A Biblical Response to Sexual Sin

Good morning. It sounds like I'm on, so I trust that you can hear me. I want to ask you to find a seat. I'm the guy that's pinch hitting for Pastor Milton.

This morning, typically between Pastor Mike or myself, one or the other of us will pinch hit for Milton about once a month. We appreciate Pastor Milton's ministry to us and we appreciate the opportunity to give him a little bit of a break. And so, Lord willing, as I pinch hit, I'll hit a home run instead of striking out on 3 looking. And so if you would join with me in prayer to guarantee that that won't happen, I would appreciate that.

Let's pray. dear Lord, we just come before you. This morning. We ask Lord that you would quiet our hearts before you.

We pray, Lord, that You would arrest our attention with thoughts of you. We pray, Father, that you might stir our affections towards you. That Lord, you would cause us to be reminded of how great you are, that you would help us to behold you in your holiness, in your perfection, in your greatness, Lord, that You would help us to realize that you are absolutely pure and spotless without stain or wrinkle. And that Lord, we would see that you are a God, who delights in us because of Christ.

We thank you that through the blood of Jesus, our sins have been atoned for and that, we have forgiveness. Lord, we thank you that we can approach your throne of grace with boldness this morning, and we do so, we ask for help in this time of need that we have. I pray, Lord, that you would use me. As your unworthy servant to minister your word to your people, we submit the next hour to you, Lord, and we just ask that you might speak to our hearts.

I pray, Father, that if there is someone who is here, who has yet to repent of their sin and believe in Jesus, if there is someone who is here and no doubt there would be, someone who is here, who has yet to come to faith in you and to have a relationship with you, I pray, Lord, that you might use something of what is read from your word or something that is, that is said by me, Lord, to minister to that person. We pray for the ministry of your spirit and for the work of your Spirit, Lord, to speak to us and to convict us and to encourage us to admonish, to, to use this, your word this morning, Lord, for the purpose of our transformation.

I pray, Father, again for your blessings. Upon all of us, and we ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen. over the past several weeks, we have taken the time to examine the days of Noah, and we have learned that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful. And so what did they do? They took whomever they pleased, and such sons of God were lured by their own lust to the physical beauty of these women.

We also learned that God saw every evil of humanity and that he was grieved by what he saw. So God determined to press the restart button. He decided to destroy the vast majority of living creatures on the face of planet Earth. Without question, the days of Noah were evil days.

Likewise, we can say that the days in which we live are evil days as well. Depravity is sweeping through the race of humanity at an alarming rate, and this is especially evident in the area of sex. Pornography is a problem. David Platt in his excellent book Counterculture declares that over 50% of men and women in churches are actively viewing pornography.

He goes on to say that the statistics are similar for the pastors who lead these churches, and with this in mind, it is guaranteed, I believe it is a guaranteed bet that there are folks here today who have recently viewed pornography. And this is being said, please, not by way of condemnation, but this is being said with the passage in mind knowing that God's desire for us is our purity. Premarital sex is a problem. I remember when I was 18, nearly 30 years ago, how uncommon it was for the kids in my high school to be virgins.

There was a negative stigma even then that was attached to virginity. Most of the high school folks I knew were sexually active. One public health report issued in America in 2007 estimates that 95% of women born after 1950. would admit to having had premarital sex.

I assume that the percentage is no better for men. Extramarital sex is a problem. This is adultery where a married person engages in sex with someone that he or she is not married to. It's difficult to pinpoint the numbers.

But many estimates say that at least 50% of all marriages have been marked by such infidelity. homosexuality and lesbianism. Our problems as well. There was a day not so long ago when it would have been unthinkable in our country that marriage could have been defined as anything except a covenant of companionship between one man and one woman for life, but recent developments have proven that our country has come a long way.

Same-sex marriage has been embraced as a new norm. The demand for sex in our day, according to David Platt, fuels the fire for a $30 billion industry known as human sex trafficking. The problem of sexual immorality is often illustrated through political leaders, famous athletes, And pastors. Who fall In sexual immorality.

