Good Works Are Required of the Redeemed

Please turn in your Bibles to 1st Corinthians chapter 6. That can be found on page 955 if you're using the pew Bible. 1st Corinthians chapter 6. I will read verses 12 through 20. Please stand when you have that.

All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything. 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 Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord, and will also raise us up by His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?

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? For as it is written, the two will become one flesh.

But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body. But the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. Amen. You may be seated.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, for the direction it gives. We are a people in great need of such direction. Our eyes are blind apart from you opening them. And each day we need more of your truth.

Man cannot live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. And we thank you for your word today. We ask that we would be fed by it. And we would be fed by it as it teaches us of Christ himself, the one to whom both body and soul of the believer is joined.

Good Works Are Owed as Gratitude to God

In Jesus' name, amen. Last week, we looked at the fact that good works are owed as gratitude. Now, if you remember, what we were not talking about is the fact that they are owed as gratitude for salvation.

I would not be surprised if I went back and listened to the message, if I mentioned that a few times. But that was not the main point of the message. The main point of the message is that every person owes to God good works as gratitude, even those who have not received salvation.

Adam owed to God on account of his being created, gratitude to him in the works that he would do, keeping the garden. It says of unbelievers in Romans chapter 1, for his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made so that they were without excuse, the unbelievers without excuse, for although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened.

What does it require even of those who have not experienced salvation? A gratitude is required even of those who are just part of the old creation. But for those who are part of the new creation, there's an additional gratitude that is owed.

And that is what we will be looking at today. The fact that good works are required of the redeemed. Those who have been bought with a price do not have the law removed from them in such a way that they no longer need to obey the law.

The Law Still Requires the Redeemed to Obey

Rather, their obligation to obey the law is much greater. Yes, the believer has the law removed from them as a penalty, as something where they must slavishly obey, as the means by which they would have life, as though through their own obedience they would be made right with God.

All that is removed away. But the obligation to obey the law is not removed away. Instead, it is greatly enlarged. Because if the one who is made as creation, period, owes gratitude, the one who has been made part of Christ's new creation owes a much greater gratitude.

And that's what Paul addresses here in 1 Corinthians 6. If you look at the beginning of this chapter, he has spoken of their need to pursue righteousness. It says in verse 9,. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

And so he speaks to them of their need for righteousness, saying in verse 11,. So yes, we once were unrighteous, but now we ought to pursue righteousness. We are brought into the kingdom of God, and therefore our identity is one of a righteous people, and we ought to truly pursue righteousness.

It says in verse 12,. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything. You will notice in the ESV, that it puts quotes around all things are lawful for me. I think that each time in 1 Corinthians, that you see the ESV put quotes around something, it does a very good job of this.

It is identifying what things Paul is responding to. The Corinthians have written Paul a letter, and he is now responding to their letter, and sometimes he quotes their thoughts. He quotes what they have said.

And this is something that they have said to him. All things are lawful for me. And so he affirms that rhetorically, by way of concession. Yes, there is a sense in which all things are now lawful. There is a sense in which all things are lawful, because the believer is not condemned by the law.

But that does not mean that all things are helpful. Many people read this phrase, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful, as describing things that are actually lawful, and saying that, okay, you're permitted to allow things, but sometimes you need to go above and beyond.

The Bible tells us that God does not have an above and beyond for his people, that he requires of each of us perfection. Not that we can perform such things, but there is no... When someone has done perfectly, the only thing that servant can say at the end of the day is I have done what my master has required.

There is no, I have gone above and beyond, and so therefore I am owed much. Anything that he would ask of us is something that we owe to him. So this is not saying that there are many things that are permitted to us, but then we should not do them in order to go above and beyond.

Paul's instead rhetorically conceding their point about the nature of the law, not having the same role in the Christian's life, of penalizing them, of condemning them, but that does not mean that to disobey the law would ever be good.

It is not a helpful thing. Notice the way he speaks here, and even the examples that he gives, even of someone joining themself to a prostitute. This is an example of something that falls under this aphorism, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful.

He really does mean all things when he says all things, and his concession is merely rhetorical. All things are lawful in one sense, but not in every sense, and so he is correcting the sense in which something would be lawful.

So we must pursue righteousness. Why is that? For you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body. You were bought with a price. You are one, if you have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are one who has been bought with a price.

