How to Avoid the Guilt of Sin

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How to Avoid the Guilt of Sin
Getting To Know Jesus - 109 in Volume 09
Matthew 19:3-9

One of the most common sins that we have tried to hide, justify, legalize or avoid the consequences of from the beginning of time is sexual immorality. The Bible is full of warnings that sex outside of marriage is wrong. Proverbs is full of admonitions to stay away from sexual immorality. Jesus taught that sex is for a husband and wife (see Matthew 19:3-9 for just one example). The Apostles repeated Jesus’ teachings in their writings. Any kind of sexual relations outside of the institution of marriage (between a man and a woman) is wrong. Have we listened? Not near enough.

In Matthew 19:3-9, Jesus is confronted by some Pharisees who are trying to justify their practice of divorcing their wives. They are trying to justify their sin as “okay” and remove their guilt according to the Mosaical Law. Jesus exposes that they have misinterpreted what God told Moses. In doing so, He reminds them that sex outside of marriage is wrong.

In the 60’s, we encountered a “sexual revolution” where young people were told: “if it feels good, do it”. Instead of respecting God’s greater design and save sex for marriage, the incidences of sex outside of marriage increased dramatically. Along with that, divorce, pornography, prostitution, rape, incest, pedophilia and a host of other sins became much more common. Those who advocate abstaining from sex until marriage were looked down on as old fashioned and out of touch with “today”.

In 1973, in an effort to try to remove the guilt of their sin, someone persuaded a liberal United States Supreme Court that aborting a baby before it was born was okay. Since then, millions of babies have not had the chance to live outside their mother’s womb because they were burned with a saline solution or sucked apart into little pieces by an abortion doctor’s pump.

The leading argument for abortion is that “women have a right to choose”. However, we forget that the right to choose also is the right to say “NO” to sex outside of marriage. Few seem to want to advise women that they should not allow a man to go that far with them. (Of course, more blame should fall on the man for not respecting the woman and not waiting until they are married.)

The result is that instead of girls being freed from exposure as being sexually immoral, also added the guilt of knowing that they murdered their baby. Most post-abortion women have suffered greatly because of their decision. They know that they have sinned whether society declares their abortion as sin or not.

Sex of any kind outside of marriage is not how God designed for us to live. Sexual immorality is fraught with all kinds of problems including: guilt, unwanted pregnancy, divorce, sexually transmitted diseases including AIDS, pornography, prostitution, pedophilia and more. Sex inside the bounds of marriage is fulfilling, guilt-free, relationship building and blessed by God.

Just because we get the government to condone abortion or declare “same-sex marriage” as “legal” doesn’t make it so. Those who are pressing for these issues are simply trying to pretend that if the government says it is legal, then they won’t be sinning by doing what they know is wrong.

It is time for Christians to return to God's standards for sexual purity and quit acting like the world. It is also time for you and me to remind the world that when we do things God's way, we get God's blessings. When we think we are smarter than God, we get all kinds of problems.

God bless,