Sermon Cloud

Introduction
In our culture we receive two basic messages about sex. One of the messages we receive is that sex is primarily a means to procreate. It is said that God created sex for the purpose of procreation or that sex evolved simply for the purpose of preserving the human race. A second message we receive is that sex is primarily about bringing us physical pleasure. But the truth is: sex is much more than that. According to the Bible, sex is something far greater than just the means to procreate and reproduce; sex is something far greater than just a means to experience tremendous physical pleasure. Sex is something glorious. Sex is something truly glorious. This becomes clear when we stop looking at sex through the lens of our culture, and stop looking at sex through the lens of religion, and stop looking at sex through the lens of experience, and start looking at sex through the lens of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now I recognize that all of us are approaching this topic from different perspectives. Some of us are married while others are single or divorced or widowed, some of us are virgins while others are experienced fornicators, some of us are uninterested in sex while others are always interested in sex and express that inappropriately with pornography, lust, and masturbation, some of us have heterosexual attraction while others have homosexual attraction, some of us have experienced severe pain as victims of sexual misuse or sexual abuse. This is why if we’re going to talk about sex we have to talk about it in light of Jesus Christ and his gospel. Because the gospel is the only thing that places all of us on equal ground. And the gospel is the only thing that speaks equally to every one of our states and conditions. The gospel alone can speak powerfully to our sexual joy, and our sexual desires, and our sexual fears, and our sexual pain.

Sex: for God’s Glory and Man’s Pleasure
If we want to talk about sex in light of the gospel we have to start where the gospel starts. We have to start in the beginning. We have to start in the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve lived in right relationship with God, and each other, and all of creation. It was in this environment that God created sex. We read about this in the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis. It is here that God created everything that is, including sex. And after creating everything that is, including sex, God was very pleased. Let’s read Genesis 1:31. “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day.” In his wisdom God created human beings as both spiritual and physical, as both relational and sexual – and he said that it was very good. And Yahweh did not just create Adam and Eve in this way but he united them together in this way. Look at Genesis 2:24, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” So Yahweh created men and women as spiritual and physical beings, as relational and sexual beings, and then he united them together as one spiritually, relationally, physically and sexually. And this unity was so intimate and their relationship so perfect that they walked together, in the presence of God, completely naked, and yet without a hint of shame. They were unashamedly naked before each other and naked before God because they were in proper relationship with God and with each other. God created them and God created sex for them.  And he said that it was very good.

But it wouldn’t be long before what Yahweh had created as very good would be tainted by evil. Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God, their creator. They chose to commit idolatry. We commit idolatry anytime we give to creation what belongs to the Creator. When we give our trust, or our obedience, or our devotion, or our fear, or our allegiance to a created person or thing instead of the Creator we commit idolatry, we do evil. That’s exactly what Adam and Eve did. They chose to serve and worship creation instead of Creator. This has disastrous consequences. And these consequences are primarily seen in our relationships. Because we have taken created things – even good things -- and made them into Ultimate things we have fallen from a right relationship with God. The moment we fell from a right relationship with the Creator we also fell from a proper relationship with all of creation, including each other. This was immediately clear to Adam and Eve. They used to walk together in the garden naked and unashamed. But after their rebellion, they covered their nakedness in shame. They used to walk openly and joyfully in the presence of God.  But after their rebellion, they hid from him in guilt. Sin immediately infected every human relationship and every aspect of human life: moral, spiritual, mental, volitional, relational, physical, and sexual.

So what does this mean for sex? If we look at creation and life in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 1 and 2 we see that sex is very good. But if we look at the fall of man in Genesis 3 we see that sex, like everything else, has been tainted by sin. So are we to look at sex as very good, as it was before the fall? Or are we to look at sex as very distorted, as all things have become since the fall?  Yes.  Sex can be both very good and very distorted, just like any and every other created thing. Everything can be good because God created it good. And everything can be tainted and distorted by sin. So sex itself is neither holy nor unholy. Sex itself is neither moral nor immoral. It’s how we think of sex and what we do with sex that makes it holy or unholy, moral or immoral, pure or filthy, healthy or destructive. So what makes the difference? When is sex holy and beautiful? And when is sex unholy and filthy? It is all about glory. Every sexual thought we have and every sexual encounter we have glorifies someone or something. If we express our sexuality to the glory of God, our Creator, then our sex is holy. But if we express our sexuality for our own glory then sex becomes idolatry.    

