The Seriousness of Immorality

Transcript

GR 1316
02-05-06
The Seriousness of Immorality
I Corinthians 6:14-20
Gil Rugh

We're going to be in I Corinthians 6 in your Bibles, I Corinthians 6. Paul is talking about the matter of sex and particularly the issue of the misuse of sex. When we get into chapter 7 he'll talk about its proper place in marriage, but in chapter 5 and a good portion of chapter 6 he is concerned with the improper conduct in the area of sex, particularly regarding believers in Jesus Christ.

Back up to I Corinthians 5, note verse 9, I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people. That's a letter that was not preserved for us, but prior to the letter we have as I Corinthians Paul had written a letter to the Corinthians and given them particular instructions regarding associating with immoral people. Now he has to clarify, I did not mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous or the swindlers or idolaters. For then you'd have to go out of the world, meaning the world is filled with sinners. And so when the Bible talks about not associating with sinners, it does mean we should not become involved in their sinful conduct. But it does not mean that Christians should not have associations with nonbelievers. But I actually wrote you not to associate with any so-called brother. Anyone called a brother, if he is immoral or guilty of these various sins, don't even fellowship with him in a meal. For what do I have to do with judging outsiders? But we are to judge those in the church. Now again, sometimes the church has lost its perspective and it's easy to get people worked up and antagonized about the decline of our world and how bad things have gotten and so on. I was reading some statistics, but taking us back into the days when we would have thought, back in the 1800s and so on, that our country was a moral place. And some of the statistics that this person had gathered together said something like they estimate 90% of the women getting married were already pregnant. We think, I thought this was just a new recent phenomena, and we're reminded that sin ebbs and flows in certain ways. The world is always populated by sinners who are indulging in sin, but it seems sometimes it is more restrained and at other times it is more open. But you understand, basically nothing has changed down through the millenniums of time. Sinful people do sinful things.

Paul says I am not surprised about that, I expect it in the world and I realize that believers are going to have a lot of contacts and associations with unbelievers who practice sinful things. But believers should have nothing to do with someone who professes to be a believer and practices sinful things, and particularly immorality is the burden that he talked about in chapter 5. And that will be the burden in the last part of chapter 6.

In chapter 6 verses 9-11 he reminded them, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom. Now I want you to note a connection here. The unrighteous are those who have not been declared righteous through faith in Christ. They have not had the righteousness of Christ applied to them. But that is not just a positional spiritual transaction, because when he wants to identify the unrighteous he does it by their conduct. Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Paul does not see that disassociation, disjunction between the person and his practice. But the righteousness or unrighteousness of the person is revealed in the conduct of the person. Now we've talked about this, don't get it confused. You don't become righteous by trying to do good conduct. That's not possible, because there is none righteous, no not one. But when we have entered into the righteousness of Christ through faith in His death and resurrection, that transformation of our character now manifests itself in our conduct. It's not that my position is one thing, and my practice is another. My position in Christ and my practice as one who belongs to Christ are inseparably joined together, and one manifests the other.

So that's what he says in verse 11, such were some of you. You did these same things because you were unrighteous, but now that you are righteous in Christ, you don't do those things. Such were some of you. You were washed, sanctified and justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. He's going to come back to the ministry of the Spirit.

Verses 12-14 he draws the subject back specifically to the matter of immorality. First, speaking generally. All things are lawful for me, verse 12, but not all things are profitable. So generally speaking I have liberty, now, and freedom for practicing certain things. But that liberty and freedom is restrained by what is profitable. We noted in Paul's writings to the Corinthians, this word profitable is used a number of times. It is always in the context of what is profitable for other people. And that would seem to probably be his focus here. How is it beneficial for others? Doesn't mean that I don't benefit from proper conduct, but the focus is on how will this benefit or edify others. The second qualifier is, all things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. The characteristic of sin is it dominates a person and certain practices can enslave me and thus they become wrong for me. So I must avoid them. So two issues that would put restraints on my conduct. Is it profitable for others, is it beneficial? And is it going to control me, master me?

