Proverbs 7:4-5
Here are 3 blessings God will give you if you abstain from premarital sex.
1. If You Abstain from Premarital Sex, You Will Be Blessed with the Knowledge That You Are Not Blocking God’s Blessings in Your Life
As God said to the Israelites in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” This verse has brought comfort to millions of Christians, but I would also argue that it has been misused by many too. Let’s take a step back and look at the greater context of this verse. Jeremiah 29:1 begins this chapter with:
These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.”
To start, we have to acknowledge that this promise by God was given to a people living in exile against their choice. I point that out because oftentimes Jeremiah 29:11 is used as a promise that God will always do you good no matter what. The prosperity gospel preachers love this verse. To be clear, this verse is not the problem. The miss application of this verse is the issue.
God does have good planned for us, but he also loves us enough to discipline us just like he did to the people Jeremiah 29:11 was actually directed to. They were exiled because they disobeyed God. Ironically, Jeremiah 29 also talks a lot about false prophets who were promising people good when they should not have been.
In Jeremiah 29, Jeremiah was prophesying to the people that God was telling him that they would be exiled for 70 years, but false prophets were telling the people that God was telling them that they would be coming home soon (Jeremiah 29:4-10). This is why in Jeremiah 29:20-23 it says:
Hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes. Because of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,” because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, they have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares the Lord.’”
You can’t cling to God’s promises if you reject God’s precepts. You can’t accept God’s good gifts if you reject God’s good commands. You can’t believe in God’s promise to bless you if you don’t also believe in God’s promise to curse you if you reject his ways. We have to avoid being deceived like people were in Jeremiah 29. They were literally exiled because of their sin but some of them kept listening to sinful prophets. Yes, Jeremiah 29:11 brings much comfort, but Jeremiah 29:18-19 is also in this chapter:
I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the Lord, that I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the Lord.”
So let’s bring this all back around to the point of this video. Premarital sex is not the unforgivable relationship sin that will cause a curse on your future forever. But it is a sin. Don’t let false ideas, false teachers, and fake Christians tell you that you can engage in sin and still be blessed without repenting.
If you repent of past sexual sins and abstain from premarital sex, you will be blessed with the knowledge that you are not blocking God’s blessings with your sin.
2. If You Abstain from Premarital Sex, You Will Be Blessed with a Greater Clarity When It Comes to Relationships
Nothing muddies your vision in regards to relationships quite like premarital sex. Having sexual experiences with people is like using a harmful drug. When you are addicted to drugs, you know it’s bad for you but you just don’t care because all you really care about is feeling good in the moment. But the harder you try to feel good in the moment using sinful methods, the worse you feel in the moments ahead of you.
On the other hand, when someone is sober but they are watching someone addicted to drugs, it can be maddening because everything is so clear to them. It’s incredibly obvious that this person is making terrible choices that are not worth it. You can see this drug is literally killing this person and ruining their future and all they are getting in return is a few moments of pleasure.
But you can see all this because you are not addicted. Likewise, when you abstain from premarital sex, you will be able to see relationship situations much more clearly. You will able to see when someone is truly unhealthy for you and will not make a good spouse. But if you are having sex with them, your sexual connection will often override your rational decision-making processes and you will stay in relationships that are obviously not good for you. Throughout Proverbs 7, wisdom in contrasted with someone engaging in sexual sin. For example Proverbs 7:4-5 states:
Say to wisdom, ‘You are my sister,’ and call insight your intimate friend, to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.”
Sexual sin makes everything confusing and hard to see clearly. But when you do it God’s way and you abstain from sexual sins, your eyes will be clear and your mind will be sober so you can hear what God is truly saying.
3. If You Abstain from Premarital Sex, You Will Be Better Prepared to Experience More Sexual Pleasure in Marriage One Day
Sexual pleasure, even in marriage, is the idol of many. So don’t make sexual pleasure in marriage your main goal for abstaining from sexual sins in singleness. Ultimately you should avoid all sin so you can have a right relationship with God.
But it would be wrong to also minimize the blessing of sexual pleasure in marriage. God made this as a gift for those who get married. I’m not saying that if you commit sexual sins in singleness you have forever ruined your future sexual experiences in marriage. God completely forgives and his grace is enough to restore everything that sin stole. But you will need to repent and work through issues you could have avoided if you did abstain.
Even if you have already committed sexual sins in singleness, the key to being blessed by God with pure sexual pleasures in marriage one day is to start abstaining from sexual sin now. As Proverbs 5:18-23 explains:
Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love. Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress? For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his paths. The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin. He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray.”
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