I want to ask you to turn in your copy of the Scripture this morning to 1 Corinthians 6. 1 Corinthians 6. We had announced last week that we were going to be doing a couple of short series before we ultimately wind up in the next book that we're going to be working our way through, which is Nehemiah. And to that end, the elders have asked me if I would preach a series on the topic of marriage. We have recently worked our way through Ephesians 5 as we were going through that book, and that has some wonderfully rich teaching on that. And I would definitely encourage you to go back and see and re-listen and re-watch those messages from Ephesians 5 on marriage. But this morning, we're in 1 Corinthians as we're preparing for 1 Corinthians 7. And we need to take a look at something that's foundational to marriage. So I'm going to read the text, and then we'll pray. Then we'll be diving into this issue. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, starting in verse 12. And Paul is in the context here of sexual immorality. Paul writes, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord. And the Lord is for the body. Now, God has not only raised the Lord, but He will also raise us up through His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be. Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For he says, that is God says, the two shall become one flesh. But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with him. Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body. But the sexually immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body. Heavenly Father, this morning we come to this wonderful teaching that the Apostle Paul has given us in 1 Corinthians 6. It is so foundational to our understanding of marriage because it deals with a topic, with an issue that is at the core of what marriage is. And so, Father, today we pray that you would open our hearts and that where there might be those in our number who hear this message and need to repent of things that have been happening in their lives, we pray, Father, that you would bring them to their point of repentance, that they might faithfully and obediently serve you. Help us each one, Father, no matter where we're at in our lives or what issue we face, Father, all of us at some point or another have struggled in this area somehow. Help us, Father, through the preaching of your word, and by its meaning being exposed, that we would be all the more faithful to you in obedience. For it's in Christ's name we ask it, amen. Well, as I said a moment ago today, we need to really establish a context for something that is absolutely foundational to the issue of marriage. If you're going to understand marriage, you must understand the truth that God has given to us about sex and the purity that that requires. It is critical. This is truth we proclaim in a culture that is anything but pure, a culture that we're facing in the United States of America today that is anything but God-honoring. Now, while the U.S. is not dissimilar to the city of Corinth, the place to which Paul was writing as he wrote this letter, while the United States is not dissimilar to the city of Corinth, as bad as our culture is, Corinth was worse. So if you think we're as bad as the world has ever been, or if you think we've seen everything there is to see, that is not the case. That is not the case. Corinth was a spiritual wasteland of sexual perversity. And that confusion had really overtaken the church also. And so before Paul can even address the issue of marriage, he had to fix their broken understanding with regard to marital intimacy. Now being a church in that kind of a culture is hard. Holiness is something that you had to fight for voraciously. I understand that in each one of our personal lives holiness is something we have to fight for as well. But in that kind of a culture it's even harder. The Corinthian church had been saved out of their culture's disregard for God and His ways. And when you grow up in that, and when you grow up in a culture that has just utter disregard for God, utter disregard for His ways, and in fact the generation of Americans that's growing up right now is learning what that's all about, sadly. When you grow up in that, it seems normal to you. Hearing something else seems abnormal. And it was so bad, in fact, and perversity was so normalized that it was even ignored within the church. You say, well, how bad did things get within the Corinthian church? Well, let me show you. If you look over probably just the next, to the very next page in your Bible, in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, verses 1 and 2, Paul writes this to the Corinthian church. He says, it's actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you. and sexual immorality of such a kind as does not even exist among the Gentiles." He said, this is so bad the unsaved world doesn't even know this. Then he continues on that same sentence that someone has his father's wife. And you have become puffed up. It means proud. You have become puffed up and have not mourned instead, so that the one who has done this deed would be removed from your midst. He's calling them to exercise church discipline on this individual. And then you come down to verse 13 of 1 Corinthians 5, and Paul says, remove the wicked man from among yourselves. That's how bad it got. A man in the Corinthian church was having relations with his own stepmother, and it goes worse than that. The leadership of the church knew about it, and they did nothing. In fact, Paul says, you're puffed up about it. You're proud of it. How does