Grab your Bibles. We're jumping right into it
this morning, 1 Corinthians chapter 6. And when
I begin a sermon like this, it usually means
we have a lot to talk about. And we do this morning,
a lot. Now, as you know, if you're with us the
last few weeks, we are in a, I'll call it a sensitive
part of Paul's letter to the Corinthians with
some mature themes in it. We tried to get most
of that out last Sunday because the kiddos...
are with us here this morning, so I'm going to
tread a little bit lighter and use language that
hopefully isn't quite as severe. I'll choose
my words carefully for the sake of our kiddos.
But hopefully you'll be able to follow along
as we go. All right, we're focusing on verses
15 to 20 this morning. We're going to start up
in verse 12, though, the section that we covered
last Sunday in our message. Notice once again
now as you look at verses 12 and 13. Paul is
referring to ideas that apparently had become
very common in the city of Corinth in the first
century, and now he's got to do some work correcting
them to give them right thinking when it comes
to what they do with their bodies. So let's read
beginning in verse 12, and I'll add some of my
thoughts as we go along. Verse 12 says this,
all things are lawful for me, say the Corinthians,
but Paul clarifies, not all things are what?
profitable or beneficial for the believer. So
there are some things in the Christian life that
are permissible for us, and yet they're still
not beneficial for us. So you might have that
glass of wine, Scripture permits it, but you
have to ask the question, is this a good choice
for me? So decisions like this, permissible,
profitable, decisions like that require knowledge
of self and applying wisdom, right? Good, he
goes on, all things are lawful for me, say the
Corinthians, but then Paul clarifies, I will
not be mastered or enslaved by anything. Again,
there are things in the Christian life that you
are free to engage in, but in doing so, beware,
do not open the door to let those things control
you or to make you its slave. Do not be mastered
by it. Verse 13, food is for the stomach and
the stomach is for food, say the Corinthians.
But then Paul adds, God will do away with both
of them. And so food and the stomach designed
to process food, they are part of this present
order that will someday pass away. They are not
eternal things. Paul goes on, yet the body is
not for porneia. The body is not for sexual immorality.
What you do with your body is in a different
category than how your stomach processes food.
What you do with your body is more than just
a response to a natural need. It's not just physical.
What you do with your body has spiritual and
emotional consequences. And so Paul says, those
bodies that you have right now, they weren't
given to you for porneia. They are, Paul says,
for the Lord. And the Lord is for the body. Verse
14, now God has not only raised the Lord, but
will also raise us up through his power. So unlike
the processing of food in the stomach, our bodies
will extend into eternity. They will be reconstituted
on the day of resurrection and will live on into
the new heaven and the new earth. That means
our bodies really, really matter. They're highly
valued by God. And therefore we should take care
of them as good stewards. The foundational way
that we steward them properly is to recognize
first and foremost that what we talked about
earlier, they belong to God. They belong to Christ
if we're found in him. Now let's read on verses
15 to 20. 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
prostitute? May it never be. Or do you not know
that the one who joins himself to a prostitute
is one body with her. For he says the two become
one flesh, but the one who joins himself to the
Lord is one spirit with him. Verse 18, flee sexual
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, So in these
last six verses, guys, there is some of the most
important Christian doctrine that we hold precious
and dear to us. Three very important doctrines
that get brought out here, and we're going to
touch on all three of them as we walk through
this passage. The first one, here's what they
are, is union with Christ. which you may have
sort of vaguely heard about, but may not fully
understand why that matters. The second is the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which I'm sure
you've definitely heard about, but it's possible
that you haven't really understood what that
means in a metaphysical sense. And then third,
the doctrine that we're going to look at this
morning is the doctrine of redemption, which
is an absolute foundational aspect of the gospel.
So that's where we're headed this morning. Let's
start with that first one. Go back up to verse
15 and let's look at union with Christ. The key
verses here are 15 and 17. Do you not know that
your bodies are members of Christ? Drop down
to verse 17. The one who joins himself to the
Lord is one spirit with him. If you're one of
those folks who likes to underline or highlight
in your Bible, there's some great phrases to
underline or highlight. This describes our union
with Christ. Don't you know this, Paul asks?
