Monday, November 25, 2019

Sexual Desire and Marriage

Last Sunday I preached on Jesus words about murder and adultery, recorded in Matthew 5:21-30. You can listen to the sermon at this link. In that passage, Jesus notes that not only is the external act of adultery forbidden, but adulterous desire is also forbidden. This accords with the similar prohibition in the tenth commandment: "you shall not covet your neighbor's wife" (Exod. 20:17). In my sermon, I quoted the following passage from John Murray's book, Principles of Conduct, and I thought I would post it here as well.
“The line of demarcation between virtue and vice is not a chasm but a razor’s edge. Sex desire is not wrong and Jesus does not say so. To cast any aspersion on sex desire is to impugn the integrity of the Creator and of his creation. Furthermore, it is not wrong to desire to satisfy sex desire and impulse in the way God has ordained. Indeed, sex desire is one of the considerations which induce men and women to marry. The Scripture fully recognizes the propriety of that motive and commends marriage as the honorable and necessary outlet for sex impulse. What is wrong is the earliest and most rudimentary desire to satisfy the impulse to the sex act outside the estate of matrimony. It is not wrong to desire the sex act with the person who may be contemplated as spouse if and when the estate of matrimony will have been entered upon with him or her. But the desire for the sex act outside that divinely instituted and strictly guarded sanctuary which God has reserved for the man and his wife alone is wrong; and it is from this fountain of desire that proceed all the evils by which the sanctity of sex is desecrated.”

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