In chapter 10 verse 31 Paul gives a general overarching statement that whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you drink, do all to the glory of God. And that's where he goes in verse 13, where at the end of the verse he says that the body was made for the Lord and the Lord for the body. So a number one consideration on what I do is to understand that this body belongs to the Lord and this body is the place that the Lord manifests His character and brings honor to Himself. And all conduct is restrained by that awareness.

Now there are parts of the body that serve specific functions. He used the example of the stomach is for food and food is for the stomach. But you understand in the resurrected, glorified body we will not need food. So different bodily functions may be limited to this life, but this body transcends this physical life. And so he said in verse 14, now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. So even though certain bodily functions may have limited use tied to this life, this body as the body is more than just its individual parts or bodily functions. And the body as a body belongs to the Lord and is part of His redemptive work. And thus He will raise the body of His children in a glorified state.

This matter ought to shape our conduct. Before we move on, turn over to Philippians 3. And in Philippians 3 Paul gives his own testimony of his conversion in the first part of the chapter. And his goal that he always keeps before him is the resurrection of the body. Verse 10, he wants to experience the power of His resurrection. That's presently as he enters into the fellowship of His sufferings in verse 10. That I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. I want resurrection power to be working in my life now, that same power that is going to raise me from the dead. Keep that in mind because that's where he's going in his development in I Corinthians 6. Not that I had already attained it or have already become perfect. What is going to happen when our bodies are glorified? We will experience that perfection with a total removal of sin. We will now be prepared for the glory of His presence in our glorified bodies.

Verse 13, brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet. In other words, I haven't arrived. What I'm saying doesn't mean that I see myself as the perfect person. But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ. My whole life is shaped by the goal that He has set before me, of being conformed to His character. My desire is that process would go as far as it can possibly go, even today. And then he says in verse 17, brethren, join in following my example. Observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even weeping. They are enemies of the cross of Christ. I take it these would be some who profess a relationship with God. It breaks Paul's heart that they are lost, their end is destruction, their god is their appetite, their belly. Same word used for stomach in I Corinthians 6 where food is for the stomach and the stomach for food. Their god is their appetite, their belly. In other words, their fleshly appetites control them, consume them. Their glory is in their shame, they set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly await for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory. Now note, the emphasis on the body. This body in its present, humble state will be transformed into conformity with the body of His glory. This body is part of God's redemptive plan. By the exertion of the power that He has, even to subject all things to Himself.

Come back to I Corinthians 6:14, now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. This is in the context of the end of verse 13, the body is not for immorality, but the body is for the Lord, the Lord for the body. And He's going to raise this body. So His redemptive work includes His plan for the body.

Now what he's going to do in verses 15-20 is give the arguments in support of what he has just said in verses 12-14. And he's going to use the question, do you not know, three times. Verse 15, do you not know; verse 16, do you not know; verse 19, do you not know. He's already used this question three times before in chapter 6—verse 2, do you not know; verse 3, do you not know; verse 9, do you not know. This is something they should know and understand and be living in light of. We've noted, it's like the question you may ask your children when they are doing something, behaving in a way they shouldn't. You say, don't you know any better. The point is, there is no excuse for not knowing, there is no excuse for your conduct not being conformed to what you know. So it's a rebuke, and it's a correction.

And in verse 15 he says, do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? The power that is going to raise them from the dead is the same power that has joined them into a relationship of oneness with Jesus Christ. And that power that joins them into a relationship with Christ so that He abides in us and we abide in Him, is that same enabling power that provides the ability for us to live lives that are pleasing to God day by day. We don't do it in our own strength, we don't consider ourselves sufficient in ourselves for anything. But our sufficiency is of God, Paul wrote to the Corinthians in his second letter.

Turn over to Ephesians 1. And Paul is going to express his prayer to God that the Ephesians will experience in their daily living that awesome power of God that some day will raise them from the dead. In Ephesians 1 he has talked about the work of God in our salvation. The end of verse 13 he says, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise. He's going to talk about the Holy Spirit in us in I Corinthians. The Holy Spirit is given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's possession. That's talking about the redemption of the body, and the Holy Spirit dwelling within us is God's down payment. He's given as a pledge, as God's down payment guaranteeing the completion of the process. And so he continues to pray for them.