Don't you know that your physical being is intimately
connected to the Savior who died for you? Don't
you know that, Paul says? It appears that the
Corinthian believers thought far too little about
this subject matter. And so they acted like,
well, casual use of our bodies is not a big deal.
apparently many of them held to what we call
a platonic dualism. This is the view where the
soul is considered to be the real you, right?
The inner man is the real you, and the body is
just sort of a less important container for the
soul. So it doesn't matter that much. The body
has little importance to them. So that means
I can do what I want with it, and somehow I can
separate what I do with my body with my inner
man, who's the real me. So if I physically join
myself to another, that's a completely separate
thing for my soul. That's just my body. It's
no more important than the natural function of
food for the stomach. That's the way the Corinthians
were looking at this. So obviously, Paul has
to come down very hard in correcting him here.
God is not going to let you compartmentalize
your body in that way. Now, it's true that the
body and the soul are two distinct parts of a
man. But they can't be separated. They are inseparably
linked. And together they constitute the whole
of the person. So no, your body is not just a
disposable container. And no, your soul is not
the only thing that is the real you. And so this
is Paul's big point. Don't you know that as a
Christian, your bodies not only matter, but they
are now a part of Christ's body. Think about
that for a moment. That means... any use of your
body where you become one flesh in a union outside
the covenant of marriage, you have betrayed your
union with Jesus. It's a betrayal of that union
because you've given a part of yourself to somebody
who is unauthorized in God's eyes. And that's
what we do in porneia. We give ourselves, a part
of ourselves, to another outside of the union
that we have with our Savior. And if we do succumb
to that temptation, Tragically, we drag Jesus
into our sin. Can you imagine the horror of that?
That's the shocking message Paul is trying to
drive home to the Corinthians in verses 15 and
16, and it should be a warning for each one of
us as well. Do not drag Jesus into your porneia.
Now, let's look more closely at the language.
that Paul uses here in these two verses. Starting
in verse 15, he says, your bodies are members
of Christ. What does Paul mean by using the term
member? We think we know that right off the top
of our heads, but we shouldn't just blow past
this as if it doesn't matter, because it does.
This is, you see the word on the screen, this
is the Greek noun melos, and it's a very common
word that Paul uses 29 times. In his letter,
he uses this word, 16 of which are here in 1
Corinthians. And in its simplest form, it can
refer to a body part or to a limb. It's our eyes,
our ears, our mouths, our hands, our feet. These
are all members of our physical body that are
supposed to be used to glorify God. But then
there's a second use of melos, a relational term
where Paul uses it to talk about belonging. A
relational term where he talks about belonging.
In particular, he talks about Christians belonging
to two things. First of all, we're members of
Christ. That's what we just read in our passage,
meaning we belong to him, the one who died for
our sins. And then second, Paul talks about Christians
being members of one another. Members of one
another. And there he's speaking of the church,
which is the body of Christ, right? how our lives
belong to each other, and that's especially true
here in a local assembly like the one here at
Oak Hill where we live life together. We are
members of one another. Now, those are big statements,
and they shouldn't be brushed off without serious
consideration because I think, my opinion, is
in the American church today, we don't take those
concepts as seriously as we should. Too many
professing Christians seem to think that they
can do as they please. Just live as they want.
You know, I've got a little bit of my life in
church. I'm loosely attached to this local church
body. But you know what? It's my body. And it's
my life. So I can do as I please. And that is
sort of uniquely American, isn't it? This individualistic
spirit. But you can't have your cake and eat
it too. You can't say, well, look, I want to
be found in Christ when I die so that I go to
heaven. But in the meantime, it's my body and
it's my life and I'll do as I please. You can't
do both. In the same way, if we're members of
one another in the church, you can't say on one
hand, well, I want to be known as a part of the
body of Christ, but right now I'm not all that
interested in living out the one another's with
real people. Those things don't go together.
So this idea of membership and belonging is stronger
than just I'm loosely affiliated to Jesus or
I sometimes attend church services. And that's
one of several reasons why here at Oak Hill we
emphasize not just being an attender of a local
church, but at some point committing to formal
membership. Because in that membership process,
we promise to each other, I belong to you, you
belong to me, we're members of one another, so
let's go out and live life together love each
other well, right? So this is at the core of
what we believe here at Oak Hill. So members
of Christ. Now let's look at the language in
verse 17, where it says, we've joined ourselves
to the Lord, and now we are one spirit with him.
