Victory Over Sexual Sin (Part 3)

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No Compromise Radio Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author,

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Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the

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Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

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Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse with no compromise.

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I read the statement by Garrett this week and thought it was important. The Bible does not hide from or obscure the power of the temptation to elicit sex.

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In language that is refreshingly clear and direct, without itself indulging in titillation, the text warns the reader of the debacle that awaits him should he succumb in this area, and at the same time promises profound sexual joy to those whose hearts are chaste and loving.

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If the church is to do its duty, it must be no less clear in its teachings. To assume that nice Christian young people do not struggle in this area are to speak only in whispers and innuendo on the grounds that they are inappropriate for the

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Christian pulpit is no less than gross neglect. I thought that's right.

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You know what I love about verse -by -verse teaching? You can't hide from what's in the next passage.

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What's next week? Well, 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 12 through 20, that's what's next week, and what's week after that?

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1 Corinthians chapter 7, verses 1 to 5. I love it that if you teach your kids at home, you have a

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Sunday school class, or you preach in the morning, we just teach the Bible verse -by -verse because we know it's right for God to teach us that.

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It's good, it's appropriate, and very needed. Don't you say that's true? I look back in my life, and it was

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April 4th, 1997, was my first day in this pulpit. Snowed about 30 inches a few days earlier.

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I was in Los Angeles, and Kim and I should have known, taking that as a sign, 30 inches of snow on April 1st, 1997, and 14 years later, we're still here, and it's an amazing thing.

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This is not the same place that it was when I got here, and it has absolutely nothing to do with me.

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It has absolutely nothing to do with me. I think I'm probably wiser than I used to be, maybe smarter, my hair's shorter.

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A lot of you have shorter hair, too, especially those who sported mullets when

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I got here, you know who you are. But everything about the church has changed, the culture's changed, the theology's changed, the methodology has changed, everything has changed.

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Why? Because the Word of God performs its work in those who believe. And if you'd like to change a person, and change a congregation, you do it through the ministry of the

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Word. It changes the way you think, it changes everything about you. And so today, I say to myself, as we're working through the

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Bible in 1 Corinthians, and we come to this passage about sexual ethics in the Gospel, I'm glad this passage is here because I know

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I need to be instructed, and if I need to be instructed, so do you. Young people and old, and this is not the time where we say, you know, it's best to dismiss the kids.

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No, this is best for everyone to hear, what does God the Creator say about sex?

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About sexual immorality, and sexual morality. About running from sexual sin, and running to the enjoyment that God has created for men and women in marriage when it comes to sex.

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And so I just was very, very pleased this week to think, lots of you people aren't the same as when

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I met you. You're maturing, you're mature, you have ministries, you don't need to be goaded along, you think properly about God, about salvation, about depravity, about election, about the sufficiency of Scripture, why?

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As some of those of you who know me really well, I'm a very simple guy. I'm not a complex guy,

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I'm just one of those guys that have been told by God, you feed my sheep, you preach my word, you preach verse by verse to these people, and it will change their lives.

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And so I say, yes sir. In New England, yes sir, okay, I'll go. And so how great is it that the

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Word of God transforms everything about us? So why don't you take your Bibles and open up the 1st

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Corinthians as we work through part two, sexual ethics in the gospel, or maybe

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I could call it how to overcome sexual temptation. And we have to be very focused and very careful about sexual morality.

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Not just the way we talk about it, although that's true, but the way we think through it, because carelessness when it comes to this is going to be a disaster.

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And you don't have to look very far to see how the world is a disaster when it comes to its version of sexual ethics.

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Like somehow throwing out abstinence and condoms and all kinds of other things, that solves the problem?

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Calvin said, where vices run riot with impunity, people take custom for law.

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Did you get that? Where vices run riot with impunity, people take custom for law.

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And if the law of the land is, if it feels good, do it. We Christians have to make sure we think clearly about this issue.

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And what's so great as a pastor, I'm just going to hide behind scripture. The Bible's not

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Victorian prudish, but it's also not sleazy.

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It's just appropriate for every age group, don't you think so? I think very much so. And so today in a sex saturated age, in the pandemic of sexual sin, can

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God help us? Can God instruct us? Can we see this great gift from God that he invented properly?

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I think the answer is yes. And so Paul's writing to this church at Corinth.

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And remember there are about 500 ,000 people there. There's a port on this side.