This hits close to home for me. One of my favorite preachers disqualified himself from the ministry. When I heard the news earlier this year, I just stood there in the middle of the bookstore. And I wept Indeed, sexual immorality is a problem.

We have all come face to face with sexual immorality in one form or another. The lure of sexual sin has come knocking on all of our doors. Sexual sin is often but one mouse click away. If it has a screen, there is potential to gaze into the face of sexual immorality.

It comes in the form of a thought, an image, or an actual person. And none of us, this side of heaven are 100% completely immune. This morning, I want to address the topic of sexual sin. Specifically, I want to take time to think through how we should respond when sexual sin comes knocking at our door.

Our message this morning is entitled A Biblical Response to Sexual sin. You might say a biblical response to sexual temptation. We will consider three things that we must do when we are tempted by sexual sin. So I wanna ask you to turn in your Bibles this morning to 1 Corinthians chapter 6, and we will read through verses 9 through 20.

1 Corinthians chapter 6, turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 9 through 20. And so as you are turning there, I would like to say just a few things. While there is a ton to glean from this passage, our focus will be the matter of sexual sin. For Paul, this was one of his many burdens for the Corinthians.

Although we will focus on sexual sin, the application of principles derived from this passage are many. So if your battle has nothing to do with sexual sin, rest assured, this passage does apply to you and I want to encourage you to look for ways that this passage is to be lived out in your life. Secondly, we should understand that at the heart of the Corinthian city stood the temple of Aphrodite. the goddess of love.

Some 1,000+ prostitutes in the temple would offer their services on a daily basis to a number of other people. Corinth was a city in which sexual orgies were prominent. In fact, it became common for one who was engaged in sexual immorality to be identified as a Corinthianizer. Thirdly, God planted a church in the midst of such gross immorality.

Remember that Jesus came. Not for the righteous. But for the unrighteous, not for the healthy. But for the sick.

And Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. And so, a church was planted in Corinth. It created a challenge to God's people who constituted the church at Corinth. Sexual sin was rampant in society and its impact was threatening the church and so Paul felt compelled to address the issue of sexual immorality head-on.

And so let us listen to what Paul has to say in 1 Corinthians 6:9-20. I will be reading out of the NASB version of the Bible. Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.

Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers shall inherit the kingdom of God. And for our purposes, we're focusing our attention on those sins that relate to sexual immorality. He goes on to say in verse 11, 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 Christ and in the spirit of our God. All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them, yet the body is not for immorality.

But the body is for the Lord and the Lord is for the body, the physical body. Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot?

May it never be. Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her, for he says the two will become one flesh. But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with him. Flee immorality, flee immorality, every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body, or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

For you have been bought with a price. Therefore, Glorify God. In your body. Therefore, glorify God in your body.

Our message again this morning is a biblical response to sexual sin. Three things that we must do when tempted by sexual sin. And for clarity's sake, I understand that we are tackling a lengthy passage. My intention is not so much to milk the passage for all that it's worth, but to get a general sense of the passage as it relates specifically to sexual immorality.

The message is built around the three commands which are found in this passage. Each command will lay a foundation for how we are to respond when tempted by sexual sin. And so with this in mind, let us consider response number 1. Number 1, When tempted by sexual sin, we must not be deceived.

When tempted by sexual sin, we must not be deceived. Notice, in verse 9B, the command, do not be deceived. And this can be understood as do not wonder. Do not go astray, do not allow yourself to be misled.

Do not allow your thinking and by that your actions to take you along a path that is wrong for you. Do not be deceived and the verb here is present tense, indicating that the danger is immediate and it is ongoing. It is passive voice, meaning that the deception is something that is coming upon them and it is plural, meaning that the Lord is speaking to the entire Corinthian church together as one church. God is speaking through Paul to the Corinthian church and by way of extension to us, he is speaking to the entire church as one church.

And Paul's command here is enveloped in deep concern. He cares about his readers and he feels protective over them. He is a shepherd, if you will, over these people and he is concerned for them. His readers are a mixed audience and some to various degrees have become deceived.

