Sin That Equal No Salvation: Sexually Immoral & Swindling Series

SINS THAT EQUAL NO SALVATION: SEXUALLY IMMORAL & SWINDLING

BIBLE VERSE: 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

TRANSITION: We learned last week that this verse has 9 specific sins mentioned that were in the way as hurdles for people from coming the Lord Jesus Christ: sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, greedy, drunkards, slanderers, & swindlers. But what are these things?

Leaders, last week we talked about them in general. And I am guessing that the HS focused on the obvious, glaring one here (homosexuality). But we are going to spend one more week so that we can cover a couple of these in more detail.

*Leaders, you may want to skip all or parts of the following topic with Middle School, we have some young ones so tread carefully please.

THE ISSUE: SEXUALLY IMMORAL

A) Revelation 22:14-15

14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

Okay, so those who are sexually immoral are also specifically mentioned in the last times (hmm…what are you thinking). And being sexually immoral is so hurtful that God even refers to them as dogs (for those that didn’t know, calling someone a dog in those days was one of the worst insults ever created).

*Leaders, I am not advocating using a curse word (we should never ever do that), but a word that literally means a female dog is still one of the most hurtful words of our vocabulary in 2012.

The term sexually immoral (fornication) comes from the Greek word ‘porneia.” We get our word “pornography” or “porn” from the term. It is sometimes used to apply to sexual relations between non-married people. In addition, the term in Matthew 5:32 and Matthew 19:9 has more of a broad term that includes adultery, incest, and even bestiality.

If one applies the use of Leviticus as a legitimate moral compass (remember, there are those people out there who would want to throw out every rule in the Old Testament. I am not saying we have to provide animal sacrifices, but the only specific non-animal sacrifice verifiably ruled clean in the New Testament is that all food is clean). But if we are to apply Leviticus to it (as I would by the way), it would include oral, anal, and touchings of the genitalia outside the confines of marriage as well (Leviticus 13, 14, 15, 16, & 20, Romans 1).

So, how does one NOT get to be called a dog by God in the last days? How does someone avoid having a life as bitter as wormwood (Proverbs 5)? The answer is to NOT be sexually immoral.

*By the way guys, if a sworn believer is active in sexual relations outside of marriage (it is possible, King David is our best/worst example of this type of sin), when notified of the sin by a sincere brother, the true believer repents and ends it (can’t really have a repentance without an end).

The Honest Transition:

Leaders, as we bring this issue closer to home, I am not sure if anyone is pursuing sexual immorality. But let’s ask some tough questions…how close are you? Meaning on this issue, how close do you look like the rest of the world? Following are some sincere questions…

What was the last thing you did NOT do because the Lord convicted you of it? (if the Holy Spirit is alive and well in somone’s life, they have turned something down…and I am not talking about a party here, I mean more like an activity that probably would be considered just fine by most students).

If someone looked at your facebook, could they tell you were a Christian? (let’s face it, one of the key differences between Christian and Non-Christian facebooks tends to be the amount of cuss words used & the romantic images or party pics put online).

How do you dress when you are not around your Christian friends? (being honest, a lot of youth attending students throughout the ages have two entirely different wardrobes when they are a way from their Christian friends.