If you are not one who has trusted in Jesus Christ, you have not been bought with a price, and so there is a great fate that awaits you apart from turning to him, but should you turn to him and enter into the joys of his kingdom, that has implications for how your life would be lived.

Not that you would make yourself have right standing in his eyes because of your fulfilling the law, but understanding your relationship to your Savior has implications that are very plain. I want to walk through each part of this.

Bought Out of the Domain of Sin

You were bought with a price, so glorify God with your body. Just breaking it up into those three things. You were bought. This notion of being bought implies that you are being bought out of something.

You are under a different domain. The Bible speaks of this in some ways as being under the domain of Satan. Under the domain of Satan, but according to Colossians 1 .13, having been transferred into the kingdom of the Son.

We are under, apart from the work of Jesus Christ, under the domain of Satan. He has ensnared people in order to do his will. Now, this is an interesting kind of domain because it's not the same kind of domain that Christ is.

It's not the same kind of kingdoms Christ is. It's a very devious sort of kingdom where the authority that he operates by is not really his own authority. The authority Christ operates by is his own authority that has been granted him.

The authority that Satan operates by with his domain is not one that is truly his, but one that he borrows. It says elsewhere in scripture, it speaks of us as being in bondage to sin under the authority of sin that leads to death.

So because of our corrupt natures, by virtue of the fall, having been born in Adam, every person, every person since after Adam being born as one who is inclined towards unrighteousness and being an unrighteous person does the deeds of the flesh, those things their sinful self tells them to do.

Each person grows up lying, stealing, disobeying God in all sorts of ways. And as such, they are slaves to sin and that sin leads to death because that is the penalty for disobeying God's law. And so because someone is a slave to their sin and headed for death, this gives Satan, the word Satan, meaning the accuser, power over people as the accuser.

He's not the judge, but he as the prosecutor, as the accuser, is able to use the power of the judge to hold things over the people showing that you are headed to death. Therefore you need to act in fear following these different desires of the body, not being able to act boldly, doing as you ought to do, but rather doing as I would command you to do, essentially not appealing to his own authority, but appealing to God's authority and people's own desires.

This is how the nature of Satan's kingdom works. And so when we are saved, we are saved not by God paying Satan in order to buy us out as one slave master would buy from another, but rather the price that is paid is one that is owed to God himself on account of the fact that he is the owner of all things and to him is owed the penalty of one's whole life, the fact that they have sinned against God.

And so this is the price that is paid. So you were bought, you were bought out of a domain that may be called Satan's domain. It may be called the domain of sin, but ultimately these things are powers that are borrowed from God himself and used and distorted.

Why the Redeemer Must Be the God-Man

Now, what is that price that you are bought with? It's the price, the son of God. It is the most excellent price. He was not merely man. He is not merely man, but he is also God. In the incarnation, the person of the son assumed a human nature so that he is both God and man.

And this is important to understand the nature of the price that was paid to redeem you out of bondage to sin. It is a perfect price on a number of counts. I've heard several people ask this question before.

And I think often this is one thing that is not clear in people's minds. Why did Jesus, or why rather did a sacrifice that was made on our behalf have to be God? Why did God himself have to die? Well, the first answer is because a perfect man had to die to pay for a man's life.

And apart from him being born of a virgin, not having the corruption of original sin, there would not be a perfect human sacrifice. He lived a perfect life. And not only did he live a perfect life, but he was born with the capacity to live a perfect life.

We do not have such capacity. And he lived perfectly. So this is the first reason. This is the reason most people understand that, okay, we needed one who was not born under Adam. We needed one who was free of original sin.

That I think many people, maybe not most, but many people understand that. But then you must ask yourself, why the God man? Why not, couldn't it be that God would just have created some other man, mere man, to live a perfect life, have upheld him in the necessary ways so he wouldn't be a son of Adam, but he would accomplish different things?

If you were, if you would entertain this hypothetical for a moment, basically what the Jehovah's Witnesses teach, right, or different groups that would teach that the son is not God, why would that not be enough?

First reason is that the value of such a life would not be sufficient to ransom the life of another. Psalm 49, seven through eight says, truly no man can ransom another or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice.

Okay, no man can ransom another. If one person were to pay for the life of another, this would not be enough. Why would God entertain that transaction at all? And then it says at the end of 49, in verse 15, but God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me.

