Why Be Baptized?

Why do we make a big deal out of baptism?  Or, a better question may be why should you get baptized if you have not been baptized?

Before I share some reasons for you to be baptized, let me clarify a few other important details about baptism.  Baptism is not for everyone.  It is for believers in Jesus Christ.  Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “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.”  The clear New Testament pattern as evidenced repeatedly in the book of Acts is that people repent of sin and place their faith in Jesus and are then baptized as a testimony of their salvation.  Baptism is a symbol of salvation and not a sacrament that confers grace.  Also, the proper mode of baptism is immersion.  We believe that baptism is done by immersion because that is the meaning of the word, the New Testament example, and the symbolism it represents (see Romans 6).

So then, if you are a follower of Jesus, why should you experience believers baptism by immersion?  Here are a few reasons:

1.  You are following the example of Jesus (Matthew 3:15).

2.  You are obeying God and making your initial public confession of faith in Christ (see the pattern of the book of Acts).  This is a gospel witness to others.

3.  You are publicly confessing Jesus and showing that you are not ashamed of Him (Matthew 10:32-33).

4.  You are giving the church an opportunity to join with the angels in celebrating your new life in Christ (Luke 15:7).

5.  You are demonstrating that you are a genuine disciple of Christ (Matthew 28:18-20).

6.  You are proclaiming the gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus for your sins by the symbolism of your action (Romans 6:1-6).

7.  You are picturing the fact that you have died to the old you and been raised to new life through the work of Jesus in your life (Romans 6:1-6).

8.  You are picturing the fact that Jesus has washed your sins away (Acts 22:16).

If you are a believer and have never been baptized, we encourage you to take that step of obedience and publicly declare your faith in Jesus.  Of course, if you are not yet a Christian, we encourage you to receive Him by faith.  If you have questions or we can assist you in taking these steps, please contact us at 865-471-5530 or jimmy@thetruelifechurch.com.

True Life Response To Supreme Court Ruling On Marriage

1. The Bible is the inspired, inerrant, unchanging Word of God so when the Bible speaks, God speaks, and that settles it as true no matter what any human being says. Therefore, we submit ourselves to the authority of Scripture by doing what God says and saying what God says.

2. We treat everyone with love and compassion. To do otherwise is both ungodly and unhelpful. Our mentality cannot be us vs. them, but those with whom we disagree need to see that we only want what is best for them, which only comes through living according to God’s design.

3. We stay focused on Jesus and the Gospel, and we seek to apply the Gospel to every area of life. We must remember that sin never truly satisfies. Only Jesus does. This decision will hurt those who agree with it more than those who disagree with it. The church must love, build relationships, speak truth, and be there to pick up those who are shattered by sin.

4. We stay on our mission of meeting people where they are and helping them become fully devoted followers of Christ. We are called to be salt and light and live as missionaries in culture.

5. We do not make politics our focus, but we steward our responsibility as citizens of a republic, and we vote and participate wisely as expressions of our biblical convictions.

6. We equip ourselves and our children to think biblically, defend and express our faith clearly and lovingly, and speak to this issue articulately.

7. We do not treat homosexuality differently than any other sin, and we do not expect non-Christians to act like Christians. However, we cannot accept same-sex marriage because God does not define it that way in either Scripture or nature. We are to be people of grace and truth. However, we cannot extend grace without extending truth. People cannot receive the gospel that justifies without first hearing the law that condemns. Without hearing the law and being convicted of sin, people cannot repent of sin and trust Jesus in order to receive grace.

8. We do not stick our heads in the sand and ignore the seriousness of the hour, but we also do not panic because God is still on His throne and will use even this to accomplish His purposes.

9. Our ultimate allegiance is to the Kingdom of God so we live counter-cultural Kingdom lives that become a demonstration of the truth to those around us. We must live out what we believe and repent when we sin to have any credibility in the world.

10. We rejoice in the death of cultural religion and get on one side of the fence or the other when it comes to Jesus. Genuine followers of Jesus must prepare to pay the price for truly following Him. This includes obeying the law of God and disobeying the law of man when they are in conflict with one another, which makes the human law an unjust law.

11. More than ever before, the church lives as a family that loves and takes care of each other.

12. We realize that we do not battle against flesh and blood and the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God so we pray, seek God, and rely on the supernatural power of God.

Forgiveness Q @ A

I think this will be a useful follow-up to yesterday’s message on forgiveness. One time in the past when I preached on forgiveness we took questions afterwards. These are the questions and answers, and I thought sharing this again could help flesh out some of the practical issues related to forgiveness. Forgiveness happens when there is an injury or wrong, a debt resulting from the injury, and we choose to cancel the debt. It is deciding to not hold what was done against the person any more. I will attempt to make practical application of this principal in answering these questions. In attempting to answer them, however, I fully recognize that questions about forgiveness are generally born out of difficult situations and general answers may be insufficient for particular situations. One other thing to remember in regard to forgiveness is that one person can choose to forgive, but it takes two people working together to reconcile a relationship.

1. Where does discernment factor into the relationship and what do we do when it is ongoing with someone vindictive? These are two different questions from two different people, but I think they fit together. I think that one of the tougher situations in which to forgive is when the person keeps doing the thing that is hurting us. Up front, we obviously need to be discerning before getting into various types of relationships, but we can certainly be fooled. If it is a relationship that we do not have to be in or that we can righteously depart from, at some point we may have to exit the relationship or at the least, set up some boundaries. Being a forgiving person does not mean being other people’s piñata or doormat. If someone is hurting us, we need to lovingly but firmly confront that person. In some cases, a third party will be needed to help in working through the difficulties.

2. Does reconciliation always have to happen for there to be forgiveness? You cannot have reconciliation without forgiveness, but you can have forgiveness without reconciliation. It takes one to forgive but two to reconcile. We can choose to forgive the other person independent of what they do, but both parties must be willing to make things right and work on things for there to be reconciliation. Romans 12:18 says, “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” We are responsible for what we do, and the other person is responsible for her actions. In most cases, the goal should be reconciliation, but if we forgive and try to reconcile the relationship, we are not guilty if the other party is unwilling to do what is necessary for healing and reconciliation to transpire. There are some cases in which reconciliation is not possible or wise. Examples would include forgiving someone who is no longer alive, forgiving someone that you no longer have any contact with and cannot locate, someone who has committed a crime against you (in some cases, at least), someone who is not safe to be around, someone who will not be honest, and in some cases, when someone will not stop the behavior causing the problem.

3. What about offenses where another person may not realize they had caused an injury or hurt? God’s command to forgive is still the same. As far as dealing with it practically, I think we have to decide if this is something we can deal with inside of ourselves, between us and the Lord, and get over it. If we cannot do that, we need to talk to the other person about it and let them know that they hurt us, we have forgiven them, but we needed to talk about it in order to move on in the relationship.

4. How do forgiveness and grief go together? They are somewhat connected and somewhat separate at the same time. They are connected in the sense that grief is a natural, and often unavoidable, response to being hurt and wronged. They are separate in the sense that forgiveness is a choice that is a willful response to a wrong while grief is the feelings and emotions related to the offense. They are also connected in the sense that the way to ultimately change our feelings is by choosing to forgive and letting go of the anger. This is a certainly a process. We may have to reiterate the choice to forgive many times. We can choose to forgive regardless of how we feel.

