Safe sex has almost become a national battle cry. We are finally waking up to the fact that sex is out of control in our country, and so we're trying to offer our young people some meaningful guidance, especially in the age of AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases. Many say to them, "Have safe sex." Nowadays, something married couples had a hard time talking about - condoms - is now on the front counter in the drugstore.
Let's say there's a five-year-old boy, and he likes to play in the middle of the interstate. The parents get together and say, "We have to do something about this. It is not safe to play in the interstate." So they do the only obvious thing they can do: give him a helmet. Now maybe he won't get hurt as badly in the middle of the interstate. Is that the way to handle it? What if the boy could just stay out of the interstate? Our kids are not getting the whole story.
1 Corinthians 6:13 of God's Word says, "The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body." Verse 18 says, "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body." There are consequences for taking sex outside of God's boundaries. Some of those consequences are selective. For example, some people get AIDS, some people get pregnant, and some people get sexually transmitted diseases, but not everyone does. Those are selective consequences.
Today, few are hearing about the universal consequences of sex outside of marriage. Every person who ever uses sex immorally gets three universal consequences, and no condom on earth can protect us against them.
The first consequence is damaging memories. David said in Psalm 51:3 after his sexual sin, "My sin is always before me." A video camera runs inside your soul and records everything you do with your body. Just when you don't want those images there, in the exclusive love of marriage, the flashbacks come and mar the specialness of that relationship. Nobody tells you about the damaging memories that will stay with you, and you can't shut off the video camera. No condom can protect you against that.
The second consequence is lost treasure. Hebrews 13:4 says, "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure." Part of the excitement of sex is its uniqueness. "I have never loved anyone this way before. This is a lifetime love, and I've saved myself for you." When you lose the uniqueness, you lose the excitement. Nobody tells you about the treasure you're losing.
The third consequence is the judgment of God. Again Hebrews 13:4 says, "God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral." You are violating God's laws if you have sex outside of marriage, and no condom can protect you against that judgment. You might be thinking, "I've already crossed the line." Listen to the good news of 1 John 1:9. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." God not only forgives, He cleans you up and restores you.
From today on, keep sex special and give the kids the whole story. With sex outside of God's boundaries, you lose. The only safe sex is saved sex!