Alright, we continue our study on the Ten Commandments. Now today we are looking at the seventh commandment, and it is there in your Bible in Exodus chapter 20. Exodus 20:14, again this is one of the shorter commandments there in the original again like the previous commandment, only two words. But in the English Bible, it says: “You shall not commit adultery.”.

Now, this is a law about sex. So I’m just wondering whether those below eighteen should kind of retreat to the back room. But no, it is for all. I think it was Criswell, a well-known pastor in Texas, who mentioned this alright. He said this that once he was to preach on the subject of sex, and it was advertised. And then in the US alright and outside the church, there’s a board where you would inform the people what is to happen the coming Sunday and it’s about sex. And you see the church hall was full. I thought the media team should advertise that alright.

Alright, it is a law about sex. And the question is: So what about sex? Now it is of course a worthy of note that the Bible talks a lot about sex. So every time you think that you want to read about sex and you have to go elsewhere to read about it. But you can come to the Bible and you read the proper things, proper teachings about this subject. In fact, we should come to the Bible to look at this subject rather than go outside or go to the internet or the other media to look at this subject.

And so let me by way of the very outset here mention what this commandment not saying. Now this commandment is not against sex. Alright, this commandment is not saying that sex is wrong. Now there are a lot of people who think like this, a lot of Christians who think that oh we must not talk about this subject because sex is wrong. Christians, no sex alright. But that is not what this commandment is talking about. But I say that a lot of Christians have this impression.

And even in the history of the church, we learned that for example St. Ambrose who said that married couples ought to be ashamed of their sexuality. Or even St. Augustine alright and he thought that sexual desire is a sin, but he allowed for you know sexual activity but the desire itself is sinful. And so the Roman Catholic Church used to think of sex as a necessary evil.

Not sure whether they still think in the same way today. They say sex is a necessary evil because is necessary only for procreation. Otherwise, there’s no way to be fruitful and multiply. And so we must have that, but it’s an evil, nevertheless. And so the church (that is the Roman Catholic Church) in the past, they prohibited sex on certain days. So certain days alright you tell the couple that you cannot have sex.

And by the time of Martin Luther, they actually have prohibited alright. They have a hundred and eighty-seven days where the couples cannot have sex (that’s more than half a year alright). And when you go to the priest for counselling, in those days the priest would counsel couples if possible abstain from sex. Can get married, but no sex okay? So the priest and the nuns alright of course they are not allowed to have sex.

So you see, this is the thinking of the church alright all through the years alright in ages past. And we thank God for the Reformation. When the Reformers came alright, they recovered the biblical doctrine of sex. And so what did they teach us about sex, or what does the Bible teach about sex? Well, they discovered that in the Bible that sex is actually a good gift from God.

Now turn with me for example to Genesis chapter 1 alright- Genesis chapter 1. And when they study the Bible, they come to this text in Genesis 1:28 where it says here: “Then God blessed them”. God created man and woman and God blessed them. “And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.””.

And then it says in verse 31: “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.”. It was very good. Now, what was very good? What was very good? Everything He had made, including what was mentioned in verse 28. And what was mentioned in verse 28?

Among other things, verse 28 includes sex because there is no possibility of men and women fulfilling that command of God (we call that the cultural mandate) to multiply and fill the earth without sex. And God created that, God gave to men as a good gift, and God calls it good alright. It was very good. And so that is how the Reformers understood it, and so they began to teach the church that that sex is a good gift from God.

And also the Bible teaches that marital sex or proper sex is affirmed and not like the priests alright who tells the couple if possible abstain from it. No, the Bible affirms proper or marital sex. You see for example in Proverbs alright chapter 5. Proverbs chapter 5, and I normally tell people (couples) who come to me for premarital counselling alright, and one of the questions they like to ask me is this: How many sessions? 

I say, well it all depends. For some couples, it’ll take many sessions. For others, maybe very few sessions alright. Some maybe you know one or two sessions, depends. Depends on what? Depends on whether you come to church regularly or you belong to a church that preaches the Bible. And if you do, you’re a good listener, you will learn a lot of the things about your married life in the church. So you don’t have to come to the premarital counselling to learn things like husband, you must be the head of your family; and wife, you must submit to your husband and so on and so forth alright. You learn that in a church.