He wants to protect them from that. Paul knows that much is at stake. He does not want them to be deceived in the following ways. First, Paul does not want them to be deceived by thinking that they can practice sexual immorality and inherit the kingdom of God.

It is very clear in the passage, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, revilers, swindlers, none of these types of people who practice these types of sins in a habitual ongoing way, none of these types of people, he says, shall inherit the kingdom of God. Don't be deceived into thinking you can do whatever you want, and then at the end of the day, there are no consequences. And Paul wants to protect them from such wrong thinking.

Before my own conversion, for those of you who don't know, I got saved at the age of 21, and so before the age of 21, To my absolute shame.

I was given over to sexual sin. It started when I became a teenager and my mom's boyfriend at the time gave me a stack of pornographic magazines. I do not need to tell you what I did with those magazines. The lust in my heart would grow and I eventually acted out on that lust.

By the time I entered college, I had become a habitual fornicator. In college, I would become intellectually convinced by the truth claims of Christianity. Since I knew that Christianity was true, I decided to study what the Bible taught regarding sexual sin. I wanted to find somewhere in the Bible where it would tell me that I was OK to be sexually active with my girlfriend.

I cannot tell you how many numbers of passages I looked up, but every passage in connection to any type of sin, I looked those passages up as a believing unconverted man. And I discovered That there was absolutely no getting around it. I became convinced by the authority of God's word that my sexual immorality would result in my condemnation. I knew that I was headed to hell.

And this verse in particular was one that helped to seal the deal. Do not be deceived, fornicators. shall not inherit. The kingdom of God.

And so Paul does not want his readers to be deceived. He does not want them to think that they could engage in sexual immorality and that all would be OK. But there is another potential deception, if you will, that Paul warned his readers about, and this leads to a second way in which Paul wanted to protect his readers from deception. Second, Paul does not want them to be deceived by failing to embrace the fact of their salvation.

Listen to what he says in verse 11A. After he says such will not inherit the kingdom of God, he goes on to say, and such were some of you. And such were some of you, but But This is a contrasting conjunction indicating that they are not like they used to be, and inside of this contrasting conjunction, we discover a huge change. What Paul goes on to say is in contrast to what he has just declared.

The word but signifies if we read between the lines that a significant change has taken place and what Paul goes on to say makes it clear what the but is all about. It is all about the absolute power of the gospel to transform a human being. It is all about how the sexually immoral, the ones doomed to hell, can bring their broken lives to the Lord Jesus and they can experience through the power of Jesus life transformation. Notice what Paul says to the Corinthians on the other side of this conjunction.

He says, but you were sanctified. I'm sorry, but you were washed, but you were washed. This would be a reminder to them of how it is that they through the blood of Jesus had their sins atoned for, they were washed, they were made to be clean. He goes on to say that you were sanctified, you were set apart, God chose you, and he sanctified you, He set you apart for a reason and for a purpose.

To bestow his love upon you and he says, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the word justified indicates the fact that it was God's decision that they would be declared just as they have never sinned. They would be declared to be righteous. This is a decision in the mind of God that these people would be justified. In the court of law, if someone were to come to these people and say guilty, God would say, wait a minute, not guilty, not guilty, and what, they justified status had absolutely nothing to do with their behavior, it had everything to do with their faith in Jesus and because of their faith in Jesus, they would experience a transformation.

And so the apostle Paul is wanting to encourage them with this gospel truth. He wants them to be reminded of the difference that God has made in their lives and by way of extension, be reminded people of God of the difference that God has in fact made in your life. You were washed, you were sanctified, and you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So Paul wants to protect his readers from deception by informing them that the unrighteous which would include fornicators, adulterers, and homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God, and he then addresses the fact that his readers were saved.

He wants to direct their attention to how through the power of the gospel they were transformed, and now Paul arrives at a third way in which he did not want his readers to be deceived. So we come upon a 3rd way now and a lot of attention is going to be given to this 3rd way and under this 3rd way there are a number of points to be made and so just bear with me, but 3rd, Paul does not want his readers, he does not want them to be deceived by embracing a wrong view of the human body and this is part of the problem.

