Sex of the Disbelieving
1 Thessalonians 4:3-5
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification:[a] that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body[b] in holiness and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;
Amy Grant released a song in 1978 entitled, “The Lord As A Will.” The chorus of the song is as follows.
The Lord has a will, and I have a need
to follow that will; to humbly be still.
To rest in it, nest in it, fully be blessed in it;
following my father's will.
We live in a time where people who identify themselves as Christians do not seem to be concern about God’s will. It is not their need to follow God’s will. Christians singles live their lives as if they were single. You may be unmarried but you have not really single. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you literally have the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is God’s seal upon your heart. Therefore, you cannot be single. God has save you to serve Him. If you are truly saved you want be thinking single mindedly. You will be concern about your father’s will.
What you do with your body God has a will. The will of God is that you save sex for marriage. If you are not concern about the will of God in this area you may need to check yourself to see if you are truly in the faith. Please read 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 to see if you are in the faith.
Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality,10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. 11 Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
The best part of the above text is that it says Christians was once like those who practiced sexual immorality. But we were cleansed and made holy. The sign of true salvation is a lifestyle of holiness. This is God’s will for the single life.
The Standard of God
What seems like a secret in so-called Christianity in the twenty-first century is that God has standards. God’s standard is His will for which you are to live as a Christian single. If you are truly saved you will be moved by the Spirit of God on the inside of you to live by His will and not your own. The life I live for God is very different than the life I would live for myself. However, God saved me for Himself that I might no longer live for me but for the standards that God has for me.
As a Christian I learn to live a crucified live for God. Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” The crucified life looks varied in different stages of life. In the body of the a single person I live holy or I save sex for marriage. The crucified life for the single life is the sanctified life. This is God’s standard or will for your life.
The Sanctification of God
Once again, “The crucified life for the single life is the sanctified life.” God’s Word let singles know that the will of God is their sanctification. God want singles to abstain from sexual immorality. When you have sex outside of the bonds of marriage this is sexual immorality. A crucified life is a life set apart for the master’s will.
True Christians singles cannot practice a lifestyle of sexual immorality. This is not to say that true Christians want struggle with their sexuality. This is why the bible tells Christians singles that it is better to marry than to burn with sexual passion. The New International Version of 1 Corinthians 7:9 says, “But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.” True Christian by struggle with their sexuality but that will never practice a lifestyle of sexual immorality.
The Scope of God
In the true scope of real Christianity people who are not married do not have sex. God says that each Christian single should know how to control their body. He says that singles should live in holiness and with honor. The question I have to asked today is are you living a life that is honoring God? True Christians singles do not practice a lifestyle of fornication. Dr. Henry M. Morris defines fornication.
“The Greek word for ‘fornication’ (porneia) could include any sexual sin committed after the betrothal contract. …In Biblical usage, ‘fornication’ can mean any sexual congress outside monogamous marriage. It thus includes not only premarital sex, but also adultery, homosexual acts, incest, remarriage after un-Biblical divorce, and sexual acts with animals, all of which are explicitly forbidden in the law as given through Moses (Leviticus 20:10-21). Christ
expanded the prohibition against adultery to include even sexual lusting (Matthew 5:28).”
Premarital sex is fornication. Fornication is a lifestyle that the Gentiles or the unsaved practice. God says of Christian singles do not live like the Gentiles. Gentiles live lives that are filled with the passion of lust. Christians are not supposed to even think about the ways Gentiles live in their lust. Matthew 5:28 says, “But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Christian singles who evident true salvation will not practice fornication in their heart or in their lives.
In Faith and In Doubt
In Dr. Dale McGowan book entitled, “In Faith and In Doubt.” Chapter Three of Dr. McGowan book is entitled, “Meet the Nonbeliever.” He describes four types of one nonbelievers. Listed below are two nonbelievers list in Dr. McGowan shares.
Freethinker. Someone who holds opinions based on independent reasoning without the undue influence of authority, doctrine, or tradition.
Humanist. Someone who believes that our highest concern should be caring for each other, and this world, and this life. Some
prefer “secular humanist” to make it clear that no religious belief is involved.
Are you living your “Christian” singleness life in faith and in doubt? Are you living single as a freethinker when it comes to your sex life? Are you living your single life as a secular humanist? Gentiles live their lives in the passion of lust.
We as a Christians cannot live our lives as a freethinkers. We must live our lives as Godthinker and Biblethinker. We cannot live our lives void of undue influence of the authority of God or the doctrine of the bible. The New International Version of the bible of Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
The perfect will for Christian singles is that they live holy and save sex for holy matrimony! The will of God for you is that you live in sanctification. You must abstain from sexual immorality. Christian singles must control their own body in holiness and honor. Their must not live in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.