a church get to that point? The Corinthian church is worse than the unsaved in this way. And so you can see that this issue is so foundational, such a problem, so core to marriage that you have to fix this before you can actually address marriage itself. And I think our culture is at the same point. So we need to fix this among ourselves before we get to marriage itself. So the Corinthian church needed some correction. before Paul could even address the issue of marriage. So within marriage, between a man and a woman, we want to be clear on this, because the church has gotten a bad rap over the years. We want to be clear on this. Within a marriage between a man and a woman, and it's sad that I even have to say between a man and a woman, it used to just be you could say marriage, and everybody understood what you meant, but we can't do that anymore, can we? Which is a signal of how bad our culture is. But within marriage between a man and a woman, and that is the only marriage. I want to state that loudly and definitively. The only real marriage is between a man and a woman. Sexual relations are good. They are right. They are pure. They are holy. They are healthy. They're not something that God turns away from when a husband and wife engage in this. It is absolutely honoring to the Lord for a husband and wife to do this. and it promotes a strong bond between the husband and the wife. However, outside of the context of marriage, the Bible only ever refers to this as sin. Thus we get the word sexual immorality. It is immoral, unmoral, not moral, not in obedience to God. But from what we read earlier, Corinth did not have a godly pattern in their thinking, did they? In fact, within the city of Corinth, temple prostitution was so normal that for people to not engage in it was considered odd. It was considered unusual. It was just something you did literally every single day. That's how bad Corinth was. In fact, it was so bad, and this was so associated with the city of Corinth, that the immorality of this type, they coined a new word in the Greek language, and that word was Corinthianizing. And that's what it meant. They just used the name of the city and called it Corinthianizing. And when you were that far into sin, especially when it's within the church that far into sin, Well clearly you have to try to justify that and justify they did and they had a couple of different avenues for that. The first was a philosophical justification because within Greek philosophy and everybody that was in the society at that time understood what Greek philosophy of the day was. Greek philosophy assumed that everything physical including the human body was evil. Everything physical, including the human body, was evil and it was worthless. This was the prevailing notion of their day. This is just what they believed. This was the worldview of the people in Corinth. So the reason that whatever was done with the body was of no significance. It didn't matter. When you die, the body dies. It's done, it's over. And so to them, sex was only a biological function. It was just like eating or breathing or drinking water. It had no significance to them beyond that. Or so they thought. The body craves it, like you crave water, so give it to it. That was their thinking. That was their philosophical justification. The second justification was religious or theological justification. You say, how in the world can you do that based on what we know of scripture and how God calls his people to holiness? How in the world can you justify this theologically? Well, here's what they did. since Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for our sin, and since there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, they believe that, well, since he died for my sin, since he paid the full penalty for everything that I owe, since Christ did that, then I can go sin however I want, because whatever I do, he's already paid the price for it. And there will be no consequences whatsoever, and we don't care. That was their theological justification. Essentially, the Corinthians were abusing the grace of God as an opportunity to sin, and they were ignoring scripture's calls to holiness. So how's Paul going to address this? How's he gonna set them right? How's he gonna get the Corinthian church back on track? How's he gonna bring marriages back into line in Corinth so that they will honor the Lord? And how's he going to restore their heavily damaged testimony? Paul's going to show them three grave dangers of unchecked sexual immorality, and by that, give them a path to restoration. Three grave dangers of unchecked sexual immorality. Here's the first one, number one. Sexual immorality will cost you. It will cost you. Look at the first part of verse 12. Paul says, all things are lawful for me. but not all things are profitable. And then the second statement, all things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. So all things are lawful for me. He repeats that statement twice in this verse. These are two statements that are true, and they stand on their own, but when you look at these, you need to remember their context. Both of these statements in chapter six, verse 12, are in the context of a verse that is talking about sexual morality. We understand that context determines meaning. And so this is what Paul is talking about. These statements are within the context of that. And you say, well, what does Paul mean by that then? Well, we understand that Corinth was a liberal society, it was an open society. It was the place where anything goes. It was wild, it was uncontrolled, and that