It says that God will ransom the psalmist's life. It is not on account of, it is not on account of just being a perfect man. It is also on account of him being God, that his life was of such a value that it could be exchanged for another person's life.

But then not just one other person, he died for many. How could one person's life ransom many people's lives unless it was of such immense value as only the life of the God-man can be? This is necessary for him, for that sacrifice to have sufficient value.

Now, not only must it have sufficient, that sacrifice have sufficient value and that only coming from the incarnation, from God becoming man, but also it is necessary in order that any man be able to bear up under the wrath of God.

It would be impossible for a man to bear up under the wrath of God otherwise. Now, if you don't understand what I mean by that, because maybe you look and you say, well, many people bear under the wrath of God.

They're not annihilated. When they go to fires of hell, they continue existing. They don't cease to exist. How can we say that someone can't bear up underneath it? No one can bear up under it to the satisfaction of God's justice.

The reason why people continue in that state forever is because there is no point at which their nature has borne up under it enough to have completed the thing that is being done, to have completed that punishment.

Even the devils themselves and their natures, which in many ways is more excellent than ours, will forever bear under the wrath of God because they cannot sustain it. They cannot sustain the wrath of God.

Instead, Jesus, being both God and man, was able to bear up under the wrath of God so that he sustained it and was raised from the dead, says in Acts 2 .24. If this is something that you've never understood, I would encourage you to write these verses down so that you know where to look for this.

Acts 2 .24. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. It was not possible for Christ, who is God, to be held by death. For a mere man, that would have been possible.

He would have been held by death forever. Just like David, and that's the point here in Acts 2, that David's body did see corruption, Christ's body did not see corruption. What's the difference? Well, David, being a mere man, there's nothing that guarantees that he would, on his own, rise from the dead.

It is only by the power of Christ, who is God, that his body would not be held by death because his nature, joined to human nature, his divine nature, joined to human nature, is so great that it cannot be held by death.

Hebrews 7 .16 speaks of him having become a priest. Now remember, a priest is someone who speaks to God on behalf of man. It's necessary that this be someone who is man, and for him to be a perfect mediator, a perfect priest, he must also be God.

That, just on account of the nature of that relationship, to bridge that gap between man and God, to mediate, to speak to one on behalf of the other, but in addition, listen to what Hebrews 7 .16 says, who has become a priest not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, this is speaking of him not being of Levi, not being a Levitical priest, but by the power of an indestructible life.

His life is not one that could be destroyed. He, being God, could not be destroyed. This is not something that could be said of a mere man. So he has been, he has been upheld because he himself is the one who is capable of upholding himself.

He has been given authority to bring up his own body from the dead. This is not, the Bible speaks of the Father raising the Son, of the Spirit raising the Son, but it also speaks of the Son raising the Son.

He himself is God and therefore has the capacity to withstand judgment and to raise himself up from the dead. He has the power of an indestructible life. Then moreover, if you think about the nature of redemption, for one to be bought in order to be possessed, how would this even work if it were one other than God who would pay the price?

If we are now owned by God, if we have come into the dominion of God, the kingship, that kingdom of God, how could it be that another would have paid the price and done the purchase? Then God would not own us.

It would be another who is not God who owns us. Acts 20, 28 says, Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his blood.

So God obtained the church with his blood. He is the one who makes the purchase. If Jesus were not God, then we could not be said to be part of God's people, owned by God, part of his kingdom. There would be no way to make that work.

Jesus would run a kingdom distinct from the Father, but that is not how it works. God can be said to have shed his own blood, given the incarnation, given that the Father, Son, or excuse me, given that the Christ's human nature and his divine nature were ignited in his one person.

This is how he is able to purchase us in a way that we may be owned by God because he is God. And then if you think about the nature of the Trinity in general and how the work of the Father, Son, and Spirit are all necessary for our salvation, how could it be otherwise unless Christ were God?

How could this be unless Christ were God? The Bible speaks of our salvation as being one where we know the Father. And how do we know the Father? Except through the Son. And how do we see God? Except through the Son himself being God, being the radiance of the very glory of God.

And then he sends the Spirit. How could a mere man send the Spirit? But it is by the Spirit that we are united to Christ in order to be upheld so that we be joined to him even in the body as is described here in this passage.

