God is in our finances and our lifestyle choices. But the Lord God is very clear, “I am the Lord your God,... You shall have no other gods before Me." (Exodus 20:2-3) Our "gods" aren't just a carved image, but our desires can be a god also; and sexuality is definitely a god that many of us will not deny in order to obey the One, True, Living God. But the Lord God's blessing of life is conditional based on our obeying all His regulations and decrees, including and probably more importantly in our sexual practices. This is one of the most obvious areas that we differentiate ourselves from the world; that's why the Lord God said, "So do not act like the people in Egypt, where you used to live, or like the people of Canaan, where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life."
So what are the sexual practices the world may engage in, but we who profess to believe in God and confess to be Christians are not supposed to participate in? “You must never have sexual relations with a close relative, for I am the Lord. Do not violate your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; you must not have sexual relations with her. Do not have sexual relations with any of your father’s wives, for this would violate your father. Do not have sexual relations with your sister or half sister, whether she is your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born into your household or someone else’s. Do not have sexual relations with your granddaughter, whether she is your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, for this would violate yourself. Do not have sexual relations with your stepsister, the daughter of any of your father’s wives, for she is your sister. (Leviticus 18:6-11 NLT)
“Do not have sexual relations with your father’s sister, for she is your father’s close relative. Do not have sexual relations with your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s close relative. Do not violate your uncle, your father’s brother, by having sexual relations with his wife, for she is your aunt. Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife, so you must not have sexual relations with her. Do not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife, for this would violate your brother. Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. And do not take her granddaughter, whether her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter, and have sexual relations with her. They are close relatives, and this would be a wicked act. While your wife is living, do not marry her sister and have sexual relations with her, for they would be rivals. (Leviticus 18:12-18 NLT) In summary, do not have sexual relations with a close relative, whether by blood or by marriage.
“Do not have sexual relations with a woman during her period of menstrual impurity. (Leviticus 18:19) The Lord God explained this in great detail when He gave the laws concerning various bodily discharges. ‘If a woman has a discharge, and the discharge from her body is blood, she shall be set apart seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening. ... And if any man lies with her at all, so that her impurity is on him, he shall be unclean seven days; and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean. ... But if she is cleansed of her discharge, then she shall count for herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean.' (Leviticus 15:19, 24, 28)
“Do not defile yourself by having sexual intercourse with your neighbor’s wife. (Leviticus 18:20 NLT) The Lord God doesn't go into any more detail here than He did in the Ten Commandments; “You shall not commit adultery. ... You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” (Exodus 20:14, 17) It's pretty self explanatory, we are not to have sex with someone we are not married to and who is married to someone else.
“Do not permit any of your children to be offered as a sacrifice to Molech, for you must not bring shame on the name of your God. I am the Lord. (Leviticus 18:21 NLT) Molech was a false god the children of Israel adopted from Egypt. The Martyr Stephen preached, "And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: ‘Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, images which you made to worship; and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’" (Acts 7:39-43)
The only sacrifices the children of Israel were supposed to make were of the animals that the Lord God had commanded, and not their children, as was the practice of the people in Egypt or like the people of Canaan. And after Christ Jesus, no other physical sacrifice needs to be made, because when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come— in the volume of the book it is written of Me— to do Your will, O God.’” Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:5-10)
“Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin. (Leviticus 18:22 NLT) This is probably the most controversial sexual issue in society today. People who practice homosexuality say that they are naturally attracted to the same sex. What we must understand is that all sin is natural, that is why if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (II Corinthians 5:17) If what we were naturally was fine, we wouldn't need Christ or forgiveness of sins or salvation or to be made into is a new creation.
Our natural desires are powerful, and if we aren't willing to obey Christ Jesus, when He said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." (Luke 9:23, Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34); then God will turn us over to our natural desires, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—... Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. (Romans 1:21-25)
For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. (Romans 1:26-27)
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality,...; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:28-32) Homosexuality, and every sin we naturally desire are detestable to God and deserving of death. But yet again, we must gives thanks to God for His Son, Christ Jesus.
The same sexual morality issues we are dealing with today people have been dealing with since the earth was first populated. Christ Jesus declared an awesome promise to us who believe, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." (John 10:10) But in order for us to have life and to have it more abundantly, we have to obey the Lord God's decrees and all His regulations. Remember, His ultimate goal for us is, “Be holy, for I am holy.” (I Peter 1:16)
“A man must not defile himself by having sex with an animal. And a woman must not offer herself to a male animal to have intercourse with it. This is a perverse act. (Leviticus 18:23 NLT) It's kind of sad that the Lord God had to include this law. We are to take care of the animals, but let's not have sexual relationships with them. God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then 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.” (Genesis 1:27-28)
And 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. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And 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.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:21-25) A male and a female, a man and his wife, that'a a marriage, and the only acceptable sexual relationship from God and ordained by God.
“Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for the people I am driving out before you have defiled themselves in all these ways. Because the entire land has become defiled, I am punishing the people who live there. I will cause the land to vomit them out. You must obey all my decrees and regulations. You must not commit any of these detestable sins. This applies both to native-born Israelites and to the foreigners living among you. (Leviticus 18:24-26 NLT)
“All these detestable activities are practiced by the people of the land where I am taking you, and this is how the land has become defiled. So do not defile the land and give it a reason to vomit you out, as it will vomit out the people who live there now. Whoever commits any of these detestable sins will be cut off from the community of Israel. So obey my instructions, and do not defile yourselves by committing any of these detestable practices that were committed by the people who lived in the land before you. I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 18:27-30 NLT)
No, of our own strength, we can not obey perfectly, but the act of practicing sin is a choice that we can overcome through the power of God's Holy Spirit in us because one of His purposes in this world and in our lives is to ...convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:... (John 16:8) God did not leave us to our own devices, to try and figure out how to navigate this life on our own, because just as the people before the flood, who the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Genesis 6:5); the flood didn't wash that nature away. As the Apostle Paul said, For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. (Romans 7:18)
The thief, the devil, the prince of the power of the air, tries to steal, and to kill, and to destroy us, and just as he did with Eve, he tries to tempt us with our natural desires. (Genesis 3; I Timothy 2:14) He does not want us to find the life the God has for us by obeying His decrees and all His regulations, therefore he perverts and misinterprets the Word to try and cause us to stay separated from God. But thank God for Christ Jesus, And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. (Ephesians 2:1-3)
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4-10)
Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. (I Corinthians 3:16-17) Therefore, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2) AMEN!
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