was impacting the church. So Paul would tell them in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 33, do not be deceived, bad company corrupts good morals. You hang around with the wrong people and it doesn't matter how good your morals are, eventually the people that you surround yourself with is who you will become like. That's what he's telling them. The culture was in fact profaning the church instead of the church sanctifying the culture. And that's what happens when believers compromise to meet the reprobate world around them. So we believe that this phrase repeated two times here in verse 12 is a common saying among the Corinthian church to say that phrase, all things are lawful for me. So what did that mean for the Corinthians? Well, all things are lawful to me because Christ fulfilled the law because he took my penalty, he already paid all my sin. So then they would rationalize beyond that as we've already said, so I can indulge however I want. What's Paul's answer to this? Well, Paul's answer to this is not only in this passage but found spoken of very directly in Romans chapter six verses one and two. And by the way, Romans chapter six, we're gonna read a few verses from that context in Romans six, but understand that when Paul was writing the book of Romans, he was in the city of Corinth. So as he's writing what I'm about to read to you, he was in the city of Corinth watching this kind of filth take place outside the place where he's writing. Romans 6 verses one and two, Paul says, what shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace might increase? He's asking the question, this is exactly what the Corinthians are saying by their statement, all things are lawful for me. Are we to just go on sinning in order that we can say the grace of God was shown to us in a greater way? Is that what we should do? Next expression, may it never be. How shall we who died to sin still live in it? And then verse six, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, we were crucified with Christ, in order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. Dear friend, when you are caught in sin, it is not freedom, it is bondage, it is slavery. In verses 10 to 14 of Romans 6, Paul says, for the death that he died, speaking about Jesus, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Even so, you consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body. Don't let it rule over you, Paul says, so that you obey its lusts. Do not go on presenting your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead. Paul says it's like you're offering yourself up on a silver platter to sin, saying, here I am, use me however you want. You don't do that to sin, you do that to God. That's how we offer ourselves up to Him. present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God, for sin shall not be master over you. For you are not under law, but under grace. Just paraphrasing that very simply. Paul is saying, yes, Christ died to pay your penalty, but that's all the more reason than that you should live for righteousness. He died to set you free from sin's penalty and curse. So because He made you righteous, now you must live in righteousness. We are no longer enslaved to sin. As I said a moment ago, sin is not freedom, it is bondage. Sin is slavery. And if you value what Christ did, if you love Him, you will seek righteousness because that is what Christ is. The apostle John said it this way in 1 John 3, verses two to three. John said, beloved, now we are children of God and it has not been manifested as yet what we will be. We know that when he is manifested, that means when Jesus Christ appears, we will be like him because we will see him just as he is and everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself just as he is pure. What's John saying? He's saying that we are God's children. We are not sin's children. And when Jesus Christ arrives, we will be made like him. And every Christian who looks forward to the return of Christ purifies himself now as Christ himself is pure. He's returning. And when he arrives, we'll be made righteous. And because that's the goal we're driving to, that is what we strive for now. So Paul says, yes, all things are lawful. Yes, Christ fulfilled the law for me. Yes, he took my penalty, but not all things are profitable. No, not all things are profitable. Not all things are good. Not all things are right. Not all things have value. Not all things are okay. Not all things are to my advantage. That's what the word profitable means. To my advantage. Just because something feels good to my flesh does not mean that I should do it. And so what Paul does is he takes their expression that they're using to justify sin and he takes it and he turns it on its head to demonstrate the actual truthfulness that's there. And so what he is saying is that sexual sin has no profit. The only thing that even seems positive about it is a few minutes of pleasure. But there is no profit in that. It just happens and then it's gone. And then when the physical pleasure passes, the pain begins. The pain begins. And the pain that comes from those few moments of pleasure is far greater and far worse and far deeper than that pleasure could ever possibly justify. Listen this morning, I have a word to those of you who are not married yet. If someone tries to entice you to commit sexual immorality, to commit fornication, they are not someone that you want to be with, much less marry. They are not encouraging you toward godliness. They are not encouraging you toward holiness. And here's what they have at their heart, not