5. How do you ever get over the trust issue? How do you forgive completely and not be leery of the future intentions of the person? I feel that I may not be forgiving completely if I am still remembering the deed and waiting for it to happen again? Forgiveness is unconditional while trust is conditional. Forgiveness is graciously granted while trust should be earned. You can choose in a moment to forgive someone, but it will take time, work, and counseling in some cases for trust to be restored. Forgiveness is about the past, but trust is about the future. Remember that forgiveness is not holding what the person did against them any more so we must try to put what they did behind us and not just be waiting for it to happen again. However, it is wise to evaluate how much we can trust them going forward. Some factors to consider include:
-Was the wrongdoing confessed or discovered?
-Is it a pattern or an unusual occurrence?
-Is he open and honest?
-Does she give evidence of taking steps to make changes?
-Does he seem genuinely grieved about hurting me?

6. When I forgive, then remember again at a later time, with pain, the offense, does it mean that I have not forgiven? I would say that it means you are human. When that happens, we need to repeat the steps we took when originally forgiving the person, other than there is not a need to talk to the person again. There could be cases where it means that we have not really forgiven, but I think it is usually the process of dealing with our emotions. With some things, we may have to reaffirm our decision to leave it in the past several times.

7. When you forgive someone of a wrong, are they supposed to act like it never happened and you have no right to be upset any longer, no consequences? This is a difficult question because someone could seek to manipulate and take advantage of our graciousness in forgiving. That ends up pertaining to the trust issue instead of the forgiveness issue though. Remember that when we forgive we are taking them off of our hook and canceling the debt they owe us. We can’t really be forgiving and demanding consequences at the same time.

8. Why do other people want to be forgiven but they don’t want to forgive you if you do the slightest thing to them? How do you handle that situation? It is sinful human nature to act in that manner. I would refer back to question #1 for the answer to this question. This is not really an issue about us forgiving, but a situation where we will need to speak the truth in love to them. We certainly should not base whether or not we forgive or how we treat others on how they act.

Introduction to The Song of Solomon

We are beginning a new, seven week series entitled, “GodLoveSex,” that is a verse-by-verse study of the book of Song of Solomon. Some Bibles call it Song of Songs (the titles are not inspired). These titles come from the first verse of the book, which says, “The song of songs, which is Solomon’s.” I encourage you to read the book on your own. It is not easy to understand all the details, but it is a very important book, and we want to practically apply it to our relationships. John MacArthur says of the book, “The Song of Solomon expands on the ancient marriage instructions of Genesis 2:24, thus providing spiritual music for a lifetime of marital harmony. It is given by God to demonstrate His intention for the romance and loveliness of marriage, the most precious of human relations and ‘the grace of life’ (1 Peter 3:7). He also says, “In contrast to the two distorted extremes of ascetic abstinence and lustful perversion outside of marriage, Solomon’s ancient love song exalts the purity of marital affection and romance. It parallels and enhances other portions of Scripture which portray God’s plan for marriage, including the beauty and sanctity of sexual intimacy between husband and wife.” The book has two primary characters, Solomon (often referred to as “the beloved”) and the Shulamite woman. The daughters of Jerusalem also speak several times, God speaks once (5:1), and the Shulamite’s brothers speak once (8:8-9). Here is an introduction to the book to help us better understand it.

1. Authorship and Date: The book claims to be written by Solomon, the king of Israel, and we accept the text of Scripture at face value as the inspired Word of God. This would date the book in the 10th century B.C. Here is an important question regarding this book. It is the elephant in the room, so to speak. How could Solomon, who had 700 wives and 300 concubines, write such a book as this? I think the answer is twofold. First, every book of the Bible is ultimately written by the Holy Spirit working through imperfect human vessels. Solomon is a prime example that we can know what is right and fail to do what is right. Second, I think the trajectory of Solomon’s life is that he walked with God in his early years, turned away from the Lord (1 Kings 11:1-13), and came back to the Lord later in life (as recorded in the book of Ecclesiastes). I believe the Shulamite woman was Solomon’s first wife and pictures a godly relationship. He began to be involved with other women after that.

2. Interpretive Approaches: Song of Solomon is highly debated as far as its interpretation. Someone from our church posted the advertisement for the series on her Facebook page, and some friends started a lengthy debated about its interpretation. Historically, it has primarily been viewed as an allegory. Personally, I believe that the most natural, straightforward reading of the text is to take it literally as a love poem. The wording seems to clearly be describing a human relationship (at times a sexual relationship) and not a relationship between a person and God. Here is a lengthy quote from the Believer’s Study Bible notes that explains the options. “The literary form and original context of the Song have been understood in various ways. The Song has been seen as a drama, a collection of Syrian wedding songs, a collection of pagan fertility cult liturgies, or an anthology of unrelated love songs. Basically all approaches can be seen to utilize generally one of three methods: (1) The allegorical view understands the book as a poem describing the relationship between God and Israel or between Christ and the church. Each detail is interpreted in a symbolic manner. This approach often finds as many interpretations as interpreters, which shows its dubious value. Genuine allegory will usually yield basically the same interpretation to its varied interpreters. (2) The typological view differs from the allegorical by keeping a historical foundation and by finding analogy not in all subordinated details, but only in main outlines. The proponents of this view acknowledge the mutual love between Solomon and the Shulamite, but go beyond that to consider the divine analogy with its more elevated and spiritual meaning as being the more important. (3) The literal or lyrical view is one which takes the poem at face value, assigning the simplest and most natural interpretation to the text….However, there is also the option that the poem is a vital expression in frank but pure language of the divine theology of marriage as expressed in the love between husband and wife in the physical area, setting forth the ideal love relationship in monogamous marriage. Even the most intimate and personal human love is according to divine plan and as such is bestowed by God Himself (cf. Gen. 2:18-25, Matt. 19:4-6). The richest and best of human love is only a foretaste of the matchless, greater love of God. In this book , the scarlet thread of redemption is revealed, as man, through seeing and experiencing the purity and holiness of earthly love in marriage, gains a better and and clearer understanding of the eternal, heavenly love of Christ for His church.”

3. Theme: As stated above, this is a love poem “setting forth the ideal love relationship in monogamous marriage.” It is a book that can be a guideline for us in our dating and marital relationship. It also pictures the love of God for Israel and the love of Jesus for His bride, the Church. I think the key verses are 8:6-7, which say, “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is as strong as death, jealousy as cruel as the grave; its flames are flames of fire, a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it. If a man would give for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly despised.”

4. Outline: Here is a basic outline of the book. Other people may view it differently, but this is how I see it.

1. Their Courtship (1:1-3:5)
2. The Wedding and Honeymoon (3:6-5:1)
3. The Maturing of the Marriage (5:2-8:7)
4. An Epilogue That Actually Describes How Their Love Began (8:8-14)

5. Resources Consulted: This is not a full list of the resources I have used in my study of the book, but it lists the primary ones. I am sharing this so you will know what I have used and to give you some guidance on resources if you want to do further study.

