What Does The Bible Say?
30 Minute Discussions Of Bible Subjects
What Does The Bible Say?
What Does the Bible Say About Immorality #2?
Arnie, Eric, Fred and Glenn continue their discussion about immorality and what the Bible says about it. We begin by looking at what Jude said about the wicked Biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah whose people were engaged in immorality. Peter had even more to say about them and we look at what he said. Sodom and Gomorrah stand as the prime example of immoral behavior and how God looks at it. Eric looks at what Paul says about marriage and how that God-given institution avoids sexual immorality. We discuss several sections of scripture where Paul discusses unrighteousness that has not been forgiven by God that includes sexual immorality and how God condemns this activity. Throughout this episode, we note that in our day there continues to be a lot of immorality engaged in, which indicates that not much has changed since the activities recorded in the Bible. Take about 30-minutes to listen to our discussions. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience.
This is a presentation of the Woodland church of Christ, meeting at 3370 Broad Street in Sumter, South Carolina. We meet for worship on Sunday at ten thirty am and five thirty pm. We meet for bible study at nine thirty am on Sunday and seven pm on Wednesday. If you have questions or comments on this lesson, you may email them to Arnie Granke at a, g, r, a, n, k, e, 440718@twc.com or to Glenn Landrum at s, c, b, a, m, a, b, o, y, 2003@yahoo.com or to Eric McClam at e, r, i, c, m, c, c, l, a mfifty@outlook.com or to Fred Gosnell at f, g, o, s, n, e, l, l@ftc-i.net.
Arnie:Good afternoon. This is what does the Bible say, brought to you by the church of Christ at Woodland in Sumter, South Carolina. I'm Arnie Granke, and with me this afternoon are Fred Gosnell, and Eric is is here, and Glenn is with us as as well. And we've been talking about the subject of of immorality. We would like to invite you to stop by if you happen to be in Sumter, the Sumter area, visiting, touring, maybe in the in the military. We would love to have you worship with us on the on the Lord's day, and we hope that you'll also tune us in on other Sundays as well as we have this program every Sunday afternoon at at Two o'clock. Uh Fred, where do we pick up this morning, this afternoon?
Fred Gosnell:Well, we had, last week, we had talked about immorality and basically sexual perversion and the fact that it commonly leads to ungodly behaviors. And we looked at Romans 1, 24, through 32. And and then we we have Jude makes a statement concerning Sodom and Gomorrah. Of course, that was a couple of cities that were given over to homosexuality and other things. Jude says in Jude six the,And angels that kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation he hath kept in everlasting bonds, under darkness and unto the judgment of the great day, Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them, having in like manner, with these giving themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh are set forth as an example suffering the punishment of eternal fire. Of course, it says that, Jude says they're set forth as an example suffering the punishment of eternal fire. Of course, Sodom and Gomorrah, are just there to show us how bad it can get. And evidently, the whole city was given over to homosexuality. It mentioned strange flesh. There was other things going on there of course, Lot was the only, Lot, and his family were the only righteous people in the city, and they were told to leave, and the city was destroyed. Of course, that's been a problem ever since man has been around, and we have the same problems today. But we don't have, generally, cities that are overtaken completely like Sodom and Gomorrah are. But that's the example of what that immorality can do to a city and to a people, and that's why it's such a big problem. That's why we want to talk about what the Bible says about it.
