Victory Over Sexual Sin (Part 3)

No Compromise Radio. Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the Scriptures, verse by verse with no compromise.

Sexual Perversion in Judah and the Need for Biblical Wisdom

Today's society is very similar to Judah back in the day when sexual perversion was horrible. Listen to Jeremiah 5, they committed adultery and trooped to the harlot's house. They were well fed, lusty horses, each one named after his neighbor's wife.

What a word picture to describe the sexual sin of the day. God said, shall I not punish these people? And on a nation such as this, shall I not avenge myself? We too, like Judah, are living in this kind of culture.

So how do we navigate this sexual society full of landmines everywhere? I remember years ago, the family, we were at the Ardennes and walking around where Easy Company was holding off some of the Germans and to think that years later, they found over 100 ,000 landmines still around.

What do we do here now in a culture? What do married people do? What do single people do? What do you do as a Christian when it comes to sexual temptation and sexual fidelity? And so here in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, 6, 7, the main topic is sexual purity, sexual fidelity, and I've entitled the series Victory Over Sexual Temptation, or maybe I think when I pulled up it's called, the sign is Sexual Ethics in the Gospel.

I pulled up this week and last week it was part four and I pulled up on Wednesday or Tuesday was it, and I saw on the sign out front, Sexual Ethics in the Gospel, part 47. Some wise person, wise guy, wise lady added the seven up there.

It's like that Puritan in New England literally for 40 years preached through Isaiah and when he died, he was in Isaiah chapter 8, never got any farther. And so buckle up, I guess, here we go. I think this will be our last in the series of Victory Over Sexual Temptation, something that God needs you to know.

You need to know, whether you're older or younger, this is good truth for humans. So big picture, let's have a review on how to overcome sexual temptation because we didn't do big picture last week. Number one, we learned that if you'd like to overcome sexual temptation and be pure, you should rehearse the gospel.

Let's go back to chapter 1 verse 2, rehearsing the gospel. Why is this important? Because we just can't parachute into chapter 6, we just can't parachute into chapter 7 and say, here's all the list of what you should do because that's just moralism, that's just legalism.

In light of the cross, in light of what God has done for you, he totally did all these things for you. And then a response should be, well, thank you. I will respond to you with a life of obedience. Because of your great love for us, I now will respond.

The indicative of the gospel, Jesus died for our sins, was raised from the dead, then we respond to that indicative with the imperative, obey. And so chapter 1 verse 2, to the church of God, that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those in every place, call upon the name of the Lord, Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.

And then if you move to chapter 1 verse 9, it's the same kind of language where God alone is the Savior, not God and us, it's not we're walking together for salvation, it's not my will and God's will, it's not God plus our works, it's only God.

Look at verse 9, God is faithful, he will promise and he will perform that promise. By whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Friends, if you're a Christian, Paul wants you to be reminded, it's because God made you a Christian.

First Peter chapter 1, God caused you to be born again. Ephesians chapter 2, God made you alive. Colossians chapter 2, God made you alive. And if you have been made a Christian, with all that goes with it, how about forgiveness of sins?

How about justification? How about imputed righteousness? How about the hope of heaven? How about the Spirit of God dwelling in you? And the list goes on and on and on. If God alone did that, how should you respond?

Now if God just half did that and you supplied the rest, God did everything he could and he was waiting for your free will to be exercised and your faith to add to what he did to make the deal done, then I don't think the weight of this comes across.

You say, well, if God did half, then my response to the half he did might be half-hearted obedience. But since God did it all, God is the author of our faith, Jesus died on the cross, our free will didn't, our faith didn't, God alone works, and so our response should be, God, I want to serve you with my body.

I want to be pure and faithful, sexually even. I couldn't help but read it this week. It was so classic. Charles Spurgeon was talking about this idea of we have only come to Christ Jesus by the work of the Spirit of God.

Of course, after he did the work, we did believe, we did ascent, we did exercise belief, that's true, but that didn't cause anything, that was the result of it. No one in this congregation said, by my own free will, I became a Christian.

Not one person. And so listen to Spurgeon, who talks about people who pray in such a way that they think God did most of the work, but they just had to add a little bit. Here's Spurgeon's prayer of that kind of person.

Lord, I thank thee that I'm not like those poor, presumptuous, sovereign gracers. Lord, I was born with a glorious free will. I was born with power by which I can turn to thee of myself. I have improved my grace.

If everybody had done the same with their grace that I have, they might have all been saved. Lord, I know that thou does not make us willing if we are not willing ourselves. Thou give us grace to everybody.