And jump down to verse 18, this is a long sentence that has been broken up in our English Bible for us. I pray, verse 18, that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might. Note the words—power, strength, might. And he just piles these words on top of one another to emphasize the power, the strength, the might that he wants them to experience in their lives. This is the same power, strength, might which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenlies, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and so on.

Now you'll note, he wants them in verse 18 and 19 to have their heart enlightened so that they might know these things, presently experiencing the greatness of His power in their daily lives, in their walk. That's the power that raised Christ from the dead, that's the power that is going to transform these bodies into conformity with the body of Christ's glory. That's the power that works in you and me today, that is our sufficiency for living godly lives.

Stop in Galatians 2:20, I have been crucified with Christ. Now note this, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. Now note this is more than I now live for Christ. You ought to have that underlined. Christ lives in me. The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me. And it is that redemptive work of His death on the cross that has provided for me new life, that has made it possible for the Son of God to live in me, and me to live in Him. That's what we're talking about now, we're talking about the life of Christ being lived through our bodies. Important truth in the section we're looking at in I Corinthians 6.

Come back to I Corinthians 6. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Now note this, we talk about we've been spiritually joined with Christ and we have. And we're going to talk about being one spirit with Him in verse 17. But you'll note, our bodies are included in this redemptive work. Your bodies are members of Christ. Not just my spirit, my physical body has been joined to Christ. He lives in me, this is His body. We saw in Galatians 2:20, Christ lives in me. As we're going to see when we get down to verse 19, the Holy Spirit lives in me and is now living His life through me, through this physical body. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ.

Now the stunning question. Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? The development is shocking and Paul's response, may it never be, maiganoito, such a thing is completely appalling, inconceivable. Now you see, we say, I understand I've been joined with Christ and now Christ lives in me and He lives His life through my body, this body is now His body. Well then shall I take the members of Christ, that which is His, and join it in immorality, join that which is now joined to Christ to a whore, a harlot, a prostitute? What a thought. No wonder Paul says, maiganoito, may it never be. We get to a point here, we almost don't even like to talk like that—to take a part of Christ and join it. But that's what God says here, is the issue. Isn't it dumbfounding that this is an issue for the church at Corinth? Any wonder Paul says do you not know this. I mean, it's shocking. Isn't it amazing that immorality is such an issue still today in the church? It's not something that happened 2000 years ago, it's an issue, it's an issue in our church, it's an issue for some of you right now. Immorality. We profess to know Christ and we think somehow that I'm safe in my position in Christ and I've been seated with Him in the heavenlies and I know I shouldn't do this with my body but............... Well there is some wrong theology right there. It's not your body, it's His, and if you truly belong to Him that cannot change. Christ lives in me. This body is now His body, has been joined in a relationship of oneness with Him, not just my spirit but my body. Shall I take away the members of Christ? Your bodies are the members of Christ and join it with a prostitute. May it never be.

He's not talking here about our membership in the body of Christ, the church corporately. He's talking now about our individual relationship with Jesus Christ. As John the Apostle talks about it in his writings, where Christ abides in us and we abide in Him.

Look at verse 16, or do you not know, following it up with a further question and argument, that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her. For he says, the two shall become one flesh. That's a remarkable statement. We ought to be careful we pay close attention to it. When he is done here, he's going to show that the sin of immorality is much more gross and defiling for a believer than an unbeliever. We have Christians in churches running around with all kind of crusades to try to clean up our country. Paul's concern is to clean up the church. Amazing to see this verse quoted from Genesis 2:24 in the context of marriage and God establishing the marriage bond and the marriage relationship, and now saying that relationship of oneness is established when a man visits a prostitute. The two become one. There is no such thing as casual sex, there is no such thing as a one-night fling, because that sexual relationship establishes a bond of oneness with the person you're involved with. That's what Paul says. You know I don't think the church today knows it. If Paul were writing this today to us he'd have to say, do you not know this? We treat matters of immorality lightly and the world just seems..........., it's so acceptable. I mean everywhere it's just become normal.

