WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.180 Thank you. We're turning our Bibles together 00:00:03.180 --> 00:00:06.540 to 1 Corinthians chapter 6 this morning. And 00:00:06.540 --> 00:00:12.560 think about your body, God's temple. It might 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:14.699 be good for you to visualize the city of Corinth, 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:18.120 located on the plain south of the, or east of 00:00:18.120 --> 00:00:21.359 the city of Athens. A place that for hundreds 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:27.820 of years was really a rival of Athens. Corinth 00:00:27.820 --> 00:00:31.120 was an ancient city. At the time that Paul walked 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:34.399 upon those streets, the city of Corinth was more 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:38.539 than a thousand years old. And yet the Romans 00:00:38.539 --> 00:00:41.039 had destroyed the city and it had been basically 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:43.719 rebuilt about a hundred years before. It was 00:00:43.719 --> 00:00:47.079 a city that was fabulous in its architecture 00:00:47.079 --> 00:00:51.359 and its engineering. It was also well known for 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:56.679 its many temples. One to the god Apollo has been 00:00:56.679 --> 00:00:59.530 restored somewhat today in the city of... Corinth, 00:01:00.250 --> 00:01:02.369 which was destroyed, by the way, at an earthquake 00:01:02.369 --> 00:01:09.870 about 150 years ago. Above the plain of Corinth, 00:01:09.890 --> 00:01:13.390 however, there is a mountain that's 2 ,000 feet 00:01:13.390 --> 00:01:18.810 high. It's a rocky, jucking kind of a mountain, 00:01:19.349 --> 00:01:21.829 and on the top of that mountain, in Paul's day, 00:01:21.870 --> 00:01:24.430 there was a temple to the goddess Aphrodite, 00:01:24.569 --> 00:01:29.019 or Venus. The goddess of... sensual pleasure. 00:01:31.079 --> 00:01:33.480 Up there on that mountain there were at least 00:01:33.480 --> 00:01:38.219 a thousand priestesses who, as part of the temple 00:01:38.219 --> 00:01:41.680 worship, gave their bodies as prostitutes in 00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:45.060 the name of Venus to the men of the city of Corinth. 00:01:46.120 --> 00:01:48.200 When they would come walking down in the city 00:01:48.200 --> 00:01:51.959 itself, it is said that they would wear sandals 00:01:51.959 --> 00:01:54.900 with left imprints in the sand of the city that 00:01:54.900 --> 00:02:01.730 said, follow me. and many of them did. It was 00:02:01.730 --> 00:02:03.950 through a city like this that was sophisticated, 00:02:04.930 --> 00:02:08.729 beautiful, wicked, that the Apostle Paul and 00:02:08.729 --> 00:02:11.250 his party arrived to preach the gospel of Jesus 00:02:11.250 --> 00:02:13.409 Christ, and some of the Corinthians believed, 00:02:13.509 --> 00:02:18.210 as we know. The old way of life for those people, 00:02:18.289 --> 00:02:22.710 however, was hard to leave. And apparently some 00:02:22.710 --> 00:02:25.050 of them were being tempted to go back to the 00:02:25.050 --> 00:02:29.729 old ways of worshipping through prostitution. 00:02:31.389 --> 00:02:34.389 And so the Apostle Paul writes about their attitudes 00:02:34.389 --> 00:02:37.370 toward immorality. He wants them to know that 00:02:37.370 --> 00:02:41.270 a Christian is a distinctive person in the midst 00:02:41.270 --> 00:02:46.289 of a corrupt culture. A Christian is a holy person. 00:02:47.110 --> 00:02:50.610 And because of that, the body of a Christian 00:02:50.610 --> 00:02:55.189 is God's temple. It is God's dwelling place. 00:02:56.360 --> 00:02:58.800 That's what Paul essentially says in the text 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:00.800 we're looking at this morning beginning in verse 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:03.680 12 through the end of the chapter It is that 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:06.620 the body of a Christian is God's holy temple 00:03:06.620 --> 00:03:12.699 and should be treated as such In verse 12 the 00:03:12.699 --> 00:03:15.400 Apostle lays down some principles regarding your 00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:20.020 body in the way that you use it He says all things 00:03:20.020 --> 00:03:23.039 are lawful for me, but not all things are possible 00:03:23.479 --> 00:03:26.400 All things are lawful for me, but I will not 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:31.819 be mastered by anything." That phrase, all things 00:03:31.819 --> 00:03:37.460 are lawful for me, apparently was a common statement 00:03:37.460 --> 00:03:40.840 made in the Church of Corinth. They were saying, 00:03:40.900 --> 00:03:45.020 well, there are no laws. I am free in Jesus Christ. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:49.840 His grace has forgiven me of my sins. All things 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:54.319 are lawful for me. They had apparently heard 00:03:54.319 --> 00:03:57.080 the message of God's grace through Paul, but 00:03:57.080 --> 00:04:00.919 they were now at the point of abusing that message 00:04:00.919 --> 00:04:05.939 by going too far in it, so that instead of giving 00:04:05.939 --> 00:04:09.979 them freedom, they were getting from it license 00:04:09.979 --> 00:04:15.919 for sin. All things are lawful for me. Paul gives 00:04:15.919 --> 00:04:19.220 the first principle when he says, not all things 00:04:19.220 --> 00:04:23.199 are possible. That is, not all things give advantage. 00:04:23.879 --> 00:04:30.040 Not all things bring benefit with them. Paul 00:04:30.040 --> 00:04:33.360 does not deny that God has given to us in our 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:37.339 physical body certain appetites. He mentions 00:04:37.339 --> 00:04:40.920 two of them here in our text. One of them being 00:04:40.920 --> 00:04:44.259 the appetite to eat. That is a blessing to be 00:04:44.259 --> 00:04:46.560 able to have appetite, isn't it? If you've ever 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:48.860 been sick or been on some sort of medication 00:04:48.860 --> 00:04:51.879 that has... taken away your appetite, you know 00:04:51.879 --> 00:04:55.319 what a blessing it is to be hungry, and then 00:04:55.319 --> 00:04:59.459 to be able to satisfy that hunger. God has made 00:04:59.459 --> 00:05:04.839 our bodies so that we, several times a day, sometimes 00:05:04.839 --> 00:05:11.180 too often, since we have this need to eat. And 00:05:11.180 --> 00:05:13.980 the apostle neither denies that God has given 00:05:13.980 --> 00:05:17.420 to our bodies the need for sexual intimacy and 00:05:17.420 --> 00:05:23.180 fulfillment. Sex is God's idea. It is holy. It 00:05:23.180 --> 00:05:26.980 is good in His eyes. It is clean in His eyes. 00:05:29.019 --> 00:05:33.360 Our bodies also have a need for sleep. Our bodies 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:36.160 have a need for exercise. God has given our bodies 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:39.560 these needs. There's nothing wrong with them. 00:05:40.920 --> 00:05:45.339 But sin can take these appetites and twist them 00:05:45.339 --> 00:05:50.060 for evil. so that our need for sexual intimacy 00:05:50.060 --> 00:05:55.779 can become immorality, and our need for food 00:05:55.779 --> 00:06:00.639 can become gluttony, and our need for sleep can 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:05.540 become laziness. Our need for exercise can be 00:06:05.540 --> 00:06:08.800 overdone to the point that we neglect the spiritual 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:14.079 part of us. The apostle is saying here, yes, 00:06:14.079 --> 00:06:16.819 it may be true that in Jesus Christ you are free. 00:06:17.420 --> 00:06:21.220 from the law of God But he says I remind you 00:06:21.220 --> 00:06:23.339 of something not everything that you might be 00:06:23.339 --> 00:06:25.459 free to do is profitable And you need to think 00:06:25.459 --> 00:06:31.259 about that Does it bring any advantage to you 00:06:31.259 --> 00:06:34.459 or to others this activity that you say you are 00:06:34.459 --> 00:06:39.939 free to do? Secondly he says there's the principle 00:06:39.939 --> 00:06:45.209 of enslavement He says, will the thing that you 00:06:45.209 --> 00:06:48.589 say you are free to do cause you to be mastered? 