11/18/2023
What sins do we have in our lives that have enslaved us? Do we have an overriding desire for something that drives us to turn it from righteousness to seek sinful fulfillment, or a need in our lives that makes us complicit or vulnerable to these sinful things? Either way, we have been enslaved, and our sin will rule us until we can find emancipation from it. Sexual predators are in the news almost every day... let’s take a look.
“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.”
1 Corinthians 6:18 ESV
Sex is a natural function of being alive, and it is not sin, but beautiful if we adhere to the bounds of marriage that God has set upon it for the good of mankind. We have moved away from a social order in which men fight and connive to breed, or force themselves on the women they desire, and women have advanced beyond the need to tolerate or encourage such sexual behavior. Yet, that inbred nature is still just below our skin. Men still feel the overwhelming need to breed, and women feel the need to use their sexuality to control their destiny and the security of their progeny.
“But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.”
1 Corinthians 7:2
As I look around today at the outing of sexual predators in the world, I see a predominance of a couple of sins... on the part of men I see a lust for women coupled with the perversion of power, and on the part of at least some of the women that these men impose themselves upon, I see a lust for security, success, and power that either places them in vulnerable situations, or causes them to accept sinful sexual abuse as a stepping stone... a cost of doing business, or achieving their desires. In each of these situations there are victims, and there is only one way out... Jesus Christ.
“ Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”
Hebrews 13:4 ESV
There are always innocent people that are damaged by any sin. In the case of a sexual predator it can be the object on which he or she preys, the woman or man who is innocent and not complicit, but it can also be the families; the children born as a result, the marriages destroyed, the lives taken by guilt and depression... so many ramifications. Is it any wonder that God placed boundaries and rules in effect to protect us from ourselves and the sexuality of others?
“Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”
John 8:34 ESV
When we go to the home or private workplace of a more powerful person, and accept offers to be alone with them we are putting ourselves in a situation that by its very nature compromises us. If we are a righteous person and allow ourselves to be alone with someone who covets or idolizes the things we have, or can provide, we are also putting ourselves in a situation that compromises us. This isn’t genius, its common sense, and the realization of mankind’s natural inclinations towards sex and its bastard offspring... sexual sin.
There is no safe place in our society when it comes to sexual predation or inappropriate sexual behavior... not the home, our schools, workplaces, halls of justice, seats of government, nor our churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques... nowhere! This isn’t a sin that comes in search of us, but rather a sin that has its very roots, and residence, within us. If not for our ability to keep it under control, it would surface and wreak its destructive power wherever we are, and at a moment’s notice.
“ For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;”
1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 ESV
Sexual promiscuity and predation become entangled in, and will defile, one of God’s greatest gifts to us. In our attempt to free ourselves of its web we will seek to justify ourselves in this sin we commit. We cover this particular sin by claiming love... even if for a few days or moments. You have heard the excuse “I thought he/she loved me.” Or, “I loved them but they didn’t love me back.” Love takes the blame for a lot of lust, or sexual sin, which begs for explanation. It is twisted to produce an excuse for failure by using the claim of legitimate love. In doing so we are fooling no one but ourselves, and the ruse of human love can’t save us... only the redemption and Agape Love of God, and Jesus Christ.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—“
Ephesians 2:4-5 ESV
“The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
John 8:35-36 ESV
In our daily news, we are seeing a number of lives that have been destroyed by sexual sin. The news is full of the sordid details, but the destruction isn’t in the newspaper headline, it occurred the moment that someone thought of opening another’s robe to reveal their nakedness, or one body was forced upon another. Sin isn’t about being discovered, it is all about being conceived and committed. Our destruction is an unsheathed knife that rests precariously within us waiting for us to make the wrong move, or to think the wrong thought, and at that moment it cuts deep.
“But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Matthew 5:28 ESV
So, when we see lives publicly destroyed, don’t hold the press responsible, or the man or woman who was victimized... hold the sin that was realized in the moment of consideration and commission, and the person who allowed it to escape from its containment accountable. There is no hidden sin because God sees them all, and the wage of them is realized the very instant they erupt, and there is only one escape...
“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:22-23 ESV
Today we see lives turned upside down by past sexual predation and misconduct, and once hidden sin exposed in all of its destructive power. The real-world penalty that has long been stifled is at last reaching crescendo, and a point when a sinful choice was made is now realized. Will the perpetrator seek forgiveness from their victims and God? Even if they do, will their lives still carry the scars of that sin? The question isn’t how they can erase what has been done, but how they can go on living in the knowledge of it, and continue on by sinning no more.
“She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.””
John 8:11 ESV
Rich men will become poor, and mighty women will become weak. Castle homes will become shanties, and banquets reduced to scraps of food, but what becomes clear is the need for the washing of unclean souls, and the rebuilding of mansions... not only in this world, but in heaven. The world doesn’t owe us anything, but God has promised to separate us from our sins and forgive us completely. Earthly prices will be paid for all sin, and this includes sexual sin, but contrition and pleas for forgiveness will be heard by God. This is the wonder of salvation, and the amazing grace of God.
“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.”
Psalms 103:11-14 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your forgiveness of sin through your Son Jesus Christ. I thank you for giving me the ability to stave off sin by my very faith in you. Holy Father, I pray for those who have fallen, and whose lives are in danger of damnation and death. I pray Father that you have mercy upon them, and that even as their worldly possessions crumble, that you lead them to a new life in the realization of you. I pray especially today for the innocent victims of sins that have been perpetuated upon them by others. Loving Father give them peace and consolation in your justice, and vengeance; let them rest in your goodness and know that on their forgiveness of others rests your forgiveness of them. Help them Father to yield those feelings of anger, and the vengeful spirit it feeds in them to you, and to trust completely in your judgement. Give peace where there has been guilt, and joy where sorrow once ruled... Let no sinner escape your hand, or any victim go without your comfort. In you we rest... contrite sinners and their victims alike. Praised be your name!
Rich Forbes