Sometimes Marilyn and I watch one of the programs on TV where the people go to buy a house, and it's fun to see the house they pick out. But you know it's nothing to say, so-and-so and her boyfriend have been living in their apartment for four years, now they want to buy a house. Wait a minute, doesn't anybody care they're living together, having sex together, and they're not married. Nobody even thinks anything about it, no one turns red on the TV screen because this is embarrassing. No, it's just the way it is, and it becomes acceptable and it presses in and the church finds it acceptable. Young people think it's acceptable, adults say, what are we going to do? That's the way it is. Young people, older people, and it just becomes the norm. And we don't understand? Understand when God said in Genesis 2:24, the two shall become one flesh. That's talking about a bond that's established when you join in sexual unity and it's a bond of oneness.

Now back up to verse 15, do you know, is there understanding here, that our bodies are members of Christ. You understand when you join your body in a sexual relationship, you have established something more than just a physical connection for a momentary pleasure. There is a relationship of oneness that has been brought about. Now if your body is a member of Christ and you establish a relationship of oneness with your body with someone, that means you've taken the members of Christ and joined them in that relationship. That is a serious matter. We'll deal with the matter of sex within marriage, and what that means when a believer and unbeliever are married when we get to chapter 7, and why that is not defiling. But when you move outside the marriage bond, we have a serious issue. And when a Christian is involved in this, we've taken a step beyond.

Immorality is a serious sin for anyone. God will judge fornicators and adulterers, Hebrews 13 tells us, no doubt. But for a believer who commits sexual immorality, he's not only been immoral, but he has taken that which is now inseparably joined to Christ and enjoined it in this immoral relationship. That is far more serious than sexual sin in the life of an unbeliever, because the unbeliever's body doesn't belong to the Lord. That doesn't minimize his sin, but now we're going to take that which belongs to Christ, is inseparably joined to Him, and join it in immorality? That is a far more serious issue for a Christian than it is a non-Christian. Any wonder he said in chapter 5, what are you all upset about the people of the world for? You need to get about dealing with things in the church.

The two shall become one flesh. That verse is quoted in the New Testament by Christ in Matthew 19:5 in connection with marriage, it is quoted by Paul in Ephesians 5:31, in connection to marriage. And here we see it applies in relationships of any kind where two people join together. And a prostitute relationship would seem like the most non-entangling. It's an agreement—I paid you, you made money for your service, I got some pleasure. We never intended it to be anything more than that, there was an understanding that it was nothing more than that. God says it was something far more than that—you were bound together in a relationship of oneness with that person. That brought a defilement to your body that is not brought in any other sin. That's where Paul is going.

He reminds them first in verse 17, but the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. So we take verses 15-17, he starts in verse 15, do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ. Verse 17, the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Now you can't disassociate, he's both one body and one spirit. Our bodies are joined with Him when our spirits are joined with Him, because the Bible does not separate our spirits from our bodies the way we often do. I'm not saying there's not a distinction between our spirit and our body, but we cannot separate what is done with our body from our spirit. So he can say in verse 15, your bodies are members of Christ, and it verse 17, those joined to Christ are one spirit with Him. When we are joined in spirit with Christ, our bodies are joined to Him. Now with that truth established, because our body is to what? Be a vehicle through which the Spirit works. Christ lives in me. What does that mean? Now His life is lived out through my body, what I do with the members of my body. That's the argument at the end of Romans 6. We are to use our body and all of the parts of our body as slaves to righteousness. This idea that sometimes, and even you hear Christians talk about, I know my position in Christ and I’m thankful for that, my practice is not very good. But.................. Wait a minute, I think you're confused. You cannot disassociate and create a disjunction between what you are and what you do. That doesn't mean we always do what we should, and believers do sin. But sin in the life of a believer is a glaring inconsistency.