The Greek verb Paul uses here is kalao, and it's
the Greek equivalent of the Old Testament concept
of cleaving. We speak of this idea of leaving
and cleaving from Genesis 2, right? Or in modern
terms, leaving and joining. This is the corresponding
word that Paul uses in verse 17. In literal terms,
this word means to fasten firmly or glue something
together, right? Think of Gorilla Glue, right?
Or whatever, you know, some super glue. Firmly
fastened together. So when he talks about joining
ourselves to Christ, This is much more than casual
proximity. You would not use this word if you
were going to say, look, I'm going to go join
a gym and I'll occasionally show up there. That
is not the depth of the word. It's much stronger.
This is a bonded, consequential connection, much
like a marriage covenant, where the husband and
wife are firmly glued together as one flesh for
life. The same principle is true in our being
joined to Christ. We are now one spirit with
him, meaning we've been brought into a genuine,
intimate, spirit -formed union with our Savior.
We've been glued together. So this is really
strong language, guys, to understand our union
with Christ. And that leads us back to Paul's
big point, back to the practical exhortation
that goes with this idea of being united to him.
And if you look at verse 18, you'll see what
the practical instruction is. Therefore, what?
flee immorality. In light of what I just told
you about you being joined to Christ, to be a
member of him, therefore flee porneia. And this
is written, if you look at verse 18, in what
we call the present active imperative, which
tells us two important things. First of all,
it's not a suggestion. It's a command, flee.
And second, It's to be a continuous action, a
state of persistence. We are fleeing all the
time from immorality. So what that means practically,
we live in a constant state of alertness. In
the sports world, we say we keep our head on
a swivel, right? Because we're always looking
around. We're alert. We're watching for temptations
that might attempt to lure us in. Are they not
everywhere around us, guys? Do we walk out the
door in the morning alert to them? This is what's
being said here. Being ready to flee in a moment,
to run from it as fast as you can. The best image
I can come up with this is just recently in my
backyard. I went outside, I'm walking down the
side yard and I get about as close to Julia here
to a rattlesnake sitting right in my path. What
do I do with that? What do I, what do I? Don't
mess with it. It could really hurt you, right?
A rattlesnake shows up in your path. You don't
go, let me see how close I can get to it without
being bitten. Think of it that way with porneia.
How close can I get? No, no, no, no, no. Paul
doesn't say, hey, approach that thing, examine
it, see if you have the strength to resist it.
Can you imagine? The late 4th century Bible scholar
Jerome actually comments on this. He says, some
temptations may be reasoned with, but with this
one, reason not, just flee. It's powerful. Do
not underestimate it. And maybe Paul has in the
back of his mind the Old Testament story of Joseph.
And Potiphar's wife, right, from Genesis 39,
do you remember? Where this woman who is married,
she's a married woman, married to this prominent
member of Pharaoh's cabinet, she quite literally
throws herself at Joseph. And rather than entertain
the thought or to think, wow, you know what?
Not only does this seem like a good thing, a
pleasurable thing, but I might be able to advance
based on that. He doesn't entertain any of it.
What does he do? like the roadrunner. He runs.
He runs. And so when we talk about this specific
form of immorality, not only do we have to be
on alert, we have to be intentional about setting
boundaries in our lives. If you never sat down
with an older person and said, tell me about
some good boundaries to protect myself, you should
do that. We're talking about boundaries that
when they get threatened, when they get pushed,
a red flag goes up in our heart, and we don't
stay there and feed the thought. We don't stay
there. Like Joseph, we get up and we move. And
sometimes it's as simple as that when it comes
to porneia. We just get up. We change our environment.
We move away from it. We change our thinking.
We renew our thoughts and set them above where
Christ is seated, and we flee from it. Amen?
And again, the theological and relational reason
we have to flee is because our bodies matter
to God, because we are members of Christ, because
we are one spirit with him, and we dare not drag
him into our sin. Amen? Paul goes on here in
verse 18. Every other sin that a man commits
is outside the body, but the immoral man sins
against his own body. And this is such an insightful
statement. We all know that all kinds of sin,
all sin stains us in some way. It all harms us.