Some do not improve it, but I did. It was not thy grace that made us to differ. I know it was a great deal. Still, I turned the point. I made use of what was given me, and others did not. Lord, that's the difference between them and me.

But since salvation was monergistic, since salvation was something that was done to you, and of course, you responded with faith, but God caused your salvation. He did it all. Grace to the nth degree.

Then you say to yourself, in light of what God has done, I should honor him. I should honor him in every area, including sexually. Number two, how do you have victory over sexual temptation? One, you rehearse the gospel.

Two, let's go to chapter six, you don't rationalize. No rationalizing sins. And we looked at that in chapter six, verses 12 and 13. They would get a slogan, and they would make that slogan run on all fours.

If you like to sin, believe me, you'll try to figure out a way to do it. You'll try to get in such a way that you'll have it all just worked out, so you can sleep well at night. Verse 12, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful.

Paul said, all things are lawful for me. See, that's the slogan. All things are lawful. Well, obviously, sexual sin is not lawful. He just said back in chapter six, verses nine and 10, that's not lawful.

All sex outside of marriage isn't lawful. And then there was another slogan in verse 13. Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food. When you get hungry and your stomach growls, you have to what?

Eat. And when you get hungry with a physical appetite, a sexual appetite, then you must enjoy yourself. And Paul says, no, no, no, no, no. How do you overcome sexual sin? Number three, you have a right view of your body.

Found in the rest of the verses in chapter six, a right view of the body. Stomach's going to be gone in heaven, but you'll have your body in heaven. And that body has been bought with a price. That body is the Holy Spirit's temple.

Verse 20 of chapter six, you were bought with a price. So therefore, glorify God with your body. Sexual context. Number four, if you're married, how do you have victory over sexual temptation? We saw this last week.

Verses one through six of chapter seven. What's the answer? If you struggle sexually and you're tempted, God says, if you're married, enjoy your spouse. Enjoy your spouse in this regard. Found in chapter seven, verses one to six.

Verse five, do not deprive one another. We know the context, except perhaps for agreement for a limited time so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

And now we move to number five. Victory over sexual temptation, number five. Found in verses seven, eight, and nine this morning. If you're single and you struggle with sexual temptation, get married.

If you're single and you struggle with sexual temptation, get married. So here's what we'll do this morning. I'm going to give you three biblical truths from these verses. And then there'll be two options.

In light of the truth, what are the ways to go? And again, of course, this is written to Christian people to have the spirit of God who are able to obey. And the context still in chapter five, six, and seven is the sexual context.

So let me give you the three truths. And then in light of the three truths, two directions that we could go, or you could go. First general truth is found in verse seven. Here's the truth. Paul is not commanding celibacy or abstinence for everyone.

Paul is not commanding it. Let's look at verse seven. You'll know why I phrased it that way. As you look at the verse, many things you should identify. You should follow the apostle Paul as he does, but it's not WWPD.

What would Paul do? Sometimes that works just like sometimes WWJD works. And sometimes, especially if you're in the desert for 40 years, 40, 40 years, 40 days. If you're in the desert for 40 years, especially doesn't work.

Verse seven, Paul's not commanding abstinence. I wish that all were as I myself am, but each has his own gift from God. One of one kind and one of another. Well, this begs the question, doesn't it? Paul, then what were you?

Doesn't it beg the question, Paul, what are you? We'll talk more about this later, but Paul is not married at the moment. He's identifying himself with these unmarried people. I will learn in a minute, was he divorced and what did he lose his wife?

What was going on there? But right now, Paul doesn't have a spouse. And he now, it's like he's backpedaling a little bit. And he's trying to make sure the people are not going to say, Paul, you are celibate.

You are single. You abstain. Therefore, that's the only way to go. His preference for celibacy is exactly that, his preference. Celibacy is good. Abstinence is good, but it's not for everyone. Sexual desire is fine.

Celibacy, though, is also good. Paul is not pushing sexual celibacy. You notice the language again, I wish. This is not a command. This doesn't sound like Paul very often. I wish this would happen or I wish it could be this.

Paul is usually, these are the commands in light of the gospel. He refuses to push this preference upon others. And I immediately thought, we know of religions, don't we? That push this preference on some of the people in their congregations.

We know it well and we know the fallout. We know one particular large religion that does that. And they say that celibacy is an eschatological sign of the church. That is celibacy in heaven. They're not married or given in marriage.

And so the best thing we could do is be celibate on earth. There are many other religious organizations that do the same thing. Shakers imposed by the leader, no sexual relations. I found Buddhists that do the same thing.