But you don’t listen well or you don’t go to church that teaches you that, then you will have many sessions. Now, this is one of that, and so this part of marital counselling alright (for those who are undergoing or about to undergo alright premarital counselling). Now Proverbs chapter 5, now look at verse 1. Now here Solomon is saying: “My son, pay attention to my wisdom; Lend your ear to my understanding, that you may preserve discretion, and your lips may keep knowledge.”.

Now listen, verse 3: “For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil; But in the end, she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold of hell. Lest you ponder her path of life— her ways are unstable; You do not know them.”. Now here’s a warning. Here’s a warning to the men, young men. You want sex, now that is the wrong way to go about it. Now that is the wrong path.

Then he says in verse 15: “Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well.”. You want that, you have your cistern alright. You have your wife. Go and get married alright. Don’t do it the wrong way. Don’t go to the wrong places. Verse 16: “Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets? Let them be only your own, not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth. As a loving deer and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times; Always be enraptured with her love.”.

Now that is the counsel. You see, the Bible affirms proper or marital sex, not improper. So the Bible makes distinction; the world does not make distinction. The world says that you go all out for it in any way, with anyone, anyhow, anytime. But that’s not what the Bible says. It’s a proper. So sex is a good gift from God, and the Bible affirms proper or marital sex.

And when you come to the New Testament in First Corinthians chapter 7- First Corinthians chapter 7, and Paul touches on the subject of sex. Sometimes people say it’s surprising that Paul, now Paul talks about sex. Now Paul talks about sex because the church needs to hear about sex. So in First Corinthians 7, in fact particularly in the Corinthian church, it’s a huge problem in the Corinthian church, and so Paul has to address that. And so in the church, we have to address that so people will have the proper view, not be misguided.

And so what does Paul says in First Corinthians 7? He says: “Let the husband render to his wife”.  Verse 3: “Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband.”. Now, remember Paul is talking of sex because verse 1 he says: “concerning the things of which you wrote to me”. Indeed what did they write to him about? Seems like they are asking about this subject. Paul, what about this subject? And Paul says: “It is good for a man not to touch a woman.”.

Now that touch is not like physically touching, or else we cannot you know shake our hands or shake another lady’s hand. Now he is not talking about just physical touching. He’s talking about sexual relationships- having a sexual activity. Alright, so he’s talking about that subject. And so in that context, he says in verse 3: “So let the husband render to his wife the affection due to her. And the wife does not have authority (verse 4) over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.”.

And then you see in verse 5: “Do not deprive one another except with a consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”. Now Paul is very frank with the church. He said this is a huge subject, it could be a problematic subject if you don’t manage it well. But we are made that way. Paul says we are made that way.

So how do we deal with that desire in us? How do we deal with that? So we need to know how to deal with that, not in the wrong way but there’s a proper, right way. Again Paul is talking about proper marital sex and how is that to be understood. So he’s giving instructions. That is Paul’s premarital counselling to couples.

Verse 7: “For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that. But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they can if they remain unmarried or as I am; but if they cannot”. Now Paul acknowledges this fact about how we are being made. But if you cannot, and most people cannot. Paul says some people have got that gift like him, then okay you can use that gift. But Paul says most people cannot, so they need to hear this.

But if you cannot, verse 9: “if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry” because only in marriage alright- in marriage that this is proper. Outside of marriage, this is improper. And so that’s a thing that we have to understand about the seventh commandment. It is not against sex. Yes, it is about sex, but it’s not against sex. As I say, many Christians in the past and perhaps many still today, they may not go to the extent of saying that sex itself is sin, but it’s not a good idea or unnecessary evil kind of thing.

I think there are still Christians who think like that, but it’s not what the Bible teaches. So what then is the seventh commandment about if it is not against sex? So what the seventh commandment is against is this: It is against sexual immorality. Turn with me now to First Thessalonians alright- First Thessalonians and see when Paul comments on this or teaches on this subject of the seventh commandment, I think that’s what Paul is coming to here in his letter to the Thessalonians in First Thessalonians chapter 4.

And he writes in verse 1 alright the first three verses. “Finally, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God”. That’s Paul’s great concern that we should be pleasing to God in our Christian life. “For you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus Christ”.

If you want to live a life that is pleasing to God, you need to what? You need to know what God wants you to do. You need to know the commandments of God. This is what the commandment said about. It is God’s desire of how we ought to live our lives alright. And so we need to know, and what do we need to know? Verse 3: “For this is the will of God”. This is what God desires of us. “This is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sex”.