Love Song, sermon series by Craig Groeschel
Love Song, sermon series by Tommy Nelson
Believer’s Study Bible notes
Song of Solomon: A Picture of Marriage, Christ by David Roach (an article)
Christ-Centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in Song of Songs by Daniel Akin
The Song of Solomon in The MacArthur Bible Commentary by John MacArthur
Song of Songs in Bible Knowledge Commentary by Jack Deere
The Revell Concise Bible Dictionary

Nehemiah Overview

Nehemiah was in the king’s palace at Susa in the month of Chislev (which is roughly November or December on our calendar) when Hanani came with men from Judah, and Nehemiah asked him about Jerusalem and the remnant of people who had returned there. Hanani told him that the walls were “broken down and its gates are burned with fire.” This was both a dangerous and embarrassing situation. They were in this predicament because of their unfaithfulness to God so they were failing to be a light to the Gentiles and instead bringing reproach on the name of God. In regard to the historical background, the study notes in the Believer’s Study Bible say, “Just as the Israelites were taken into exile in three successive stages (605, 597, 586 B.C.), they returned in three stages. The first stage occurred under the leadership of Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel (538 B.C.). After a long delay, this return resulted in the rebuilding of the temple (520-516 B.C.), encouraged by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. Ezra led the second return in the seventh year of Artaxerxes I (458 B.C.; cf. Ezra 7:1, 8). Nehemiah led the final return in the twentieth year of Artxerxes I.”

Nehemiah was the cupbearer of King Artaxerxes I. He was an ordinary person in the sense that he was not royalty or a religious leader. However, he must have been a man of great character who proved himself trustworthy to be placed in a position such as this, although I am sure it was providential as well. The cupbearer tasted the king’s wine to make sure it was not poisoned and assassinations were common in the Persian Empire. Therefore, he was risking his life, but apart from that, he would have enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle in the king’s palace. The cupbearers often became confidants and advisors to the kings because they were so trusted. God obviously used this when he gave Nehemiah the burden to rebuild the walls in Jerusalem, which was a 140 year old problem.

Nehemiah’s brother, Hanani, reported to him that the people of God in Jerusalem were “in great distress and reproach.” Nehemiah was burdened by this and he began to weep, pray, fast, and confess sin. He acted on this God-given burden and prayerfully asked King Artaxerxes for permission and help to go back and rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. He had obviously thought through the circumstances and had an excellent strategy. He clearly cast vision, and the king approved his request and provided him help. However, 2:10 says, “When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard of it, they were deeply disturbed that a man had come to seek the well-being of the children of Israel.” This foreshadows the recurring problem of opposition that Nehemiah experienced from these men and others. However, he was undeterred and persevered all the way to the end in completing his God-given mission.

Nehemiah went to Jerusalem with the king’s permission and help, and he began his work by scouting the situation. In 2:17, he cast vision and challenged them by saying, “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.” The people accepted the challenge, and “they set their hands to this good work.” In chapter 3, Nehemiah organized the work into about 40 sections of the wall with different people responsible for each section. They continued to experience opposition, but they continued to work faithfully on the wall. They took a break (recorded in chapter 5) to deal with some internal problems that were threatening the mission. However, through the grace of God, Nehemiah’s excellent leadership, and their hard work; they were able to complete the wall. They solved a 140 year old problem in 52 days. 6:16 sums this up by saying, “And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was done by our God.”

The focus of the book then changes from the rebuilding of the wall to the repopulating and reorganization of the city, reforming God’s people, and the spiritual renewal of God’s people. Nehemiah began this process by appointing leaders, reviewing the genealogies, and eventually drafting people to move there. However, his primary focus was the spiritual renewal of the people. He brought Ezra, who was a priest and scribe, in to teach the Bible to the people. Out of this, they confessed their sin, worshipped the Lord, reinstituted the biblical feasts, and renewed their covenant with the Lord as they saw His faithful mercy through the Word of God. Chapter 12 records a great worship celebration as they dedicated the wall by two choirs walking on the wall that Tobiah said a fox would break down if it went on the wall. However, chapter 13 records another problem as Nehemiah returned to the king’s palace, and in his absence, the people were led to break the covenant they had made with the Lord in chapter 10. Nehemiah returned and corrected the problem and ends with him making sure that the people would be worshipping God in His city, Jerusalem, as a witness to the nations around them. Even beyond the necessary rebuilding of the wall, this was the ultimate fulfillment of the mission. Of course, the book ultimately points to Jesus, our great and true High Priest, Sacrifice, and Temple, whose finished work brings us into the very presence of God to enable us to worship and give glory to God.

This is a transcript of a message that I preached at True Life in the summer of 2014. It is basically a biblical theology of sexuality, which is obviously very a very important subject. We have also attached a link to a podcast from Arrowhead Church, where their Lead Pastor, Ben Shoun, and his wife, Sara, discuss the book and movie, “50 Shades of Grey.” With the recent release of this movie, we feel like this is a timely discussion.

Pastor Jimmy

Link to podcast from Ben and Sara Shoun of Arrowhead Church

“Sexology: A Biblical Theology Of Sex”
(Slightly edited transcript of a sermon preach at True Life on July 27, 2014)

This sermon is called Sexology because what I am going to try to do today is develop a biblical theology of sex. I am going to give you seven statements from Scripture that kind of cover what I think Scripture teaches about this subject really more from a positive side. We have Christology, which is the theology of Christ, Pneumatology, the study of the Holy Spirit, Hamartiology, the study of sin, and all these different ologies. I think that we need a theology when it comes to sex so that we can see it from God’s perspective. I hope that this does not make anybody too uncomfortable. It doesn’t make me too uncomfortable to talk about it and at the rate that we produce babies around here I don’t think that we are too prudish on this subject. In case it does make you uncomfortable, I will just tell you this little story to break the ice. My good buddy, friend, pal Rusty Arwood made me uncomfortable yesterday. Yesterday was Lillie’s tenth birthday, and we are having a party and Rusty and Lori come to pick up Alexandria and Bailey. We are just sitting there in our living room. It’s me and my Mom is there and Robin my wife, and I guess maybe Lee Brown was there and maybe some other people were there. My Mom didn’t know what I was preaching about although she did ask me last night, thank you Rusty, so if she shows up at the second service today you are preaching instead of me. Rusty is like “are you ready for this sermon tomorrow,” and I said, “Yeah, I think so.” He is like do you need to practice? My Mom hears that and she is like “does he need to practice his sermon”? Rusty is like “I don’t know, you need to ask your daughter-in-law.” At this point I can say something and A.)embarrass myself, B.) embarrass my Mom, C.) make my wife mad, or D.) all of the above and so Rusty got me good.

Let’s start this way. Romans 12:2 says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing or your mind, so that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” I hope that we understand that our most important sex organ is our brain and the Bible says “that as a man thinks in his heart so is he.” Everything begins with the way that we think and begins with what we believe. I believe how we think controls what we feel and it controls how we act. The word conform means to squeeze into a mold. If there is an issue in the world, that the world wants to transform us, squeeze us into its mold, it is the issue of sex. We are constantly bombarded with ideas and images. You cannot watch a normal TV program or you cannot walk through the grocery store and checkout without being bombarded with images. The world wants to squeeze us into its mold when it comes to this issue. God wants to transform us. It is the word that we get our English word metamorphosis from through the renewing of our mind. The way that we are squeezed into the world’s mold is by listening to and believing its lies. The way that we are transformed through the renewing of our mind is by listening to and believing God’s truth. With any area of life but especially this one, the bottom line question is are we operating based on truth or are we operating based on falsehood? If I gave a quiz today and I asked you to write out a biblical theology of sex what God has designed it to be, I wonder how we would do. My guess is that most people that have a church background would do better with saying what it is not supposed to be than actually what it is because I think it is a lot of the message that we have gotten. In fact, from a sermon from a series through Song of Solomon, Dr. Danny Akin said this: “In an article in entitled “What They Didn’t Teach You About Sex in Sunday School”. Peggy Fletcher Stack writes many people assume that bible has just one message about sex: ‘Don’t do it.’ Anyone that says that obviously has not read the Bible. God, in His Word, has a lot to say about sex and much is good. Indeed God is pro-sex when it is enjoyed His way and for His Glory. Yes, God should be glorified when we engage in the act of sex. Have you ever thought about it that way before? Sex as God has designed it is good, exciting, intoxicating, powerful and unifying. The Bible is not a book on sex but it does contain a complete theology of sexuality. The purposes for sex, warnings against its misuse, and a beautiful picture of ideal physical and spiritual intimacy as set forth in the Song of Songs. The “one flesh” relationship is the most intense physical intimacy and the deepest spiritual unity possible between a husband and wife. God always approves of this relationship in which a husband and wife meet each other’s physical needs in sexual intercourse.” I think he is exactly right.