 
To see sex through the lens of the gospel is to see it as something through which we bring glory to God. Some of us have been so conditioned by our church or by our culture that that sentence sounded like crazy-talk. So I’ll say it again. To see sex through the lens of the gospel is to see it as something through which we bring glory to God. Yes, God is glorified through true sex. And when we think about sex we should think about it to the glory of Jesus. When we have sex we should have sex to the glory of Jesus. Colossians 3:17 says, “whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Whatever you do – in word or in deed – do it all in the name of Jesus. Whatever you do – including sex – is to be done in the name of the Lord Jesus. It is to be offered as worship. True sex, glorious sex, is sex that is offered as worship to Jesus Christ. What does this mean? That doesn’t mean that you have to be praying as you’re having sex or quoting Bible verses as you think about sex. It means that when we think of sex and when we engage in sexual activity we do so remembering that sex was created by Jesus. So we can give him thanks for creating us as sexual beings, and for allowing us to experience sexual pleasures and deep sexual intimacy. It means that when we think about sex and when we have sex we do so remembering that since Jesus created sex and sexuality he is also Lord over our sex and sexuality. Because God created you, your sexuality, and sex, God is the ultimate authority over your sexuality and how you express it. And when you submit your sexuality to Jesus as an act of worship you bring glory to Jesus. And, again, to discover how Jesus intends for our sexuality to be expressed we simply need to go back to the beginning.

In the Garden, God created sex as something to be shared between Adam and Eve, as husband and wife. After God presents Eve to Adam the author of Genesis writes in 2:24, “for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” Their marriage and their sexual union were not seen as two separate and distinct things, they were seen as two aspects of one union. Sex was to be a physical expression of their spiritual union. As the two became one flesh in spirit through the covenant of marriage they also became one flesh as Adam entered Eve and united with her sexually. God created sex and marriage to co-exist as two aspects of the most intimate of human unions. Neither one is intended to function without the other.  A marriage without sex is a marriage that lacks the full intimacy and communion that God intends and sex apart from marriage is not true sex. It is counterfeit sex. It looks like the real thing but it is not the real thing.  

When marriage and sex exist together, as God created them to, God is glorified.  Because it is there and only there that true sex exists and its true purpose and beauty are revealed. To illuminate the beauty of true sex I want to briefly compare this true sex within marriage to the counterfeit sex experienced outside of marriage.  

In our culture, sex outside of marriage is often seen as a means of achieving intimacy. Two unmarried people who care about each other have sex in hopes of developing intimacy. But sex was not created as a way of achieving intimacy. It was created to be the fruit of true intimacy. In marriage two people give all of themselves to the other. They expose all of who they are to each other. They become united in their purpose, they become one in spirit. As a result of that deepest of intimacies they enjoy sex as an expression of the intimacy they already share. This is true sex.  

In our culture, sex outside of marriage is seen as something shared between two people who care about each other. It is seen as an expression of their feelings for one another. But sex was not created to simply express feelings, it was created to express commitment. In marriage two people covenant with each other to be wholly devoted to one another and no one else for all time -- regardless of what hardships, challenges, or pain may surround the relationship or enter into the relationship. The sex act itself is a picture of this undying commitment as the woman opens herself in submission to the man, the man gives himself to the woman, and the two become one flesh. You cannot tell where the body of one ends and the body of the other begins. It is a physical expression of an unbreakable commitment. This is true sex.

In our culture, sex outside of marriage is often pursued as a means to experience pleasure. But sex was not created as an isolated act through which we seek our own pleasure. Sex was created to be shared by two people in a marriage covenant who are not seeking their own pleasure, but mutual pleasure. Let me be very clear that in marriage sex is pleasurable. Sex is extremely pleasurable by design. If you have trouble believing that let me point you to the female anatomy. There is a portion of the female genitals that is evidence of this. It serves no other function than to bring sexual pleasure. But remember that sex was created as a response to unconditional commitment and a response to the greatest of intimacy. As a response to unconditional commitment married people are to pursue sex not for their own pleasure but for mutual pleasure. I believe this is one of the reasons God chose to make sex such a pleasurable thing. He did this so that we would associate the most intense of physical pleasure with the most intense of relational intimacy. In marriage then the pursuit of sex is not motivated by hormones but by relationship. This makes the sex act incredibly significant as husband and wife submit to one another in total vulnerability that they might both experience physical pleasure and enhanced intimacy. And this is something that they will never share with another human being.  Ever.  