Redemption Calls the Redeemed to Live for God

So this price with which we have been bought is not merely the price of a perfect man. It is the price of the God-man. It is a much greater price than the price of a perfect man. Now this verse says, for you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body.

You must glorify God because you were bought with a price. God, having sent his Son, has given something so excellent for your salvation, so excellent to redeem you from the curse, to redeem you from sin, from the domain of Satan transferring you into the kingdom of the Son.

That has great implications for your life. If you think about just a typical interaction where something has been purchased or some kind of service has been purchased, if you were a volunteer, you owe a certain kind of thing.

It's really not much at all that you owe. You could quit at any time. You probably shouldn't because you should keep your word, but that's about all that you owe. And that's different than someone who's paid, let's say minimum wage.

Someone who's paid minimum wage needs to do the job that they're called to do, and yet it's understood at the same time. Someone who's paying minimum wage while they should be faithful to do their job, it's not the same kind of obligation as perhaps maybe a special consultant that you're paying a lot of money to.

So a special consultant that you pay a lot of money to, you would bring them in and you expect a lot of really excellent, precise work from that consultant. Now let's say it's not someone you're just paying a lot of money to, but you have ransomed their whole life.

They were in great debt. They needed to be bought out of that, and you have given them what's known colloquially as a new lease on life. You have saved them out of that condition that they're in by purchasing away their debt so that now they owe you their life in a special but limited kind of way.

Now beyond that, Jesus Christ has not just purchased our earthly life, the work of our body. He has purchased our eternal soul. This is something that is so much greater. He has, at such a great price, redeemed us in such an excellent way that we owe excellence to Him.

It'd be one thing if another man, another imperfect man, gave his life for you. If someone took a bullet for you, you would feel an obligation to make sure his family were taken care of. There'd be all kinds of ways you'd try to honor him.

And that's just an ordinary man. If a perfect man, someone who had no sin, died for you, you are going to have such a greater obligation. But then, not just one who was perfect, but one who, in addition to being perfect, is also God Himself.

How much do you owe? It is much. We have been redeemed to be free, but you must understand the nature of that freedom. Many people think that the kind of freedom that they have been granted as they've been purchased out of bondage is one where now they can just live for themselves.

The Bible says that we have not been redeemed so that we can live for ourselves, but so that we can live for God. The world is not such a neutral place that you could live for yourself. If you think about the nature of bondage to sin, that is what bondage to sin is.

It is people living for themselves and for nothing else, nothing greater than them, them having no purpose except for that purpose which they have stated. But if this whole world is created by God, then all of its purpose is determined by God and has been even before it was ever created.

And therefore, to live freely, to live truly freely, is to live according to that purpose for which God designed you and for which God designed the world. And anything you might consider freedom that would be contrary to that, anything else that you might think is living for yourself and that's real freedom, is going to be something that is to your own harm and is not real freedom.

It is going to be something that is essentially the kind of bondage that we were speaking of a moment ago, a bondage to sin, living in the domain of Satan. So the freedom that Christ has purchased us for there is no freedom that is exactly analogous to the freedom that you would experience in this life where all things are equal and each man kind of desires to live for himself.

When we are speaking of the greater realities of all things considered, of the nature of the world and the way that God has created it, there is no freedom like that. Instead, the only freedom that truly exists is living for God Himself, living for His Son who has paid this excellent price.

And so, as you have been bought with a price, the freedom that you live in is one that is supposed to be lived as a slave to God. It is a freedom that is not slavish, but it is a freedom that is essentially being a slave to God because He now owns us and it is the most excellent kind of freedom because it is one where as we follow Him and as we do His will, we are experiencing the greatest good that could be possibly experienced.

It is what we are designed for. So in salvation, in the new creation, in no way is the law set aside, but rather, the obligations to the law have been increased for the believer. In Matthew 5, 17, Jesus tells His disciples that He did not come to abolish the law or the prophets, rather He fulfills them.

If you think about some of the commands He gave, He spoke of His new command. What was His new command? That you love one another even as I have loved you. Notice what's going on there. This is actually an old command.

In fact, in the epistle of 1 John, John explains the new command as an old command. It is something that was already commanded. You were already supposed to love one another, but what has changed is you are supposed to do this as Christ Himself has done.

Now that is not something that is a more perfect kind of love as though He wasn't requiring perfection before. You must be perfect because your Heavenly Father is perfect. He had already required perfection.