00:06:50.310 --> 00:06:54.910 Will it put you into bondage to something? He 00:06:54.910 --> 00:06:56.649 says, you may be free, but you need to think 00:06:56.649 --> 00:06:59.709 about your liberty, because your liberty can 00:06:59.709 --> 00:07:05.730 make you a slave. So he says to us and to the 00:07:05.730 --> 00:07:08.290 Corinthians, here are some principles regarding 00:07:08.290 --> 00:07:11.769 the use of your body. He says, yes, there's a 00:07:11.769 --> 00:07:14.689 wonderful liberty that is in Jesus Christ, but 00:07:14.689 --> 00:07:17.829 Christian liberty does not mean doing what pleases 00:07:17.829 --> 00:07:23.389 you. It means doing what pleases Christ. And 00:07:23.389 --> 00:07:28.550 there's a big difference, a big difference. He 00:07:28.550 --> 00:07:31.310 goes on in verses 13 through 16 to tell us a 00:07:31.310 --> 00:07:36.129 bit about the purpose of your body. He says, 00:07:36.490 --> 00:07:40.009 God has not only raised, excuse me, verse 13, 00:07:40.250 --> 00:07:43.189 Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for 00:07:43.189 --> 00:07:46.810 food, but God will do away with both of them. 00:07:47.209 --> 00:07:51.110 Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the 00:07:51.110 --> 00:07:54.930 Lord, and the Lord is for the body. Now God has 00:07:54.930 --> 00:07:58.870 not only raised the Lord, but will also raise 00:07:58.870 --> 00:08:03.490 us up through his power. Do you not know that 00:08:03.490 --> 00:08:08.029 your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then 00:08:08.220 --> 00:08:11.079 take away the members of Christ and make them 00:08:11.079 --> 00:08:15.860 members of a harlot? May it never be. Or do you 00:08:15.860 --> 00:08:18.839 not know that the one who joins himself to a 00:08:18.839 --> 00:08:23.779 harlot is one body with her? For he says, God 00:08:23.779 --> 00:08:28.839 says, the two shall become one flesh. As the 00:08:28.839 --> 00:08:31.480 apostle writes about the purpose of the body, 00:08:32.440 --> 00:08:36.000 he says in the first place that the body is not 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:40.690 for abuse. It is not for abuse. It is not, for 00:08:40.690 --> 00:08:44.769 example, for gluttony. Yes, the body was made 00:08:44.769 --> 00:08:49.870 to eat. It needs to nourish itself through eating. 00:08:50.889 --> 00:08:54.269 But it was not made to indulge yourself to the 00:08:54.269 --> 00:08:59.429 point of sinning by what you eat. The body was 00:08:59.429 --> 00:09:04.259 not made for abuse of gluttony. He reminds us 00:09:04.259 --> 00:09:07.240 that both the stomach and the food will one day 00:09:07.240 --> 00:09:11.480 be of no use, for they are temporal, they are 00:09:11.480 --> 00:09:17.919 transitory, they belong to this world. Secondly, 00:09:17.980 --> 00:09:21.559 he says that the body is not for the abuse of 00:09:21.559 --> 00:09:26.639 immorality. Yes, sex is part of what is natural 00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:30.779 to the body, but it is not to be indulged in 00:09:30.779 --> 00:09:35.990 in a sinful manner. An expression of gratifying 00:09:35.990 --> 00:09:39.730 the sexual appetite of your body outside of God's 00:09:39.730 --> 00:09:44.429 precepts is sinful. And as I said earlier, there 00:09:44.429 --> 00:09:48.129 were some Corinthians who felt apparently that 00:09:48.129 --> 00:09:52.230 it was a natural appetite, like food, and therefore 00:09:52.230 --> 00:09:56.470 it was made to be satisfied. And the way to do 00:09:56.470 --> 00:10:02.100 it was through prostitution. Paul says that is 00:10:02.100 --> 00:10:04.980 abuse of the temple that is abuse of the body 00:10:04.980 --> 00:10:07.980 He says actually the purpose of the body is for 00:10:07.980 --> 00:10:12.360 the Lord He says the body is in the first place 00:10:12.360 --> 00:10:17.960 an instrument for his youth in the verse 13 The 00:10:17.960 --> 00:10:22.820 body is for the Lord and the Lord for the body 00:10:22.820 --> 00:10:27.519 He says believers God has given you your body 00:10:27.519 --> 00:10:33.730 that he might use that in accomplishing His purposes 00:10:33.730 --> 00:10:38.769 in the world. He is for your body, and your body 00:10:38.769 --> 00:10:43.309 is for Him. It is for His use. Secondly, he says, 00:10:43.509 --> 00:10:49.169 your body is permanently claimed by God. Just 00:10:49.169 --> 00:10:52.929 as God raised our Lord from the dead, so one 00:10:52.929 --> 00:10:56.750 day He will raise you and your body from the 00:10:56.750 --> 00:11:01.820 dead. Your body, is an eternal part of who you 00:11:01.820 --> 00:11:07.299 are. For you to exist for eternity without a 00:11:07.299 --> 00:11:10.080 body is for you to be something less than human. 