True sex glorifies God. When a man and a woman give themselves to one another in total trust, when they submit to one another in the unbreakable commitment of marriage, when they submit to Jesus Christ’s Lordship over their union, and when they share all of themselves with the other -- spiritually, relationally, physically, and sexually -- God is glorified. This is true glorious sex.  God-glorifying sex. This is sex in light of the Gospel and sex under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  

Sex: for God’s Glory and Man’s Knowledge of God
Married. Single. Divorced. Sexually active. Sexually inactive. Sexually abused. Every one of us has to constantly re-learn sex in light of the gospel. It is so important that every one of us can see sex in this light and talk about sex in this light even if we are not married or will never be married. Because whether we are sexually active or not we will always be sexual beings. Every one of us has to re-learn sex so that we can properly express our sexuality in whatever stage of life we find ourselves in. But before we talk about the specifics of how to express our sexuality properly outside of marriage we need to lay a little more groundwork on the theology of glorious sex.

We said earlier that sex for God’s glory is sex that is submitted to Jesus’ Lordship as an act of worship. It is sex as a physical expression of a spiritual union and for the mutual pleasure of husband and wife. But sex is not just about men and women finding pleasure in each other. It is also about men and women finding pleasure in God. Sex helps us to know God. That may sound strange to some of you. Let me be clear that I am not saying that any sort of intercourse occurs between God and man.  That is a pagan idea, not a Christian one. What I am saying is that the Bible uses sexual language to describe our relationship with God.  

There are many places we can turn to illustrate this but for the sake of time let us focus on the book of Hosea. Through Hosea God speaks to his people. He uses sexual images of marriage, adultery, nakedness, and intercourse to describe his relationship with his people. He is angry with Israel because they have strayed from YHWH, the true God, and began to worship false gods. He says this about them in Hosea 2:1-13. God compares his relationship to his people to an intimate and mutually pleasurable sexual relationship. He is hot with anger because his people have strayed from faithfulness to him and have shared their nakedness and their sexuality with others. For this he calls his people an adulteress, a whore! This is very vivid language that God uses to communicate judgment for his people’s unfaithfulness to their intimacy with God. But God does not only use sexual language to condemn them for their whoredom, he uses sexual language to speak of how he will restore them. Let’s read Hosea 2:14-20.  Despite the sin of his people God promises to restore them. In verse 14 he says that he will “allure her,” this literally means that he will seduce her. He will allure her back to her first love, God, her husband.  In the next few verses he paints a beautiful picture of how he will take his unfaithful wife back.  And then, in verse 20, he says “I will betroth you in faithfulness and you will know the Lord.” You will know the Lord. Again, this is overtly sexual language. This is the same word that was used about the sexual union between Adam and Eve. The Bible says that Adam knew Eve. In describing Mary’s virgin conception the Bible says that Joseph did not know Mary until she had given birth. To be in proper relationship with God is to be united with him in the most intense pleasure and to know him and be known by him with the deepest intimacy. In this way our union with Christ is like the sexual union between husband and wife. This is why God uses sexual language to describe his relationship with his people.  

And you do not have to be married to understand the beauty and power of sex and how it points to God.  We are all sexual beings with sexual passions and cravings. The desire for this intimacy and ecstasy points us toward knowing God and knowing each other if we respond properly. Because the ultimate fulfillment of the intimacy and ecstasy we desire is not found in sexual intercourse as we know it but in union with God through Christ.  The pleasures that we associate with sex find their ultimate fulfillment in knowing God as he wants us to know him. This is why Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:30 that we will neither marry nor be given in marriage when we are resurrected to live on the new earth. We will not need to. Because we will then experience the union that sex and marriage are only a small picture of -- perfect and unhindered union with Christ our Lord whom we will see face to face. This is how we must re-learn sex. We must re-learn sex through the lens of the gospel.

Sex: for God’s Glory in Marriage and Singleness
Again, whether we are married or single we have to re-learn sex in this light.  We have to re-learn sex in light of the gospel and the Lordship of Christ.  Then and only then will we be able to express our sexuality properly. If we are married we ought to evaluate our marriage relationship. You may be having “guilt-free” sex. But are you having true sex. Are you having sex to the glory of God? Is sex for you a joyous celebration of your intimate union with your spouse? Is it firstly relational and secondly physical? Are you each submitting yourselves and your wills to one another for the pleasure of the other? Are you honestly and openly trusting your whole self to your spouse? And do you involve God and the pursuit of God in your sexuality?

