Question:
By participating in sex outside the marriage, are you writing your ticket to hell? From what I have comprehended from reading the Bible, I would think that God makes it perfectly clear that is totally out of his will and is not the way to heaven. Is that correct?
Answer: Your question is actually two questions that need to be answered separately. The first answer concerns the phrase “ticket to hell”. First of all there is no ticket to hell in a sense. Every human has sinned and is on their way to hell (Romans 3:23). The only ticket, if you want to phrase it that way, is for a person to continue in sin and reject Jesus Christ. If the person you are speaking of does not turn in faith and repentance and obey the commands of Jesus Christ, that is their “ticket to hell”. I know that wasn’t the exact focus of your question, but I felt it necessary to clarify that for other readers. Now on to the particulars of your question… First of all, what does the Bible say about fornication (sex before marriage) and adultery (sex outside of marriage)? Mark 7:21-23 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” (NKJV) 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. (NKJV) 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (NKJV) Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (NKJV) Ephesians 5:5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. (NKJV) So as you can see, the Bible leaves no room for wiggle on God’s opinion of sexual immorality. That leaves us with two considerations for the person who is engaging in “sex outside the marriage” as you put it: First of all, is the person genuinely saved? If yes, God will not allow them to continue this shameful behavior much in the same way that any good parent would not allow their children to continue in grossly inappropriate behavior. So no, this particular sin is not a “ticket to hell” because it was a sin that was forgiven once and for all at the moment of salvation. But it will not be a sin that is overlooked in uncorrected by the heavenly Father who never fails to chastise and discipline one of his wayward children. Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. (NKJV) Hebrews 12:5-6 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” (NKJV) If the person you speak of is not saved, then the adultery in question is yet another part of the sin that has already condemned this person to hell. As Christians, we certainly can have a good idea if someone is genuinely saved or not by the fruits that they bear (James 5: 1-5), but in the end only the Lord God of heaven knows for sure those who are saved and those who are not.