No sex before marriage--He can't be serious!

3. No sex before marriage--He can't be serious! Doesn't God know that everybody is doing it? Doesn't He realize that it can be psychologically damaging to repress your sexual urges? Doesn't He know that couples need to experiment to discover if they are sexually compatible?

4. What are God's standards? No adultery Exodus 20:14 - “You shall not commit adultery.” Hebrews 13:4 – “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”

5. What are God's standards? No sexual immorality 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 – “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”

6. What are God's standards? No sexual immorality The Greek word translated “sexual immorality” is “porneia” The Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament states that “by the time of the New Testament, porneia had a very broad meaning that included unlawful sexual behavior such as prostitution, pedophilia, promiscuity, homosexuality, incest, and bestiality.”

7. What are God's standards? No sexual immorality Leviticus 18:6a, 20, 22-24 – “No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. 20 Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife and defile yourself with her. 22 Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable. 23 Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. 24 Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled.”

8. What are God's standards? No sexual immorality 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 – “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God.”

9. What are God's standards? No impurity Ephesians 5:3 – “Among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people.” Thayer's Greek Lexicon defines the word for impurity (in a moral sense) as “lustful living”

10. What are God's standards? No sexual fantasies Matthew 5:27-28 – “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” • God's standard is sexual purity, a purity that begins in our hearts and minds, and works its way out in our behavior

11. Why did God give these standards? God designed you for Himself, not for immorality • 1 Corinthians 6:13 – “The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.” • We will only be free and fulfilled when we follow God’s design and instructions

12. Why did God give these standards? “Even the kid armed to the teeth with contraceptive gear can't strap on anything strong enough to protect him or her from the various emotional residues of sex.” Kathryn Robinson Seattle Weekly columnist

13. Why did God give these standards? When we act only on the basis of what feels good, it can have a devastating emotional and spiritual impact

14. How can I keep God's standards? Give yourself unreservedly to Jesus Set wise standards Don’t try to negotiate with sexual temptation

15. If It Feels Good Do It? • It’s a bankrupt philosophy • God is not a cosmic killjoy, looking for ways to short-circuit our fun and make us miserable • There are good reasons behind every command God gives God wants the very best for you!