But this particular sin of porneia has a unique
effect upon a person. It's because of how we're
designed and because our bodies are not just
physical things, but this type of sin, it scars
the soul within us. It scars us emotionally and
spiritually. And of course, porneia has the capability
of capturing us or enslaving us. And so we not
only flee away from the temptation, this is key,
we flee toward the Lord, right? We flee away
from the temptation. We flee toward safety. towards
the Lord who functions as our shelter. Both have
to happen. We flee away from the temptation.
We flee to the Lord. This is what Paul brings
out in Romans chapter six. We'll walk through
this briefly. He says, do not let sin reign.
That word's important. Reign in your mortal body
that you should obey its lusts. Don't let it
sit there within you ruling your affections and
your desires, okay? And do not go on presenting
the members of your body to sin as instruments
of unrighteousness. Did you catch that? Don't
keep presenting your bodies to sin. Stop putting
yourself in places and situations where you know
sin is crouching at the door and that it desires
to master you. Stop doing that. That is a choice
that we make. That is a series of choices that
we make each and every day. Do we put ourselves
in the path of what we know will lure us in?
Instead, he says, do this. Present yourselves
to God as those alive from the dead and your
members as instruments of righteousness. So I'm
not going to put myself on the path of sin. I'm
going to do the opposite. I'm going to intentionally
flee to the one who shelters me and strengthens
me to turn and repent. These are choices we make,
guys. And you've got to ask the question, well,
what is it I really want? Well, I want to be
pure. Okay. Amen and amen. Then make the choice
to stop presenting the members of your body to
sin and present them to the Lord. Make sense?
Okay, that's union with Christ. It matters. It
matters. Now, let's move on to doctrine number
two, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In case
you weren't convinced that your body being a
member of Christ is enough to turn away from
sin, Paul now piles this truth onto it. In case
you weren't convinced, check this out. Do you
not know that your body is a temple of the Holy
Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God?
This is the sixth time in this chapter that Paul
starts with, don't you know this? Haven't you
already been taught this? And what that tells
me is that as he's writing, and you picture Paul
writing, he's righteously angry and probably
quite frustrated at what he hears is happening
in Corinth. It's like, you've been taught this.
This is not brand new material. Don't you know
that this is true? Don't you know that when you
trusted in Christ for salvation, that the Spirit
of God was given to you as a gift? That's what
he says at the end of the verse. He says, the
Spirit whom you have from God. He's a gift to
you. And not only is he a gift, he is now in
you, he says, as a believer. He is working to
conform you to the image of Christ on the inside
of you. in your heart, in your mind, in your
soul, in your conscience. And if you still don't
understand how much God values your body, consider
this. God says, I have made your body a temple.
It's a temple. Now, Paul could have chosen another
word. He could have said your home. You know,
it's the Spirit's home or the Spirit's house
or the Spirit's residence, but he chooses the
term temple. Consider what a mind -blowing privilege
that is, that the creator of the universe not
only knows you, is that not enough? The creator
knows you, but now desires to abide in you and
to make your inner man a sacred place, to make
it a holy place where he is working. The creator,
the creator does that. The God of this expansive
universe knows you, wants to abide in you, and
says, your body is now my sacred space. Wow,
right? Is that not a source of worship? A couple
weeks ago, I posted on social media this very
simple but profound quote from John Calvin, which
says it beautifully. Calvin says, there's an
emphasis applied in the term temple. It is a
great honor. Think of it that way. What a great
honor that God has given us, that he wants to
dwell within you, to make your body his temple.
Now, can we talk about the metaphysical aspect
of what it means to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit?
True confession, when I was a young believer,
I wondered about this all the time. I actually...
I kept thinking, well, how does this work? The
Holy Spirit's within me and I couldn't picture
it and I couldn't piece it together. And then
the more I learned about the attributes of God,
the more that kind of language kind of stumped
me because God is spirit, right? He's spirit.
So obviously he doesn't indwell my body in a
physical or spatial sense, correct? So I started
thinking, wait, is he located somewhere between
my lung and my spleen? And I know sometimes children,
it's hard for them, but even as adults, we're
like, wait, what does that mean? I know that's
not true. So I understand the language that the
New Testament writers use. You have to start
here. You have to think about how does the Holy
Spirit work in our world? And he works in two
very distinct ways. Let me walk you through this.