your best interest, their own selfish desires. They are with you for what they can get out of you, not for how they can love you and what they can give to you. There is no prophet in that. Listen to this, Proverbs chapter seven, verse seven. It says, and I saw among the people and discern among the sons a young man lacking a heart of wisdom. So that's the context. Writer of Proverbs says, I see a young man lacking in wisdom. Now listen to verses 13 through 18. This is what happens. This is the same young man, just a few verses later. And it's talking about what an ungodly woman does with him. So she seizes him and kisses him. And with a brazen face she says to him, the sacrifices of peace offerings are with me. Today I paid my vows, therefore I have come out to meet you, to seek your face earnestly, and I have found you. I've spread my couch with coverings with colored linens of Egypt. I've sprinkled my bed with myrrh and aloes and cinnamon. Come then, let us drink our fill as lovers until morning. Let us delight ourselves with the pleasures of love. That's what she says to him. What's the result? We come down to Proverbs 7 starting in verse 22. He suddenly follows her. Listen to this. Listen to the imagery that we get here in Proverbs. As an ox goes to the slaughter, she's carrying him away by the nose. That's how they would direct oxen. They put a nose, a ring in their nose. Right? Your nose is very sensitive, isn't it? And so a great big animal like an ox, and you just grab that ring and jerk a little bit, and they'll come right to you, won't they? They'll do whatever you ask them to do. You grab that ox by the ring in its nose, and you can lead him anywhere. And the idea is you have this small, petite, beautiful, seductive woman who grabs him by the nose, grabs him by the ring in his nose, and will lead him anywhere she wants him. And in the end, the only place she's taking him is to slaughter. Is that profit? Is that having your best interest at heart? Is that the other person caring about you? He suddenly follows her as an ox goes to the slaughter or as one in fetters to the discipline of an ignorant fool. I'm just reading the text. Until an arrow pierces through his liver as a bird hastens to the snare and does not know that it will cost him his soul. Then the conclusion, Proverbs 7, verses 26 and 27, for many are the slain whom she has cast down, and numerous are all those killed by her. Suddenly not so beautiful anymore, is she? The way to Sheol, it's the way to hell, are in her house, descending to the chambers of death. That doesn't sound very profitable to me. This kind of sin is deceitful, it is painful. If you are married and do this, this will do massive damage to your relationship with your spouse. It will harm your children. It promises you freedom and pleasure and gives you bondage and slavery and death instead. Now, we need to understand this morning that it is God who created sex. As we said a moment ago, in its right place is within marriage, and in its right place, when it is there, it is good, it is beautiful, it is satisfying, it will bond you to your spouse, and it will stabilize your marriage. Proverbs 5, verses 18 and 19, I'm gonna read this, I trust I don't have to exegete this too much. Proverbs 5, verses 18 and 19, let your fountain be blessed. Be glad in the wife of your youth as a loving hind in a graceful doe. Let her breast satisfy you at all times. Be intoxicated always with her love. Her love, your wife's love. Wives, your husband's love. It is not profitable, it will cost you. It will lead to the destruction of your testimony. It will lead to risks to your health. It will lead to your reputation being destroyed. It will lead to excruciating pain in your marriage. It will damage your children. Listen, this is not just limited to the physical act. I'm also talking about fantasies that people play in their mind and the scourge of porn that's on our society today. that people have access to instantly, easily, readily on your phone or your computer. Listen, the problem's not your phone or your computer, it's your heart. Take the phone and the computer away, you'll still find a way to lust. The issue is your heart. And if you're lusting after a woman who's not your wife, then all you will do is become eventually completely dissatisfied with your wife. You will long for the images on the screen more than you'll long for reality. You will grow distant from her. The fantasy world in your head will become more real to you than reality, and it's just as deadly to you and just as painful to your spouse than if you actually committed the physical act. And by the way, before concern for this is given only to men, we live in a society where nearly as many women pursue this as men do. No one is immune. No one. Sexual immorality will cost you, and the price is high. Second, this morning I want you to see that sexual immorality will master you. It will master you. The second half of verse 12, Paul says, all things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. Paul says, I know how dangerous this is. This will not master me. So what can we understand from that? We can understand from this that if you do not master this, it will become your master. These kinds of drives and these kinds of impulses are powerful. It is that way because God invented this to take place within the confines of marriage. It is designed to build and to strengthen that bond between a husband and wife so that it is unbreakable. But when it's perverted, when it's taken out of the right context, it has just as much power to master you. It is deadly. So