That they had a wrong view of the human body, OK, and we will get into that, here in a minute, but just to understand, they had a wrong view. They thought wrongly about the human body.

You see, the Corinthians were dualistic in their theology and they embraced the view that what they did with their physical bodies. was of no consequence. They figured that they could do whatever they wanted. They believed in the eternality of the soul, but that the material body would be destroyed.

And so the Corinthians concluded that what one did with his body did not matter. One of their slogans was, all things are lawful for me. They may very well have taken this saying from Paul, but misrepresented what Paul was saying. The Corinthians thought they could do whatever they wanted with their bodies.

They believed that they had Christian liberty but took their freedom way too far, wrongly thinking that they could engage in sexual activity and not be burned by it. And so Paul takes issue with their thinking. He wants them to understand that what one does with the body is very important. He wants them to understand that the physical body belongs to the Lord and that the Lord values the material body and that the Lord is for the body, and so let us listen to what God through the apostle Paul says, beginning in verse 12.

All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. Many commentators say that all things are lawful for me is likely a slogan of the Corinthians to justify their sin. They may very well have taken the slogan directly from Paul and then misapplied. hide it in justifying their own sin.

In their mind, they were free to do with their bodies as they pleased and here Paul declares that all things are lawful for me, but he does so with a clear qualification. First of all, we know that Paul was not arguing for license. Paul did not believe that we were free to do whatever we wanted. Paul himself makes this clear when he says, but not all things are profitable.

While it is true that we have Christian liberty, it is not true that we can do whatever we feel like. The fact is that there are some things that are not profitable. Paul himself earlier declared that there are some things that result in not inheriting the kingdom of God. Then let us understand that not all things are profitable.

What is implied here is that we should do those things that in fact are profitable. We, what we do with our physical bodies then does matter. We should do those things that are to the praise of God's glory, and then Paul goes on to say again, All things are lawful for me, OK? But I will not be mastered by anything.

Again, we see the slogan, all things are lawful. But notice Paul's qualifications, I will not be mastered by anything. I will not allow those things that I am free to do to become my master. There are a number of things we can do, and those things that we can do can come to rule us.

We must be careful not to allow anything or anyone to rule us other than the Lord Jesus Christ. I may be free to eat, but I will not let food master me. Rather, I will submit my eating to the Lord, for example, I may be free to have sex with my spouse, of course, but I will not allow such a good desire to rule over me. Think this through with me for a minute.

One's desire for physical intimacy with his spouse clearly falls under the banner of all things are lawful for me. That in fact is a good thing. It is a thing to be commended and a thing to be encouraged. No one would fault a man or a woman for wanting to be sexually intimate with his or her spouse, right?

But there may be times in which such a desire may not be profitable. There may be times in which such a desire may be too strong. Paul is clearly articulating some boundaries to our Christian liberty. Again, what we do with our bodies does matter and we should not allow ourselves to be mastered by anything except the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

The Corinthians, on the other hand, were abusing their liberty and they were turning it into a license for sin. They used such slogans to excuse their evil. They wanted to fulfill their sinful sexual desires. And let's continue with Paul, verse 13.

He goes on to say, food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. OK. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.

And so this may be another slogan that the Corinthians had been utilizing in order to justify their sin. It may be that from a Corinthian perspective, food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both and it really doesn't matter what we do with our bodies, we are free, OK? And so again, this may be another slogan used by them, the material is evil and therefore will be destroyed. It does not matter what we do with our physical bodies, and while Paul may affirm that the Lord will do away with food and the stomach, He also makes it clear that the physical body is not for immorality.

He says the body is not for immorality. In fact, Paul says that the body is for the Lord and that the Lord is for the body and the proof that the Lord is for the body is seen in the fact that the Lord will raise our physical bodies from the dead through his power. Our physical bodies do matter. Understand that God desires to raise us up bodily from the dead, and the day will come when we will stand before the Lord face to face in soul and in body, and that's what it means to be a human being, and God places value on humanity, and he, in fact, contrary to what the Corinthians believe, he places great value on the physical human body.