Let me mention some resources to you. If you can find Dr. Akin or Tommy Nelson’s teaching on Song of Solomon, I highly recommend it to you. For married couples here are a couple of good books. This is an older book, “The Act of Marriage” by Tim an Beverly LaHaye that was originally written back in the 60’s that was redone about fifteen years ago is a really good resource. Another book of the same type is by Dr. Ed Wheat in his wife, “Intended for Pleasure.” This is what we have used and I highly recommend it although I am sure there is other good resources out there. In talking to your kids ,“Passport 2 Purity” from Family Life Today, by Dennis and Barbara Rainey is really good. We will just kind of touch on this a little bit but you know a big issue in our society today is the issue of homosexuality. Our very own David Robinson wrote this book, “Love Speaks,” and it is an excellent resource. You can get it on Amazon. Everybody should read this book. It is such a big issue and David has done a fantastic job.

That is kind of the pre-introduction. Here is the actual introduction. I know this can be a painful issue for some people just because maybe of abuse, sin, difficulties. I understand that I am speaking to a lot of different potential issues. One of the best teachings I have ever heard on this subject is from Matt Chandler and as he was introducing his message he said, “I have thought through this and I have come up with about 35 different scenarios that I could be speaking to as far as peoples background with this.” I understand that and I obviously cannot get that specific so I am going to try to lay out some principles and hopefully and prayerfully the Holy Spirit will help you to apply these to your life.

I want to give you a couple of false ways to look at sex and then we are going to look at the biblical way. The first is what I think is the prevailing view in our culture today. It is the humanistic view. I just want to read a little bit from the Humanist Manifesto and then I want to share an example with you of what I think this looks like fleshed out in people’s lives. It comes from a lengthy article in the New York Times entitled, “Sex on Campus: She Can Play That Game Too.” Here is part of what the Humanist Manifesto says. It says modern science discredits such historic concepts as the “ghost in the machine” and the “separable soul.” In other words, we have no soul. Let’s keep that in mind when I read from this New York Times article. “Rather science affirms that the human species is an emergence from natural evolutionary forces. As far as we know the total personality is a function of the biological organism transacting in a social and cultural context.” Now that is a real wordy, over intellectualized way to say what? It is saying we are a highly evolved animal. Then it says there is no credible evidence that life survives the death of the body. We continue to exist in our progeny and our children and in the way that our lives have influenced others in our culture. Here are three statements, the three things I said to start with: we have no soul, we are just an animal, and we die and that’s it. This is the philosophy of life, the world view, which our young people have grown up with just being inundated with. I want you to see the practical ramifications of this. Another part of the Humanist Manifesto statement on ethics says, “We affirm that the moral values derive their source from human experience. Ethics is autonomous and situational needing no theological or ideological sanction. Ethics stems from human need and interest.” What that is saying is that everything relative. There are no absolutes, you decide right and wrong. It is based on your interest, your need. Part of the statement on sexuality says, “In the area of sexuality, we believe that intolerant attitudes, often cultivated by orthodox religions and puritanical cultures, unduly repress sexual conduct. The right to birth control, abortion, and divorce should be recognized. While we do not approve of exploitive, denigrating forms of sexual expression, neither do we wish to prohibit, by law or social sanction, sexual behavior between consenting adults. The many varieties of sexual exploration should not in themselves be considered ‘evil.’ Without countenancing mindless permissiveness or unbridled promiscuity, a civilized society should be a tolerant one. Short of harming other or compelling to do likewise, individuals should be permitted to express their sexual proclivities and pursue their lifestyles as they desire.” Let’s put this together; you have no soul, you’re an animal, this life is it, everything is relative, ethics are situational, you decide what is right and what is wrong, and basically pretty much anything goes when it comes to sex.

What is the fruit of that? This New York Times article, I encourage you if you are a parent it is worth reading it. Google it, “Sex on Campus She Can Play That Game Too.” Basically they studied, researched, interviewed about 60 Penn University, which is an Ivy League School, females and they pooled in some other research as well. Here is what pieces of it says. “At 11 on a weeknight earlier this year, her work finished, a slim, pretty junior at the University of Pennsylvania did what she often does when she has a little free time. She texted her regular hookup — the guy she is sleeping with but not dating. What was he up to? He texted back: Come over. So she did. They watched a little TV, had sex and went to sleep. Their relationship, she noted, is not about the meeting of two souls.” Why would you think it is if you have been taught your whole life you didn’t have a soul? Do you see how sad that is? Listen to this. “‘We don’t really like each other in person, sober,’ she said, adding that ‘we literally can’t sit down and have coffee.’ Ask her why she hasn’t had a relationship at Penn, and she won’t complain about the death of courtship or men who won’t commit. Instead, she’ll talk about ‘cost-benefit’ analyses and the ‘low risk and low investment costs’ of hooking up. Another girl they just give the initial A talks about how hard it is at an Ivy League School like this and how hard it is to get into the top clubs, top research projects, and top internships. If I am sober I am working and she says in such an overburdened college life it was rare to her and her friends to find a relationship to invest time in and many people avoided commitment because someone better would always come along. “We are very aware of cost benefit issues of trading up and trading down so no one wants to be too tied to someone that you know may not be the person that you want to be within a couple of months.” Instead casual sex as set on her terms late at night after a few drinks and never at her place she noted because then she would have to wash the sheets. Then later on in the article it goes on and it talks about how this gets started and some of the fraternity parties during early student orientation and the dances and these kind of things that turn into these dance floor makeouts. Dancing like that felt good but dirty, and like a number of girls, Haley said she had to be drunk in order to enjoy it. Women said universally that hookups could not exist without alcohol, because they were for the most part too uncomfortable to pair off with men they did not know well without being drunk. In November of Haley’s freshman year, a couple of months after her first tentative ‘Difmos,’ or dance-floor makeouts, she went to a party with a boy from her floor. She had too much to drink, and she remembered telling him that she wanted to go home. Instead, she said, he took her to his room and had sex with her while she drifted in and out of consciousness. She woke up with her head spinning. The next day, not sure what to think about what had happened, she described the night to her friends as though it were a funny story: I was so drunk, I fell asleep while I was having sex! She played up the moment in the middle of the night when the guy’s roommate poked his head in the room and asked, ‘Yo, did you score?’ Only later did Haley begin to think of what had happened as rape — a disturbingly common part of many women’s college experience. In a 2007 survey funded by the Justice Department of 6,800 undergraduates at two big public universities, nearly 14 percent of women said they had been victims of at least one completed sexual assault at college; more than half of the victims said they were incapacitated from drugs or alcohol at the time.”