Paul tells them, I will not be mastered by anything. I refuse to be enslaved to this or to anything else except Christ. That's what he's saying. Christ is our master. Again, drawing from Romans chapter six and verse 14, Paul said, for sin shall not be master over you. Again, writing that from the city of Corinth. And the more you allow yourself to fall to this sin, the more you indulge in this, the greater its mastery becomes over you. And once you allow yourself to become a slave to its pleasure, it will demand more and more of your time, more and more of your thought. For those of you who are into this, more and more of your money, more and more of your heart. And eventually nearly all of you is consumed by this in an effort to receive more pleasure. Dear friends, those are the classic hallmarks of idolatry. You're bowing down to this as an idol. It's the surrender of self to something other than the person of Christ. It is to love pleasure with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your mind, and all of your strength. It's exactly what you're to devote to God. Jesus commanded us to do that in Matthew 22 verse 37, didn't he? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength. This will take his place very quickly. And sin is so easy to justify. And the more you allow yourself to dabble in sin, especially of this kind, the less it shocks you. The more you see of it, the less it's shocking to you. That's exactly the attack that the LGBTQIA plus whatever community is trying to push in front of us now. They want you to see it so much that you're not shocked by the perversity of it anymore. And let's restore it to what it is. It is perverse. It is opposed to God. And so we justify it by putting it in front of us more and more often. And the more we see it, the less it shocks us. And you become callous to the danger and the godlessness of it, and then you tolerate it, and then you allow it to tantalize your mind, and then you justify it in your own mind, and then you begin to crave it, and then you practice it. And then eventually you come to the point where you find yourself not being able to say no to it. And that'll happen far quicker than you think. You say, I'm stronger than that. No, you're not. You're not that strong. And when you get to that point and you can't say no, it is your master. It owns you. You have become its slave. And at that point, a willing slave, because there's a lot that you'll sacrifice to get it. Yes, I said sacrifice to your idol of lust and pleasure, which is ultimately the idol of self, isn't it? Self-gratification. So what do you do? 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 3, 4, and 5, Paul says, for this is the will of God. I so often hear people ask me, Pastor, what do you think the will of God is? Let me tell you, here's one place. This is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to possess his own vessel, that's your own body, in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God. It's a war. and you must beat yourself into submission. 1 Corinthians 9, verse 27, Paul says, but I discipline my body, I make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. You tell it no. You say, but pastor, the urge is strong. Yes, it is. How do you overcome that? You pray and ask God for the strength to endure the temptation, and then you believe that he has given it to you. Listen, if you just pray for strength, and then you think God's gonna somehow zap you, and you're just suddenly gonna have, I suddenly have no temptation in this area whatsoever. That's ridiculous. You have to fight the war. You pray and ask God for strength to overcome it. And that is his will, you know it is his will, because I just read that to you in 1 Thessalonians chapter four. So if you pray according to his will, does he answer that prayer with a yes? He does, every time. So if you ask God for the strength to overcome it, do you have the strength to overcome it? Yes, you do. Let me answer that for you. Yes, you do. You say, well then how do I fail? Because you don't believe that God has given you the strength to overcome it. You don't trust him. And the point at which you fail and go back to it is the point where you have ceased trusting in him. Because if you trust him, if you believe that he's given the strength to overcome it, you will live a life free from it. Is it really that simple? Yes, it's that simple. I didn't say easy. It really is that simple, though. You set up Christians to keep you accountable, to help you with that. You pray that God gives you the strength for it. You memorize the word of God so your thoughts will be made captive to Christ, captive to the scriptures. And then you live in conformity to the image of Christ. You surround yourself with others who are doing the same thing. You see, you don't give sin in your life in that way any quarter. You don't give it anywhere to escape, any place that you can still hold on to it somehow. You destroy all of its strongholds in your life, every opportunity that it has. You can't let it survive. You must slaughter it. Or it will slaughter you. Sexual immorality has a cost. Sexual immorality will master you if you do not master it. But third, sexual immorality will desecrate you. It will desecrate you. This is verses 13 to 20. Paul gives a series of arguments here. These move much faster than what we've seen in verse 12. He gives a series of arguments here to prove that your body is not here to use however you want to use it. And the first argument he gives is verses 13 and 14, and it tells you that your body exists to glorify God and not to submit it to want and lust. Look at verse 13. Paul says, food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. Now, God has not only raised the Lord, but he will also raise us up through his power. Paul is giving here what we believe in verse 13 is another axiom in Corinth. Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food. That's true. The Lord created one for the other. It's probable that the same line of thinking is what they use then to justify their wanton pursuit of pleasure. They would continue on to say that, well, then the body is for sexual immorality. And immorality is for the body. See, it all works out. It's all logical. But Paul changes this, doesn't he? He says, the body is not for immorality. The body is for the Lord. Yes, food is for the stomach and the stomach has been created for food to digest it. They're created for each other. But one day that purpose will be fulfilled. And the Lord will end it. He's talking about the time where we're standing in the presence of Christ. And purely biological processes will not function this way in the eternal state when we're in heaven, when we're in his presence, when we're with him, when we're in our resurrected bodies. God has decreed that believers' bodies have a higher purpose, both here and in heaven. The body is for the Lord, both in our earthly life and in our future. Paul is telling them that yes, God created marital intimacy. Yes, it happens in the body, but the purpose of the body is to glorify God. And when that type of intimacy is exercised rightly, then the body is glorifying God. Then God rejoices in it. But not in immorality. Then you have degraded the body to be used for something that God never intended. And in verse 14, Paul reminds us that God raised, God resurrected Christ. Remember I said that the prevailing philosophy, the prevailing worldview was that when you died, the body was done, it was over, it was dead. You never saw the body again, so what happens in it doesn't matter. Paul says, no, that's not the case. Just as God raised Christ, so he's gonna raise you from the dead. He'll resurrect you. And that means your body is made to glorify God now, but also it will glorify God in eternity. The body that we inhabit now is the vessel that carries us through eternity. It's gonna be changed at the resurrection for sure. But it will have no more aging, no more pain, no more weakness. Those things are gone because the sin that inhabits it because of the fall will be removed and we'll never sin again at that point. Paul says that's still gonna be in your body. It's in this body, resurrected, perfected, to be sure, made to fit the joys of heaven in eternity, but still this body. And the Corinthian culture taught that bodies were evil, and when we enter in eternity, they're gone. Paul says, not at all. You will have that body for eternity, and the body is for Christ. It is resurrected for Christ, and so you glorify him in it now, and you glorify him in it then. And so you want this body that you live in, that you use today as much as possible to be a reflection of what it will be in eternity. And so you glorify God with your body. He made it for that purpose. That's Paul's first argument. The second argument is that our bodies are members of Christ. Look at verses 15, 16, 17, and 18. Paul says, and he starts this series of, do you not know? Do you not know? Like, you should know this. Hello, Corinthians. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them the members of a prostitute? May it never be. Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For he says, the two shall become one flesh. but the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with him. So flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral man sins against his own body. The imagery here in this is incredible. The Lord Jesus Christ is head of the church, isn't he, and we're members of it. And there is a very real sense in which that is true of our physical bodies as well. The Lord Jesus Christ indwells his people, you know that. Scripture tells us that when someone places their faith and trust in Christ for salvation, he comes to live in us. He lives his life through us to the extent that we're obedient to him. So as we are obedient to Christ, he is living through us. And so for the Christian to engage in any form of sex outside of marriage is to take that which Christ has made, the body, for His glory and to bond it with a prostitute. And when believers do this, it is you stealing what belongs to Christ. Your body's not yours, it belongs to Him. It was made for His glory. It is you stealing what belongs to Christ and using it for fornication. And Paul ends verse 15 in the strongest possible way to say no in Greek that you can possibly say it. In other words, he's saying it is absolutely incomprehensible that we would ever even consider doing this. It is an utter abomination to the Lord. Why is that so? He expands on it in verse 16. Or do you not know? Don't you get it? Do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For he says the two shall become one flesh. When two people have sexual relations, they become, Paul says, one flesh. That terminology should sound familiar to you. Straight out of Genesis chapter two, isn't it? When God brings Eve to Adam that he's just created. He says, the two shall now be one flesh. There is a bond that is established there when a husband and a wife engage in relations that way. And somehow, it is more than just physical. It's not just a biological process. There is some sense in which it is a spiritual bond. So this was language that