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:15.379 Because God has created us material and immaterial. 00:11:16.740 --> 00:11:21.899 He says just as Jesus was raised materially from 00:11:21.899 --> 00:11:25.379 the grave, how be it in a glorified material 00:11:25.379 --> 00:11:29.710 body. So you one day also will have a body like 00:11:29.710 --> 00:11:34.230 his. In saying this, Paul is showing us that 00:11:34.230 --> 00:11:37.990 the resurrection places a high value on the body. 00:11:39.149 --> 00:11:41.470 The Corinthians were thinking the body was unimportant. 00:11:41.509 --> 00:11:44.029 They were perhaps affected by the Gnostic kind 00:11:44.029 --> 00:11:48.149 of teaching that came to maturity later, which 00:11:48.149 --> 00:11:51.850 said that the body is sinful. What you do with 00:11:51.850 --> 00:11:55.710 the body is unimportant. It's insignificant. 00:11:56.039 --> 00:11:58.580 What's really important is the immaterial, the 00:11:58.580 --> 00:12:01.639 spiritual part of you. To do with your body what 00:12:01.639 --> 00:12:04.820 you want to do with it, it's the immaterial part 00:12:04.820 --> 00:12:09.899 that counts. Paul is denying that. He says your 00:12:09.899 --> 00:12:12.740 body has high value as far as God is concerned, 00:12:12.759 --> 00:12:15.259 and you're going to live forever in your body, 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:20.700 in its resurrected state. Then thirdly, he says 00:12:20.700 --> 00:12:23.659 your body is joined with Christ, verses 15 and 00:12:23.659 --> 00:12:28.370 16. It says, you have made it members of Christ. 00:12:29.590 --> 00:12:32.870 Therefore, to join your body with a prostitute 00:12:32.870 --> 00:12:39.190 or in immoral behavior is absolutely unthinkable. 00:12:40.389 --> 00:12:46.649 It is unthinkable. It is the abuse of your body 00:12:46.649 --> 00:12:51.570 to treat it in that way. It is outside the boundary 00:12:51.570 --> 00:12:54.730 of the Christian liberty that you are boasting 00:12:54.730 --> 00:12:59.740 in. To abuse your body in that way dishonors 00:12:59.740 --> 00:13:03.379 the Lord, he says. For whatever you do in your 00:13:03.379 --> 00:13:11.279 body affects the Savior. Keep that in mind. And 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:14.440 so he gives them some understanding of God's 00:13:14.440 --> 00:13:17.240 purpose for the body. It's for the Lord's use 00:13:17.240 --> 00:13:21.659 that has an eternal purpose, and the Lord dwells 00:13:21.659 --> 00:13:24.580 in your body, and he joins himself with your 00:13:24.580 --> 00:13:29.149 body. That brings him then to verses 17 through 00:13:29.149 --> 00:13:31.610 20 where he gives some pronouncements regarding 00:13:31.610 --> 00:13:36.610 the body. Essentially he says here it is impossible 00:13:36.610 --> 00:13:43.070 for you to commit some immoral act without grieving 00:13:43.070 --> 00:13:49.029 Jesus Christ. He says, but the one who joins 00:13:49.029 --> 00:13:55.350 himself to the Lord is one spirit with him. One 00:13:55.350 --> 00:13:59.659 of the most clear articulations in the whole 00:13:59.659 --> 00:14:02.919 New Testament of the union that we have with 00:14:02.919 --> 00:14:07.639 Jesus Christ. The one who joins himself to the 00:14:07.639 --> 00:14:11.379 Lord, that is, in faith receiving him, is made 00:14:11.379 --> 00:14:15.159 one spirit with him. So that does not mean that 00:14:15.159 --> 00:14:18.059 we become gods or that we share in his deity 00:14:18.059 --> 00:14:21.980 at all. But it does mean that there is a marvelous, 00:14:21.980 --> 00:14:25.179 mystical, spiritual union that takes place with 00:14:25.179 --> 00:14:28.580 us in Jesus Christ. So that it nearly becomes 00:14:28.580 --> 00:14:31.539 impossible to discern where the believer ends 00:14:31.539 --> 00:14:35.659 and Christ begins. We are one in spirit with 00:14:35.659 --> 00:14:41.200 him. Therefore, he says, flee immorality. Every 00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:45.899 sin that a man commits is outside the body. But 00:14:45.899 --> 00:14:49.279 the immoral man sins against his own body, or 00:14:49.279 --> 00:14:51.639 do you not know that your body is a temple of 00:14:51.639 --> 