Let's continue with Paul's discourse as he makes it clear that our bodies are members of Christ. Verse 15. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? They should have known that, of course, they knew that, but they just weren't really applying it the way that they were supposed to be and so he's asking them this question, do you not know?

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ and, and based upon this truth, notice this, the reasoning that He supplies in connection to this truth. OK. Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot and emphatically, the apostle Paul says, may it never be, never ever allow yourself to be joined in physical union to a person who is not your spouse, may it Never, ever be, and he says this again very emphatically, or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her, for he says, and he quotes from Genesis now way back in the book of Genesis that the two will become one flesh.

There is Something of a physical oneness that takes place when a man and a woman come together and this is a good thing given to us by God to be experienced within the context of marriage, but anything outside of the context of marriage is illicit, it is illegal, it is unlawful, it is not to be done, and Paul wants the Corinthians to understand With absolute clarity that you just don't join yourself to a prostitute, you don't join yourself to a harlot, you don't engage in an adulterous, or in a fornicating, or in a homosexual type of a relationship, you just don't do that, for he says the two will become one flesh, but the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with him.

And so Paul is saying that our bodies are members of Christ. The implication is we are not to be joined in sexual immorality to a harlot. Our bodies are not to be given over to illicit sex. In doing so, we experience a oneness that serves as a direct attack to our oneness with Christ.

You see what God is doing through Paul for the Corinthians is he is fighting for their purity, he is fighting for their well-being, he is fighting for their joy, and he knows that if they give themselves over to this type of idolatry, it will harm them at the end and at the very worst it may mean that they will not be saved at the end of the day. And don't misunderstand what I'm saying. I believe that when a person is justified, he will by God's grace experience sanctification and eventual glorification and be brought into the presence of God.

I believe that.

I I believe that he who began the work will complete the work and so I believe that if a person is genuinely saved, they will persevere in their faith and it may be that such a person might fall into sin, but I believe that they will be convicted. They will be convicted by God the spirit and God the Spirit indwells them to convict them and we'll see that here in a minute, but just please understand what it is that I am and am not saying. OK. So we've taken a look at a few verses here underneath this point that, that the body is important.

Let's just sweep some thoughts together quickly before we move on. Just some thoughts regarding how we are to think about the body before we move on. And so we cannot just do whatever we want with our physical bodies. Our physical body is for the Lord.

He is the one who has ownership of the, of us, and also that the Lord is for our physical body, our physical bodies matter to him. Our bodies will be raised physically from the dead. We will be raised, we will experience glorification at some point in the future, and our bodies are members of Christ. When we have sex with a harlot, we become one with her.

We are to be one with Christ instead. And so in these verses, Paul commands his readers to not be deceived, do not be deceived. He warns them about being deceived by embracing a view that one can live a life of sexual immorality and still be saved. He also wants to protect them from despair by reminding them of their transformation through the power of the gospel and such were some of you.

So the Corinthians had every reason based upon the gospel to be encouraged and to have confidence and hope. He also wants to protect them from embracing wrong ideas regarding the body. At this point, Paul moves on to his 2nd command and so the first command, do not be deceived, and now we are advancing onto the 2nd command, which highlights the second thing one must do when tempted by sexual sin. 2, when tempted by sexual sin, we must flee.

I know that the vast majority, if not all of us have experienced temptation in one way or the other. Jesus himself was tempted in every way yet without sin, and who are we to think that we can go on in life without the experience of sexual temptation? And so I know that to some degree, for some of us it might be greater degrees, we experience temptation, and, and so what do we do? 1 Corinthians 6:18 says, flee immorality.

The NIB version says flee sexual immorality. The Greek word is pornea from which we get the word pornography and the word has a wide range of meaning throughout the New Testament. It can include any type of sexual activity other than that which is between a married man and a woman. And while the context of our passage focuses on sexual activity with cult prostitutes, That would include fornication, adultery, homosexuality, the Corinthians love to engage in orgies as well, so it would include that, any type of illicit sexual behavior.