Hindus, the Harmony Society, Ephrata Cloister. A lot of these die out pretty quickly because of obvious reasons, but some don't. Here's the main point that I want to make explicit, because it's only an implied truth, but I want you to see it clearly.

Paul is not commanding celibacy. He's not commanding abstinence. Second truth that helps us get a foundation for these two suggestions, these two commands that are going to be later. Number one, Paul's not commanding abstinence.

Number two, don't forget that the gift of singleness doesn't have to be perpetual. The gift of celibacy does not have to be forever on this earth. The gift of abstinence doesn't mean if you're absent now, you never can get married.

Now, remember, some of these people are already married. They've lost their spouses. And now we're talking to these people. Paul was talking to these people. Now, did you know Paul was married before?

I can't find a verse for it. Here's why I think Paul was married before. One, when he identifies with any group in 1 Corinthians 7, he doesn't identify with the virgins later in chapter 7. He identifies with these people who were married and no longer are married.

Two, any Jewish leader of the day would have to be married. Three, if you're a member of the Sanhedrin, which we think Paul probably was, and probably Acts 26 .10 makes an allusion to it, to be a part of the Sanhedrin, you had to be married.

And so almost every good commentator thinks Paul was married. Now, Paul is married. And when he's married, he's with his wife. He would be disobeying his own commands, the Lord's command, if he wasn't.

But now he's single and happy to be celibate, happy to abstain, happy to have the gift of singleness. And now he's talking to these other people that are going through the same thing. This is not Matthew 19.

Some people are eunuchs for the kingdom. Some people are made eunuchs. This is, I first get saved and I realize, you know what, I don't have any... Forget salvation. I don't have any desire to be with someone of the opposite sex.

That's not what we're talking about here. That's not what we're talking about at all. This is talking about contentedness sexually for a time. One man said, that Paul's gift concerns the capacity to concentrate on the work of the gospel without being distracted by sexual desires.

Whether unexpressed or as in the case of the celibate are expressed for those married is suggested by what follows in verse 9. Look back at the text again. One has this gift and another has that. He's not talking about one has the gift of celibacy forever and the other gets the gift of marriage.

He's talking about one has the gift of contentment doing gospel work. Like Paul, he had already been married. He didn't have the lifelong gift of celibacy because he got married. Not at all. You know what, I thought there are people like this.

If you haven't read about Elizabeth Elliot, you probably should. She courted Jim Elliot or Jim Elliot properly courted her. They were married in 1953. By the way, Jim didn't think he ever wanted to get kind of bogged down with a lady.

And then as he got to know Elizabeth more, they married 1953 and Jim was killed in 1956. In 1959, she returns with her daughter Valerie at four years old with Rachel Saint, the widow of Nate Saint, and they return and move back down with the tribe that killed her husband and killed Rachel's husband.

So she obviously doesn't have the lifelong gift of celibacy and she gets married to Jim. Jim is killed and then she moves back down for gospel ministry, content, happy, happy to serve the Lord. Exactly what Paul was talking about.

That's what Paul was doing. I'm happy in gospel ministry. But then interestingly, she moves back in 1963 to the United States. And she does what in 1969? She gets married to Addison Leach. So like Paul, married, obviously not the lifelong gift of eunuchhood, celibacy.

I've met some people who say, you know, I never have any desire and I just assumed serve the Lord my entire life. I'm not attracted to the opposite sex at all. That's the Matthew 19 kind of person. That's not the first Corinthians seven kind of person who says, I'm unmarried, I'm widowed, I've divorced, I'm single, and I would like to get married maybe someday.

But my focus now is on the gospel. I can do it without being distracted. By the way, Addison died and then he died in 1973. And then in 1977, she remarried Lars. What was she doing in the meantime? Well, she was gospel.

She was serving the gospel, gospel ministry. Just a pastoral point here. If you are older and you've never been married or if you're older because and you had been divorced or you were lost a spouse early on and you think, I wonder if I will ever marry again.

The answer could be yes. If you're 40, 30, 50 years old and you say, I'm not married yet. I haven't been with a person in marriage. I wonder if I ever will or I wonder if I have the gift of singleness.

You could be thinking to yourself, I know some of you right now who are saying to yourself, maybe I do have the gift of singleness. But if you knew what goes on in my heart and my desires that I have, I have a desire to be with the spouse.

Well, there's hope for you. How about that? I'm here to tell you, if you have desires for a spouse and desires for sexual relations in marriage, then you don't have the gift of singleness. The celibacy unit kind of Matthew chapter 19 discussion.

And let me give you some other hope. If you are now single because of you've always been single, you've been divorced, you have lost your spouse. And you say to yourself, you know, I don't have any desire to get remarried.

