In order to be a good Christian, one needs to deal with all the basic issues in a thorough way. If there is one basic issue that is not settled, whether it be the family or one’s occupation, problems will eventually come back. As long as there is one unresolved issue, a Christian will not be able to take a straight path before the Lord.
Today we will cover the subject of marriage. A new believer should know what God’s Word has to say about marriage. We need to consider this subject from various angles.
The first question to address with regard to marriage is the matter of sex. We need to be clear that human beings have an awareness of sex in the same way that they have an awareness of hunger. Just as the consciousness of hunger is a natural demand of the body, the consciousness of sex is also a natural demand of the body. To feel hungry is natural; it is not a sin. But to steal food is sin; that is not natural. Likewise, having a consciousness of sex is natural and is not a sin. But if a person uses improper means to satisfy his demand, he falls into sin.
Marriage was ordained and initiated by God. Hence, the consciousness of sex also was given by God. Marriage is not something that was instituted after man’s fall; it was there before man sinned. It was not instituted after Genesis 3; rather, God ordained marriage in Genesis 2. Hence, the consciousness of sex existed before, not after, sin entered the world. It is definitely not a sin for a person to have the consciousness of sex. There is no element of sin in this consciousness. Rather, it is a consciousness created by God Himself.
New believers must be clear concerning this point. I have contacted many young brothers and sisters in the course of my Christian life and service during the past thirty years. Many of them were troubled by the matter of marriage. They were unnecessarily condemned in their conscience because they were ignorant of God’s ordination as well as God’s Word. They had the consciousness and need of marriage, yet they thought that this was sin. Some brothers have fallen into serious doubts about God’s work only because of their consciousness of sex. It is a heathen thought to treat sex as something sinful. We need to be clear about God’s Word. Just as it is not sin for a man to feel hungry, the need for sex is not sinful; it is a natural consciousness.
Hebrews 13:4 tells us, “Let marriage be held in honor among all.” Marriage is not only honorable but even holy. God considers sex not only natural but even holy.
Dr. Meyer, a co-worker of D. L. Moody, wrote many good books on edification. He once said, “Only the most filthy mind would consider sex as something filthy.” I think this was well said. Man injects filthy thoughts into sex because he himself is filthy. To the clean everything is clean. To the defiled everything is defiled. Because man’s mind is defiled, his thoughts also become defiled. We need to realize that marriage is clean. A God-ordained sex relationship is holy, clean, and undefiled.
In 1 Timothy 4:1-3 Paul said that in later times, there would be the teachings of demons, one of which is the forbidding of marriage. Here we see that even demonic teachings pursue holiness. G. H. Pember pointed out clearly in his writing how men would forbid marriage in the pursuit of holiness. They thought that this would make them holy. However, in his Epistle to Timothy, Paul told us that forbidding marriage is a doctrine of the demons. God has never forbidden marriage.
No one should be condemned unnecessarily in his conscience because of heathen religious teachings. The consciousness of sex is something natural and is not sin. It is only when one begins to deal with this consciousness that the possibility of it becoming a sin arises. It is not a question of the presence of this consciousness; the presence of this consciousness is natural and is not sin. It is the way a person deals with this consciousness that determines whether or not it is sin. This matter needs to be thoroughly cleared up. Otherwise a person’s conscience will be condemned, and he will not grow. This feeling of guilt is, in fact, not sin at all but the result of ignorance.