Lasciviousness!

It is a Bible word - appearing in the New Testament six times. Mentioned by Christ, Paul, Peter and Jude.
It is a Big Word - 14 letters long.
It is a Bad Word - spoken of with great condemnation in the Word of God.

Today many woman professing to be believers in the Lord are carrying themselves in a lascivious way mostly by ignorance. Almost two thousand years ago the women in the church fell into the same trap. Notice what happened as described in I Timothy 2:9-10, "In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works."

This means they were professing godliness but not practicing it. The way they were dressing and the emphasis on jewelry was not pleasing to God. The ways of the women of the world were slowly infiltrating the Church.

What is lasciviousness?

According to Webster's dictionary it means, "Loose, wanton, lewd, lustful, irregular indulgence of animal desires, tendency to excite lust and promote irregular indulgences."

According to the Barnhart and Thorndike dictionary it is simply defined, "feeling lust, showing lust, causing lust."

Today I could shorten these definitions down to one four-letter word, "sexy." Being "sexy" or trying to be "sexy" is a sin. We are not taught to be sexy in body but to be "holy both in body and in spirit." God wants men and especially women to be holy in body (physically) and in spirit (emotionally, mentally and in will), I Corinthians 6:19-20; 7:34.

There is a time and place for physical intimacy inside of marriage with your husband. Never outside of marriage. Showing or causing lust outside of marriage is wrong. It is lascivious.

Women and teen young ladies must realize that their anatomy can cause lust in men even though they do not mean for it to. By not dressing correctly or immodestly, this can trigger lustful thoughts when he sees too much skin or clothes that are too tight.

Consider David's sin:

II Samuel 11:2-5 "And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house. And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child."

Men are instructed:

Proverbs 6:25, "Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids."

Matthew 5:28, "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."

Men are over stimulated today by lasciviousness. Everywhere a man turns there is an improperly dressed woman or a picture of an improperly dressed woman. No Christian woman should dress, look or act in a lascivious way.

Since the sexual revolution blossomed in the 1960's our country has slid down a deep decline into a moral abyss that has been characterized by nakedness and nudity. Immodest clothing and a "sexy" demeanor have become the normal of women today.

In 1960 the Center for Disease Control in Atlantic reported there were five major Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD's) in America. In 1999 they reported there are fifty. Some of these are incurable and fatal. No one can tell outwardly who has these diseases. A very handsome muscular young man could be diseased. A very attractive young lady could be diseased.

Sixty percent of all teens say they have fornicated by the age of 18.

Almost 1.5 million teen girls become pregnant every year. (There is too much fornication going on. It was not always like this.) Half of these teen girls abort their babies. Ninety seven percent of those who have babies as single mothers live in poverty the rest of their lives. Not many of them find a good man who wants to marry them. Here is one of the saddest facts: one out of three teen girls who becomes pregnant is impregnated by an adult man. What does this teach us? Adult men can be stimulated by teen girls.

It is atrocious the way teen girls dress today. It is not uncommon to see them with tight shorts, bare legs, bare mid-rifts, bare shoulders and low cut tops. This causes lust. This is lasciviousness. Most teen girls do not have a clue of what today's "fashions" do to men.

Most important, what does the Bible say about lasciviousness?

Consider the Scriptures:

Jesus taught lasciviousness is a sin that originates in the heart and defiles a person. A lascivious person is defiled.

Mark 7:20-23, "And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, ... lasciviousness, ... All these evil things come from within, and defile the man."

Lascivious people are described as being "past feeling." I know ladies who say they are believers in the Lord who have no shame, guilt or conviction about dressing or acting improperly. Are they too "past feeling?"

Ephesians 4:19, "Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness ... ."

Lasciviousness is a work of the flesh that could cause a person to lose some or all of their eternal inheritance.

Galatians 5:19-21, "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, ... : of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."

Lasciviousness may have been something we did in our past but we should not in our present.

I Peter 4:2-5, "That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead."

Lasciviousness should be repented of. II Corinthians 12:21, "And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed."

It should be repented of. But today many "Christian" Rock Stars are "turning the grace of God into lasciviousness..." Jude 4. This ungodly culture has crept into the Church and Youth Groups through "Christian" Rock music, "Christian" bookstores and "Christian" concerts. Lasciviousness is sin. It shows lust and causes lust. It causes people to be carnal, fleshly and worldly minded. Life is too short to waste it on lust. Repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Romans 8:8, "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God."

How should a Christian lady act? Consider these instructions:

Titus 2:4-5, "That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."

Proverbs 31:30, "Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised."

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