I have any desire to be with a husband again, no desire to be with a wife again. And I just want to serve the Lord. If you later on meet someone that you find attractive and you date them properly, court them properly, whatever terminology we'll use, we'll talk about that later.

And you change your mind and say, I really do have a desire to be with them physically. You know what? That's okay. How great is that? That's okay. That's exactly what happened to Elizabeth Elliot. This singleness in 1 Corinthians 7 is not always perpetual.

It's not necessarily perpetual. Truth number three, and then we'll have the two options. Truth number three, general truth one, Paul's not commanding absence, abstinence. Number two, singleness doesn't have to be perpetual.

Number three, don't forget that God's gifts are designed always to build up the body of Christ. Verse seven, if God gives a gift, you mark it down. It's always for the building up and edification of the body.

Now, chapter 12, gift of tongues, gift of interpretation, gift of teaching, gift of helps. There's another kind of gift that's not put in the spiritual gifts category. And that is the gift that you stay content where you are when it comes to this area.

Look what he says in verse seven again. I wish that all were as myself am, but each has his own, what? Gift from God. This is a gift from God. Charisma is the Greek word. One from one kind and one of another.

These are bestowed graciously by God for the building up of the church. Let me put it this way. When it's Christmas time, what do people like to say? There's a reason for the season. Do people say that to you?

Okay, fairly quiet, somber in our group this morning. Part 47, makes sense. There's a reason for this season in your life. And if you were between spouses, you're single, you're not married, you're widowed, you're a widower.

There's a reason for this. And if you're contented to be the way you are now, the reason is so you can serve full bore for the Lord. You can be like Anna who at 84 years old is serving like man. I have news for you.

Those of you who are married have a harder time serving than those of you who are single. Paul's gonna talk about that in chapter seven. I have to be concerned about my wife. I mean, I've got a low maintenance wife.

I always heard one guy said, what's worse than having a high maintenance wife? Having a high maintenance wife who thinks she's low maintenance, that's bad. And I have a low maintenance wife who knows she's low maintenance, but I still have to be concerned about, is Kim happy?

How's Kim doing? I wanna make sure that if I don't love her, I'm not loving myself. It's harder to serve the gospel and be in gospel ministry when you're married. So if you're in this season of life now, and you say, well, I have no desire ever.

I'm like a eunuch, been made eunuch by God in Matthew 19. I never want to ever be with anybody. Great, serve like man. But if you're a chapter seven kind of person that says, for whatever reason, single, because you have always been single, you're divorced, you're widowed, you're a widower.

And now, you know what? It's not that big a deal for me to be with somebody again. Maybe it could happen one day, but right now I'm content you are to be servants, serving the local church. I'd go so far to say this, most singles groups that I know, they are consumed with themselves.

Oh, all the other married people, and we're single. I remember years ago I got here and they said, some people said, we want a singles ministry at this church. And I said, the singles ministry at BBC is the singles need to serve.

That's your ministry because you don't have to have a spouse to be concerned about. It doesn't mean that singles can't get together and do what they do. I don't mean that at all. But if you are single, this is a gift from God, then you need to build up the body of Christ.

And you know, the good news is, as I look around at some of you are single, that's exactly what you do. This kind of gift comes from God. It doesn't come by yourself. It doesn't make, you don't get it by a vow.

The Pope doesn't force you to have it. This is from God for the building up of the body. If you're single, there's a reason for that. So those are the truths. And now there's two paths for the singles.

Whether a Single Christian Needs to Marry

Okay. Path number one is found in verse eight, two paths and only two paths. If you're single and you're a Christian path one, if you don't have the nagging, dominating thoughts of sexual intimacy, you don't have to be married.

You can be content as a single person. Verse eight to the unmarried. It's very general term could be unmarried in any category. It's a broad term, separated, divorced, widowed, single, never married to the unmarried and the widows.

I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. He thinks it's good. Why is it good? A God says it's good. B because you can serve a lot. And so if you're not distracted, you're, you're a married person.

You've lost your spouse. And then now you say, but I'm not distracted by the sexual intimacy and the desire. And it's not dominating my thinking. It's not just kind of knowing on me all the time. I'd like that back again.

By the way, it's not bad to have that desire. God gave you hormones. God gave you those desires. It's just always bad to go too far in your mind. And it's always bad to have sexual relations before you're married.

But Paul is saying it's excellent. The Greek word is it's beneficial that if you're not dominated by the thoughts of, I need a spouse. I need a spouse. I need a spouse. I'm dying on the inside, clawing away, scratching away.

That's all I can ever think about. Practically. If you're not that person, then you can just stay single.