Glenn:Yeah, there's another passage that's associated with that. It's rather long. It's in Second Peter, chapter two verse verses one through 15 has speak of Sodom and more as well. So I'll read that. But there arose false prophets after among the people, as among you, also, there shall be false teachers who shall privily bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their lascivious doings by reason of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of, and in covetousness, shall they, with vain words, make merchandise of you whose sentence is now of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumreth not. For if God spared not the angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell and committed them to the pits of darkness to preserve unto judgment, and spared not the ancient world, but preserved. Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, having made them an example unto those that should live ungodly and delivered righteous Lot sore distressed by the lascivious life of the wicked, for that the righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their lawless deeds. And the Lord knoweth how to deliver the ungodly or deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punch punishment until the Day of Judgment. But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement and despise dominion daring selfwill they tremble not to rail at at dignities. Whereas angels, though greater in might and power, bring not railing judgment against them before the Lord. But these, as creatures without reason, born mere animals to be taken and destroyed, railing in matters whereof they are ignorant, shall in their destroying surely be destroyed, suffering wrong as the hire of wrongdoing. Men that count it pleasure to revel in the daytime, spots and blemishes, reveling in their deceivings while their feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and cannot cease from sin, enticing unsteadfast souls, having a heart exercised with covetousness. Children of cursing, forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the hire of wrongdoing. Now there's there's a lot in that passage, and basically it's telling us, overall, if we put it down in just a nutshell, that those who do wrong, go against God's commands, go against God's morals, will not be saved. Now, they will be condemned. So we have the example of Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah. He and his family were saved, uh, because they were righteous, they were following God. So we should do the same, and that's an example for us.
Eric:And going along with what you said at the beginning of reading Second, Peter two verses one through 15, I'm going to go to First Timothy, four verses, one through three, where it says, Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies of hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. I read that because that goes along with the with the immorality and these people that are that are deceiving those out there to this day, they turn it, they're turning their ears unto fables and and the teachings that they're doing are wrong. But I'm a go along here with talking about marriage in First Corinthians chapter seven, we'll do a breakdown of verses one through nine. Start with verse one. Paul said, It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Paul is saying no touching in the sense of casual touching. You know, if we go to Proverbs, Proverbs also say, says that So is he who goes into a neighbor's wife, whosoever touches her shall not be answered. Men and women have no business lightening the fuel through touch and that is sexually stimulating each other if they're not married. Verses two through four, says, Because of fornication, let each man have his own wife and let each woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife her do and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife has no power over her own body but the husband, and likewise also the husband have no power over his own body, but the wife. Now, what I did, I looked up the word, the word for man, and in the Greek, number 444 it means Anthropos, which means a man, and he is to have, and he is to have of his own wife, which is the number is 1135, which means gune, means a woman or a wife. And the woman is the same word gune, as she have her own husband. And that word comes from 435, it's called aner, which means a man. So when we reading it here, it does not say anything about woman on woman or man or man. It says a husband and a wife, man and a woman. People should marry. People should marry so that they may have a purpose, a proper outlet for their sexual desires. Paul's statement shows in in what I just read, that the desires of intimacy is equal in both sexes. They're equal in both sexes. Verse five, it says, Defraud you, not one another, except it be by consent for a season or an agreement for a legitimate time, that you may give yourselves or devote yourselves to prayer and may be together again or come together intimacy again, that Satan tempt you not because of your incontancy, which means lack of self control. There will be times when the spouse is not available to fulfill his or her duties, sometimes or some of the times, our person's control, such as an illness or a medical reason, or they are departed for business reasons, or even if they're in the military, they probably separated from one another, you know, to serve their company, their country, excuse me, executive and such things like that. But when it comes to a person's control, lack of ability for intimacy should only be done in a temporary basis where both parties or both partners have agreed to abstain from intimacy. The example Paul gives are periods of time when a person desires to focus on pertaining to God. Pertaining to God. Verse six says, But this I say, by the way of concession, not of commandment. Ye I would that all men, even as myself, how be it each man, has his own gift from God, one after this manner and another after that. But I say to the unmarried and to the widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I but if they have not, have not contingency or self control, let them marry, for it is better to marry than burn or burn with passion. Paul chose the single life and wishes that everyone can make the same choices when needed. Whether a person choose to marry or not, that's a personal choice, but to abstain from fornication, that's the best thing to do, is be married.