Let me just say three things about that: 1.) If education alone is the key to humanities problems a college campus would be the most moral place on the face of the earth and we know that is pretty much the opposite. 2.) Somebody who doesn’t think what we are taught and what we believe doesn’t end up affecting the way we act is completely clueless. This kind of thing is the fruit of the kind of philosophy that I read from the Humanist Manifesto and why is why world view is so important. 3.) I hope you come out of this message today seeing how sad this is and seeing that God has designed sex to be so much more than what these girls are talking about. It is so much more beautiful and special and spiritual than this.

That was the humanistic version. Think about the religious, legalistic version of this. It is not really biblical either. There is a couple of ways that this can go. One is the idea that sex is a duty that you endure to have children. There is kind of the youth group message of “don’t do this, it is dirty, vile, gross, you are going to get a disease, all these kind of things, save it for the one you love on your wedding night.” You know what, that is not really right either. Guys can hear that all day long and it is not going to affect them. I think sometimes women get that message and when they get married it can be hard to flip that switch. A lie is a lie. An untruth is an untruth whether it is packaged in a religious covering or some other kind covering. So what is the truth?
So with all that said in an introduction here are seven things that the Bible says about sex. Grab your Bibles or whatever you use. It will be up on the screen and follow along.

1. Sex is created and designed by God (Genesis 1:27-28, 31; 2:24-25). “So 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.” So God made men and women. He said go make babies. In essence he is saying go have sex. It is one of the first things he told them to do. This was God’s idea. Dr. Henry Brandt said, “God created all parts of the human body. He did not create some parts good and some bad; He created them all good, for when He had finished His creation, He looked at it and said, ‘It is all very good’ (Genesis 1:31).” It is obvious that God designed men and women for sex, for procreation physiologically. There is no way to argue with that. Satan did not come up with this. It was not like on the seventh day that God was taking a nap and Satan came down and said, “Hey Adam I want to show you something and I want to tell you I have something that you are really going to like.” God created us and designed us for monogamy. He created a man and a woman and he put them together. So something else this means practically. Every person is an image bearer of God. So when we have sex or think about sex it is with an image bearer and not an object. The reason why lust is wrong or pornography is wrong because it is taking someone who is an image bearer of God and turning them into an object. Here is something else to think about. I think sometimes we act like our bodies are something to be all prudish about. Our bodies are special and the reason the Bible teaches modesty is not because there is something wrong with our bodies it is because there is something wrong with our souls. Our souls have been corrupted by sin and so we turn people’s bodies into objects of lust. That is why the Bible talks about it and if you look into Chapter 2:25, “They were naked, Adam and Eve, the man and his wife and they were not ashamed.” So there is supposed to be a healthy freedom within marriage and modesty outside of that not because there is something wrong with any part of our body but because this is God’s design. It is special and certain parts of our body are only reserved for one person. I think it is important that we start with this idea that this was all God’s idea. He created it. He designed it and us for it. If we understand this came from Him, this is a very important piece of our thinking.

2. Sex is designed to be the consummation and binding of an exclusive, male-female, marital relationship. Let’s go to Genesis 2:24. I will just hit this quickly if you are not familiar with this teaching. Go on our website. Go to the Modern Family Series. Go to the first message in the series and that is what it is about. Genesis 2:24 says, “And man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.” This is God’s definition. This is God’s pattern of marriage. Man and woman leave their biological families to start their own family. How do they do this? They do this by publicly making vows to God and to each other. They enter into a covenant. To me that is the defining mark of marriage. Some people say sex is. What makes a marriage a marriage is the covenant that we make with each other and with God. So they leave. They join together, which means literally they are super glued together and then they consummate the relationship as it says and “they shall become one flesh.” So they go from making public vows to some private spot to actually act out physically what they have already done spiritually. They become a union. They joined their lives together and now they join their bodies together. This why sex before marriage, outside of marriage, by living together is not God’s plan because there is a pattern here. You leave, you join together and then you consummate. You give your hearts, your lives to each other. You make vows. You make a covenant together. You commit to each other. You close the back door. If you are living together the back door is always open and you can walk out at any time. Marriage is an unconditional commitment. It is a covenant and once you join your lives together then you join your bodies together. That is God’s plan. Sex is not just a physical act. It is not two highly evolved animals getting together and bumping bodies. It is two souls joining together after they have placed their lives together. That is a beautiful thing. What that says if you are not married and having sex is that God says repent and follow My pattern so that this can be everything that I have designed for it to be. But this would also say, I would think, that barring some type of physical problem it means that sex is a very intregal part of a marriage relationship because we are one flesh. It is the thing that keeps us from being a business transaction or a roommate agreement. So it is pretty important. Basically understand if we are truly making a covenant with another person and we are giving our lives to them we are also giving our sexuality to them and basically we are saying that all my sexual desires are all now bound up in you and yours are bound up in me. If someone turns that into a bait and switch, hey we are married, we had the honeymoon and now sex is not important; do you see what that is doing to that person at that point? There may be some reasons for it but I would encourage you if you are struggling with that to get some help.

3. Sex is pure within marriage and sinful in all cases outside of marriage. Sex is pure in marriage and sinful in cases outside of marriage. And I think that this is a really important statement and it is worded very specifically. C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, “The Christian rule is either marriage, with complete faithfulness to your partner, or else total abstinence.” Where does this come from? Turn to Hebrews 13:4 if you have a Bible or it will be on the screen. Here is what Hebrews 13:4 says, “Marriage is honorable among all and the bed undefiled but fornicators and adulators God will judge.” Now marriage is honorable among all and it says the bed undefiled. I think when you hear bed undefiled it is probably pretty clear what that means. Let me make it a little bit stronger for you. Bed in this case is a euphemism. It comes from the Greek word koitae, which is from the Latin word which is coitus, which is the technical term for sexual intercourse and in the Greek language that is basically what it means. What it is literally saying is that marriage is honorable among all and sexual intercourse undefiled. So it is saying that sex within marriage is pure but then there is the contrast of fornicators and adulators God will judge. Now we will talk about that in just a second but let me give you this statement, “sex in and of itself is a beautiful and holy gift from God. It is not taking something dirty and making it holy by placing it in marriage but it is taking something holy and defiling it by using it outside of marriage.” I think that is a very important way to look at it because it gives us a healthy way to look at it within marriage and it gives us an appropriate way to look at it outside of marriage. Let me read that statement again, “Sex in and of itself is a beautiful and holy gift from God. It is not taking something dirty and making it holy by placing it in marriage but it is taking something holy and defiling it by using it outside of marriage.” I think there are four or five categories basically of sexual sin. Fornication is sex outside of marriage. It is basically kind of the junk drawer Greek term, porneia. We get the word pornography from it. Basically any kind of sexual sin is locked in there. Sometimes in the Bible it is used for sex between unmarried persons. Sex outside of marriage is sin. Extramarital sex is sin. That is what adultery is. Unnatural sex, which would be homosexuality, polygamy because God designed us to be married to one person not multiple people, incest, bestiality, and bisexuality; those kind of things would be unnatural sex outside the way that God has designed us. Let me just say to you that if you are struggling with any of those things particularly homosexuality, it is not natural. It is not of God but He loves you and we love you. We are not here to push you away. We are here for you. We love you enough to tell you the truth. We also love you enough to tell you that God has grace. If you are just struggling with feelings that is not sin. Talk to somebody. If you are sinning in this matter, sinning in any of these categories, sin is sin. Sin is sin and God will forgive. We will do all we can to help you. Another category would be abusive sex. When I say sin is sin this probably goes to another level because we are talking about multiple sins here. Here we are going to be talking about rape, pedophilia, and those kind of things. Then there is the heart issue of lust, which is often fueled by pornography. Now remember what you Jesus said in Sermon on the Mountain, “If a man looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” So there is sexual sin and God calls us to repent of those things. In 1 Thessalonians 4:3, Paul said, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality.” If we are Christians that is God’s standard for our lives. That is his goal is for us to grow towards. If you are not a Christian he wants to set you free. He wants to put his truth within you to give you a way to think about this and a new way to live this out that is lining up with the way He has created the world. It is going to be healthy and helpful for you.

