Application Question
1. Which reason do you think is common for you? How would God’s Word enable you to remain pure?

2. While discussing, what do you think are top three ways that God impressed to you to stop doing in order for you to avoid falling into sexual sin?

3. What is one thing that struck you the most and how will this truth change the way you live daily?

Prayer
*Pray to receive forgiveness from sexual sin.
*Pray to dedicate your lives to always remain in Jesus and to live with the fruit of the Spirit, a life of self-control.
*Pray for people to guide you and lead you to walk with Jesus and live a life of purity.


Reminder to the Victory Group Leader: This is a very sensitive topic. If there are cases that are new to you and you feel the need to consult a campus missionary or your youth pastor, feel free to express to your member that your pastor or leader may be a better person to talk to.

Warm-up Question:
1. What is your longest experience of waiting? What happened and how did you respond?
2. What was one material thing that you so desired to get but never got it? How did you feel about not getting it?
3. Have you ever promised to do something for someone but you failed to fulfill it? If so, how did you and the other person feel?

12“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial.“I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.13You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.”The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord,and the Lord for the body. - 1 Corinthians 6:12-13

If you have been a follower of Jesus for a long time, you would agree that one of the major temptations Christians face is in the area of purity. If you still don’t have that relationship with Jesus, you would likewise agree that it’s the same case for you— that temptations also surround you in the area of sexual sin. If you’re not at all struggling with this, you would still agree that our world today is surrounded with so much sexual content.
In the letter of Paul to the believers in Corinth, he reminds them to not conform with the standards of their culture. At that time, most of the Corinthians were given in to sexual immorality. Involving in prostitution was a religious act of worship for many. In fact, some people from other towns had a notion that women from Corinth were prostitutes.
In our time, it’s as if we’re living in Corinth as well. Sexual immorality seems to have gotten its approval from the society. Pop culture promotes sexual impurity from the movies to songs and even in very obvious billboards. Technology has given us easy access to materials that would cause us to be sexually impure. The last thing we, Jesus-followers, would want to happen is to see ourselves become weak in this area instead of standing our ground in God’s Word. If you’re not yet following Jesus, know that God created us beautifully and purity is very much a part of it. God desires to redeem us into purity because it is the restoration of the image of God in us.
To help us live out a life of purity, here are four major reasons why young people fall into sexual immorality and how God actually offers a solution for each:
1. FindingPLEASURE
God created us with sexual desire. This is why we reach a stage in life when we begin to desire for sexual pleasure. But God granted us this desire to be fulfilled at the right time. (Read Hebrews 13:4) The Bible is clear in stating that sexual intimacy is to be between a husband and a wife in the marriage bed. That’s the kind of pleasure that’s reserved after the wedding day.
When you’re walking with Jesus, you would agree that finding pleasure is possible with Jesus. Know that sexual pleasure is not the only thing this life has. As a song says,“Your (Jesus Christ’s) presence is heaven to me.” There’s so much joy and pleasure in dwelling in the presence of the Most High. While waiting, we just keep on living a life of worship, a life of finding pleasure in the joy of the LORD.
More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Romans 5:11 (ESV)
We find ultimate joy and pleasure in God knowing that He gave his son Jesus to pay the penalty for our sins. Jesus bought us with a price just to make us new and whole.
2. Seeking ACCEPTANCE
Waiting becomes harder because the world around us dictates that it’s ok to do it because everyone’s doing it. The world has a different standard. But Paul, in the verses we’ve read, reminds the believers in Corinth to not give their bodies into sexual immorality no matter what their culture dictates. He says that“the body is forthe LORD.”
When you are surrounded with so much pressure to give in to sexual immorality, know that the acceptance of the world is not the goal of our life. We seek to honor God with our bodies. There’s no need to feel accepted because God loves you no matter what. His love for us in unchanging. And because He loves us so much, God doesn’t want us to remain the way we are. He accepts us for who we are but He transforms us from glory to glory as we live for Him.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:37-39
3. Lacking CONTROL
“Yes, I know that it’s sin but I just can’t control myself from doing it.”
That’s a very common statement for all of us. But when we begin to walk with Jesus and live in the resurrection power, we begin to understand that God has made us victorious. Besides, the Bible says that self-control is not supposed to come from our own will, it’s supposed to be part of full-packaged fruit of the Spirit.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,self-control; against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23
As we live with the fruit of the Spirit, we are assured that no matter how weak our flesh is, the Spirit of God in us is more powerful than any temptation surrounding us.
4. Showing LOVE
“It’s ok to have sex as long as you love each other.”
Again, that’s another common statement. Some say that it’s not a sin to show your love to another person. But showing love doesn’t necessarily need to involve sexual impurity. Jesus is our LORD. And no matter how we love another person, what Jesus (our LORD) says is more important than anything else.
And he (Jesus) answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
Luke 10:27
To love Jesus is to also obey him. We may love someone in the future and start desiring to express that love in sexual intimacy. Remember that Jesus wants you to remain pure. To remain pure within a romantic relationship before marriage would involve God’s enabling grace to keep you pure. Let’s always show our love to God first before showing it to others. Let’s remain in Jesus and he will remain in us. To put more value in Jesus more than our human relationships is the way to show love not just to God but to your [future] partner as well.