Arnie:You know you were, you were reading from First Corinthians, chapter seven. Let's back up for for a moment and and take a look at first, Corinthians six, and beginning in in verse nine, Paul writes, he said, Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of of you, but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and in the spirit of of our God. It you know, as you look at at some of these, some of these words here, for example, when he's talking about idolaters, there was a lot of idol worship going on in in Corinth, that that the city was noted for, for that.As a matter of fact, up at the top of a large mountain there overlooking the city that was part of the AcroCorinthus mountain, there was a brothel up there. Well, they called it a temple, but it was, it was basically a brothel that was up there that had 100 rather a 1000 women that were priestesses. And of course, that was a popular thing. It was also a seaport, in addition to local men going to that situation. So sailors would come in as well. So there was a that was a big issue there, and teaching people to obey the gospel and and follow the morality that's taught in in the Bible, I don't think was an easy task for for the apostles. But eventually, there was a substantial number that had obeyed the gospel and were members of the church there in in Corinth and and Paul, of course, is is writing to them in in this regard. So you know, there, there may be a lot of immorality in your community, but you don't have to be a part of it. And that was certainly the point that Paul wanted to make to to these people in Corinth.
Fred Gosnell:Of course. Now someone listening to the program here say, well, Arnie, that's not the way it is here. That was then, but this is now. We don't have that kind of a big problem.
Arnie:No?
Fred Gosnell:I looked up, do you know that 40% of the babies that are born in the United States are born to unmarried women. Now I wonder how that happened. Oh, she had a partner. She was not married.
Arnie:It wasn't miraculous?
Fred Gosnell:She was unmarried. 40% of the babies born are born to unmarried women. And there are in the 2024, there were 1.1 million abortions done in the United States. Well, why? Why was that done? Well, it was inconvenient for those people who were engaged in sexual activity to then become pregnant, and then didn't want a baby, so they got rid of the baby and performed an abortion. So, so, so a lot of the things that that the Bible talks about that happened in old times. Not a lot has changed. You know, people have not changed since the beginning, and people will do what they want to do. And then once the consequences appear that they never intended that to be a consequence of their sexual immorality, then they seek to overcome the consequence. So the baby is the one that is suffers for it. And of course, those that are born, there's a split family, there's there's no father in the house, and then a lot of the problems we have in society is because of that. So so that's why we want to talk about this, and we want to encourage people to to know why that the Lord looks at immorality so badly, and why it's such a bad problem, always has been, and those who engage in those kinds of things so will not go to heaven if they don't obey the gospel.
Glenn:Yeah, well, you, I think you're getting a picture that we are seeing a lot of things that are mentioned, that are immoral, that are wrong, that are against what God has said for us to do. And that's the point of this is is for us to understand that what God tells us to do, what God has run had, had written in in His Word the Bible, those are the things that we we need to follow. We need to follow the things that he says for us to do. We need to try to stay away from those things that he tells us not to do. And we've been talking a lot about a lot of these things that God says for us not to do. In First Corinthians, six, 6, 15, through 20 says, Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ. Now, of course, he's talking to Christians in this point, as as all books in in the New Testament are they're reading written to Christians, particularly the epistles, Acts and the epistles are written to to Christians. So he says, Don't you know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot, God forbid, or Know ye not? Not that he that is joined to our heart is one body, for the twain saith He shall become one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body. But he that committed fornication, sinneth against his own body, or Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, which ye have from God, and you are not of your own, for you were bought with a price glorify God, therefore in your body. So Paul is writing to these Corinthian Christians and letting them know that fornication is wrong, that it's not only sinning against God, but it's sinning against yourself to to do that. We, we cannot, when we when anyone joins themselves to to someone that they are not married to, and they they are becoming a bond with that person. You remember at the beginning of this study, I read the the passage from from Genesis, where, when God joined Adam and Eve together and told them to to be fruitful and multiply. And so when they had their relations, they became one flesh, and that's what God said they would be. So the same happens with a person. When they join themselves to someone who is not their their spouse, they become one with that person. And it's it's fornication, it's joining themselves to to someone that they do not have the right to to have sexual relations with. And of course, it tells us that that that is wrong. So he, he tells us to stay away from that, because our body should be the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Fred Gosnell:Well, well, Arnie, Timothy, Paul, Paul writes to Timothy in in First Timothy 1, 8, 8, through 11 and and he he continues this guidance. And he says, We