First of all, he operates externally in a common,
non -saving way. And he does this among all of
humanity. Everyone who's found in Adam, there's
a common function of the Holy Spirit. The result
of his work in the world is what we call common
grace. And that's poured out upon all of humanity.
But the Holy Spirit has a very unique way of
working within God's elect. An internal, effectual,
which just means it always brings to pass what
it's designed to do. internal effectual saving
way among the elect. Those who are no longer
found in Adam, but are now found in Christ, right?
Those are the two kingdoms, right? Adam and Christ,
you know, light and darkness. So that's how he
works within us. In us, the Holy Spirit works
internally, taking a man who is dead in his sins
and bringing his heart to life. We call that
regeneration of the heart. then effectually drawing
that man to the beauty of Christ and the gospel,
and then giving him or her the gift of repentance
and faith so that they can turn to God and be
saved. We then come to him freely and willingly,
turning away from our sin, inclining ourselves
towards him because of God's grace, changing
our affections, and now we genuinely desire to
worship him, love him, and serve him with all
of our heart. That's the work the Spirit does
within us. And when we put our trust in Him at
the point of salvation, we are then justified
in God's sight, the blood of the Lamb now cleansing
us from all sin, and this is where the Holy Spirit
joins us to Christ. This is where we come into
union with Him. It is Christ Himself who now
lives in us by His Spirit. Make sense? And now
everything that belongs to Him is ours. His righteousness
is credited to our account. We become participants
in his death and his resurrection. We're adopted
as sons and daughters of God. We're made heirs
of God and fellow heirs with Christ. We are destined
to reign with him in glory, and now we have access
to the Father through him, our great high priest
and mediator. All of those things become ours
because we're united with Christ through the
Holy Spirit and the work that he has done within
us. to affectionately call us to himself. Wow.
That's all true. That is straight from scripture.
So when we talk about the indwelling today, him
making our body his temple, what we mean is this.
With us, his elect, the ones who he's called
into salvation, he's not just working externally
around us, he is now spiritually present within
us internally. Get this, he is now operating
directly on our hearts and minds. That's what
the indwelling is. He's directly operating on
our hearts and minds. Now, we have a part to
play in this, right? Because while salvation
is monergistic, a work of God alone, sanctification,
the maturing of the faith, is cooperative. That's
why Paul's saying you've got to focus on what
you do with your body. It matters because we
cooperate with the work the Spirit wants to do
in growing us once we're saved. So now the Spirit
is illuminating our minds. So that even right
now, we're understanding God's word. That's a
work of the spirit within you. Right now, he's
convicting us of ongoing sin and our need to
repent. Maybe that's already happened this morning,
as you've heard from his word. He's now reordering
our affections to love God more, to love one
another more. Maybe you've already felt that
this morning as you've sung songs to him, that
I love him more. The spirit is now gifting us
for the work of ministry. Look at all the hands
that have already served this morning. gifted
us by the Spirit in the work of ministry. He's
now producing in us the fruit that he desires
in our lives, conforming us to the image of Christ.
He is now producing new dispositions in us. He's
causing us to want to worship, to desire to pray,
to seek truth in God's word, to put sin to death,
to obey his commands, and so much more. That's
how God is indwelling us and operating directly
on our hearts. And we do these things freely
in greater measure as we grow in the faith. And
yet, are you ready for this? We do all those
things freely as we cooperate with the Spirit.
And yet, every spiritual good we produce in our
walk with Him is born out of His gracious work
in our lives. Now, you might have to listen to
this online or rewind all of that. But that's
fundamental aspects of the gospel right there.
What a gift we've been given in the Holy Spirit
within us, right? Amen? We didn't earn it. We
don't deserve it. The Spirit was a gift of grace
from the Father and the Son to us. And here's
the thing. Not only is it a great privilege that
the Spirit has come and made us His home, it
comes with a great responsibility. It comes with
a great responsibility. That's coming back to
Paul's big point. If the spirit of God has made
my inner being his sacred space, then what I
do with my body really matters. It really matters.