If you are single are you seeing sex through the lens of the gospel?  Are you submitting your desires to the Lordship of Christ? This is a tough topic for everyone but I think it is especially tough for singles. In many ways the Church has failed to realistically deal with your sexuality and your desires. ReShawn and I have had many conversations with Christian singles who feel overlooked by the church. Some have told us that they feel that the Church ignores single people. Sermons, and sermon illustrations, and the church’s ministries tend to be focused on married adults and families. Singleness is not often addressed.  And when single people in the Church give voice to their struggles they are so often given the same pat answers.  “Wait.  Just wait until you’re married. Devote yourself to prayer and Bible study. Prepare for your spouse to come so that you can enjoy sex in marriage. It will mean so much more if you wait for your spouse.” Have any of you been given this advice? There are several problems with that type of answer.  But the chief issue is that it is looking at sex as a purely human act rather than through the lens of Christ and his gospel.

First, it is moralistic because it doesn’t provide the proper motivation to abstain from sex nor does it provide the strength needed to abstain from sex. It relies solely on human will power, which will always fail. It is true that you should abstain from sex outside of marriage. But apart from the gospel none of us have the power to do that! To just say “wait” is to force moralism on people without giving them the power to actually wait. Second, it is humanistic because the motivation and the reward are always centered on us or on our spouse to come. “Wait because you want to be pure for your spouse,” “Wait because the type of spouse you want will be attracted to your purity,” “Wait because that’s what good Christians do.” Those things are true, but they are not the primary thing that should be motivating us to sexual purity. Jesus and is gospel should be our primary motivator. Third, it is presumptuous because the truth is if we wait for our spouse some of us will be waiting forever. Not everyone who wants to get married gets married. It is my opinion that the Church has made many mistakes in this area. We put marriage up here as if it (and not Jesus) is the thing that every single person should be aiming for. Many of our sermons and our ministries are primarily focusing on the family instead of primarily focusing on Jesus. We seem to communicate to single people that “if you just do your part right God will send you a spouse.” But we almost never acknowledge the fact that Jesus actually calls some people to a life of singleness and celibacy. And when we do acknowledge it we say things that are commonly said but I don’t think are true. Many people, including people I greatly respect, have said something like this: “If you’re called to celibacy you will know it.  If you desire to be married or to have sex then you are not called to celibacy.”  Really?  So if I’m tempted to sin does that mean I’m not called to be holy? If I desire to be with other women does that mean I’m not called to be faithful to my wife? Our desires are not always the most accurate way to discern God’s call. And to go even further, it just doesn’t work statistically. The single people in the Church are predominantly women. And nearly every single Christian woman I have met desires to get married. But, statistically speaking, they cannot all get married unless many more single men come to faith in Jesus. Now, let me be very careful to say that you are either called to be married in Christ or to be celibate in Christ. You are not called to just run around dating people here and there. You are called to either pursue marriage, which is a good thing, or singleness, which is a good thing but not to just hang out somewhere in the middle. Now, I’m saying all of this to say that we should be careful not to speak of sex in terms of waiting. This is not helpful to the single person. We must speak of sex in terms of the gospel and help single people and married people learn to express their sexuality in light of that.

This means that contrary to popular belief, repression is not the answer. Single people are sexual beings with sexual cravings.  They cannot simply be told to repress those desires. Repression of any type is generally ineffective because it tends to actually stimulate the very thing it is trying to repress. We saw this play out this week in the life of governor Elliott Spitzer and we saw it play out last year in the life of Ted Haggard. Repression tends to stimulate the very thing it is trying to repress. It’s like saying, “do not think of the color red.” As soon as I tell myself not to think of the color red I am, in fact, thinking of the color red. In addition to this, repression is abnormal because God purposefully created us as sexual beings. If you are single you should not repress your sexuality or your sexual desires. God created you as a sexual being. Instead of repressing your sexuality and your sexual desires you should redirect them. You should redirect your sexuality and your sexual desires away from the sexual act itself and toward what the sexual act points to. Your sexuality and your cravings for sex are really not just about sex. They are not purely biological. They are physical, but they are also spiritual and they are also relational. In a very real sense you crave and desire sex because you crave and desire the intimacy and relational union that accompanies true sex. Some of you hear that and immediately you know it is true. You know that part of the reason you desire sex is because you desire the intimacy and relational union that is associated with sex. Others of you hear that and don’t buy it because your cravings feel totally physical.. As much as the cravings may feel purely physical they are not purely physical. Nothing that you do or think or say or feel is purely physical because you are not a purely physical being. You are both body and spirit united and working together. In your entire life you have never done a purely physical act and you have never done a purely spiritual act. Your sexuality is no different. Your cravings are both physical and spiritual and when you are tempted to engage in inappropriate sexual acts or thoughts you must redirect your desires toward the relational.