00:14:55.139 the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have 00:14:55.139 --> 00:14:58.039 from God, and that you are not your own? For 00:14:58.039 --> 00:15:00.740 you have been bought with a price, therefore 00:15:00.740 --> 00:15:07.059 glorify God in your body." There are two pronouncements 00:15:07.059 --> 00:15:10.240 that stand out in this text. The first one is 00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:14.149 that you and I are to flee immorality. Paul puts 00:15:14.149 --> 00:15:16.909 this in the present tense, so he's actually saying, 00:15:16.909 --> 00:15:22.490 continually flee from it. Make it your constant 00:15:22.490 --> 00:15:26.970 vigilance to be on guard against immorality and 00:15:26.970 --> 00:15:34.289 flee, get away from it. The body is not a vehicle 00:15:34.289 --> 00:15:38.470 for merely personal pleasure, says Paul. It is 00:15:38.470 --> 00:15:42.009 a vessel for Christ's use. We are one in spirit 00:15:42.009 --> 00:15:46.389 with him. Therefore, immoral acts are not only 00:15:46.389 --> 00:15:49.830 against yourself and your body, but against God, 00:15:50.769 --> 00:15:55.970 and it leads to dissipation. Proverbs, of course, 00:15:56.149 --> 00:15:59.629 warns about this, doesn't it? In those early 00:15:59.629 --> 00:16:03.110 chapters of Proverbs, it warns about going into 00:16:03.110 --> 00:16:06.850 immorality and what it does to destroy the life 00:16:06.850 --> 00:16:10.929 of a man, or the life of a woman, for that matter. 00:16:11.639 --> 00:16:15.399 So Paul says, let it be your continuous attitude 00:16:15.399 --> 00:16:20.059 and habit of life to flee from immoral things. 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:26.320 That is when temptation presents itself, not 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:32.899 to play with it. For you and me to look at temptation 00:16:32.899 --> 00:16:35.960 and to think about what we're going to do is 00:16:35.960 --> 00:16:38.840 like standing in quicksand and trying to decide 00:16:38.840 --> 00:16:43.799 if we should get out of it or not. Because the 00:16:43.799 --> 00:16:46.580 longer that we stand there, the more deeply we 00:16:46.580 --> 00:16:50.179 become admired in it. And so it is with temptation. 00:16:51.620 --> 00:16:54.179 The longer that you and I look at it and think 00:16:54.179 --> 00:17:00.759 about it, the more in danger we are of falling 00:17:00.759 --> 00:17:05.539 into it. And so the apostle says, immediately, 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:10.579 flee from temptation. Get away from it. Charles 00:17:10.579 --> 00:17:14.829 Swindoll writes. Do not try to coexist peacefully 00:17:14.829 --> 00:17:18.230 with temptation. If you are weakened by certain 00:17:18.230 --> 00:17:21.230 kinds of music, you are playing into the hands 00:17:21.230 --> 00:17:24.430 of Satan himself to listen to it. If you're weakened 00:17:24.430 --> 00:17:27.349 by certain pictures that bring before your eyes 00:17:27.349 --> 00:17:30.470 things that build desires within you that you 00:17:30.470 --> 00:17:34.109 can't handle, then you're not counteracting sin 00:17:34.109 --> 00:17:37.490 and temptation. You're tolerating it. You're 00:17:37.490 --> 00:17:41.819 fertilizing it. You're prompting it. If the newsstand 00:17:41.819 --> 00:17:44.180 is something you can't handle, stay away from 00:17:44.180 --> 00:17:47.579 it. Quit clucking your tongue and shaking your 00:17:47.579 --> 00:17:51.259 head as you linger over the pages. If you're 00:17:51.259 --> 00:17:53.839 weakened by relationships with certain people, 00:17:54.119 --> 00:17:59.440 abstain from them. Then he writes, there is a 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:03.119 word for those folks who linger and try to reason 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:13.440 with lust. That word is victim. This is practical 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:17.759 advice, folks. You and I live in a day when this 00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:21.259 stuff is not just on a hilltop outside our city. 00:18:21.960 --> 00:18:26.440 It's in our homes. You can't pick up a newspaper 00:18:26.440 --> 00:18:29.500 or a magazine or watch a television program without 00:18:29.500 --> 00:18:36.359 it being thrown directly in your face. You say, 00:18:36.519 --> 00:18:38.519 will you saying cancel your newspaper subscription? 