We always mention David, the man after God's own heart. And David sinned terribly with immorality and murder. But do we think of when we think of those sins in David's life? They stand out as glaring inconsistencies, don't they? I mean, there were other kings in Israel that committed immorality all the time, and they murdered all the time, but we don't bring them up as an example. Why? Because it was just part of their lives, but for David this is such a glaring inconsistency that it is striking. And that's the way sin is in the life of a child of God. It is a glaring inconsistency, totally out of character. The Bible knows nothing of living in sin and claiming that Christ lives in you. You can't leave Christ outside the door. Well, just going for a few minutes of pleasure, I don't mean anything by it. And if you would wait here, Christ, I will be right back. Christ lives in me, this is His body, where this body goes He goes. And I now take what belongs to Him and join it in this kind of relationship. No wonder Paul is dumbfounded.

Back up to Romans 8, Romans 8:9. Drawing a contrast between those who are in the flesh and those who are in the Spirit. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God, they are unredeemed people, they do not have God dwelling within them, they do not have the power of God as their resource. In verse 8 he says, those who are in the flesh cannot please God, however, you are not in the flesh, you, who are believers in Christ, those who have the Spirit. You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. There are only two kinds of people in the world today—those who have the Spirit of God dwelling in them and those who do not, those who belong to God and those who do not, those who are on their way to heaven and glory and those who are on their way to hell and destruction. And then he talks about, verse 11, the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies. So the connection here, the Spirit who empowered Christ and raised Him from the dead is the Spirit who is going to empower you to raise you from the dead, through His power raise your body from the dead. That's the Spirit who dwells in you now.

So then, brethren, verse 12, we were under obligation, not to live according to the flesh. For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die. If by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. The Bible knows nothing of a person using his body for sinful practices, yet he is being led by the Spirit of God. Well no, I have a spiritual relationship with Christ, but right now I'm living in the flesh. Well, a definition of a son of God is one who is being led by the Spirit of God, verse 14. All who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. Where do we get any idea that those who are being led by the flesh are the sons of God? We read the Bible and we immediately put it out of our mind, and screwy theology leads to messy lives. Resurrection power is present in your body now, and the Spirit of God resides there not to observe what you do, but to control your body, empower you to do His will. He leads and it is His will to be done.

Come back to I Corinthians 6. Any wonder we come to verse 18, flee immorality, present tense command, keep on fleeing from immorality, keep on running from immorality. You know why believers get into trouble morally? They don't run. You know why we don't run? We don't want to. There is pleasure in immorality, it is enticing. The book of Proverbs says, stolen waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. People wouldn't indulge in immorality if it didn't give a certain pleasure, but it is a bitter pleasure that destroys. Flee immorality. Paul wrote to Timothy in II Timothy 2:22 and said, flee youthful lusts. In Romans 13:14 Paul instructed the Romans, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. That simple. You know the best way to avoid immorality? Don't provide any opportunities. That's free. There's the solution to immorality—don't provide the occasion. You know you won't commit immorality with a woman you're never with, you won't commit immorality with a man you're never with. So don't get in a situation where ............... Where does immorality develop from? Well we have opportunity for contact, one time or another. Work. Well, we work together, we got to know one another, then we understood one another, then we realized we had things in common, then we cared about one another. Next thing we know, we're in bed with one another. We have to be careful. Don't make any provision, flee from immorality. Most commentators take you back to Genesis with Joseph when he ran from Potiphar's wife. Good example. His job as a servant of Potiphar required him to do certain things, but he had to do his job. When the opportunity for immorality came, the best thing for him to do was what? Turn around and run. We don't run because we don't want to run, because maybe I'd enjoy this enough. And I don't know that I want to get entangled. You understand you can't enjoy it and not get into trouble. Just won't happen.