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There's a port on this side. Port cities were known very widely for their sexual sin.

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You've got the isthmus games who had come in and like the Olympics, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that when the

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Olympics are in town, there's all kinds of craziness that goes on. And this was just a, it was just like a crock pot brewing over time for just all kinds of gross immoralities going on.

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So Paul writes to this church and he gives them instruction. And I think this is very good for us as well, because this is something that old people in this church struggle with.

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Young people, men and women, everyone short of those who are too young or short of those who are given the gift of singleness needs to deal with this issue.

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So we saw last time, if you'd like to overcome sexual temptation and avoid sexual immorality, therefore enjoy sexual morality, number one, rehearse the gospel.

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Look back at chapter one, if you would. This is just in review, rehearse the gospel. Now, as we would maybe want to parachute into chapter six to deal with the issue, we cannot forget about who we are in Christ and what

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God has done for us. Because the sexual ethic for the Christian is not just don't outside of marriage.

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It's not just do inside of marriage, it's remember who you are in Christ. And what does Paul do? Verse two, chapter one, to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called by the sovereign distinguishing grace of God to be saints together with those who are in every place, call upon the name of the

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Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours. Listen to what

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Charles Spurgeon said, and I think it's going to be helpful because I've saved this on my desktop because I want to rehearse this quote because it reminds me about the gospel.

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When I thought God was hard, I found it easy to sin. But when I found out

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God so kind, so good, so overflowing with compassion,

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I smote upon my breast to think that I could ever have rebelled against one who loved me so and sought my good.

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That's exactly right. Can you imagine the amount of sins that have been forgiven, that have been earned by you, guilt that would never go away, eternity in hell would still never remove the guilt of one sin, let alone many, except Jesus stands in your place, stands in your stead, stands and accepts the wrath of God that was due you.

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And you think about how good is God, how kind is God, how loving is God, and in light of this good and loving

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God, aren't you motivated to obey? I think about it with my kids. When my kids were little and they were in kind of that hitting stage.

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Now, sometimes kids hit each other, everybody who smiles, maybe you're the hitter, maybe you've been hit,

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I don't know. You could say to kids, don't hit. Appropriate? Yes.

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You could also say this, you know, dad loves you, dad's provided for you, everything you own,

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I've given you, I pray for you, I love you. I was going to say you're my son.

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Well, Luke wasn't the hitter, you're my daughter. No, it wasn't Luke's problem.

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We had a different hitter in our house. It wasn't Kim either. I so loved you.

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How do you think you should respond to your sister? By loving her. It wasn't don't, it wasn't full of all kinds of imperatives and commands, it was let me rehearse to you what

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I am to you and who I am to you and what I've done for you. And in light of my goodness and my compassion and my generosity and my grace, how will you then respond?

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By obedience. And so before we get into this, flee from sexual immorality, and you should.

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You should also remember the one who has given you such a command. And if you're a Christian, how good God has been to you, how gracious, how generous, how good he was to give you the perfect high priest who was the ransom for your sin, the great

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God. So the first thing you do is you say, I'm struggling with sexual sin. A, if you're not a

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Christian, you will struggle and you'll always struggle. And that's a good way for us to see that you're not a

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Christian is because you have no power. You have no ability to do anything except sin. But for the

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Christian, now there is a struggle because we no longer have to pay the penalty for eternal judgment because of one solitary sexual sin that has been placed on Christ.

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And eventually the presence of sin will be gone too, won't it? Heaven, can you imagine no presence of sin? But now the power of sin has been broken, and we can say yes to righteousness, and we can say no to ungodliness.

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So if you're struggling with this area, the first thing you do is not, well, I need to have an accountability group.

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I need to be in sexual addicts anonymous. I need to get this pornography stop on my screen.

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The first thing is to relish and rehearse the gospel. Number two, we looked at last week, don't rationalize sexual sin.

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If you'd like to overcome sin, sexually or any sin, just admit it, confess, forsake, and get mercy.

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Look at chapter six, verse 12 and 13. Every culture has their own rationalizations. Some are we're in love today.

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Some are, hey, we're engaged anyway, and we'll soon be married. They have all kinds of rationalizations.

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And the Christians in Corinth were no different. At least they called themselves

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Christians, and they rationalized sexual sin. And you see that found in chapter six, verse 12.

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Taking a slogan, maybe a bit of information from Paul, and then making it walk on all fours, all things are lawful for me.

