I Corinthians 6:13-20
Preached Wednesday Evening August 31, 2011
Introduction:
This evening we are going to delve into a very sensitive and under preached subject. We do it because this is the subject of our passage. We do it because this sin is destroying lives and families at a record rate. We are going to talk about sex. Specifically, we are going to talk about the sin of fornication, or sex outside of marriage.
Every day we are bombarded with messages, both subtle and graphic, that a successful and happy person is one who has many sexual conquests in his or her life. Every TV show and movie assumes that sex outside of marriage is assumed and accepted as a normal function like eating. One born again Lutheran pastor friend of mine is seeking my help with a marriage ceremony because this is the first couple he has married that were not already living together or having an active physical relationship. They are the only ones he has ever worked with who even claimed to be saving themselves for the wedding night!
One of our biggest problems as a society is that we feel that we are the possessors of our own bodies. If you are a Born Again Believer, you are not your own, Jesus owns you!
I. Your body is God’s holy creation.
Genesis 1:27
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Revelation 4:11
11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
1 Corinthians 6:13
13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
A. There are things for which you body is designed
1. Eating
2. Sleeping
3. Sex within marriage
Hebrews 13:4
4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
B. There are things for which your body is not designed
1. Addiction – including the sin of gluttony
1 Corinthians 6:12
12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
2. Fornication= “pornia”= sexual activity outside of marriage
1 Corinthians 6:13
13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.
C. God’s design is perfect
1 Corinthians 6:14
14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
II. Your Body is God’s Holy Dwelling Place
A. God will not leave you, so you take Him with you no matter where you go or what you do
Hebrews 13:5
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
1 Corinthians 3:16
16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1 Corinthians 6:17
17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
Ephesians 5:30
30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
B. Whoever you have sex with, you become one with
1. That is why a baby is the logical outcome of two becoming one
Genesis 2:24
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
Matthew 19:5-6
5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
2. There is no such thing as a casual encounter
1 Corinthians 6:16
16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
C. If a Christian joins to an harlot, then God is joined to the harlot
1 Corinthians 6:15
15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
III. Your body is God’s holy tool.
A. Make it you habit to flee fornication
1 Corinthians 6:18
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
1. Joseph did
Genesis 39:1-12
2. Take the way of escape
1 Corinthians 10:13
13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
3. Do not allow yourself to be tempted
Romans 13:14
14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
4. Don’t start something you shouldn’t finish
1 Corinthians 7:1-2
Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2 Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
5. Fornication is a sin against the body and will sow seeds of judgment
Galatians 6:7-9
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
a. unwanted pregnancy
b. STD’s
c. AIDS
d. Once you lose your virginity, you can never present yourself pure to your spouse on your wedding night
e. If you live in sin, do not be surprised if God’s heavy hand of judgment falls upon you and yours.
B. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit
1 Corinthians 6:19
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
2 Corinthians 6:16
16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
1. Fornication is a sin against the temple
2. Beware of any kind if temple desecration
C. You are not your own
1 Corinthians 6:20
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
2 Corinthians 5:15
15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
1. You body has been purchased with Christ’s blood
2. Glorify God din you body
Romans 6:12-13
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
3. Glorify God in your spirit
John 15:8
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
Conclusion:
God give us men. The time demands
Strong minds, great hearts,
True faith and willing hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor; men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagogue
And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking;
Tall men, sun-crowned men, who live above the fog
In public duty and in private thinking.
John G. Holland
If you are born again, yet guilty of this terrible sin you must repent! In a few moments we will be taking communion. Do not bring greater judgment on yourself by taking communion before you repent. Are you “shacking up”? Move out today! Do what is takes to serve God with your body. Do what it takes to follow the principles of purity.