The broader range of pornea includes any sexual sin and think about it, since Jesus talked about lusting with the heart, being synonymous with committing adultery, it is safe to say that Paul would command us to flee from even the thought of illicit sex. Do not allow your brain, your mind, your thinking to move in the direction of having lustful types of thoughts. And while we are at it, we may as well go ahead and add masturbation to the list. These are sins that as God's people, we ought not to give ourselves over to.

And the passage provides clear instruction regarding our response to sexual immorality, to Pornea, we are to flee. There are no options. This is a direct command from God through Paul to the Corinthians and by way of extension to us, we are to flee. Are there any sexual sins in your life that God in His love is saying to you to flee from?

We are to flee. When tempted to view pornographic images on the screen of your TV, computer, or iPhone, flee. When the desire to self-stimulate comes knocking at your door, flee. When tempted to visit the massage parlor, flee.

There may be someone here who is overcome with sexual lust and the voice of God thunders as you hear him declare, flee. Flee. Perhaps you are struggling with lustful thoughts. God command you to flee.

perhaps you have acted on your lust and have engaged in fornication or adultery. I encourage you this morning to repent and flee, and I can guarantee you that the Lord Jesus Christ would be willing to receive you if you come to him in brokenness and in repentance. ful ness and that you come to him like I did when I was 21 years old and say, God, forgive me and free me from my sins. I can guarantee you based upon experience that God is more than able to deliver you from such sin.

So take heart and be encouraged, do not compromise and know that when God says flee, He intends to give you every power you need to step away from that sin and to flee from that sin and to put it behind you. There is power in the blood of Jesus and in his resurrection and the one who stands at the right hand of the Father beckons you to come to his throne of grace with boldness and he says, I will give you the help that you need. This is God, and this is what he will do. He is a good God, He is a gracious God, a loving and benevolent God, and he is more than happy to want to help us broken, sinful, depraved people to be able to come to Him and experience the transformation that he designs for us, for His glory and for our joy.

My family recently went to Yellowstone where we spotted a very large grizzly. It was a large grizzly. I don't know how big it was, but it was big. That's what large means.

And my son Andrew and I were within 70 yards of the beast, so I warned Andrew not to get any closer. Don't get any closer. I noticed a few folks standing between Andrew and the Grizzly, so they were closer, and I felt confident in my son's athletic ability to outrun the others to safety. Please don't misunderstand.

I'm not saying that I was wishing harm on the others, but what I am saying is I wanted my boy to be safe. And Andrew is standing there with a real nice camera in hand, and he was clicking to his heart's content. At one point, Andrew moved back and as he moved back, I could hear it from a distance. He stepped on a branch, resulting in a snap that echoed through the quiet surroundings.

Immediately, the grizzly stood on his hind legs and all of a sudden he was much bigger than he looked. like to begin with. he was a ferocious looking specimen of a beast and so he stood on his hind legs and he looked directly at Andrew. He looked, now I don't know if he was looking at him or just looking at his area, but I'm here, my boys there and the bear is way over there and he's standing and he's looking this way.

Sensing the presence of danger, Andrew took an about face and resorted to his athleticism as he decided to flee from the grizzly and towards the van. Andrew did not stop to process the situation. His response was immediate and it was instinctive. He fled from the perceived danger.

Likewise, we are commanded by God to flee from sexual immorality. OK? Please don't misunderstand the illustration. I'm not saying let's go and check it out and then I'm focusing more on the flee part of what Andrew did, not the let's go and check it out part, OK?

But the minute he knew that danger was imminent, he took off like a bat out of a very hot place. He took off. So he flees. And that's what we must do.

That's what we must do. Flee. Immorality Are you here this morning? And do you find yourself as a child of God struggling?

Take heart and know that God fires forth commands to flee, and he intends to help you to be successful in your fleeing. And so while Paul has already given ample reason, good reason to heed the command to flee immorality, he will add to the list. Paul has already declared that the sexually immoral will not inherit the kingdom of God. He has already reminded his readers of their salvation.