4. Sex is for intimate knowledge. If we go back to Genesis and remember what we read in 2:24-25, “They should become one flesh. They were both naked. The man and his wife were not ashamed.” Then Chapter 4:1 says that Adam knew Eve his wife and in the past I thought that was just the kind of King James prudish way of being tactful in saying this. The word in the Hebrew is expressive of intimate knowledge. It is a euphemism for sex but there is a point to it. The point is this; sex is more than just body to body. It is also soul to soul. I am telling you that the girls we read about in that article might think that they get drunk and hookup and that it might not mean anything but they are leaving a little part of themselves with those people. It will affect them. It will affect them. Sex is designed to be an expression of love and commitment. It is to be loving and serving instead of self-serving. If the relationship isn’t right the woman is going to end up feeling used. That’s just how it works. So it is for intimate knowledge. It is more than just a physical kind of thing.

5. Sex is for procreation. In a way that is obvious. I just want to state the implications of this a little bit. Look at the rest of Genesis 4:1. It says that Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived and bore Cain and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” Here is the point of this verse. God is the ultimate gift giver of life but he works through human means to accomplish that. I love what Rick Warren says about this. He says that there may be illegitimate parents but there are no illegitimate children. They come from God ultimately through human means. We have already read in Genesis 1 God said “be fruitful and multiply.” We read what God says about marriage in Malachi 2 when he says that part of the purpose of it is to have Godly offspring. What does that mean practically? Let me just say quickly: A.) We affirm a culture of life that values children as a blessing and stewardship form God in contrast to much of what our society says about children being a nuisance and a burden hindering you from self-fulfillment and that they ought to be avoided. Read Psalm 127:3-5. They are a gift from God. They are a stewardship from God. If you believe the Bible you will affirm a culture of life. B.) We affirm a culture of life that rejects abortion except to save a mother’s life. We are sorry if someone has been through a difficult situation, but it is not just to murder the child because of the situation. The only issue when it comes to abortion is whether or not that child is a living human being. This issue is turning in our society because medical science now clearly shows us that it is a living human being from the point of conception. Ethically once you settle that issue it is murder unless it is to save the mother’s life. C.) We affirm a culture of life that encourages adoption as the Holy Spirit leads families to do that. It is not a biblical commandment but a wonderful thing if God leads in that direction because there are certainly many children who need to be adopted. D.) We grieve with couples who desire to conceive and are having difficulty. We know that is a very painful thing. E.) We believe that having children is part of marriage biblically for those who are physically able but also believe that some people go overboard and get legalistic over this kind of thing so we don’t mandate that you have to have certain amount of children or something like that. We believe that is an issue that you should seek God on. I mean really seek God. I will tell you after Mollie was born she went through three weeks in the hospital and almost died and that kind of thing. We were like we are not going to have kids anymore because we were freaked out with that. I am glad that we did not do anything permanent then so we have Lillie now. So I am saying be very careful with that kind of thing, really seek God. We are not saying that you have to be the Duggars or something like that. God is ultimately the giver of life. So sex is for procreation.

6. Sex is to be the regular part of the marriage relationship. Let’s go to the New Testament now. Let’s go to 1 Corinthians Chapter 7. I am just going to hit this kind of quickly because I want to spend a little more time on the last point. 1 Corinthians Chapter 7 is really a straight forward text where the challenge is whether or not we are going to obey it. Verse 1 make it clear that Paul was answering questions written to him by the church at Corinth. “It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless because of sexual immorality let each man have his own wife and let each woman have her own husband.” So Paul is saying if you are able to celibate, if you are not sexually tempted that is great. Don’t touch a woman. Go serve the Lord wholeheartedly, fully. Apparently what he did but if you are not wired that way you need to get married. You know I got married young and some people give me a hard time about that but I really think part of the reason and I know it is hard in our society today, that young men should try to be very diligent as you growing up to get an education, get a trade and prepare themselves and not wait. The trend in our society today is to wait until you are 30 to get married. You are creating a lot of sexual temptation for yourself if you do that. Let’s be real about it and really the reason people are waiting is because they don’t have any convictions about this kind of thing. If you have self-control that’s great and if not work towards marriage. That is a very practical kind of thing. I half way kid around about this, but I don’t think long engagements are great because if you are really made to be married and attracted to each other, you are fighting sexual temptation. Hopefully you are fighting it but why do that to yourself for years and years if you know that you have this commitment to each other. I mean just be real about this kind of stuff. It says then “let the husband render to his wife affection to her likewise also the wife to her husband.” Affection in this context means a little bit more than a hug and a peck on the cheek. “The wife does not have authority over her own body but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body but the wife does. Do not deprive one another except for consent for a time that you might give yourself to fasting and prayer so that you may come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.” So what are the commands here? The husband is to give his wife the affection he owes her and the wife is to give her husband the affection she owes him. It says “Husbands and wives are not to deprive” and that word literally means to rob one another unless it is for a specified for an amount of time for prayer and fasting. The basis of this is that the wife’s body belongs to her husband the husband’s body belongs to his wife. When we got married we literally gave all of ourselves including our bodies to our spouse. The reasons he gives for this are robbing each other, deprive one another, and then in verse 5 he says, “It gives Satan an opportunity to bring temptation into the marriage.” Now let me say this, if you have sexual problems in the marriage relationship it is not an excuse for some kind of sexual sin and you can have a good sexual relationship and your spouse still can be sinful and misuse this and sin in this way, commit adultery, pornography, whatever. I am not saying this is a foolproof kind of thing but as a general common sense kind of principle, a healthy sexual relationship between a husband and wife is the greatest antidote there is for sexual temptation. I will be brave enough to say men that if you are married and that is the case you know that is true. That is what he is saying here we are to give ourselves to each other, wait for marriage, and then meet the other person’s needs. That may require some give and take, maybe some I don’t know if this is the right word some sacrifice and may in some cases require putting the other person ahead of yourself because real life is not the movies. You are two unique people who probably don’t have the exact same sex drive at the same exact time and everything. Clothes don’t magically fly off and you have a musical score in the background and both of you are on the exact same page at the exact same time and so it is part of the reason why that marriage is work and that marriage is a sanctifying thing because it requires us to act with love and put the other person ahead of ourselves, which exposes our sinful selfishness. That is the principle it gives here. Sex is to be a priority, a regular part of the marriage relationship.