00:18:40.289 --> 00:18:43.910 Take your TV out of the house. I'm not going 00:18:43.910 --> 00:18:46.410 to tell you what to do. I'm just telling you 00:18:46.410 --> 00:18:50.250 that the scripture says, please, for the morality. 00:18:52.170 --> 00:18:53.990 And if there are things in your life that you 00:18:53.990 --> 00:18:57.109 can't handle, you must stay away from those things 00:18:57.109 --> 00:19:01.769 so that you can obey the Word of God. Now there's 00:19:01.769 --> 00:19:03.630 a second pronouncement that's very practical 00:19:03.630 --> 00:19:09.130 regarding our body. It is this, glorify God in 00:19:09.130 --> 00:19:13.619 your body. Glorify God in your body. They had 00:19:13.619 --> 00:19:15.900 the idea that they were glorifying Venus when 00:19:15.900 --> 00:19:18.579 they would go up to that hilltop and join themselves 00:19:18.579 --> 00:19:22.559 to a prostitute. That was part of their religious 00:19:22.559 --> 00:19:28.220 act of obeisance to this goddess Aphrodite. Paul 00:19:28.220 --> 00:19:32.660 says, no, glorify God, the creator God in your 00:19:32.660 --> 00:19:37.700 body. There are three reasons to do that. I'm 00:19:37.700 --> 00:19:40.240 going to give them in reverse order. as he puts 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:43.420 them in the text. The first reason is that he 00:19:43.420 --> 00:19:48.619 has bought your body. The verb here is in such 00:19:48.619 --> 00:19:51.980 a tense that it points back to one act in which 00:19:51.980 --> 00:19:56.259 your body was purchased. And of course that one 00:19:56.259 --> 00:19:59.440 act can be nothing else than what we observed 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:02.880 this morning, the cross work of our Lord Jesus 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:10.289 Christ. It is through His precious blood shed 00:20:10.289 --> 00:20:15.329 on that cross that He offered the price for our 00:20:15.329 --> 00:20:19.710 bodies. He has bought them. Therefore, we are 00:20:19.710 --> 00:20:24.730 obligated to glorify God in our bodies. We're 00:20:24.730 --> 00:20:30.849 not to harm our bodies. We're not to sell our 00:20:30.849 --> 00:20:37.500 bodies. We're not to waste our bodies. We are 00:20:37.500 --> 00:20:42.740 not to indulge or serve our bodies either. For 00:20:42.740 --> 00:20:47.039 our bodies belong to another master who owns 00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:51.019 them. The second reason that He tells us that 00:20:51.019 --> 00:20:54.579 we are to glorify God in our bodies is that He 00:20:54.579 --> 00:20:58.720 has placed His Spirit within our bodies. Do you 00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:00.900 not know that your body is a temple of the Holy 00:21:00.900 --> 00:21:06.140 Spirit who is in you? He tells us in Romans that 00:21:06.140 --> 00:21:08.960 if the Holy Spirit be not in us, then we do not 00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:14.079 belong to Christ. The Holy Spirit lives in our 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:19.859 bodies. Do we understand that? Do we grasp that 00:21:19.859 --> 00:21:22.319 no matter where we are, what we're doing day 00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:26.680 or night, public or private, that the Holy Spirit 00:21:26.680 --> 00:21:36.299 resides right here, inside of us? If that grips 00:21:36.299 --> 00:21:39.579 our hearts, how can we do anything other than 00:21:39.579 --> 00:21:43.299 to remember our bodies are for the glorification 00:21:43.299 --> 00:21:51.900 of God, not for selfish pleasure? The third reason 00:21:51.900 --> 00:21:55.059 he tells us we are to glorify God is that he 00:21:55.059 --> 00:21:59.799 has made our bodies his temple. The Holy Spirit 00:21:59.799 --> 00:22:06.339 is in you. You're his temple, he says. This is 00:22:06.339 --> 00:22:09.099 in contrast, of course, the temple of Aphrodite 00:22:09.099 --> 00:22:13.220 on the mountain. There was where Aphrodite dwelt, 00:22:13.400 --> 00:22:16.779 according to their mythology. Paul says, oh no, 00:22:16.799 --> 00:22:20.819 God is not somewhere else. God is in his temple, 00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:26.480 which is you. That temple was made of a beautiful 00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:31.279 marble, and it stood there for centuries at times. 