know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully. And as knowing this that law is not made for the righteous man, but for the lawless and for the unruly, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers. Here's another list for man slayers, for fornicators. There's that word for abusers of themselves with mankind. That's a that's a different way to to identify homosexuality. Is what that means for men stealers, for liars, for false swears, and if there be any other thing contrary to the sound doctrine, according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. And again, you know, people read this and they say, oh, again, that was a long time ago. And you know, most of that those things are, there's a few people that are engaged in that, but, but not a lot. Well, you know, one of the things I looked up was in the US, a lot of people don't realize this, but 40% of homosexual men have experienced sexual violence other than rape. So let's see abusers of themselves with mankind, Paul list's here. And again, unfortunately, people decide to do things contrary to what God says. And notice he he tells Timothy, Know ye not that the law is good. God's law is good, if a man use it lawfully. Well as knowing that this that law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and unruly, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy profane. And then he goes through the list. So God has made these law to to warn people of the behaviors that they engage in and and that that these are things that are bad for us, and we we cannot, if we continue in the behavior, we cannot be pleasing to God. Ultimately, if we don't stop, we don't repent and obey the Lord, then we're not going to heaven. And and so he he ends that notice what he said. And if there be any other contrary to sound doctrine, that's not a complete list. There's any all kinds of other behavior. Well, note, according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. So, so the gospel. Paul has provided to to us in his writings, to everybody, so that we might have something to follow that we know is correct. And if we follow that, then we will be pleasing to God. If, if we engage in these behaviors that are listed, we're not pleasing to God. It doesn't matter what we think or what anybody else says, and we have to remember that. And so immorality continues to be a big problem, and and people continue to engage in it. And lot of times, the consequences, physical consequences, sometimes are worse than what they thought. The spiritual consequences are even worse than that.
Glenn:You know, we we're speaking all all this, we're reading these, these passages, and this, what Fred just mentioned, is that knowing that the law is good for those that use it, for those that use it, hopefully these would be Christians that that use it and use it lawfully. Uh, real simple. How to do that. Jesus says in John 14, 15, real short passage, If you love Me, keep My commandments. That's the That's as simple as it gets. So the things that we read in in God's Word, the things that we read that are bad, we stay away from the things that we read are good we do. And take a look at the beatitudes in Matthew five, three through 11, and you'll see a lot of the the examples of attitudes that we should possess. Those are things that we need to do. We need to refrain from those immoral, those wrong things. Paul urged the Christians in Ephesus to abandon previous lewd behavior and ungodliness. Ephesians 4, 17, through 32 says this, I say, therefore and testify that in the Lord that you no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk in the vanity of their mind, being darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because the ignorance that is in them because of the harden, hardening of their heart, who being past feeling gave themselves up to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness and greediness. But ye did not so learn Christ, if so you be heard Him, and were taught in Him, even as truth is in Jesus that you put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man that waxes corrupt after the lust of deceit; and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man that after God hath been created in righteousness and the holiness of truth, Wherefore, putting away falsehood, speak you truth, each one with his neighbor, for we are members, one of another. Be be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down on your wrath. Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more. But rather, let him labor, working with his hands the things that is good that he may have whereof to give to him that hath need. Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for edifying, as the need may be that it may give grace to them that hear and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God in whom you were sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and railing be put away from you with all malice And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ, forgave you. I invite you to read that again. I invite you to read that probably two or three times. Is it's a very good passage that's telling us to follow God's word.
Arnie:You know, we're about out of time here, but one of the things that that we maybe didn't call attention to, but certainly are obvious as we read the passages that that we've looked at in in this discussion, is that there are a number of lists of of various kinds of sins,. The lists aren't all identical, so that means that each list adds some more to to the other list. It's it's to our advantage if we want to go to heaven to read these passages,` recognize that they're intended for people like us and and if we do what God has told us to do and obey His Word, we don't have a concern with regard to where we'll spend eternity. We thank you for listening to us again this Lord's Day afternoon, we look forward to being with you. Hope that you'll tune us in again next Lord's Day. Have a good week.