No, Paul didn’t say that because that’s no how he understood the seventh commandment. But rather, he said: “that you should abstain from sexual immorality”. Now that is what the seventh commandment is against- sexual immorality. So then begs the question: So what is sexual immorality? What is sexual immorality? How do we even teach this in a Sunday school class? Never really asked that question to the Sunday school teachers before, but Oliver since you’re now the assistant teacher alright, so you have to think about how to teach that.

Well, now if you are able to explain that to a Sunday school kid alright, then we can make the other people understand this commandment. So what is sexual immorality? Well, it is this: It is when two people acting as if they are married when they are not. It is two people acting as if they are married when they are not. I think it is not difficult actually to explain to a child what married people are like and what not married people like.

I say it’s not very difficult because they understand that when two persons are not married, they shouldn’t be sleeping together in a way that God designed only for a man and a woman who are married to each other. I think little children can understand that. Or you press it further, you explain further, it is to tell them now this what it means. This is what the seventh commandment means. It means that your mum cannot go and stay and live with another man who is not your dad. It means that your dad cannot go and live with another woman who is not your mom.

I think it’s not very difficult for a child to understand that. In fact, when the child sees, you actually don’t have to teach the child. The child will revolt alright. Mom, what are you doing? Or dad, what are you doing? Now that is what this commandment is about. Like I said that it means alright when a child sees the dad coming home from work and hugs the mom and give the mom a kiss, and the child knows that dad does that to his mother and not to any other woman.

Now that is the seventh commandment. I think that is how we can explain to a little kid. And as far as a child is concerned, this is the sweetest commandment. In fact, we sometimes think that the fifth commandment is the children’s commandment where I mentioned you shall honour your parents or your father and mother. We think that is a children’s command, that’s not alright. That is actually an adult commandment.

And people think that is an adult commandment. These children alright- children love this commandment. Children love this commandment because if dad stays with mom and mom stays with dad, now that is the greatest blessing for a child. That is the greatest blessing for a child. And what harm it comes to the child when dad and mom disobey this commandment? So children love this commandment. They love that their dad and mom obey this commandment.

So that is what sexual immorality is about. Ah you see, it means that you got all these wrong sexual relationships. We have something called one, premarital sex when two persons live or behave like as if they are married when they are not, sleep with one another when God only meant for married people, that is premarital sex. Now that is what this commandment is against.

And then we have extramarital sex when people who are married but they are having affairs in various forms. Now that is what this commandment is against. Now we are talking this morning about one sultan having two wives alright. And then we are told that there are two wives but many girlfriends alright. Now that is what this commandment is about alright. And so we know that it is, therefore, wrong to marry people who have a mistress, they have a concubine, they have another wife.

And that’s why Jesus when talking to the Samaritan woman, now Jesus was pressing a point. How many husbands do you have? Five alright. The one that you’re having is not even yours, and that is what this is against. But not only that, the Bible, this commandment is also against what we call unnatural sex. It’s not just premarital sex, it’s not just extramarital sex but it’s also unnatural sex. And Paul talks about it.

I say Paul talks a lot about sex, and Paul talks about that in Romans chapter 1 alright- in Romans chapter 1 and there in verses 26 and 27 Paul writes: “For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error”.

So that is an error. That’s wrong when they practice unnatural sex. So homosexuality, lesbianism, now these are unnatural sex the Bible is against. And yet into this conversation, even among many Christians, many Christians seem unsure whether the Bible is against this or not, whether the seventh commandment is against this. But I believe the Bible is clear alright that these are unnatural. That’s how Paul puts it alright- against unnatural sex.

But unnatural sex is not just sex between a man and a man, and a woman and woman, but unnatural sex also includes things like paedophile, that’s older people preying on little children for their sexual fulfilment, and we hear that sadly again and again. We have priests is now in court being charged and sentenced for crimes like this. And we have just not so long, just last week the boy scout in America is facing a huge problem because of this sin. The scoutmaster taking advantage of these scout boys.

Now it’s no longer safe in our day and age to leave you know sometimes we think we leave a girl with an auntie, that’s safe. Or leave a little boy with the uncle, that is safe. It’s no longer safe. But that is what the Bible is against. Then unnatural sex also includes sexual activity like bestiality, that is having sex with an animal or incest. This commandment is also against sexual violence such as rape and molest and outraging another’s modesty and so on.

