Center for Biblical Theology and Eschatology
The Cost of Immorality
by Pastor Gary W. Hendrix
Sadly, more than a few preachers and churches have unwittingly aided
this effort by their failure to provide close and practical exposition
of the Ten Commandments to their hearers.
At any rate, we have come as a nation to accept the idea that sexual
activity prior to marriage is normal adult, and even juvenile, behavior.
We have come to accept marital unfaithfulness as a matter of personal right
and even privilege.
Perhaps, however, the single most telling indication of how far we have
come is the increasing acceptance we have granted those who have chosen
to practice homosexuality. Having been conditioned by the recurrent theme
of unqualified personal rights in the realm of sexual conduct, we have
bought into the idea that homosexuality is, after all, an acceptable alternative
to the heterosexual relations which have been practiced by all the socities
of history down to the present. "We've come a long way, baby!"
It is high time that we as a people now spend some energy assessing
the cost of the sexual revolution. What has it brought to the basic unit
of our society, the family? It has brought chaos and, in many instances,
collapse.
More and more, normal family units with both fathers and mothers living
together and working together in the rearing of children are exceptional
rather than normal. Staggering numbers of young people are growing to adulthood
without the influence of fathers who act as mature, responsible, loving
leaders and examples in the home. A result is that a large percentage of
street crimes are committed by young men who did not receive the benefit
of functioning dads.
What about the end-all of the American ethic, personal happiness: has
the sexual revolution brought the personal happiness that it has always
promised? Look at the high percentage of people who practice promiscuity
who are also addicted to alcohol and illicit drugs, and you will glean
your answer. Look at the proliferation of sexually transmitted diseases
and both the personal misery and the astronomical economic expense which
is being extracted from the entire society on account of these diseases,
and you will have your answer.
The sexual revolution is beginning to prove its true worth and, Friends,
we are only seeing the tip of the ice-berg. As a people, we may have become
too hardened to learn the lesson, but the fact is that God will not be
mocked -- what people sow (whether individuals or nations), they will reap.
Divine Providence and Justice will see to it.
Oh, that leaders in every strata of society would be given hearts to
love righteousness, to become examples of it, and to expound its praises,
and that pastors would again sound the whole counsel of God's Word -- not
only the basics of the glorious Gospel but also the blessed Law of God,
which makes the beauty of the Gospel shine more brightly to those who need
it, and that community officials would be bold to uphold the laws which
remain upon the books against flagrant sexual sin, and would do everything
in their legitimate domain to secure a wholesome environment for the moral
development of young lives, and that people of influence would become gripped
with the truth that those who encourage sin are indeed guilty of that sin
in the eyes of the Almighty Judge of the universe (Rom. 1:32).
Will we ever see a wide-spread return to anything approximating Biblical
norms of righteousness pervasive in our land? No one but God knows. It
is safe to say, however, that we have no warrant to expect such things
unless those who claim to be Christians repent of their own sins and call
upon God with true humility and fervency of heart, and once again hold
forth without shame God's standard of truth about sin and righteousness.
Since the mid-sixties we have been systemically indoctrinated in the
militant philosophy of the "sexual revolution." There has been
an unrelenting assault upon the mores of the Judeo-Christian ethic, especially
in the realm of sexual morality. More importantly, there has been a determination
to wean the American society of its strong conscience about sin instilled
in it by its Puritan forefathers and by their wise use of the Ten Commandments.
| Pastor Gary W. Hendrix is Pastor of Grace Reformed Baptist Church in Mebane, North Carolina. |