And we should be striving by the power that he
supplies us to make the state of our inner man
match the holy nature of the spirit who lives
within us. Amen? Okay, I know that's a lot. Aren't
you glad for this? Aren't you glad? Okay. Now,
before we go to our third doctrine, I want to
take just a quick rabbit trail and talk about
a sensitive subject, if you'll permit me. Just
a few thoughts. This is an issue that it's not
necessarily the main point of what Paul's saying,
but it's adjacent to it. So it's something I
want to talk about. We're about to read in verse
19 that our bodies are not our own. Have you
thought about the implications of that? Our bodies
are not our own. As Christians, we now belong
to the one who purchased us. As one of the responsibilities
that comes with that truth is the responsibility
we have to steward our bodies well. Okay? Remember,
a steward is one who is entrusted to care for
the property of his master. Adam talked about
it in the first catechism. So we're to treat
our bodies in a way that will make them as effective
as possible in the service of God and others.
Let me say that again. We're to treat our bodies
in a way that will make them as effective as
possible in the service of God and others. And
it's very difficult to do that if we are entangled
in habitual sin. And if we're mired in things
like pride and selfishness and envy and bitterness
and things of that nature. That's going to be
an obstacle to us doing effective ministry. But
the other thing I'd like to mention here If we
want to be available to serve God and other people
consistently, we need to steward the health of
our bodies. The health of our bodies. Now, this
is not a message about your diet. It's not a
message about how much you exercise or your weight
or whatever, because I realize that's complex
and there's a whole bunch of factors involved
in that, age and genetics and hormones and all
that. I only want to challenge you with this
thought. I want you to think about this issue
of stewarding the health of your body. If your
body is not your own, if it belongs to Christ
and we're to be good stewards, are there any
aspects of your lifestyle that you might consider
changing with the right purpose in mind? And
that matters, right? The motivation for why we
do what we do matters to God. So not changing
your lifestyle just to look better. That's not
the point, or to impress other people, or to
draw attention to yourself, but considering some
of your habits and lifestyle to increase your
joy and effectiveness in serving God and serving
others, both in your family and your church family.
And so ask the question, if I'm going to grow
in that, become more effective in that way, would
it help if I improve my diet? Would it help if
I was exercising more, if I wasn't just sitting
in front of a screen all day? Could you serve
God and others more effectively if you were feeling
stronger, both mentally and physically, if your
sleep were more consistent? And if so, should
you pray over making some changes? Perhaps ask
the Lord for clarity on this. Ask him for more
discipline, more self -control. I think when
we talk about this issue, there are two extremes
that are both sinful. On the one side, obsessing
over our bodies for all the wrong reasons, but
on the other side, ignoring it altogether, just
not caring about stewarding the gift of our bodies.
I think both of those things are problematic.
And by the way, just to ground this deeper in
Scripture, Paul does address this issue in several
places in 1 Corinthians 9. We'll get to it someday.
He'll talk about the bodily discipline of a runner
and how everyone who competes needs to grow in
self -control. In 1 Timothy 4, he talks about
godliness being profitable in every way, but
also bodily training being of some value. So
think of it this way. Think of the word fitness.
What do you want to be fit for in this life?
What's the purpose of it? For me personally,
I don't have a future as a fitness model. That's
not going to happen. And I'm not trying to impress
anybody but Tanny related to my body, how it
looks, right? That's all that matters. The rest
of you, whatever you think about my body, I don't
care. I'm sorry. But God and Tanny, I care about.
I just want to be fit enough to keep serving
God and fit enough to keep serving his people
at Oak Hill for as long as he allows me to do
that. And so I have to think about these things.
And boy, when you hit 60, you really got to start
thinking about these things. Like how long can
I keep working at this pace if I don't address
the health of my body, being a good steward of
it? So I can't ignore it. And I can't ignore
my habits that aren't leading to more effective
ministry. So I've got to look at all of those
things and keep asking the hard questions. I
just lay that before you. That's between you
and the Lord, but just to challenge you to consider
those things because don't we all wanna be more
effective in our ministry? Steward your bodies
well. Okay, let's examine our third essential
doctrine that we find here, the doctrine of redemption.
Go back to verse 19. We didn't finish that verse.