God spoke to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. And so the most foundational, the most key understanding of being one flesh is the sexual union. And he adds another piece to this puzzle in verse 17. So keep all of that in mind, verse 17, but the one who joins himself to the Lord, so the one who gets saved, the one who embraces Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, the one who's trusting in him for their salvation, is one spirit with him. One spirit with Him. So he adds a piece to that puzzle in verse 17. He says, when you join yourself to the Lord, you are one spirit with Him. See, when salvation happens, you become one with Christ. There's an inseparable union that happens there. We saw that all throughout the book of Ephesians when we were going through that recently. And we also saw in the book of Ephesians that relationship between the husband and wife in Ephesians chapter five is a picture of the relationship that exists between Christ and his church. And so there is a parallel of an inseparable nature between a husband and wife's marriage and their sexual union and that of Christ and his church that is also inseparable. So what I think Paul is saying here is that when God created marriage, when he created that union, that was a necessary part of marriage, and he makes it unique. And he made it, he built it, he designed it so that when a man and a woman come together in that way, there is a union that is forged there. And it is built to reflect the union between Christ and his church. And so for the believer, now Christ is one with you and is inseparable from you and the husband and wife are one together with Christ and Christ is an inseparable part of that union. And God hates anything that messes with that union because it is created by him to be inseparable. And so now, would you take that beautiful, holy, joyful, right union that is there between Christ and the husband and the wife and choose to put a prostitute in the middle of it? He's not just talking about prostitution, understand, he's talking about any illicit sexual relationship. In other words, anything outside of marriage. Would you commingle a prostitute, one who does not know God, one whose very profession, one whose purpose in life is to mock that union between the husband and wife? And by mocking that union, it's mocking the union between Christ and the church. Would you defile your marriage that way? So he says, do you not know? Don't you get it? He's asking them, what are you even thinking? So do you see why before he can address, even get to marriage and address marriage, he has to fix this? He must fix their understanding of a culture and a people who have totally perverted God's design for marriage. Oh, and in our culture, we're not so very far behind them, are we? So all of this is why, verse 18, you've gotta flee from sexual immorality. You don't dabble with it, you don't excuse it, you don't entertain it, you don't look at inappropriate pictures of other people, you run from it. The same way that Joseph fled from Potiphar's wife in the Old Testament, if you remember that story. You run from it. And the reason it causes so much pain is because it's such an intimate union between Christ and two people, when you destroy it, that does a lot of damage. So you flee from it because it's a sin that does a lot of damage. You flee from it because it's a sin of a unique nature. Flee from it, flee from sexual immorality, he says in verse 18. And then he says this, this is very interesting. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral man sins against his own body. Paul is telling us that this is such a sin of passion that arises in the heart and a sin that damages something so dear as the sexual union between a husband and a wife that it brings destruction like nothing else can. You sin in this way, Paul says, you're sinning against your own body. Now how is that the case? The person who sins in this way uses his own body to commit acts against the Lord himself. That's what you're doing in this. You're committing acts against the Lord himself who created, redeemed, and sanctified you. The person who does this is using his own body to act against the body and against the picture of the union of Christ and his church, which he is one with. Do you begin to see this morning why this is so devastating? How it is using the body to sin against itself to use in ways that are self-damaging. It's the ultimate physical expression of the rejection of the Lord. The ultimate physical expression of the rejection of the Lord and your union with him, and the desecration of the union that he meant for sex to symbolize. Therefore, it is among the most selfish of acts that anyone can possibly commit. I don't care what window dressing you put on it. It's nothing but selfish. But when it's an honor within marriage. Listen, one commentator writes this, quote, conversely, a husband and wife who are one in the Lord communicate their love for each other in the intimacy of the sex act, and they express mutual satisfaction instead of alienation and guilt. In short, they rejoice in God's gracious gift of marital bliss. Your body is his temple. It is his sanctuary. Your body is his dwelling. He is in you. Your body is not your own. It is God's possession. And that's saying several critical things. And the imagery here is shockingly graphic. Your body is his sanctuary. That is a specific word used for the most holy place in the temple. This is Paul's third argument, by the way. It's his third argument against using your body in the wrong way. Verses 19 and 20, look