So most of our trouble comes from what we want to deny. This is just a friendship, this is just............... Make your wife your friend, make your husband your friend. Don't develop the kind of relationships that can go anywhere, don't allow yourself to get drawn in. A woman wants to talk to your husband about a problem, tell her to talk to you. There just are certain things that are stupid. Don't do stupid things. Run from immorality. You say, nothing has happened but this could get bad. Well then turn around and run. If you run away before it gets bad you'll be safe, right? If you don't provide any opportunities to get into trouble, you don't get into trouble. What do you tell your kids? Don't get into the situation where you'll get into trouble, right? And they get caught someplace and an officer brings them home and you say, what were you doing there? And they start to give their explanation, and you say, no excuse, you didn't belong there. Yet people get into immorality and they think, listen to my story. I don't want to hear your story. Well then how are you going to help me? Let me just tell you what God says. I don't have to hear all the details. What am I going to decide? Well, God, this is an exception, you were wrong. Let me just put sometimes applies. OK. What am I? I'm not God. Let me just tell you what God says, let's skip your story. If you were immoral, you were in sin. You didn't do what God told you. Here's what God tells you to do. But wait a minute, you don't know what kind of wife I have, you don't know what kind of husband I have. No, but God does and here is what He says. We don't want to avoid sin. A Christian never has to sin, otherwise you'd be saying sin is more powerful than God's power that dwells in us, right? Now everything collapses. I only sin when I want to, and the devil is wise. He makes sin as attractive and appealing as possibly can be.

Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body. The immoral man sins against his own body. That's a strong statement. That means that immorality defiles you in a way and to an extent that no other sin does. Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but when you commit immorality, you sin against your own body. You say wait a minute, doesn't the drunk sin against his body? Doesn't a person who commits suicide sin against his body? Doesn't a person who does ................ What does the Bible say? There is one sin that joins you in a bond of oneness and has the potential to defile in a way that no other sin does. No other sin has the same polluting capability. And we know that. If I tell you, well, I have to confess. I lied, didn't tell the truth. There was one occasion, I think it was four years ago, and I just want to get it off my chest. I regretted it after I did. Well, we probably could go on. But if I say to you, I just want to tell you I committed immorality four years ago. All of a sudden everything is different. In our marriage if you tell your husband or wife, you know, I wasn't kind the other day, I didn't treat you in a loving way. I was angry, I shouldn't have gotten angry. We can talk about it, we go on. You say, I just want you to know I've been immoral and having an affair at work. All of a sudden you just can't talk about that and go on. It's different. You say, OK, that doesn't surprise me because you got angry, remember? You say, wait a minute, this is on a totally different level now. We recognize that. There is a defilement. We have politicians who lie all the time and we say, they lied, that's just politicians, preachers. But somehow immorality has a taint about it. Now here he is not talking about the external, it defiles your own body. That immoral relationship in that bond defiles your body in those few minutes of pleasure in a way that other sins don't. That doesn't mean it can't be forgiven. Praise God it is, and David was forgiven.

Many of us have experienced the forgiveness of God's cleansing for all kinds of sins. We've all experienced it for a variety of sin, but nonetheless we ought to understand there is a defilement of your body, even as a believer by immorality that makes it more serious than other sins. And that explains why immorality is to prevalent in the world, because of its rebellion against God, which the devil loves to promote.

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? I mean, Christ lives in me, the Holy Spirit lives in me, the Father lives in me. Jesus promised in John's gospel that His Father would come and make His residence with us and He would come and abide with us. And we're told your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you. God the Father has provided His Spirit to dwell in us. And we read in Romans 8, if any man does not have the Spirit of God, he does not belong to Him, Romans 8:9. If any man doesn't have the Spirit of Christ, he doesn't belong to Him. So two kinds of people—those who have the Spirit, those who do not. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, don't you know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?