Paul has made a big deal about the importance of the physical body. He's wanting them to think right and to think correctly. Already we have sufficient Reason to flee immorality, but Paul will go on to provide more motivation as we continue in the passage. Believers are to flee sexual immorality for the following reasons, flee sexual immorality because sexual sin is unique in the damage it does to the body.

Look at verse 18B through C, verse 18, every other sin that a man commits is outside. The body and then he goes on to say, but the immoral man, the man who has given over to sexual immorality, such a man sins against his own body. And so there is a sense in which when you engage in sexual immorality, you sin against your own body in a very unique way, you give yourself over to another person and you damage yourself in ways this side of heaven that will never be completely reversed.

You join yourself to a person, become one, and there's something of your physicality that gets deposited into that person and vice versa, and there's a oneness and the apostle Paul says, don't let that happen.

The apostle Paul is saying that when you sin sexually, you sin against your own body in a very unique a way, and because of that, we ought to flee. But there's more motivation. Why flee? Because your body is a temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells.

Please, take a minute to think that one through. Your body, your individual body is a temple inside of which God the Holy Spirit dwells. He says, or do you not know? that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God.

Brothers and sisters, understand that the Spirit of the living God, if you are a believer, if you have repented of sin and have believed in Jesus alone for salvation, and if you are a child of God, you've got God the Spirit who indwells you. And he is there to guide you morally. And, and let me say this, that if you can sin sexually, without any sense of the spirit of God inside you being grieved, I would be very concerned. Because I believe there is no way that you can continue an ongoing sexual immorality and have the Spirit of God in you, not be convicted.

Either you're gonna be convicted, or you have so seared your conscience, what God's gonna do? He will take you out of the equation, he will bring you up to glory, he will spare you perhaps. But understand again, that the Spirit of the living God, the third person of the Trinity, indwells you who are a believer. And so what does that mean?

The presence of God is with you. The power of God is in you. You can flee, you can say no, he is there to help you. You can walk by the Spirit, you can be led by the Spirit, you can be guided by the Spirit.

And so when temptation comes your way, God, the Spirit in you, if you are walking by the Spirit, you will flee, you will flee. Well, here's another motivation if you will, another, another reason as to why we are to flee, it's because your body belongs to God. 1 Corinthians 6:19C and that you are not your own. It's time that we stop thinking that we belong to ourselves.

We belong to one who is greater than us, and such a belonging is an absolute privilege and a blessing in our lives. But there is yet another reason, and it's because your body has been bought by God. 1 Corinthians 6:20, for you have been bought with a price, and this is the reason that we know that we belong to God because God has purchased us through the blood of His own Son. He has bought us with a price.

He has purchased us from the slave market, and he has freed us from such bondage and chains and slavery. We have been bought with a price to the blood of Jesus, our sins are atoned for and now we belong to God. And so far Paul has fired off two key commands to his readers. Each command is clearly connected to the matter of sexual immorality.

The first command that we looked at was, do not be deceived. We are not to be deceived into thinking that the sexually immoral will inherit God's kingdom, they won't. We are not to be deceived by failing to embrace the gospel and its clear implications for how we view our bodies. There is much that can be said regarding our bodies, they are important.

What we do with our bodies matters. God is for our bodies and in fact he will raise our bodies physically from the dead. Our bodies are members of Christ. We are to respond to such truths by obeying the second command that Paul delivers to us in this passage, and the second commandment is to flee, flee, flee immorality, and then he gives additional reason for fleeing such sin.

Because sexual sin is unique in the damage that it does to our bodies. The fact is that sexual sin can damage us physically, emotionally, spiritually, fornication, adultery, and homosexuality possess great potential for harm. And another reason to flee sexual sin is that our bodies are of the Holy Spirit. In addition to that, Jesus has bought us by his own blood.

He suffered an excruciating death filled with unimaginable pain so that we might be freed from the guilt and the power that sin has over our lives. Paul could very well have stopped here. He could have said, I'm done, I've said enough. Sufficient already is what has been declared.

