1. 1

2. Affirming the Goodness of God’s Restrictions on our Sexual Relationships - Part 4 Ephesians 5:22-33
25 … Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, … Ephesians 5:25b-27a (NIV84) 2 2

3. Why does God place restrictions on our sexual relationships?
For the preservation of His visual aid for displaying His covenant relationship with His church. 3

4. Hosea 3:1 (NIV84) 1 The Lord said to me (Hosea), “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods ….” 4

5. Jeremiah 3:14 (NIV84) 14 “Return, faithless people,” declares the LORD, “for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion. 5

6. 2 Corinthians 11:2 (NIV84) 2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Him. 6

7. Ephesians 5:22-24 (NIV84) 22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 7

8. Ephesians 5:25-33 (NIV84) 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of His body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”(Genesis 2:24) 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. 8

9. Why does God place restrictions on our sexual relationships
Why does God place restrictions on our sexual relationships? Because He values the beauty of faithfulness, purity and holiness.
Do you have any doubt that God is serious about purity in our sexual relationships? 9 9

10. Hebrews 13:4 (NIV84) 4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 10

11. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 (NIV84)
1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 (NIV84) 3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. 7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8 Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit. 11

12. 1 Corinthians 7:32-35 (NIV84) I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs - how he can please the Lord. 33 But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world - how he can please his wife and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world - how she can please her husband. 35 I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord. 12

13. The pressures we all face to turn away from obeying our Lord, especially in matters related to our sexual relationships,
are so very strong that we need the strength of the Lord in our lives to sustain our faithfulness, purity and holiness. 13

14. Human beings are sexual beings. We bear God’s image upon us.
The subject of human sexuality is a joining of (1) the study of God with (2) the study of man. 14

15. As we think about who God is then great insight will be given to us to think about who we are.
Dr. Peter Jones
The ultimate question we must address and become very capable of answering is, who is God? 15 15

16. Who is our authority if not God?16 16

17. What is historicism?
We have to begin with the assumption that there is no Creator outside of history governing the events of history. 17

18. If history is all there is, then there is no right or wrong.
“Unless we rethink our teaching on homosexuality as evangelical Christians, we will find ourselves on the wrong side of history.”
If history is all there is, then there is no right or wrong. 18 18

19. The Bible is reliable, historical literature, but it speaks a solidly coherent and helpful word for the issues we face in life. 19

20. Unchanging Witness: The consistent Christian teaching on homosexuality in Scripture and Tradition. “There is an unbroken tradition of agreement that the Scriptures deny the moral legitimacy of homosexuality.” 20 20

21. Romans 1:24-27 (NIV84) 24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. 21

22. The denial of God the Creator creates this perverse sexual activity.
Paul is going back to the creation to who we are as human beings.
Homosexuality and lesbianism are against nature, the created order, or the original state. 22 22

23. The structure of Romans 1.
“God gave them up.”
“they exchanged.”
“They exchanged.”
“God gave them up.
Paul wants to illustrate what it looks like to fall into idolatry, to be completely handed over. 23

24. Genesis 1:27-28 (NIV84) 27 So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. …”
Genesis 2:24 (NIV84) 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. 24

25. The sexual binary of male and female is tied to the image of God.
We have to reflect the essential image of God as Trinity where difference functions to keep those three Persons together. Sameness doesn’t work. 25 25

26. If you deny the image of God in man, then you will destroy that image if you don’t respect it.26 26

27. To preserve the image of God within us, we give ourselves to our primary mission in life to be holy, undivided in our love for our Lord Jesus Christ. 27

28. 28

29. 29