INTRODUCTION
- Everyone who desires divine establishment must be ready to pay the price for the same.
- Every good thing that will last in the hand of a man comes with a price tag on it. It is delivered only to those who are ready for it.
- The price to pay in other to secure/obtain/gain divine establishment in all areas of our lives is godliness.
- Note this beloved, godliness, holiness, righteousness and consecration are all in the same class.
- God has a journey of glorification for His children. However, ungodliness on their part often scuttles the plan,
KJV Romans 8:30“Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
Godliness engender greatness for any man while lack of it is the highway to demotion and reproach,
“Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a disgrace to any people.” Prov. 16:34 (NASB)
“Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” Prov. 14:34 (NLT)
The fear of God makes a man to live a godly life. This fear of the Lord is a missing ingredient in our days.
There is mystery of iniquity or call it ungodliness if you like,
KJV 2 Thessalonians 2:7“For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.”
And there is the mystery of godliness,
KJV 1 Timothy 3:16“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:…”
It takes the mystery of godliness to conquer the mystery of ungodliness.
The mystery of iniquity manifests in different forms. One of the ways forces of ungodliness manifests is through sexual immorality.
The subject of sexual immorality or sin generally goes beyond pleasure. It is poison; it is pollution to your destiny.
Those toiling with sins end up as toys in the hand of Satan. Let me take us through the dangers of Sexual immorality/illicit sex like fornication and adultery this morning.
KJV Ephesians 5:3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
NLT Ephesians 5:3 Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God's people.
Meaning:
1) illicit sexual intercourse
1a) adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals etc.
1b) sexual intercourse with close relatives; Lev. 18
1c) sexual intercourse with a divorced man or woman; Mk. 10:11,12.
Fornication is sexual intercourse before marriage. The equivalent of fornication in marriage is adultery, that is, when you have sex with anyone who is not your marriage partner
The “cancer” of fornication is rapidly affecting the body of Christ, because many Christians who get involved in fornication do not know the spiritual and physical implications or consequences.
Some of the ways Fornication Corrupts and Destroys the Church:
1. FORNICATION OR ADULTERY IS DISOBEDIENCE – 1 SAMUEL 15:22
…Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
We are all subject to temptation especially fornication. But the priority of every child of God must be to obey the Lord.
To give your body to sexual immorality is to violate the biblical injunction which is tantamount to disobedience.
Christianity has to do with your relationship with God. Our entire life depends on Him.
That relationship is tampered with when we disobey Him.
2. FORNICATION OR ADULTERY WILL DESTROY YOUR SOUL – PROV. 6:32 KJV
But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
Destroying your soul means, fornication or adultery will have an effect on you spiritually.
You may not know exactly how it affects you but it does affect you, and will lead you to backslide.
3. FORNICATION OR ADULTERY WILL DESTROY YOUR BODY – 1 COR. 6:18 KJV
Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. KJV
Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. NLT
When you commit this sin, you are destroying your body.
Each time you get involved in this act you commit a crime and God will prosecute you.
4. YOU MAKE COVENANT WITH ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE – 1 COR. 6:15
KJV 1 Corinthians 6:15Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. Sex is intended to be a binding experience between two people who are legally married.
When you commit fornication or adultery with someone, you make a covenant with that person.
God’s plan is that when a woman has sex for the first time, her hymen is broken and blood is shed. Whenever blood is shed some sort of agreement or covenant is created.
Such covenant are for real and can affect you for the rest of your life positively or negatively.
5. FORNICATION OR ADULTERY BRINGS EVIL SPIRITS INTO A PERSON’S LIFE – REV. 18:2, 3
NLT Revelation 18:2“He gave a mighty shout: "Babylon is fallen-- that great city is fallen! She has become a home for demons. She is a hideout for every foul spirit, a hideout for every foul vulture and every foul and dreadful animal. 3 For all the nations have fallen because of the wine of her passionate immorality. The kings of the world have committed adultery with her. Because of her desires for extravagant luxury, the merchants of the world have grown rich."
Evil spirits have aggregated and congregated in some Christians lives because of their fornication and adultery.
Some of these evil spirits can lead a man or woman into unfaithfulness in their marriage.
6. FORNICATION OR ADULTERY BRINGS DISGRACE – PROV. 6:33
KJV A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.
7. FORNICATION OR ADULTERY BRINGS UNWANTED PREGNANCIES
8. FORNICATION OR ADULTERY BRINGS UNWANTED ABORTIONS
Abortion is the termination of human life, medically speaking.
9. FORNICATION OR ADULTERY BRINGS UNWANTED CHILDREN
Unwanted children are usually products of fornication.
10. FORNICATION OR ADULTERY BRINGS SICKNESS AND DISEASES
Different Sexually Transmitted Diseases usually accompany illicit sex either immediately or on the long run.E.g. Gonorrhea.