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That was their slogan. ESV has it in quotes, which is right. All things are lawful, but certainly

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Paul didn't mean drunkenness was lawful. He'd already condemned that in chapter five, and he said something about it in chapter six.

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Certainly homosexuality isn't lawful. Fornication isn't lawful. Adultery isn't lawful. But they're using that slogan, we've got liberty.

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Paul says, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be enslaved by anything.

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Food is meant for the stomach, and the stomach for food. And God will destroy both one and the other.

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Sex, sin, enslaves. And sex, sin is short -sighted because it doesn't realize that the body goes on forever.

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You will have bodies in heaven, but the stomach's not going to be needed in heaven. So Paul says, don't rationalize sin, especially sex, sin.

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And number three, we looked at last week, just in review. Oh, by the way, I thought of another slogan that people may use.

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Maybe they use it even in this church. I'm only human. God made me a sexual creature somehow, meaning that therefore you can go have illicit sex.

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Or how about this one? My wife doesn't meet my needs. That's why I look at pornography.

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That's why I cheat on my wife. She doesn't meet my needs. Friends, that's the wrong way to think about it in any era.

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Number three, saturate your mind with the word. You don't have to turn there to Proverbs 2, 5, 6, and 7.

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But I did want to remind you that last week we looked at Solomon and he basically said this.

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Don't listen to the words of the temptress. Don't listen to the words of the adulteress. Don't listen to the smooth words of the woman trying to seduce you or the man trying to seduce you.

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Listen to my words, scripture words, Bible words. And so we say, you're struggling with sexual sin, read the

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Bible. That could be a cop -out by the counselor. But there's a lot of truth to the fact that when you read the

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Bible and think the way God does, it helps you work through the issues. Because is my word like a fire?

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The answer is yes. Does the word of God call itself living and powerful? The answer is yes.

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By the way, that's why it's such a fallacy to say, and I'm going to commend you now, maybe in a backdoor channel.

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Do you know what? I want really watered down stuff from the pulpit. I just want to feel good. I want to be fed, but I want my flesh to be fed.

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So I'm really after, and you know what? I just not getting my flesh fed. Friends, there is a war going on around you and inside of you.

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And in many of you, when it comes to sexual temptation, and you think little ditties thrown out with a few videos shown up here are going to be good for you.

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And you think you're really going to say, I'm going to withstand the pressure of sexual temptation with a few ditties and some watered down preaching.

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That is not the way you go about it. You're going to be so tempted. Don't you need to have a foundation built with theology, biblical theology, systematic theology, verse by verse teaching, a high view of Christ.

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You need that. You say, you know what? I struggle with sexual sin. Then pick an ology and start studying that ology.

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Let's start with Christology, the study of Christ, and work through his temptation, work through his ministry, work through his death, burial and resurrection.

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You struggle with sexual sin. You need theology. And that's exactly what Paul is giving here in 1

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Corinthians. It's so much easier though to say, just give me a list of what not to do. My son, be attentive to my wisdom, incline your ear to my understanding that you may keep discretion and your lips may guard knowledge for the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil.

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And now we come to some new information found in chapter 6 verses 12 and 20.

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And that is, if you would like to overcome sexual temptation biblically, you need to view the body properly.

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You need to view your body properly. Who came up with that? I'm really hurting.

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I'm struggling, you might say. And I've got to have the right view of the body, body ology, corpse ology.

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I need to study the body properly. Who would come up with that? God would come up with that. It's very, very fascinating.

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It almost sounds funny in a evolutionary world where evolution trumps the gospel and creationism.

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You need to study the body. You need to think properly about your own body. Let me read verses 12 through 20 and see how many times you see the word body there.

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It's all about the body. To overcome sexual sin, you've got to think properly about the body.

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If your eyes wander and they ought not to, you need a good view of the body. If you turn on the computer late at night and look at things you ought not to, you need to have the right view of the body.

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If you're flirting around with other ladies or men at work, you need a good view of the body. And it goes without saying, if you've fallen in sexual sin, of course there's forgiveness found in the gospel.

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Verse 12. All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be enslaved by anything.

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Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the

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Lord and the Lord for the body. God raised the Lord. He also raised us up.

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By the way, the body is going to be raised up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?

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Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never. Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her?

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For as it is written, the two will become one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

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Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

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Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you? Whom you have from God.

