PH 5-minute Bible teaching
It won’t fulfill you
According to Pew, half of American Christians believe that sex between unmarried adults who are not in a committed relationship (casual sex) is sometimes or always acceptable. Nearly 57% of American Christians believe that sex between unmarried adults who are in a committed relationship (boyfriend/girlfriend or engaged couples) is sometimes or always acceptable. The third chapter of Ruth is a bit on the provocative side, but those numbers show why it’s so important to where we are as believers in American culture.
We are awash in a sea of sexual immorality and it has infected the church in tragic ways. But there is hope – not in accommodation and compromise, but in repentance and the grace of Christ. Praise be to God for the faithful examples He gave us in Ruth and Boaz. If you want the audio-only version of this clip, click here.
If you want to see the full sermon associated with this clip, you can find it here.
Transcript: It won’t fulfill you
Wed, Sep 6, 2023 : Peter Heck
(Begin transcript)
I say this to premarital couples a lot when we do premarital counseling, it blows me away. We all want God to bless us. But then we go out and do things that he has specifically said, don't do. “I want God to bring me a faithful godly husband, why can't I have a faithful godly husband? And while I'm waiting for a faithful godly husband, I'm going to go over here and sleep around, is what I'm going to do. I'm going to have sex with just randos until God's ready to give me a faithful husband.”
What? Why? Why would you expect God's blessing when you're not doing what he says to do?
Or “God, please give me a faithful, devoted wife that I can have to raise my children in a godly way. But until you bring her I'm going to hang out at the bars and pick up loose women. That's what I'm going to do.”
And we expect God to bless us. Why in the world do we behave like that? If you want God's blessings, then shouldn't we be following God's commands? I don't say all this to heap guilt on anyone. That's not my, although I will say that godly guilt is a good thing. Because what does it bring about? Repentance. And that's what we need. If we're living in an ungodly way, we need to repent and return from it. I'm saying this to you because what it is, and what you're doing is sin, and sin will destroy you, it will destroy us. And sin will never deliver on its promises. It will never deliver on its promises.
I'll ask you plainly, I don't want you to volunteer right now. Because it would be extremely awkward for everybody. But those of you that are living in a sinful sexual lifestyle, are you fulfilled by it? Or are you looking for something more? I found this in the New York Magazine Katka Lapollasofa, she writes this piece, it's called “why I stopped having casual sex.” This is just, this first paragraph is unreal.
Before we get into this, just know this isn't about me seeing the light. This isn't about some religious awakening are coming to Jesus. I haven't had one. And I'm not interested. No, this is about figuring out what worked best for me. And the possibility that it might work best for you, too.
I love this. Man does what he thinks is so smart. And then when he realizes it's not working, he's going to try this over here, which happens to be what God said to do. And all of a sudden, they find out well, this was a lot better. And then they take the credit for it. I came up with a great idea. And I think you all should try it. And this is what God was saying all along. But oh no, we got a brilliant idea.
My first real exposure, she writes to the world of casual sex with Samantha Jones from Sex in the City. When I was in college, and after she was my idol, successful, gorgeous, independent and not reliant on any man. She was a master in the bedroom, impressing lovers with their talents and leaving them in the dust when they begged for more. It's who I wanted to be. And it's what I thought would give me a sense of confidence, power control, and fulfillment. I used to pick up the check for dinner or drinks, thinking it was a power move, and that along with my skills in bed, the man would think I was the perfect woman. And for a long time I convinced myself that it was working. After a sexual conquest. You feel pretty good about yourself. But if you're honest, it's not what it seems. If I didn't get a follow up call from the guy. It affected me. If I got ghosted, meaning that he started ignoring me. Or if I saw a previous lover out with someone else, I thought about it a lot. Why wasn't I Enough? Why didn't he like me? And here's what I realized. If I'm thinking and dwelling on that stuff, I'm not really in control. I'm not really confident, and I'm not really fulfilled, something had to change and that something was the casual sex.
Okay, I'm just telling you sin will never satisfy you. And some of you are finding that out the hard way. Here's the good news. This is my argument against the purity culture that cast women, young girls, I hated this. It cast young girls, high school girls as seductresses trying to make all of these men fall and sin. It was almost like it was excusing the men. “Well, we can't help our urges. And these girls, man, you got to dress modestly and you got to do all of this stuff.”
This is my argument back against this whole notion of purity culture. You still in First Corinthians? I want you to flip back to chapter six and chapter six, verses nine through 11. It's going to start off hard for you, okay? “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Don't be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral those who are living sexually immoral lifestyles, nor the idolaters nor the adulterers, nor the male prostitutes nor the homosexual offenders, nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards, nor slanders nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” It's not going to happen.
And then verse 11, and this is where it all turns around, “and that is what some of you” finish it. “Were.” That's what you used to be. But something happened and what is that something that happened? “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the spirit of our living God.”
Everything changes when you take the sin, repent of it, and leave it at the cross. Those of you who are living in sexual sin right now, this very morning, if you take it and you nail it to the cross of Calvary, you walk out the door and bear it no more. You are washed. You wear that white dress on your wedding day. Why? Because God has washed you white as snow.
That's the gift of forgiveness and grace that you have in Christ Jesus. That's the lie of what purity culture became. Yes, you can be made pure by the blood of the Lamb.
(End transcript)