Now back in chapter 3 verse 16, Paul said, do you not know that you are a temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you. There he was talking about you plural, the church is the dwelling place of the Spirit of God, the corporate body. This church is a place where the Spirit of God dwells. You also understand that the Spirit of God dwells in your physical body as an individual believers. That's what he's talking about in chapter 6. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God. We read in Ephesians 1:18-19 that whole context where the Holy Spirit has been given to us as God's down payment guaranteeing the completion of the process which He started and the Spirit's power is now working in us. And we'll come to a climax with that glorification process. You are not your own, that body doesn't belong to you, it's not our body to do with as you please. It's His. Verse 20, you have been bought with a price. He paid the price to purchase that body for Himself. There are only two kinds of people in the world—those who are enslaved to sin and those who are enslaved to righteousness, those who are slaves of the devil and those who are slaves of God. There are no people that are their own persons, so to speak. You were slaves of sin, you became slaves of righteousness, at the end of Romans 6.

Our bodies can no longer be used according to our desires, it's according to His desires. Our desires before were the flesh and sin. We've been bought with a price, that price, you are redeemed, not with perishable things such as silver and gold, the things you receive from your parents and their traditions. But you were redeemed with the precious blood of the Lamb of God, the spotless Lamb of God. Peter writes about it in I Peter 1:18-19.

Turn over to Revelation 5:9. This is the declaration of the redeemed in heaven. Worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals, for you were slain. Now note this, and purchased for God with your blood, men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You understand, Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin and when you place your faith in Him, you became His. Where do we get this idea that I can do what I want with my body? This is my life. It's not mine, it's His. Thus I Corinthians 6:20 says, aorist imperative, strong sharp command—glorify God in your body. That's your responsibility. Glorify God in your body. The negative command, flee immorality, verse 18; the positive, glorify God. You run away from some things and you do other things, you run to them. Certain things I just have to stay away from. I have to be honest with myself before the Lord. This is probably something I can't handle, this is not good, the potential here is bad.

I visited with a pastor a number of years ago in another place. He was cleaning out his office when I stopped in, because I had heard he had been put out of his church for immorality. He didn't admit to it, he didn't openly deny it. When I went in, I've shared this before, the secretary that he had supposedly been involved with was sitting in the outer office. And by any standards she was extremely attractive. I walked past her and I thought, here is a man, there are only the two of them and they sit in this building hour after hour, day after day. I talked with him and said, I don't know whether you were guilty of that sin or not, but you were a fool, too dumb to be in the ministry that you would make such provision for the flesh to create such a situation. You know, there are certain things we shouldn't do. We have to flee immorality, we have to glorify God in our bodies.

Let me read you one passage of scripture, turn to I Thessalonians 4, and you'll note the reason because it is very similar to what we just read. Amazing how often this has to be repeated in the scripture. We think, oh the immorality that is pervading the church of Jesus Christ today, what has happened? Nothing new, sad to say. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians and in I Thessalonians 4:3, for this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality. Same word that is translated immorality in our section in Corinthians, same basic word that is translated prostitute. That each of you know how to possess his own vessel, his own body, in sanctification and honor. Not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God, that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So he who rejects this is not rejecting man, but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you. Very simple. If you don't submit to this, you are just rejecting God. All the excuses, and I've heard many of them in my 40 years in the pastorate firsthand and secondhand, they are nothing. It all boils down to you either submit to God or you rebel against God. And all of our reasons are just smoke that we blow out that doesn't fool God one bit. That's liberating to know, that the God who indwells me empowers me. And the enticement to sin can be strong, but the power of God is stronger. That doesn't mean I dally in sin, thinking I can handle it. I use His strength to run, even when I don't want to.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your grace. Thank you for a redemption that includes our bodies as well as our spirits. Lord, even as we study this portion together as a church family, you know us as we are. You know in this audience there are people involved in the very sin we've been talking about. They think it is something that they'll get by with, that they'll limit the danger, the damage. They know they should stop but it seems so hard to stop. Lord, we become fools in our rebellion against you. I pray that we would take this truth to heart, all things are open and naked before the eyes of the one with whom we have to do. There are no secrets. When your child commits immorality, awful as it is to say, you are there. Lord, may we take these matters seriously. I pray for any here who do not know the Savior, who are going on and about their lives controlled by the flesh and making a claim to be indwelt by the Spirit. May they see the foolishness of their lie and turn and be cleansed today. We pray in Christ's name, amen.