7. Sex is designed by God for physical pleasure. Last thing; let’s go back to the Old Testament. Let’s go to the Song of Solomon. Just to kind of set this up we are going to read chapters 3-4. Let’s go back to Chapter 1 for just a second just to help us get something here. This is Solomon who is the King and his bride who is referred to as the as the Shulamite. Apparently she was a peasant. She was kind of a farm girl. You know opposites attract and this would be kind of an extreme example of that. We still see it today opposites attract. Me and Robin, she is kind of bubbly and outgoing, vivacious, big personality and I barely have a personality; opposites attract. You have Shane and Leann. Leann is really sweet. You got Rusty and Lori. I mean 20 years ago if you told me Rusty was going to marry somebody with a PhD I would have laughed in your face. You know you can’t judge a book by its cover, but Rusty has to because he has never read past the cover but he married a PhD. So you know opposites attract. This must be an extreme example of that here. She says, “I am dark but lovely oh daughters of Jerusalem like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. Do not look upon me because I am dark because the sun has tanned me. My mother’s sons are angry with me. They made me the keeper of the vineyards but my own vineyard I have not kept.” In other words, she had been outside working in the sun and she is not taking care of herself. She is not exactly prepared for the wedding in the way a Jewish woman is supposed to be prepared. She was not Esther spending a year beautifying herself before she goes and meets with the King but apparently Solomon was attracted to her and loved her anyway. We come to Chapter 3:6 and basically you have the wedding ceremony. It says, “Who is this coming out the wilderness like pillars of smoke perfumed with myrrh and frankincense with all the merchants’ fragrant powders? Behold it is Solomon’s couch. With sixty valiant men around it of the valiant of Israel. They all hold swords being expert in war. Every man his sword on his thigh because of fear in the night.” So they have a wedding party, and he has sixty groomsmen with swords. He is taking care of her. This is a pretty massive thing here. I thought we had a pretty big wedding when we had ten bridesmaids and ten groomsmen. My problem was Robin had more friends than me. I was trying to pull guys off the street. You have a tux? Do you want to be in a wedding? I had one thing in my wedding though that Solomon didn’t. I had Rusty Arwood sporting a mullet in my wedding. It was a special thing I am telling you. There are pictures if you ever want to see them. Just come over to the house. It says “Of the wood of Solomon the King made himself a palanquin. He made his pillars of silver. Its support of gold. Its seat of purple. Its interior paved with love by the daughters of Jerusalem.” Verse 11 talks about his mother crowning him with a crown. That was part of a wedding ceremony back then. So there was this massive production. If you have seen one of the Royal weddings on TV, this would have dwarfed that probably. Solomon was the richest man in the world and this would have been a massive thing. So they got married. But then believe it or not, the Bible in the next chapter describes their honeymoon. It begins by describing her. It says, “Behold, you are fair my love! You have dove’s eyes behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats going down from Mount Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep, which have come up from the washings. Every one of which has borne twins. And none is barren among them.” Remember we kind of have to contextualize Scripture. This was recording what happened. Remember this was ancient Near Eastern love poetry. Don’t necessarily try this at home. You know what I am saying, “hey baby you have some sexy teeth.” I don’t know how that is going to work for you guys. You can try and give a testimony if you want. One thing about it is he is speaking her language here. She would have understood goats and those kinds of things because she worked outdoors. There is something to learn there. Understand he starts by praising her. It says, “Your lips are like a strand of scarlet. And your mouth is lovely. Your temples behind your veil are like a piece of pomegranate. Your neck is like the tower of David built like an armory. On which hang a thousand bucklers. All shields of mighty men. Your two breasts are like two fawns. Twins of a gazelle. Which feed among the lilies. Until the day breaks And the shadows flee away I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.” And yes that means what you think it means. It says, “Your all fair my love.” It means you are perfect. There is no flaw in you. Once we get married, our spouse is our standard of beauty. That’s why it is so important to guard our eyes. We need to treat our wives as if to say “you are it, only you.” “Come with me from Lebanon my spouse, with me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Amana, from the top of Senir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of the leopards. You have ravished my heart, My sister.” Sister was used as a term of affection back then. It is not anything weird. “You have ravished my heart with one look of your eyes, with one link of your necklace. How fair is your love My sister, my spouse! How much better than wine is your love, And the scent of your perfumes and all spices! Your lips oh my spouse, drip as the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue.” Maybe we should call it Hebrew kissing instead of French kissing because you know this is way before there was a France. “And the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.” “A garden enclosed is My sister, my spouse. A spring shut up. A fountain closed.” In other words, you know what he is saying there? She saved herself for their wedding. Then it says, your fruits are like an orchard of pomegranates, fragrant henna with spikenard. Spikenard and saffron, Calamus and cinnamon, With all trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes with all the chief spices… A fountain of gardens, A well of living waters, And streams from Lebanon.” And then here is her invitation; Awake O north wind, And come O south! Blow upon my garden, That its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come to his garden and eat its pleasant fruits.” So she gives him an invitation in Chapter 5:1 that says, “I have come to my garden My sister, my spouse; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk.” In other words they consummated their relationship. I go through all that just to get to this one point. Look at the end of chapter 5, verse 1. If we really get this it is a transforming thing on how we think about sex. “Eat, O friends! Drink, yes, drink deeply, O beloved ones!” Now friends watching may sound kind of weird here. What is going on here? It is not him speaking. It is God speaking. Here is what Craig Glickman says about this; “He [God] lifts His voice and gives hearty approval to the entire night. He vigorously endorses and affirms the love of this couple. He takes pleasure in what has taken place. He is glad they have drunk deeply of the fountain of love. Two of His own have experienced love in all the beauty and fervor and purity that He intended for them. In fact, He urges them on to more . . . . That is his attitude toward the giving of their love to each other. And by the way, that’s also His attitude toward married couples today.” In the book Intimate Issues, a woman named Beth is quoted as saying, “God designs sex to be for pleasure for married couples who have given their lives to each other as an expression of love for the rest of their lives. So it is a really, really important thing.”

Now to close this, let me give you some applications to think about.
Conclusion-Applications:
1. Conform our thinking on this issue to biblical truth.
2. If you are not married, save yourself for marriage. Andy Stanley says, “Purity now leads to intimacy later.” Purity now leads to intimacy and that is the truth.
3. If you are married, what is the application? Understand that this is a really important part of our lives and be obedient to Scripture and work to make this part of your relationship everything it should be for your spouse and you.
4. Let me read this Scripture . 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 says this, “Do you not know the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” Now listen to this, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” Listen, you may have a past but if you are in Christ it is who you were. It is not who you are. Live in that. If you are living in some kind of sin right now it can be in your past. Jesus will forgive you. God is a gracious God.

(Sorry this is a little late!)