So we can go on, and the Bible mentioned all of this. The Bible mentioned all of this, and that is what the seventh commandment is against. Now the sexual activities is not just limited to this, and there is more alright- there’s more, and that is frightening thing about it especially in our day and age. But as we read on in First Thessalonians chapter 4, Paul tells us that there is more to all these ways of breaking this commandment as Paul talks about the seventh commandment in First Thessalonians 4. And he goes on to say in verse 5: “not in passion of lust”.

So Paul refers to what is called the passion of lust. So the issue here is not just external or physical behaviour or activity but also the inner desire. The passion here refers to lust. That’s why Paul says it’s a passion of lust. It’s an evil, it’s a wrong passion. That is a sexual passion that dominates your life in a way that they should not. So you see, this passion that is there but sometimes very often it can dominate us in such a way that it should not and make us sin against God or break this commandment.

And therefore, the breaking of this commandment includes things like pornography, and that is what Jesus was talking about. Last week I mentioned that in Matthew 5:28 alright- and verse 28. And when Jesus kind of explain, help the Pharisees to see that the full import of the commandments. Now referring to the seventh commandment- the seventh commandment, now Jesus said in Matthew 5:28- “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery”.

And so there is this thing about looking that we can sin against God in this area, that we can actually break this commandment. So there is no actual contact, physical contact, but there is already the breaking of this commandment. And we can fall into this sin in so many, many ways. So includes things like looking at girls. No, no, no, it’s okay to look at girls alright. Otherwise, we will have to wear sunglasses all the time alright.

It’s okay, but what Jesus means is that do not look at them to lust. So when a girl tells you why are you staring, then you better look elsewhere alright. That is what it is about, when you look with a lustful look, passion is controlling you. Or looking at pictures, photographs, and there are just so many. In fact, there is sometimes nowhere to hide- nowhere to hide because you go through the shopping mall and you see all the pictures, big pictures.

And somehow you see we are so incentivised alright to the point whereby we don’t feel that it is like unusual and say: How come you know shopping mall can have pictures like that? Some more so big, lighted up some more alright. And then you go into bookstores or this magazine shop store and they’re just all around, especially those on the display on the outside so that they can attract people to come in.

Now looking- looking at pictures, looking at photographs, looking at not just outside alright but inside the home, looking at videos and Internet and movies. The frightening thing today is that we can all watch movies, now when we want to watch movie we don’t have to go to the movie theatre alright. In our day, you cannot watch movies. No way we can watch movies without paying and going to movie theatre. But this day we don’t need to. And many of these are not censored. They’re all streamed in right into our homes and into our bedrooms.

But this is what this commandment is warning against- looking. Looking at real people (actual people), looking at pictures, photographs, looking at videos, and Internet and movies. And not just that but in those days (in our days alright), people read books like Mills & Boon. Now some of those my age alright they’ll remember that- Mills & Boon.

Now you see some of these books are very popular because you see it’s our imagination. All these are our imaginations. The way people write in such an explicit manner alright sexually explicit manner that you can actually imagine what is going on in the book, in the writing. Or today we can also you see indulge ourselves in reading those new stories. Some new stories are written that way and are actually not fit for reading. Or gossips and so on.

And that is the reason why alright as Job examined himself and consider his ways, he writes this in Job chapter 31. Job 31:1. Alright those of you who were at the seminar just not so long ago, you’ll remember Andy Hamilton alright referring to this verse. But it’s good for us to look at this verse in light of what the Bible is saying about the danger that is all around us, about this danger of committing this sin in such an easy way when we just have to look.

And so Job 31:1, Job said: “I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman?”. See, Job is talking about this problem that we all can have with the eye. It’s so easy to sin against this commandment because of that. And so we need to take definite steps. We need to actually have that agreement right on the outside with ourselves and here like a particular part of our body, with our eyes and say: Let’s have an agreement. Let’s have an agreement what you can see and what you cannot see.

Have you made an agreement with your eyes? Eyes, agree what you can see and what you cannot see? And that’s what we need to do. Now let me now come to why be concerned about sexual immorality. What should we be talking about it this morning? Now we know that it’s happening, we know that the danger is out there, we know that people fall easily into this sin, so why should we bother with this commandment?

