God's Design for Sex & Marriage

(Pastor Rodney's sermon notes on today's sermon! 5-6-12)

Drink water from your own cistern, And running water from your own well. Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets? Let them be only your own, And not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth. As a loving deer and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And always be enraptured with her love. For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman, And be embraced in the arms of a seductress? (Proverbs 5:15-20 NKJV)

-- Cistern – A virgin.
-- Well – A woman that has become sexually active.  She is deep and has much love to offer.
-- Fountain – The man who has a very strong sexual drive.

God’s Creative Design

 Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.  27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

-- Created – God created our spirit, which means to create out of nothing that existed before.  Our spirit is created with the same elements that make God. 
-- Make/Made – God made our bodies, which means to form from something that existed.  God formed us like a potter would clay on a wheel, by making our body out of the dirt of the ground. 
-- God CREATED our spirit and He MADE our bodies.  The soul of man is that which connects the two.  The soul is our mind, our will, the conscience or nature of who we are. 
-- We are a 3-part being, with the design being SPIRIT, SOUL & BODY. 

• The place we get ourselves into trouble is by reversing God’s design and putting the body as most important.   
• Society has taught us to exalt body over everything else.  If we take care of our body and do what feels good to our body, everything else will take care of itself.  However, with God the opposite is true. 
• Anytime you go against God’s design, you deal with heavy consequences. 

The One Exception

Genesis 2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. 21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

-- The woman was the only creation that God did not make out of dirt.
-- Eve was built by the hands of God from the rib of Adam.
-- When Adam saw Eve, he recognized a relativity or connection in her.  He recognized that she was his flesh and bone.  She was a completion for him.

Genesis 5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; 2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

-- God called them “ADAM”.  God saw them as one.  From the beginning, God has called the two one.  He has designed a oneness or connection between man and woman.
-- God took ONE RIB from Adam and made ONE WOMAN for Adam.
-- God’s plan is simple – ONE HUSBAND, ONE WIFE, ONE FLESH FOR LIFE.
-- Eve was taken from the rib of Adam, because that is near his heart.

• Ribs protect the heart.
  • Provides security for the woman is the design of God.  A woman wants to feel secure and protected.  She wants to know that the man is going to give this to her. 
  • Provides significance and the protecting of the emotions for the man.  The woman/wife is to make the man feel significant and important.  He wants to know that his wife is his biggest supporter.
• Ribs are protected by the arms.     
  • Men have a natural call on their lives to protect the woman.  This is not sexist or egotistical, this is God’s design.
• Ribs hold the body together.
  • The woman gives inner strength to the family in such a way that she holds things together. 

How Does Sex Play In?

-- Sexual activity is designed as an expression of faith, love and trust.
-- God has designed and blessed sex for the marriage bed.  One man, one woman for life.
-- “The Bible, and particularly Paul, makes it clear that the sexual relationship between a husband and wife is intended to be one of the most profoundly spiritual encounters we are capable of this side of heaven” (Poetry Class).

 Ephesians 5:31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

-- This refers to a deep intimacy and sexual union.
-- GOD NEVER INTENDED FOR SEX TO ONLY BE PHYSICAL!!!
-- Any beast or creature can participate in the physical act of sex.
-- God’s design is much bigger and more special than that.
-- Man and woman are the only creatures who have sexual union face to face.  It is a deep connection.
-- Sexual intercourse and relationship is not sinful or wrong when done God’s way.  God has designed it as a very personal and intimate act.  The problem in society is that it has become abused.
-- Anytime you join sexually with someone, you are giving away a part of yourself.
-- When you are involved in a lifetime commitment with your mate, you continually find and are reconnected with the part of you that you are given away.  You are made complete.
-- The reason so many people today are empty, sad, depressed and wandering around is because they have given themselves sexually to person after person and they can never find themselves reflected back to them in the countenance or face of the one they are sexually involved with.
-- They jump from partner to partner trying to regain what they gave up but it is never going to happen in that manner and in the way that the world promotes!
-- Instead of finding themselves, they find all the baggage and issues the person they are sexually involved with carry.

 1 Corinthians 6:16  What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

-- Anytime that you join sexually with someone, you are opening yourself up to all the baggage and issues of that person. 
-- You blend together as one and you become like a film where what the person you are sexually active with is developed on your own heart and spirit. 

Proverb 23;27 For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.

-- Whereas God’s design is for the wife to be a deep well, an adulteress, loose or wayward woman is instead a deep ditch or a narrow pit. 

• Wells have pure waters that bring life.  Ditches and pits have tainted or diseased waters that can bring death and destruction.
• The fountain can dry up due to improper use.
• SEXUAL ACTIVITY IS A BIG DEAL!

-- All the polygamists in the Bible were men that were troubled.

• Jacobs house was filled with strife and contention and division.  His family was marked by lies, deception and attempted murder.
• David had 8 wives and many concubines.  His children were rebellious, committed incest and murder.  God said the sword would never depart from David’s house.
• Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines.
•  Nehemiah 13:26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin.

-- Deal with the sexual struggles in your mind.
-- Lust and desire will drive you to being critical, ill, difficult to deal with, etc.
-- Few understand the seriousness of Gods law in dealing with sexuality.
-- Improper lusts and activity can separate you from Gods plan for your life.
-- There is forgiveness and healing available.
-- Break soul ties and connections that have been established because of sexual activity.