But God through Paul Is fighting for our purity. There ought not to be even a hint of sexual immorality amongst us, and Paul will now provide us with yet one final command, one final command that is designed to protect our purity, and we will see this as we look at the third thing we must do when tempted by sexual sin, 3. When tempted by sexual sin, we must glorify God. Now this is in the positive.

We have been told, don't be deceived, we have been told flee immorality. Now we are told very positively glorify God in your body or glorify God with the instrument of your physical body, glorify Him is the command. So 1 Corinthians 6:20 says, therefore glorify God in your body. Therefore, connects what Paul has just declared to what he is about to command.

Much of what he has declared centers on the value and importance of the body, our physical bodies, our temples of the spirit, so on and so forth. And we belong to him because of all of what he has said. Therefore, we are to glorify God in our bodies. A few chapters later in 1 Corinthians 10:31, listen to what Paul says.

Whether then you eat or drink, see this is where the application gets very broad, whether then you eat or drink or in whatever. Underneath the umbrella of whatever is sexuality is sex, or in whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God and so you see that we can even be engaged in sexual activity to the glory of God. It is glorifying to God when we filled with the Spirit. Together with our spouse whom we love and we enjoy physical unity with our spouse, that is something that is pleasing to God.

He gave it to us as a gift and that is the right context inside of which a sexual relationship is to be experienced to the glory of God. But what does it mean to do all things to the glory of God? What does it mean to glorify God? Some take it to mean obedience.

While glorifying God does entail obedience, such is a far too restrictive meaning. Furthermore, when taking the matter of obedience out of proper context, it can become a legalistic approach towards relating to God. We glorify God when as a As a result of being intimately related to him, we show forth his attributes. We glorify God when those around us see God on display through us.

Our God is holy, undefiled, he is pure, and such attributes of God are on display whenever he is being glorified. And to glorify Him means to put those things of God on display. We will never be God, but we can be like God insofar as the incommunicable or the communicable attributes of God can be bestowed upon us as we reflect his image and in that sense, we can glorify God. Notice that Paul says we are to glorify God with the instrument of our physical bodies.

What we do with our bodies, Corinthians does matter. What we do with our bodies, cornerstonians, does matter. We have been applying God's word this morning to sexual sin. We are to glorify God with our bodies.

And so, in conclusion, We have centered our thinking around a biblical response to sexual temptation, and Paul provides us with three commands grounded upon the foundation of the, of gospel truth that will keep us from sexual sin when obeyed. Do not be deceived, flee sexual immorality and glorify God with your body. You might be here today. And you have yet to put your faith in the Lord Jesus, and I want to encourage you this morning, right now, even as I speak, to cry out to Jesus, maybe you're struggling with sexual sin and, like I knew some 30 years ago that things weren't well.

You can come to Jesus. Jesus says, come to me, all who are weak and heavy laden. And I will give you rest. Come to me.

That's an invitation that Jesus speaks to you, whereby he says, come to me all who are weak and heavy laden. Are you weak and heavy laden? Do you feel the burden of your sin? Let me encourage you to obey the Lord when he says, come.

Confess your sin, repent of your sin, turn from your sin, and look to Jesus and know that only through his death and his resurrection will you ever have the power. To be able to depart from your sin. The Bible says that he who through faith shall live is righteous. He stands there at the right hand of the Father, he is there seated at the right hand of the Father, and he wishes to give anyone and everyone who will repent and believe salvation.

And those of you who are saved, Praise God That God through the power of the gospel enables us to be able to heed these commands. We can heed these commands. We don't have to be deceived. We can flee, and we have been freed by him to glorify God with our physical bodies.

Would you join with me in prayer, please? Dear Lord, we just thank you so much for your word. I do pray once again, Lord, that if there is someone here who by the power of the Spirit just needs to be able to turn, I ask that you would give them the strength that they need to do that. Father God, as we, prepare to give to you a small portion of what you have given to us, Lord, here we are, we are worshiping you with the things that we have.

We are called to worship with our bodies, we are called to worship with our possessions, Lord, all things are yours and so we give back to you and we pray, Father, that you would take our humble offering and multiply it for the purpose of spreading your fame and advancing the kingdom of God. Father God, we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.