Well back to First Thessalonians chapter 4. As I say here, Paul is talking about this particular sin, this particular problem, and he continues. Now First Thessalonians chapter 4. So why be concern? Now he says there in verse 3: “For this is the will of God”. The first thing he tells us is that if you are a Christian, this should concern you because the will of God should be a matter of great concern to you.

Now the big problem with a lot of so-called Christians is that the will of God is not a great concern to them. Now they lived a life according to their own will, according to their own desire, according to their own ways, but not according to God’s desire because that is not a matter of huge concern to them. Now if that is true of you- if that is true of you, remember what Jesus said in Matthew 7:21. He said on that day, and many will say to me: Lord, Lord. And I’ll say to them I never knew you. Why? You read on alright. And Jesus said because they did not do the will of My Father.

You see, a Christian is defined in that way in the Bible that he’s one who lives according to the will of God. It’s a matter of great concern to a Christian. And that’s what Paul is saying here: “for this is the will”. If you are a Christian, this is God’s will that you should abstain from sexual immorality. And so you will want to do that alright- you will want to do that. So we therefore should be concerned with sexual purity.

Now the second reason why we should be concerned with this commandment is this. Now let’s turn to Proverbs 6 alright- Proverbs chapter 6, and see again what the author to the Proverbs says here about this. Proverbs chapter 6, look at verse 24. Verse 24: “To keep you from the evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a seductress. Now do not lust after her beauty in your heart, nor let her allure you with her eyelids. For by means of a (prostitute or a) harlot a man is reduced to a crust of bread”.

Now, why should we be concerned about this thing? Well, it says here because a man can be “reduced to a crust of bread; And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life”. You must guard purity like this. You are actually guarding your lives. It can destroy your life. Verse 27: “Can a man take fire to his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?”. So you go in that direction, you’ll be burned. You’ll be destroyed by that sin, by the act. That is the warning here in the Bible.

Verse 28: “Can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be seared? So is he who goes in to his neighbour’s wife; Whoever touches her shall not be innocent.”. Now the second reason why you should be concerned is this because it is going to destroy you. It will destroy you. Now here Solomon here is talking about people who are going after prostitute or going after other women who is not their wife and playing the fool as it were, and here’s the great warning. And many people who have gone in that direction can actually testify of that. It is going to destroy your soul.

But you see, why should we be concerned about this? We should be concerned also because the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 13 alright- Hebrews 13:4. Hebrews 13:4, in fact, I believe that just now when Solomon says that it’s going to destroy your soul if you go in that direction, if we do that kind of things, now it includes- it includes when you are involved in not just these physical activities like these but in pornography, it is also going to destroy you alright- it is going to destroy you. So you better pay attention to this. That’s what the Bible is saying: It is destructive.

Now the third reason alright, Hebrews 13:4- “Marriage is honourable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.”. In other words, remember that God is the avenger of all such things. God will judge, the Bible warns us. And how will He judge? Now He could do it in a number of ways. He can destroy us while we are here. He can bring in sicknesses to us. Our family can be destroyed. And always of course, in the end, it is hellfire. There is hellfire because God will avenge. So we all better take care alright be concerned about this commandment.

And finally, how do we fight alright? How do we fight sexual immorality? And now back to First Thessalonians 4 alright- First Thessalonians 4. How do we fight sexual immorality? So listen again to what Paul writes here in verses 4 and 5, said: “that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honour”. And so Paul says now this is how we deal with this problem that each of us should know how to possess our body, and that’s number one.

And number two is in verse 5: “not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God”. You want to fight this sin, you need to know God. The people out there, they do not know God, and they go in that direction and they are indulging in all these things. So these two things. Number one, possess your body. In other words, you must gain mastery over your own body. This is the body that God has given to you, and you need to gain mastery over it. 

Now that philosophy the world gives us and says that if it feels good, just do it. Now that is not biblical. That’s not how we ought to live our lives, just do what it feels good. No! See, a lot of this feeling, all these passions has to be suppressed, has to be controlled, has to be dealt with. And we have to recognise that and deal with that in our lives. 

So possess your body or control your body, now how do we do that? How do we control our bodies? We need to do that, but how do we do that? Well, we know that Paul mentioned the same thing about controlling your body elsewhere in Romans where he tells us that we must to use these instruments as an instrument for righteousness, not for sin alright. So that’s how Paul puts it, but how do we do it?