And let me just extend Paul's question. I'm gonna
hop over the truth about our bodies being a temple
of the Holy Spirit and finish his thought in
verse 19. He says, do you not know that you're
not your own? Verse 20, why? Because you've been
bought with a price. Do you not know that you
are not your own? That you were bought, if you're
found in Christ, you were bought with a price.
So three things flow out of this. I'm gonna give
you a list of them. Number one, that a ransom
price was paid in order to buy us out of the
marketplace. And I'll explain that in just a
moment. That's number one. Number two. The fact
that a price had to be paid implies that there
was some outstanding cost or debt that was once
attached to our lives. And number three, that
our new master, the one who bought us, has now
set us free from that debt that once held us
in bondage. Those are important principles. Now,
the Greek word for ransom, loutron, is found
three times in the New Testament, twice on the
lips of Jesus himself. In Matthew 20, 28 and
Mark 10, 45, Jesus says this about the purpose
of his incarnation. We know this verse, right?
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but
to serve and to give his life as a ransom for
many. Paul uses an extended form of the same
word in 1 Timothy 2, saying there is one God
and one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom. Paul
uses it again in Titus 2, identifying Jesus as
God. He says, That word redeem is the same root
that we talked about earlier of Lutron. Peter
also uses a form of the word in 1 Peter 1 saying,
like silver or gold from your futile way of life
inherited from your forefathers. Listen, but
you were redeemed with what? Precious blood,
a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of
Christ. And so in that verse, you see exactly
what ransom price was required to purchase you,
right? It couldn't have just been, well, somebody
wrote a really big check. There's not enough
material or perishable things in the world that
could purchase you, your soul, and your body.
It had to be something of infinite value. Have
you thought about the logic of this? How is it
possible that Christ purchased me? Well, he had
to pay a ransom that was of infinite value. The
precious blood of Christ. The precious blood
of the Son of God. That's all. That's the only
thing that could pay that ransom price. In Ephesians
1, 7, we read that in him, we have redemption
through his blood. We've been purchased by his
blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses. Revelation
5, we get this glimpse of a heavenly realms where
there's this lamb who's being worshiped in song.
And it says, worthy are you to take the book
and to break its seals for you were slain and
purchased for God with your blood, men from every
tribe and tongue and people and nation. The ransom
was paid. The redemption price. The purchase
price for your body and soul has been paid by
Christ. He bought us out of the marketplace of
slavery. How many of you guys have heard that
said before? We were purchased out of the marketplace
of slavery. The reason we talk about that is
because of the context and the language in the
original Greek. Let me explain this to you. The
word bought in our passage for today is agorazo.
And the root of that word is agora, which in
any ancient Greco -Roman town, the agora was
the central marketplace. It was that place in
the middle of the town where everybody sold their
wares, where the shops were set up. You could
go to the agora, to the marketplace, and you
could purchase anything, including a slave. Including
a slave. So the picture is that we were bought.
in the marketplace. We were in chains as a slave,
and Christ, our Savior, came and purchased us
out of that marketplace. Beautiful, beautiful
imagery. So that's probably what Paul has in
mind as he writes about this idea of being bought.
Now, in terms of the debt that's owed for sin,
we start, if you're going to talk about the debt
that's owed for our sin, we have to start with
God's judicial statement in Romans 6 .3. The
wages of sin is death. That's what we've earned
as sinners, right? Right? That's what we've earned.
We're guilty before the divine judge. We are
under the law's condemnation. And that means
there is a legal demand for payment that has
to be rendered in order for our record of debt
to be expunged, to be cleansed, to be washed
away. This is the judicial statement. Guys, the
wages of your sin is death. It's one of my favorite
questions. When I talk to unbelievers, it's one
of my favorite questions to ask them. Once you
get them to admit that they sin, you're like,
okay, well, how's that going to get dealt with?
You've earned something. You've earned death.
What's your remedy for that? Do you expect to
die, stand before God, and what, talk him into
just wiping that away? You owe a debt. So whatever
pays it, it's got to be infinite in value. in
order to secure your eternal soul. So, we see
the forensic or legal demand. Now get this, you
ready? Colossians chapter two. Paul says, when
you were dead in your transgressions and the
uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive
together with him. Wait, he did that. He made
you alive. having forgiven us all our transgressions,
here it is, having canceled out the certificate
of debt consisting of decrees against us that
were hostile to us, and he has taken it out of
the way, having nailed it to the cross. Ransom
paid, redemptive price paid, debt canceled out.
