Repent Before it’s Too Late || Boundaries of Your Sexuality || Part 6 (FINALE)

Welcome to the final part of the “Boundaries of Your Sexuality” Bible study. This has been taking a deeper look at what sexual immorality is, as explained through the original Greek. We looked at the legalistic and denominational perspectives also to create a modern-day understanding of what sexual immorality is. This is where we landed:

Sexual immorality: committing sexual acts or being nude with someone(s) outside of the boundaries of a healthy, God-led romantic relationship with the intent to accomplish sexual satisfaction, obtain money, satisfy lustful desires, or obtain gratification in a noncommittal manner in a way that can involve a variety of forms of abuse, force and/or inhuman treatment of those involved.

In Part 5, we looked at how sexual immorality is both dehumanizing and abusive. We talked about how Satan often manipulates our thoughts and desires regarding sex to cause us to react in a way that could harm both ourselves and those around us. In Part 6, we’re hopping into the book of Revelation to talk about the lack of repentance that often comes with sexual immorality.

Revelation 9:13-21

AMP	NLT	MSG
13Then the sixth angel sounded [his trumpet], and I heard a solitary voice from the four horns of the golden altar which stands before God	13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice speaking from the four horns of the gold altar that stands in the presence of God	13-14 The sixth Angel trumpeted. I heard a voice speaking to the sixth Angel from the horns of the Golden Altar before God: “Let the Four Angels loose, the Angels confined at the great River Euphrates.”
14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”	14 And the voice said to the sixth angel who held the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great Euphrates River.”
15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the [appointed] hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind	15 Then the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were turned loose to kill one-third of all the people on earth	15-19 The Four Angels were untied and let loose, Four Angels all prepared for the exact year, month, day, and even hour when they were to kill a third of the human race. The number of the army of horsemen was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard the count and saw both horses and riders in my vision: fiery breastplates on the riders, lion heads on the horses breathing out fire and smoke and brimstone. With these three weapons—fire and smoke and brimstone—they killed a third of the human race. The horses killed with their mouths and tails; their serpentlike tails also had heads that wreaked havoc.
16 The number of the troops of cavalry was twice ten thousand times ten thousand (two hundred million); I heard the number of them.	16 I heard the size of their army, which was 200 million mounted troops.
17 And this is how I saw the horses and their riders in my vision: the riders had breastplates [the color] of fire and of hyacinth (sapphire blue) and of brimstone (yellow); and the heads of the horses looked like the heads of lions; and from out of their mouths came fire and smoke and brimstone (burning sulfur).	17 And in my vision, I saw the horses and the riders sitting on them. The riders wore armor that was fiery red and dark blue and yellow. The horses had heads like lions, and fire and smoke and burning sulfur billowed from their mouths.
18 A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone that came from the mouths of the horses.	18 One-third of all the people on earth were killed by these three plagues—by the fire and smoke and burning sulfur that came from the mouths of the horses.
19 For the power of the horses [to do harm] is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and it is with them that they do harm.	19 Their power was in their mouths and in their tails. For their tails had heads like snakes, with the power to injure people
20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues,  did not repent even then of the works of their hands, so as to cease worshiping and paying homage to the demons and the idols of gold and of silver and of bronze and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk;	20 But the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to repent of their evil deeds and turn to God. They continued to worship demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that can neither see nor hear nor walk!	20-21 The remaining men and women who weren’t killed by these weapons went on their merry way—didn’t change their way of life, didn’t quit worshiping demons, didn’t quit centering their lives around lumps of gold and silver and brass, hunks of stone and wood that couldn’t see or hear or move. There wasn’t a sign of a change of heart. They plunged right on in their murderous, occult, promiscuous, and thieving ways
21 and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries (drugs, intoxications) nor of their [sexual] immorality nor of their thefts.	21 And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Our focus will be verses 20 and 21, but I wanted to add the entire section for context. Next year, I’ll get gutsy enough to dive into the key passages of Revelation.

The people were so hard-hearted that even the plagues sent by these angels didn’t cause them to repent. They were so deep into their sinful and idolatrous nature that there was no way out of it. We don’t immediately fall into immorality and evil quickly. We slip up once, which happens more frequently without realizing what happened, and then we’re caught in this trap. The fire, smoke, and sulfur couldn’t even get them to repent, meaning that they were willing to deal with these plagues rather than turn their ways.

Any person who allows sin to take a firm foundation in their life will end up in the ways mentioned above (not the fire, smoke, and sulfur, but the being caught in the trap of sin). Temptations entertained today become sin tomorrow, a habit the next day, then death and separation from God forever. When you think that it could happen to you, you’ve opened the door to that hard-heartedness. At that point, it’s time to confess your sin before God.

In connection with sexual immorality, we see this happen with the different forms of addiction, whether it be porn, masturbation, sex itself, or a related addiction. It’s when we make these acts of watching or partaking in sexual activities that are the dominant force in our lives. When we’re sacrificing time with God, time with friends or family, time at work, or time with your significant others just to watch porn or have sex. When we’re replacing the things that fulfill our needs with the things that chase the chemical highs like we’ve talked about, we’re destroying the creation of God. We’re destroying ourselves, our relationships, and the true ideals of what sex was created for.

If you find yourself thinking or questioning if you have a problem, please stop right now and pray. Work towards having a meeting with a spiritual leader or counselor for guidance and addiction recovery. If you want to make the change and express that want to God, God will see it through. It may not be easy, but it will be worth it. There is a community of people who will be willing and waiting to walk alongside you in this journey, but you need to do the work that God calls you to do to achieve maximum recovery.

This wraps up our study, but there’s not much to say beyond what I’ve already done without talking in circles and going into personal details that I’m uncomfortable publicly sharing.

I want to spend some time talking about what the rest of the month will look like. September is suicide awareness month, and God called me to share the stories of the people who wanted God to take their life away. I’ll share the stories of Moses, Jonah, Elijah, and more during this six-part study. After this, the following major Bible study is a nine-part study on how the Old and New Testament describes Hell. I found it very distasteful to roll right into that study after discussing suicide, though. The last week of September will be all “Manna for the Mind Devotionals” and then the first week of October will be our 9-part study on Hell. Hope that works for y’all. Until then, my friends, stay blessed!