In Ephesians chapter 6 alright- in Ephesians chapter 6, Paul gives us practical ways of how to do that in Ephesians 6:16 onwards. Verse 16, where Paul writes: “above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one”. So the devil will come at us again and again. If this fails, he will try another way.

Now we can think of this in terms of this sexual sin, and we know that it comes at us every day in so many ways and it is so easy for us to be hit by one of these darts as it were. So what do we do? What do we do? Verse 17: “Taking the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”. Now ask ourselves: Are we doing that? Are we taking on the sword of the Spirit? Here is the devil with all his darts, with this temptation coming at us every day, but are we holding the sword of the Spirit? Do we go to the Word of God? Do we have this weapon?

The reason why all of us are not winning the battle is because we don’t even have this weapon; because we don’t read the Bible, because we don’t meditate on the Word of God, not just read but meditating, because we don’t give time to listen to the Word when people teach us. They’ve got no time for these things, and that’s why we are fighting a losing battle. But it’s there. You’re in the battlefield, you like it or not. Now you are there. Every day you rise up, you know that you’re out into the battlefield, and you are not ready. You are not prepared with the sword of the Spirit, which he says which is the Word of God. That’s why we are losing.

What else? Next verse: “praying always, with all prayer and supplications”. Are we like what Paul writes to the Colossian Christians, letting the Word of God dwell in you richly, being soaked in the Word of God, let the Word of God control our mind and our hearts? Are we praying always with all prayer, with supplications in the Spirit? Now that’s why so many Christians lose the battle. That’s why we are failing. That’s why we are falling into temptation all the time because we don’t have this weapon- the Word and prayer.

Now next alright. Now, what else did Paul say? Now in verse 5 what Paul is saying is this. Now when he says in First Thessalonians 4:5 where he says: “not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God”. You need to know God. Now knowing God is the strategy as it were we need. It’s what we need to fight against this sin. In other words, this is an issue of Christian discipleship. It’s the issue of your Christian growth. Christian discipleship means your sanctification. It’s a Christian growth. It’s your Christian growth, Christian walk. It’s about your Christian life.

What is Christian discipleship? Ask yourself the question: What is Christian life about? What is Christian discipleship? Now Christian life is about knowing God. Remember Jesus in His high priestly prayer in John 17:3, what does Jesus say? “And this is eternal life, that they may know You”. A Christian is someone who knows God. The Gentiles, you see those people outside, they do not know God.

And knowing God is not just that once and for all act. It is a continuous thing. And therefore, when Paul writes to the Philippians, now he writes this in chapter 3 and verse 10 alright. Verse 10 said: “that I may know Him”. That I may know Him. And Paul is here writing as a Christian. A Christian is someone who knows God, and a Christian is someone who grows in this knowledge of God. Not knowing about God, not knowing in the knowledge about God, but in the knowledge of God.

Christian discipleship is about a relationship with God. It’s about relationships. It’s about knowing Him as a person and loving Him as you know of His mercy and His compassion and His grace and His love for you, you grow in that relationship. You see, knowledge is about love. And the more you grow in that direction, now that’s what Paul is talking about. How do we fight sexual immorality? First, you need to possess your body. You need to master the passion. Now second, you need to grow in your Christian life in the sense that you need to grow in your relationship with God. 

Now there’s someone who made this quote, and I’ll like to end with this. He said: Sex is like a great river that is rich and deep and good. Now that’s what sex is like: Greatly river alright, rich deep and good as long as it stays within its proper channel. The moment a river overflows its banks, it becomes destructive. And that’s what we often see now flood when the river banks are broken and destroys.

And so he says the moment sex overflows its God-given banks, it too becomes destructive. So sex is a good gift from God, but so long as it stays in its proper channel. But when it overflows, it becomes a great destructive force. It destroys family, it destroys society, it destroys you. Let us pray.

“Our Father in heaven, we know that indeed it is Your will that we be holy and abstain from sexual immorality. It is Your commandment that we are not to commit adultery. And yet Lord, we know that how easy it is for us to fall into this sin, especially in the world that we live in. 

And we therefore pray and come to You this morning not only to plead once again for mercy and for forgiveness of sin which we are thankful that indeed You have promised that if we confess our sin, You are just and faithful and will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But we come also to ask for that grace to help us that we might indeed live a life that is godly and that is pleasing to You in this area of our life. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.