Do you see the beauty of this language? It's
found all over the New Testament. This is the
doctrine of redemption. What a powerful passage
Colossians 2. Prior to being covered by the blood
of Christ, there was this decree that stood against
us, a binding ordinance that had to be canceled
out if we were ever gonna be free. It's important
to recognize that God hasn't canceled out our
debt and justified us just by some arbitrary
declaration. This is one of the accusations that's
often made towards Protestants. You're telling
us God just, even though you're still a sinner,
he just looks at you and arbitrarily says, oh,
I don't see you as a sinner anymore. No, it's
not arbitrary. Christ bore the judgment on the
cross. He fulfilled the law's demands for us.
He gave his life as the ransom, the purchase
price for us. It was his blood. It's not an arbitrary
thing that God has done. It's rooted in Christ's
sacrifice. Amen moment? Right? And now believers
are set free. The chains of slavery fall off.
We now belong to God and our bodies are under
his lordship. Friends, this is a revelation that
should put your jaw on the floor and cause you
to worship like never before. The things that
God has done for us in Christ and in the spirit
is jaw -dropping. Motivated by love, God the
Son, voluntarily condescended to take on flesh
and live as a man in the midst of this fallen
world, to live and to willingly suffer through
life as we do in order to sympathize with our
weaknesses. Then he gave his body over to execution
at the hands of the very beings he created. And
through his brutal death, he purchased your body
for his own possession. You talk about value
of your body. Could it get higher than that?
What a costly price God paid to make you his
own. What a costly price. And now by a sovereign
choice and lavish grace, you belong to him. You
are not your own, Paul says. Let that sink in.
Again, you can't say, well, you know what? I
want to be found in Christ, but I still want
to do my own thing. You are not your own anymore.
And again, revealing this mind -blowing truth
has a purpose. Now that you know that your body
belongs to Christ and that his spirit is in you,
you can no longer live as you please. That is
the big point here in this chapter. You can no
longer live as you please. The Lord is for your
body and your body is for the Lord. Therefore,
do not pollute what belongs to him. You with
me? And then Paul finishes the chapter with this
very short, very simple summary statement. Verse
20, therefore glorify God. In your body. Is that
not the only logical and proper response to the
beauty of what he said? Is that not logical and
proper in all of your thoughts, choices, decisions,
and actions that involve your body? Glorify God.
Seek his honor above all else. Seek his honor.
As one author put it, and I love this statement,
let your body be a doxology in response to so
great a salvation. I wanna close out this morning
by returning to our call to worship passage from
earlier, from Colossians 3. Maybe just consider
bowing your head and maybe closing your eyes
and focus your attention on the beauty of what
God has said in this passage. Let it be a challenge
to you, but also a great encouragement. Let's
bow our heads. I'm just gonna read it to you.
If then you've been raised with Christ, Seek
the things that are above, where Christ is, seated
at the right hand of God. Can you picture that?
If you've been raised with Christ, seek the things
that are above, where Christ is, seated at the
right hand of God. Set your minds on things that
are above, not on things that are on the earth,
for you have died, and your life is hidden with
Christ in God. Do you believe that? And when
Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also
will appear with him in glory. Can you imagine
how amazing that will be? And so then how should
we respond? Put to death, therefore, what is
earthly in you. Sexual immorality, impurity,
passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is
idolatry. On account of these things, the wrath
of God is coming. In these, you too once walked
when you were living in them. Praise God that
we've been transformed by his grace. Amen? Let's
now use our bodies in a way that honors him.
Father, thank you for... our time in the word
this morning. Lord, thank you for the power of
these three doctrines that we are united with
you, that your spirit indwells us, and that you
have paid a great redemptive price to purchase
our bodies and souls. Thank you, Lord. Thank
you, Lord Jesus. Thank you for all that you have
done for us. Thank you, Holy Spirit, that you
are within us, that you are working on us, on
the inner man. We just pray. Pray, Lord, that
we would continue to yield to the work that you
want to do in us and that you would conform us
more and more to the image of Christ as the days
go on. Thank you again for our time together.
We love you. We praise you in the name of Christ.
Amen.