Paul's
Epistles - 1 Corinthians
Part
11 – Sexual Immorality
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
House
of Faith Church | www.PS127.org
| www.TruthDigest.org
INTRODUCTION
This
letter to the Corinthian church began by addressing some sexual immorality
among the believers, and actually being allowed in the church.
A
son sleeping with his step mother, and prostitution, and who knows what else.
Paul said they were allowing things even the pagans wouldn't stand for.
They
said to Paul they had the right to do anything, and all things were
permissible.
They
excused living in sin.
They
believed themselves more spiritual than Paul, going beyond what was written,
and filling with pride as they became over spiritualized.
They
even tried to tell Paul that it didn't matter what they did in their bodies,
because they were going to be destroyed by God in the end anyway.
SCRIPTURE
REFERENCE I Corinthians 6:12-20
“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. 13 You 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. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the
dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are
members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and
unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself
with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become
one flesh.” 17 But whoever is united with the
Lord is one with him in spirit.
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits
are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are
temples 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 bodies.
I.
I HAVE A RIGHT TO
DO ANYTHING
a.
"All things
are permissible to me"
i.
Taken out of context, sounds as if we can do whatever
we want without consequence.
ii.
This is because Christianity is not a religion with
"rules"
iii.
And God's grace forgives sin; however, grace does not
give us a license to sin, rather, liberty to live a Holy Life apart from the
bondage of sin.
iv.
This is what Paul means in 1 Corinthians 10:23 "All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are
lawful, but not all things edify."
v.
Illustration: I CAN jump off a cliff. But is that good
for me?
b.
Corinthians say,
"Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food."
i.
Apparently the church is trying to convince Paul, as
well as themselves, that the body was made for sin, and sin for the body.
ii.
By saying food for the stomach and stomach for the
food, then saying they will both be destroyed by God, they are deceived into
thinking the body is the same.
c.
However, our bodies
are members of Christ!
i.
He (Christ) is the vine and we are the branch
ii.
We, followers of Christ, are the Body of Christ
II.
OUR BODIES BELONG
TO THE LORD
a.
The Corinthian
church's thinking is flawed.
i.
Although food is for the stomach and the stomach for
food, we are not to make food our God and over indulge.
1.
There are many scriptures warning about gluttony.
ii.
However, stomachs and food have nothing to do with the
spiritual.
iii.
The body was NOT made for sin, it was made in the image
of God, and we were made to be one with God.
b.
Our physical bodies
were made, not for sin, but to be the Temple of the Holy Spirit
i.
I Corinthians 3:16 "Don’t you know that you
yourselves are God’s temple and
that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?"
ii.
This is what our bodies
were made for.
c.
We belong to Him, Body, Soul and Spirit
i.
When we become saved, the Holy Spirit views the triune
being of man as one.
ii.
We were created in the image of God, who is Father, son
and Holy Spirit...but is still only 1 God.
iii.
Man is the same; we are body, soul and spirit...but
still only 1 person.
iv.
What we do in the body, affects our spirit and our
soul.
Illustration: If I eat, my body
uses food for good. If I over eat, it negatively affects my body, and if done
long enough, can kill my body.
If
I read God's Word, it is food for my Spirit and is good. If I commit sin, I am
separated from God's Spirit, and if done long enough, my heart may become
calloused; I may deceive myself, and wander from the Truth.
If
I follow after Christ and the Word, my soul is forgiven, and I will be one with
my body and the Holy Spirit, a light in this world, and a member, or part of
the Body of Christ.
III.
SEXUAL SIN TAKES
PLACE WITHIN THE BODY
a.
However, some sin is not merely outward, but affects
your soul. Sexual immorality is one of them.
i.
Why? Because like food is for our bodies, sexuality was
made for us to become one with our spouses.
ii.
Paul says, "Do you not know that your bodies are
members of Christ himself? Shall
I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!"
b.
Do you not know that he
who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said,
“The two will become one flesh.”
i.
This means that no type of
sexual intercourse between the sexes is free from sin, except under the
sanction of marriage.
c.
But whoever is united with
the Lord is one with him in spirit.
i.
This is the closest union
one can have.
ii.
Our union with Christ,
although it is spiritual, is symbolized by the union of husband and wife in
marriage in the physical sense.
iii.
So what are we to do?
CONCLUSION
FLEE
FROM SEXUAL IMMORALITY
This
is not a suggestion, but a command.
The
original word used here is fornication, meaning ANY type of immorality, not
just sexual.
All
sins other than fornication (immorality), like gluttony, drunkenness, drug
addiction, etc., while affecting the body in a negative way, take place outside
the body. However, with fornication (immorality), the source of this
uncleanness is in the heart.
He who commits
fornication, sins against his own body.
This
is a type of spiritual union of man with devils.
This
is why God referred to Israel's worshipping of idols as Spiritual Adultery or
fornication.
Jeremiah
3:1-9; Ezekiel 23:1-45; Hosea 4
God
divorced Israel for their fornication...immorality.
Do you not know that your bodies are temples 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 bodies.
What
we do in our flesh matters, for we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit, and
immorality comes from a deeply rooted problem in our hearts.
When
we submit, for Christ to be our Lord, our Master, we must fully belong to Him,
our body, soul and spirit.
Jesus
said, John 14:23 "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them,
and we will come to them and make our home with them."
I
Corinthians 13
tells us that LOVE is an action,
Jesus tells us to LOVE Him, we must have an action of obedience.
Luke
10:27 "Love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
strength and with all your mind';
In
other words, we must have the action of obedience to God with our ALL our heart (how we behave), ALL our soul (who "we" are), ALL our strength (diligently, and continuously
seeking Him), and our entire mind (how
we think, the renewing of our minds, to have a mind like Christ)!
We
must bring our entire being into submission to the Lord. Submit unto Him in all
of these, and He will truly be your Lord.
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