What instead is going on is because we have been bought, we have been given a capacity for a greater love, and we have been given an obligation to pursue a greater love. That obligation in the Christian life is only heightened.

It is not decreased. This is something that is even embedded into the Ten Commandments. The preface to the Ten Commandments says, I am your God who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

What does that mean? Because God redeemed the people, they have a special obligation to obey Him. The Ten Commandments are something that applies to all people everywhere, but they especially apply to God's people because He has brought them out of bondage, out of the house of Egypt.

We have been brought out of Egypt. We have been brought out of bondage to sin. To whomever much is given, much will be required. And you, Christian, if you are one who is trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, His perfect sacrifice of such great value given for your behalf means that you have been called in a much greater way.

The Gospel Must Be Obeyed

You have a great obligation before you. And that is why the Bible, a number of times, speaks of the faith as something that must be obeyed. Which is interesting because you usually think of faith as being mere belief, right?

Just a mere belief, but it is rather something that must be obeyed. In addition, it says in Acts 6 -7,. And a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. In Romans 1 -5, Through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of the faith for the sake of His name among all the nations.

To bring up the obedience of the faith. It speaks of the faith as something that must be obeyed. Now how does that work? Let me take a step back and explain one other illustration that Scripture gives.

In Hebrews chapter 1, which we have been looking at in our Scripture reading recently, Hebrews chapter 1 speaks of how Christ is greater than the angels. Now the application that Hebrews 2 makes in verses 1 -4 immediately after that, it speaks of how the law was given by angels.

And so we are told, as we are also told in Acts, that angels were involved in the giving of the law to Moses on Mount Sinai. And it says, Every violation of that law was punished. And if that is true, how much worse is it for the one who does not listen to the Son?

Now what was the message that was given by the Son? Was it not the Gospel? How much worse is it for someone who does not heed the Gospel? The Gospel, on one hand, is a statement. It is a statement that God has saved His people by sending the Son who died, was buried, who rose again.

And this is good news. It is, there's the law and then there's the Gospel, right? The law requires things of us. The Gospel tells us of how Jesus has fulfilled those requirements. So this is the Gospel when considered narrowly, when considered strictly.

However, the Gospel may also be considered largely, which is all the imperative implications that come from that wonderful reality that Christ has fulfilled the law on our behalf. That is why the Bible speaks of the Gospel as a command.

Now, I am not advocating for conflating the law and the Gospel so that they are one and the same. It is important to remember that the law requires things of us and the Gospel tells us of how Christ fulfilled the law.

Yet, there are implications to this wonderful reality that we have been redeemed that are imperative, that are commands. And so Scripture is not ashamed to speak in this way. Romans 10, 16, but they have not all obeyed the Gospel.

It speaks of the Gospel as something to be obeyed, not just believed, but obeyed. 2 Thessalonians 1, 8, inflaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Excuse me, our Lord Jesus. 2 Thessalonians 1, 8. 1 Peter 4, 17. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the Gospel of God?

Now, you could try to restrict this and say, okay, well obeying the Gospel here just means believing. But does that even solve the problem? Is not believing therefore a command? And then on top of that, does not the Gospel that we have been redeemed require much out of us?

You were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body. There are imperatives that come from it. So while you can rest and trust in the fact that Christ has given His life so that He has perfectly fulfilled the law and you are no longer condemned and all things are lawful for you, as the Corinthians are saying, in the way that Paul is willing to concede, do not take that and go further and say, and therefore, all things are helpful.

I can do anything because it doesn't matter. No, there are implications for the fact that you have been redeemed by such a great price. Not all things are helpful. All things are lawful in the way that is conceded, but not all things are helpful.

The Body Is the Sphere of Good Works

You were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body. Glorify God in your body. Now, why does it say in your body? Your body is the sphere of good works. It is where good works are done. Now, this is not to say that those things which happen most directly in the spirit where you meditate on God and His goodness, where you have the right sort of thoughts that you should have are not real.

Yet, it is through the working of the body that we express with all fullness the reality of our redemption. God gave us bodies and it is by this that we have these instruments of dominion over the earth.

God created man and He told him to have dominion over the earth and Adam, reflecting God's nature, operated in the way that he was supposed to operate, fulfilling God's purposes, doing the things that he was called to do and the freedom that he had.