00:22:31.880 --> 00:22:36.279 God rather chooses to dwell in temples of flesh, 00:22:38.099 --> 00:22:42.220 our bodies. Indeed, He says that our bodies have 00:22:42.220 --> 00:22:45.759 become like the Holy of Holies of the Old Testament, 00:22:46.519 --> 00:22:51.420 that place where God was pleased to reveal Himself 00:22:51.420 --> 00:22:56.339 in His Shakaena glory, that innermost part of 00:22:56.339 --> 00:23:00.099 the temple. He says, that's what you have now 00:23:00.099 --> 00:23:04.720 become. One writer has said the Holy Spirit does 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:08.500 not choose to abide in temples of marble or granite, 00:23:08.700 --> 00:23:12.640 but in bodies of flesh. Through them he can reveal 00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:16.220 his person and power and convey his message to 00:23:16.220 --> 00:23:19.940 men. Each Christian can become a channel through 00:23:19.940 --> 00:23:22.819 whom the Holy Spirit can express some aspects 00:23:22.819 --> 00:23:26.940 of his message to the world. To defile the body 00:23:26.940 --> 00:23:31.369 is therefore sacrilege for a Christian. because 00:23:31.369 --> 00:23:34.869 in defiling his body he is desecrating God's 00:23:34.869 --> 00:23:40.490 temple. Keeping God's dwellings holy is a prime 00:23:40.490 --> 00:23:47.769 motive for purity. Glorify God, he says, in your 00:23:47.769 --> 00:23:54.210 body. In conclusion, in closing, there are just 00:23:54.210 --> 00:23:57.750 three things that I want to say regarding this 00:23:57.750 --> 00:24:01.230 text and how it applies to our lives. The first 00:24:01.230 --> 00:24:07.170 is this, your body is sacred. Treat it accordingly. 00:24:10.690 --> 00:24:13.690 You see it matters to you and it matters to God 00:24:13.690 --> 00:24:21.329 how you dress it. In a day of near nakedness 00:24:21.329 --> 00:24:26.150 in our nation and in much of western culture, 00:24:27.269 --> 00:24:29.829 in certain seasons of the year and certain activities, 00:24:30.859 --> 00:24:34.079 It is important for you and me to remind ourselves 00:24:34.079 --> 00:24:38.299 that our bodies are sacred. It matters how we 00:24:38.299 --> 00:24:43.960 dress them. It matters how we eat, what we eat, 00:24:44.039 --> 00:24:51.460 how much we eat. It matters. It matters how much 00:24:51.460 --> 00:24:55.940 we exercise, whether we keep the temple of God 00:24:55.940 --> 00:25:02.960 fit and in good shape. not to assess, but in 00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:07.119 a balanced way. Our bodies are sacred. We should 00:25:07.119 --> 00:25:13.019 treat them accordingly. Remember that, will you? 00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:19.099 There's a second thing I'd like to say in closing, 00:25:19.140 --> 00:25:22.660 and that is your moral standard as a Christian 00:25:22.660 --> 00:25:25.460 must come from the character of the Eternal God 00:25:25.460 --> 00:25:31.029 and not from popular culture. Because we live 00:25:31.029 --> 00:25:35.869 in a Corinthian culture. We live in a day when 00:25:35.869 --> 00:25:38.349 it doesn't make any difference what you do with 00:25:38.349 --> 00:25:46.049 your body. It is just there as a toy. Your body 00:25:46.049 --> 00:25:48.430 is something that gives you sensual pleasure, 00:25:48.730 --> 00:25:56.150 whatever gives you jolly. That's unbiblical. 00:25:57.089 --> 00:26:00.990 That is our cultural ethic. that God has so much 00:26:00.990 --> 00:26:03.250 more to say about the importance of the body. 00:26:04.490 --> 00:26:07.250 The moral standards that you and I have must 00:26:07.250 --> 00:26:12.849 never come from television. The moral standards 00:26:12.849 --> 00:26:15.289 that we have must never come from the editorial 00:26:15.289 --> 00:26:20.230 pages of the newspaper. The moral standards that 00:26:20.230 --> 00:26:22.930 we have in our lives must come from the Bible 00:26:22.930 --> 00:26:26.609 and from the very character of the eternal God 00:26:26.609 --> 00:26:32.410 himself. And in closing thirdly, I'd like to 00:26:32.410 --> 00:26:36.609 say that the Holy Spirit dwells in you to help 00:26:36.609 --> 00:26:41.390 with temptation. We know that our bodies are 00:26:41.390 --> 00:26:43.569 the temples of the Holy Spirit, but I tell you 