As you feel these sexual impulses the answer is not to act on them improperly or think about them improperly and the answer is not to repress them. The answer is to redirect them. Allow these impulses and these desires for sexual union to motivate you to pursue relational union and true intimacy with other people and with Jesus. As you notice these desires rising within you remind yourself that these cravings are not just about a physical act but about intimate relational union. Then respond to these desires by allowing them to motivate you to pursue intimate relational union with other people and with Jesus Christ who is the ultimate fulfillment of our desire for intimacy and union. As this craving for intimacy is fulfilled in unity with other people and with Jesus you will find that the cravings themselves begin to lose their power to rule over you. That’s not to say that it will be easy for you, of course. It will not. So you will also have to redirect your sexual desires toward God-reliance. As your passions enflame allow them to launch you toward God in prayer and dependence. You do not want to yield to them and you do not want to repress them. You want to acknowledge them and redirect them toward a humble dependence on Jesus rather than a dependence on sex or self.  

The Heart of the Issue
And this is really the heart of the issue. The heart of the issue comes down to who or what we are depending on and who or what we are looking to to fulfill us. All of the questions related to sex and sexuality are really questions about worship. Turn with me to Romans 12:1 and 2, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is true worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will. ” This is true worship, Paul says. True worship is offering our bodies and our minds as sacrifices to Jesus. Which means that any time we are offering our bodies and our minds to something other than Jesus we are still engaging in worship – it is just false worship – it is idolatry. When we are worshiping Jesus sex and sexuality are things we enjoy because we are fulfilled instead of things we use to bring us fulfillment. When we are worshiping Jesus we will not see sex and sexuality as a way to glorify and serve ourselves, we will see it as a way to glorify and serve Jesus. When we are worshiping Jesus we will submit our sex and our sexuality to his Lordship. When we are worshiping Jesus we will give thanks to him as the creator of sex and as the ultimate fulfillment of the unity and intimacy found in sex. As long as we are giving our body and our mind to Jesus in worship we will not give it to self-serving sexual thoughts or actions.  

This means that if we are giving our mind and our body to sex and sexuality in ways that contradict the will of Jesus then we are, at least for that moment, worshiping something or someone other than Jesus. The only way we can ever engage in sexual sin – mental or physical -- is if we are worshiping someone or something other than Jesus. Some of us worship the person we are having sex with or the person we want to have sex with. We have sex with them because we think that they can bring us some sort of fulfillment. We lust for them because we feel valuable when we obtain the object of our desire. Or we have sex with them because we think it will make them love us more or be committed to us more and we think we need their love and commitment. Or we have sex with them because they want to have sex with us and we think that by giving them what they want they will be pleased with us. And we think we need to please them. Our problem is not that we’re just being immoral. Our problem is that we’re giving our minds and our bodies in worship to someone other than Jesus.

Some of us don’t worship the person we’re having sex with or the person we’re fantasizing about having sex with. Some of us worship sex itself. We don’t value the person in our bed, or the person in our head, or the person on our computer screen. They are just tools that we use to serve our god. We offer our bodies to sex, we offer our minds to sex, because it is our god. It is what we desire, it is what we think about all day, it is what we make sacrifices for, it is what we look to for meaning, and fulfillment, and happiness, and pleasure. When we’re depressed we look to sex, when we’re angry we look to sex, when we’re lonely we look to sex, when we’re happy we look to sex, when we’re frustrated we look to sex. Because sex is our god. We would never say that. But we show it because we look to sex to give us what we should be trusting in Jesus to give us. We give our minds and our bodies to sex in worship because of what we think it will give us in return.

Some of us worship the person we’re having sex with or want to have sex with, some of us worship sex itself, and some of us just plain worship ourselves. We give our minds and our bodies in service to ourselves and sex is just one of the ways that we can do that. We want what we want and because we worship ourselves we do whatever is necessary to feed our every desire. We give our minds and our bodies to feeding our every appetite even when that requires us to rebel against Jesus, even when it means we are doing emotional and spiritual damage to the person we are having sex with, even when that means we are objectifying a human being through pornography, even when that means we’re using someone – in reality or in our mind – for no other purpose than to serve our own pleasure. We give our minds and our bodies to worshiping ourselves without any regard for Jesus or other people.

