"Fleeing Sexual Sin" We live in a society that is obsessed with sex.  Our modern culture venerates those who are sexually attractive.  What is the origin of sex, and why does it have such a pull on people?  Sex was and is God’s idea.  It is a gift that is both precious and powerful, and as such, was designed to be the highest expression of love and unity in life-long, committed relationship.  Within the confines of matrimony, it is holy and respectable and pleasurable.  Sex was also given to us so that we might produce godly offspring and enjoy our children within the closeness and security of a family unit.  Intimacy between a married couple is a physical picture of the Lord Jesus and His relationship with His bride, the Church.  “For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.  For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.  This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:30-32).  The consummation of a marriage is actually the cutting of a covenant before God: the husband’s body and affections belong exclusively to his wife and the wife’s body and affections belong to her husband.  Adultery is a serious offense before God because it violates the covenant and destroys the trust and intimacy in the marriage.  Why is our modern culture so steeped in sexual lust?  It affronts us at every turn: on television and movies, magazines and billboards, unsolicited pop-ups and emails on the internet.  Even elementary school children are learning the mechanics of homosexual sex in public schools at an age when their innocence should be spared the knowledge of normal heterosexual relations.  Sexual  knowledge is being pushed on children at a younger age and we read in the newspaper its heartbreaking results:  children molesting and raping children younger than themselves.  The cultural issues that are damaging and dividing our nation are rooted in rampant sexual immorality: abortion on demand, a teen epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases and out-of-wedlock births, divorce and a generation of wounded kids from broken homes, rape, child abuse, the force-feeding of the homosexual lifestyle and same-sex marriage whether we approve of it or not,  and the destruction of the family which is the bedrock of civilization.  The Bible strongly warns us: “Flee sexual immorality.  Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body” (1 Cor. 6: 18).  The Bible also states the eternal consequence of sexual sin that is even more destructive than the  results listed above:  “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived.  Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6: 9-10). Sexual immorality is actually idolatry and self-worship because it puts the gratification of the flesh above pleasing God.  We were created by Him and for Him.  “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  For you were bought at a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:19-20). The devil has taken what is pure and good and holy and perverted it.  Satan has counterfeited one of God’s greatest gifts and reduced once noble man to the level of amoral animals.  Love gives and sacrifices for the other’s highest good.  Lust selfishly takes and dominates without regard for the other person’s well-being.  Jesus is faithful  to forgive all of our sins, even our most shameful ones.  When we repent and He cleanses us, we will have our innocence restored.  “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).   Ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and to be your Lord and Savior.  His all-encompassing love will fill and heal your wounded, lonely heart like no other person can.  You will be made whole, and you will be set free from the tyranny of  sinful desires.  Surrender your will to God; He has the best plan for your life. “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, Who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”  (1 Corinthians 10:13)