The Lie Hiding Under Modern Romance | Decoding the Torah Season 3

I'm amazed that these commandments that were given about 3,500 years ago are still so applicable to our culture today. Not only does the Lord speak about the clothes that we wear, but He speaks about a pastime today amongst men that He addressed to men 3,500 years ago. I'm talking about the pastime that some people refer to as chasing women or picking up girls. This is very specifically and flat-forwardly addressed in the Torah. It comes from the book of Exodus, chapter number 22, verse 16. It's the prohibition against men seducing women. Now some of us might kind of laugh at that, picking up girls, chasing women, but let's face it. That is so much a part of culture today. That is so much a part of men that are unsanctified, that don't know the Lord. I mean, that's what men do, you know, when they're in their teens and twenties or whatever. But what does the Lord have to say about this? And how serious is this in the Lord's eyes? Well, we read in the Torah these words, if a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged and lies with her, he must pay a dowry for her to be his wife. This is serious stuff. The Lord is saying here, if a man seduces a woman, a virgin that's not married, he needs to marry her. He needs to pay a dowry. He needs to pay the family of that woman, the price for her to become his wife and needs to marry her. So if people think that casual sex in some way is acceptable or right or okay, my friend, it is not. It is serious, serious, serious business. And for those of you guys that are listening today, that may have been compromised in your moral compass because of the world in which we live and somehow think it's okay to be involved in premarital sex and have sexual relations with a woman that you think you might marry, but you're not sure if you're going to marry her.

Well, let me tell you, according to God's Word, if you have sex with her, my brother, you need to marry her. Sex is a sanctified act. It's even an act of worship that's to be preserved for a marital context. True purity and sexuality takes place between a man and a woman, and that's the end of it. Any other kind of sex outside the boundaries of sexuality expressed in marital harmony is outside the laws of the Torah. It's outside, beloved, of God's ways for our lives today. In the time that this law was given, it actually was given to protect especially the rights and the personhood of unmarried virgins because in this society 3,500 years ago, if a virgin had relations with another man that was not her husband, it really put her in a very, very bad situation. Her prospects of a future marriage companion were very low. Her place in society became very low if she would have been diminished by having sex with a man outside of marriage. So this is serious stuff. It really helps us understand the calling, the radical call upon our lives as God's sons and daughters. We are not of the world. Jesus said if you were of the world, the world would love you, but because I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. We're radically different from the world. We're holy. We're cut out. We're separated. And this should be reflected in our sexual behavior and the way that we understand how sexuality should be manifest or enjoyed in the earth. So I just want to speak to you right now. If there are those of you that are listening and you're involved in sexual relations outside of marriage, you just need to cut it off and repent.

It's wrong. It's going to hurt you. It's going to separate you from intimacy with God, and it's going to hurt other people. And there's no compromise here. What fellowship has light with darkness? My friend, if we mean business with God, we've certainly got to mean business with him here. Sanctified sexuality is perhaps the greatest gift that God has given mankind to enjoy, and it needs to be done in him. His presence. So if you can't do what you're doing in His presence and that's according to the Word of God, it needs to be cut off. We ought not to be doing it. Beloved, let this Word sink deep in your heart. Let's lead sanctified lives. May the fire of God burn within us all. In the book of Numbers chapter 6, the Lord gave instructions to Moses and Aaron to speak this blessing over his people. And the Lord said, when you speak these words over my people, I will place my name on them and bless them. Receive the impartation of the Lord's blessings. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up by His countenance, and the Lord give you, beloved one, His peace. God bless you and shalom.