Background of the Book of Nehemiah

1. Background of the book: In the Hebrew Bible, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah go together as one book. There is scholarly debate regarding the authorship, but I believe Ezra wrote the book that is called Ezra and the same with Nehemiah. Nehemiah and Ezra worked together. Ezra was the Bible teacher and Nehemiah more of the administrator and overall leader.
2. Historical Background: Nehemiah was in the king’s palace at Susa in the month of Chislev (which is roughly November or December on our calendar) when Hanani came with men from Judah, and Nehemiah asked him about Jerusalem and the remnant of people who had returned there. Hanani told him that the walls were “broken down and its gates are burned with fire.” This was both a dangerous and embarrassing situation. They were in this predicament because of their unfaithfulness to God so they were failing to be a light to the Gentiles and instead bringing reproach on the name of God. In regard to the historical background, the study notes in the Believer’s Study Bible say, “Just as the Israelites were taken into exile in three successive stages (605, 597, 586 B.C.), they returned in three stages. The first stage occurred under the leadership of Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel (538 B.C.). After a long delay, this return resulted in the rebuilding of the temple (520-516 B.C.), encouraged by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. Ezra led the second return in the seventh year of Artaxerxes I (458 B.C.; cf. Ezra 7:1, 8). Nehemiah led the final return in the twentieth year of Artxerxes I.”
3. Background on Nehemiah: Nehemiah was the cupbearer of King Artaxerxes I. He was an ordinary person in the sense that he was not royalty or a religious leader. However, he must have been a man of great character who proved himself trustworthy to be placed in a position such as this, although I am sure it was providential as well. The cupbearer tasted the king’s wine to make sure it was not poisoned and assassinations were common in the Persian Empire. Therefore, he was risking his life, but apart from that, he would have enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle in the king’s palace. The cupbearers often became confidants and advisors to the kings because they were so trusted. God obviously used this when he gave Nehemiah the burden to rebuild the walls in Jerusalem, which was a 140 year old problem. Nehemiah sacrificially left the king’s court to undertake the solving of this problem, which God supernaturally accomplished through his leadership in 52 days. Nehemiah displayed incredible leadership skills in completing this project.
4. Theme: God is sovereignly working on behalf of His people, but He works through the faith, prayers, and obedience of His people. Nehemiah is a tremendous example of the interacting of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. There are also tremendous leadership principles exemplified through the story of Nehemiah (see #6).
5. Outline: This is certainly not an exhaustive outline, but I think there are two main parts to the book. Basically, the first six chapters are about the rebuilding of the wall, and the last seven chapters are about the repopulating of the city, the reforming of God’s people, and the spiritual renewing of those people.
6. Spiritual Leadership Principles In The Book Of Nehemiah:
A godly leader:
1. Is burdened for the good of the world and the good of God’s people (1:4).
2. Prays fervently (1:5-11).
3. Takes bold and obedient action (2:1-6).
4. Strategizes and raises the resources necessary to do the work (2:4-9).
5. Lives in trusting dependence upon the Lord (sprinkled throughout the book, we see Nehemiah asking God to remember him as he faces a situation and him referring to God’s hand being upon him).
6. Clearly communicates vision and calls others to action (2:17-18).
7. Builds a team with people accepting responsibility where they are gifted (ch. 3, this is also exemplified in the book by Nehemiah being the administrator and Ezra the teacher).
8. Perseveres through criticism and opposition to fulfill the mission (ch. 4, 6).
9. Deals with internal problems within the team (5:1-13).
10. Makes personal sacrifices (5:14-19).
11. Refuses to compromise his integrity and the Word of God (6:1-14).
12. Raises up other leaders (7:1-3).
13. Ministers the Word of God and leads people to worship and confess sin (8:8, 9:1-3).
14. Refuses to give up and sees the work through to the end (ch. 13).

Thankfulness

I hope everyone has a safe, happy, and blessed Thanksgiving. I also hope that Thanksgiving is not just an excuse to eat a lot of good food and watch some football or the only time of year we remember to have a degree of gratitude. It is easy to take things for granted some times. I know I am guilty of that at times. So, with those things in mind, here are a couple of quick thoughts about thankfulness.

There is a story from the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus that is recorded in Luke 17:11-19, where he healed 10 lepers. Jesus sent them to the priests to be declared cleansed from the leprosy in order to fulfill the Law of the Lord (Leviticus 14:2). Of the ten lepers who were healed, only one, who happened to be a Samaritan instead of a Jew, returned to see Jesus. When he came back to Jesus, he “with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks.” Jesus responded to his response by saying, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”

Here is the practical thought for us. In the way we live our day to day lives, are we more like the nine or the one Samaritan who returned to thank Jesus and glorify God? How often do we thank God for our blessings? Thanksgiving is an expression of faith (Luke 17:19). Thankfulness demonstrates dependence upon God. It shows that we believe He is the source of our blessings instead of ourselves. Thankfulness is giving glory to God instead of ourselves.

Let me leave you with a few Scriptures to consider at Thanksgiving this year. James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” Ephesians 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with ever spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Psalm 95:2 says, “Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.”

Why Do Christians Not Keep The Sabbath Today?

I touched on the 4th command, which is “remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,” during yesterday’s sermon. A common question regarding this command is, “Why don’t Christians keep this Sabbath command like the Old Testament Jews did?” I thought it might be helpful to give a more detailed answer to this question than I did in the message. I am going to give a couple of introductory thoughts and then nine reasons why we primarily practice corporate worship on Sunday as a celebration of the Lord’s Day instead of keeping the Sabbath on Saturday. Of course, we are to worship God every day. Also, this is not an area to be dogmatic and judgmental about (Romans 14:5-6). We must also remember Mark 2:27-28, where Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” So, here are the nine reasons.

(1) The Sabbath is for the Jews (Exodus 31:12-17) while the Lord’s Day is for Christians. Exodus 31:13 makes it very clear that the Sabbath is for the Children of Israel. It is different for the Church.
(2) Jews worshipped in the Synagogue on Saturday while Christians worshipped in the church on Sunday. The Sabbath is the symbol for the Jews and the cross is the symbol of Christianity. Jesus was raised from the dead on Sunday, and Christians commemorate that event when gathering to worship. Also, the Lord’s Supper replaced the Old Testament observance of Passover, and the high priesthood of Christ replaced the priesthood of Aaron.
(3) The Sabbath celebrates God’s creation of the world (Exodus 20:8-11) while the Lord’s Day celebrates Jesus’ redemption of the world.
(4) The New Testament pictures the disciples meeting together on the 1st and 2nd Lord’s Days after the Resurrection (John 20:19, 26), the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost which would have been a Sunday (Acts 2:1), the disciples at Troas gathered for worship (preaching and Communion) on Sunday [Acts 20:7-12], Paul commanded the church at Corinth to take an offering on the 1st day of the week (1 Corinthians 16:2), and the Lord spoke to John on the Lord’s Day (Revelation 1:10).
(5) We are not to judge someone about observing the Sabbath because it is just a shadow (picture) but the substance (reality) is Christ (Col. 2:16-17) so keeping the Sabbath does not apply to Christians.
(6) The Sabbath is connected to the ceremonial law and the sacrificial system which does not apply to Christians because of being fulfilled by Christ (Book of Hebrews, Leviticus 23:23-25, Numbers 28:9-10)
(7) It also is part of the national Law of Israel. We are not capable of doing some of the things commanded in their law because our laws are different today. It is not consistent to partially observe what the Bible teaches about the Sabbath and claim to be biblical.
(8) It is the only one of the 10 commandments that is not repeated in the New Testament. Thus, I believe it is not part of the moral law of God but the ceremonial law and national law of Israel.
(9) It is sometimes argued that this change was instituted by the Roman Catholic Church. However, there is historical evidence that indicates otherwise. Gleason Archer shares from the Syriac The Teaching of the Apostles, which dates to the second half of the third century. It relates, “The Apostles further appointed: On the first day of the week let there be service and the reading of the Holy Scriptures, and the oblation: because on the first day of the week our Lord rose from the dead, and on the first day of the week He ascended up to heaven.”