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You are not your own, for you were brought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

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Would it be fair to say that the key to that paragraph, that pericope, that section of scripture is body?

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I think it would be. So let me give you six reasons in light of this section that you have to think properly about your body so that you can remain pure.

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How do you stop a sex -crazed society? How do you stop church members from falling prey to that?

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You're not going to see legalism. You're not going to see a how -to list. You're going to see thinking properly, biblically.

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Haring said, we are probably witnessing here the first attempt in the history of moral thought to refute libertinism in some way other than arguments by aesthetic, legalistic, or utilitarian type.

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In other words, we're going to show you that theology is going to change you, not if you struggle with sexual sin, go to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, or some monastery someplace.

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You have to become a nun. I have to deny myself. Reason number one in light of the cross that you should comprehend this to be pure and to stay pure.

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Number one, your body is for the Lord. Look at verse 13b. Your body is for the Lord. You don't own you.

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Your body, context, your sexual body, your body that is made by God, that way,

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God made the hormones, God made body types. Your body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the

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Lord and the Lord for the body. God gave you a body so you could properly worship him and revere him and serve others.

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He didn't give you a body so you could use it in a sexually immoral, filthy way.

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It's very, very important that the instrument that God gives you, your body to worship him is to be clean and to be pure and to be holy.

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I always remember Robert Murray McShane at 29 years old. He said if the pastor is pure and clean, he talked about a pastor being a awful weapon in the hands of God, a clean weapon, a pure weapon.

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It's no different for you. Your body is not yours, and so therefore you can't say to yourself, do you know what?

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I'm just going to be ruled by my hormones. Hodge had a way to do it, and only in Princetonian fashion could he, a couple hundred years ago, listen to what he said.

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You'll get it. The body was never designed for promiscuous concovinage, and such a use is inconsistent with the design of its creation and with its future destiny.

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Your body is not for immorality, it's for the Lord. Secondly, look down in verse 14.

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Your body will be raised up one day. You struggle with pornography? You need a good dose of the resurrection.

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That's exactly what Paul says. The body that could possibly be used for filthy, illicit sex, which is all sex outside of marriage, marriage, sex in marriage is always good, pure, clean, and holy.

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And God raised the Lord will also raise us up by his power, verse 14. So don't defile your body.

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God's going to make that body be raised from the dead, and you don't want it to be the body that you use for gross sexual sin now, do you?

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Oh yes, it'll be a changed body, be a glorified body, but Paul uses this, the

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Lord, God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. This is the antidote for sexual immorality.

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Thinking that my body is going to last forever, so why would I use my body for some kind of slutty thing?

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We're not just an animal or a dog or a cat who says, you know what, once you bury that cat or that dog or that animal, it's over.

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When Jesus returns in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 or 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the dead dogs in Christ will not rise first.

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The dead cats certainly won't, but that's another sermon. We needed just a laugh there for a second, didn't we?

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Just kind of go, okay. The dignity of the body. And again, the context is the sexual body.

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The resurrection shows that. No wonder the resurrection was such a dominant thought in New Testament times.

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If it's going to be raised, it's not going to be destroyed like the stomach. Earlier in chapter 6,

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Peter Naylor said, fornication is as short -sighted as it is evil. God designed your body not for sensual, selfish gratification.

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If my body is going to be raised from the ground, then it's important the way

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I live now, the way I behave in my body. Paul goes on. The third reason he gives to think about this properly is, your body is a member of Christ, verses 15 through 17.

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Paul goes for shock. He shocked him earlier. Is Christ divided? Do we cut Christ down the middle with a meat cleaver?

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He goes for another shock right here. Be ready. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?

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Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a whore? Never. Do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her?

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For it is written, the two will become one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

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Can't you just hear Paul? Do you not know? Do you not know? Do you not know? Do you not know?

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Yes, you know. Yes, you know. Yes, you know. I've told you so. Well, hey, there you go.

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Just made that up on the fly. You can feel kind of the impatience of Paul, holy impatience, kind of rising because, don't you know?

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Don't you know? I've been there 18 months. I've told you these things. And even though those thousand prostitutes would descend upon the city every day for worship, this is not the right thing to do.

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Even though you Corinthians who are rich could buy a slave. And if you're a man, you could buy a slave woman and she would have to do whatever you wanted as often as you wanted.

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This is not the right thing to do. This is not the right thing to do.