00:26:43.569 --> 00:26:47.210 something, temptation is strong. And when the 00:26:47.210 --> 00:26:50.710 temptation of our own lust is reinforced and 00:26:50.710 --> 00:26:55.089 fed by the culture around us, it is extremely 00:26:55.089 --> 00:26:59.039 difficult to deal with temptation. But we are 00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:06.279 not the victims of lust. We are not the victims 00:27:06.279 --> 00:27:11.660 of sensual pleasure. We have the Holy Spirit 00:27:11.660 --> 00:27:17.339 within us to enable us to resist temptation and 00:27:17.339 --> 00:27:21.880 to flee from it. I think the best illustration 00:27:21.880 --> 00:27:24.039 I've ever heard of it is the illustration of 00:27:24.039 --> 00:27:28.480 power steering. that as you and I, with our will, 00:27:28.759 --> 00:27:33.500 choose to obey God and turn the wheel, the Holy 00:27:33.500 --> 00:27:36.579 Spirit -like power steering comes along to assist 00:27:36.579 --> 00:27:42.640 us so that we can do that. But it begins with 00:27:42.640 --> 00:27:49.039 you and me making the decision to obey God. And 00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:52.559 as we do that, the Holy Spirit is there to be 00:27:52.559 --> 00:27:57.339 our power assistant. to take us in the right 00:27:57.339 --> 00:28:02.319 direction. One day a man in the ministry was 00:28:02.319 --> 00:28:06.099 walking in a coal mine and entered in that dark 00:28:06.099 --> 00:28:10.500 black hole in the dark earth. And as he walked 00:28:10.500 --> 00:28:13.299 into the mine, he noticed up towards the front, 00:28:13.599 --> 00:28:17.839 there in that black soil was a white flower growing 00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:21.740 right out of the wall. And he marveled at this 00:28:21.740 --> 00:28:25.250 flower because With all of the dust, the cold 00:28:25.250 --> 00:28:27.789 dust in the air, he couldn't understand how the 00:28:27.789 --> 00:28:31.309 flower could be white. And he asked the one about 00:28:31.309 --> 00:28:33.670 it, and the person said, if you notice the flower, 00:28:34.230 --> 00:28:37.970 it's so smooth that when the dust hits it, it 00:28:37.970 --> 00:28:42.329 just slides off. And so the petal remains fresh 00:28:42.329 --> 00:28:46.309 and white in the midst of the dark coal mines. 00:28:48.970 --> 00:28:51.250 That's what your life and mine needs to be like. 00:28:53.089 --> 00:28:57.589 Smooth with holiness, smooth with yieldedness 00:28:57.589 --> 00:29:02.250 to God, so that when the dark soot and dust of 00:29:02.250 --> 00:29:06.430 this culture comes in life upon us, it just slides 00:29:06.430 --> 00:29:13.109 off. And our lives remain a beautiful, pure blossom 00:29:13.109 --> 00:29:18.289 to the praise and the glory of God who has bought 00:29:18.289 --> 00:29:25.450 us. I urge you today to present your body freshly 00:29:25.450 --> 00:29:35.930 to God, to flee immorality and to glorify God 00:29:35.930 --> 00:29:43.509 in the body in which you both live. Let's pray. 00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:58.900 in a culture in which sensual pleasure is thrown 00:29:58.900 --> 00:30:09.519 at our mind from morning to night. And we have 00:30:09.519 --> 00:30:14.279 a lust that is within us that is capable of leading 00:30:14.279 --> 00:30:20.220 us easily into sin and desecrating the temple. 00:30:22.980 --> 00:30:28.039 We are Corinthians. We live in a world like that, 00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:31.839 and we need this word today, whether young or 00:30:31.839 --> 00:30:37.460 old, we all need it. And I pray that you will 00:30:37.460 --> 00:30:45.059 help us to examine our hearts, to confess sin, 00:30:46.359 --> 00:30:51.480 to flee from temptation, and to yield ourselves 00:30:52.660 --> 00:31:00.460 freshly to you. Just in the quietness of this 00:31:00.460 --> 00:31:02.619 moment, will you tell God that you give Him your 00:31:02.619 --> 00:31:07.160 body? If you're a Christian, if you're not, then 00:31:07.160 --> 00:31:11.599 you need to trust Christ. You need to be saved 00:31:11.599 --> 00:31:14.039 and washed and cleansed from your sin, but if 00:31:14.039 --> 00:31:17.440 you're a Christian, will you give God your body 00:31:17.440 --> 00:31:23.869 today anew? and determine in your heart to glorify 00:31:23.869 --> 00:31:34.009 God in it. May it be so. Amen.