And here’s the problem. The problem is not that we like sex or that we have sexual desires. God has created us this way for a reason. The problem is that we have taken sex, which is a good thing, and made it an Ultimate Thing. We have taken sex and asked it to provide for us the things that only Jesus can provide. We have taken sex and we have given to it the things that we should only give to Jesus. We have believed the lie that we need to feel this touch, or experience this feeling, or have this person in order to have meaning, and fulfillment, and joy, and contentment. This is idolatry. And idolatry is destructive. It removes us from a proper relationship with our Creator, with each other, and with all of creation. Let’s read more about this in 1Corinthians 6:9-10, “Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor practicing homosexuals nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

This is disturbing, isn’t it? This is especially disturbing because every one of us sees ourselves on this list. Some of us see ourselves on this list more than once. But, no doubt, every one of us finds ourselves in that phrase, “neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters.” Because every one of us has given our mind or our body (or both) to other people, to ourselves, or to sex itself in worship. And we don’t like to see this because it is uncomfortable to see ourselves as idolaters. It is uncomfortable to see ourselves as people who deserve to be judged by God. But as uncomfortable as it is it is true. Yet as true as it is we don’t have to despair. We don’t have to despair because there is hope and there is redemption. Look at the next verse, 1Corinthians 6:11, “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.” There is hope. Because though you deserve to be estranged from God because of your sexual immorality and your idolatry you can be washed, sanctified, and justified through Jesus Christ. I am proof of this. I have worshiped myself, I have worshiped the female body, and I have worshiped sex. I have given my mind and body to these things in place of Jesus. And yet I stand here today, not as one estranged from God, but as one united to God. I stand here as a sexually immoral idolater who has been washed, who has been sanctified, who has been justified by Jesus Christ. I, the unrighteous, have been made righteous. Not because I suddenly stopped being sexually immoral and not because I somehow defeated sexual immorality. No, because Jesus Christ took my sexual immorality and the judgment for my sexual immorality upon himself.

2Corinthians 5:21 says it this way, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus had no sin. He and he alone lived every moment of his life in perfect obedience to God. He is the perfect worshiper. For every second of his life on earth Jesus gave his mind and his body to Yahweh in worship. He had no sin. And yet, on the cross, Jesus willingly became sin for us. The perfect and pure and righteous Jesus became the idolater, he became the self-worshiper, he became the rebel, he became the sexually immoral, he became the rapist, he became the molester, he became the unfaithful spouse, he became the worst of what we are. And he did this so that we could become the best of what he is. He took our sin and the judgment that goes with it and he gave us his righteousness and the unity with God that comes with it. He did what we could never do. He did all that was necessary to reconcile you to your Creator and all of creation. And he did this because he loves you. He is the perfect and faithful lover who sought you out when you were unattractive and poor. He is the perfect and faithful lover who took whores like you and I and made us his bride. He is the perfect and faithful lover who died in place of his beloved. He is the perfect and faithful lover who has prepared a glorious place for us to live with him now and forever. He is the perfect and faithful lover who continues to love us, and continues to be faithful to us, even when we fail to love him, even when we fail to be faithful to him.

The more we understand this glorious gospel the less we will look to sex, and other people, and ourselves to give us value, and meaning, and fulfillment, and pleasure, and hope. Because we will see that Jesus is our perfect and faithful lover who has made us accepted, and loved, and united to God. He is our perfect and faithful lover who gives us meaning, and value, and fulfillment, and pleasure, and hope, and life. When you know Jesus as the fulfillment of all you desire you do not yield to all of your sexual cravings as though sex were the ultimate pleasure. Because you know Jesus you see sex in proper perspective and recognize that while sex is a good thing there is no greater pleasure than being intimately united with Jesus. This doesn’t mean that you won’t suffer. Married or single you will face difficult times as your sexual desires will not always be immediately fulfilled. But the cross reminds you that you are not alone in your suffering. Jesus, your faithful and perfect lover, has suffered for you and suffers with you. Even those of you who have been victims of sexual pain and sexual abuse can find hope in the cross. Because on the cross we see Jesus taking the world that is and turning it into the world as it ought to be. Jesus will bring your offenders to justice and until then he will love you and continue to heal you of the physical, emotional, and psychological pain that people have inflicted upon you. He is your perfect and faithful lover who will never leave you, who will never use you, and who will forever love you.