at that. I got ahead of myself a little bit. Look at verses 19 and 20. He uses another do you not know. Or do you not know, don't you get it? Do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you? Whom you have from God and that you are not your own for you were bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body. So as we were saying, it is his temple, your body is his sanctuary, it is his dwelling place, he is in you, it is not your own, it is his possession. And this is why the imagery here is so shockingly graphic. Your body is his sanctuary. Many of your translations probably say that it is his temple. There's two different words for temple in Greek, and this is the one. One of them refers to the temple complex as a whole, the large area, and the other one just refers to that one place in the temple that's called the Holy of Holies, where the presence of God itself dwell. And by the way, that's the word he uses here. the most holy place. Your body is his sanctuary. That's why some translations translate it sanctuary instead of temple, to set apart, to indicate that most holy location. So it's the specific word used for the most holy place in the temple, not just the general word used for temple. So what he's saying is that for the Christian to engage in sexual immorality is to take your body, which is the Holy Spirit's own holy of holies, his most holy, most sacred, most set apart place, that place where only the worship of God is supposed to happen. I hope you're tracking. It is to take that holy place and smear the filth of illicit immorality all around it. It is the same as having desecrated the holy of holies in the temple itself by committing the illicit act in that very place. That's what Paul's saying here. And instead of the most holy worship, by the act of immorality, it mocks that holy place. It is to desecrate the most holy, the most intimate, the most pure expression of relations that God intended for husband and wife to enjoy. That beautiful expression of holiness is twisted into a self-gratifying lust fest that glorifies only the flesh and self. It desecrates God's holy sanctuary. It desecrates the one flesh relationship, the pinnacle of intimacy. It mocks his relationship to his church. And just as husband and wife are reserved for each other alone, so Christ and his church are reserved for each other alone. So in verse 19, Paul says, you are not your own. Your body that you're using to do that doesn't even belong to you. You're sinning by stealing God's property and defiling it. You're taking what's holy and pure and defiling it and then handing it back to God and acting as if nothing ever happened. This is the place of his residence, it's his temple. So we understand why Paul is saying, don't you know, what are you even thinking? His temple that's reserved for His service, His glory, and His worship. Beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ knows every single detail of His church, just as a loving husband knows his wife. And Christ will love his church and defend it. He is her provider, her protector, her defender, and has the relationship with her that no one else has. Do you see how that mirrors the physical union between a husband and a wife in a perfectly holy way? And by the way, let me say this morning, husband, if you are here and you are not passionately loving and pursuing and caring for your wife and seeing to her sanctification and find yourself wishing to be with someone else to whatever degree you are doing that you are in sin, you are dealing treacherously, the scripture would say it, with the wife of your youth. And if you are doing this, don't begin for one minute to think yourself spiritual or some authority on life or some authority on godliness or that you're here to teach people or to give them your opinion and that you're an authority on things. God doesn't even hear your prayers. You want me to prove it to you? 1 Peter 3, verse seven. Peter says, you husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way as with a weaker vessel, since she is a woman, and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered. What's that mean, men? Treat your wife wrong? God doesn't even listen to you when you pray. Doesn't even listen. Regarding sexual sin, if you're desiring to be with other women, if you're lusting after them, listen to what Jesus said. Matthew 5, verse 28, I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. To do that just to look at a woman with lust in your heart is to be just as guilty before God as the person who actually committed the sin. The only difference is that there's additional physical consequences. in the physical world. So whether it's a man or a woman fantasizing about others, visiting websites on a computer or a phone you shouldn't be doing, that lust and that perversion will have a devastating impact on your life, on your relationship with your spouse, and if you want to be right with God and with your spouse, you must stop. You must repent. And you must care and love and pursue your spouse. and you must love them as Christ has loved you. Within marriage, there is the greatest opportunity and the greatest chance to practice forgiveness. The greatest opportunity and the greatest chance to practice love and acceptance that there is because it is the most intimate relationship that God has created outside of your relationship with him. And your spouse knows you. And your spouse also knows your sin better than any other human being. Thus, you have the greatest opportunity to show them love and mercy and forgiveness when it comes to issues like this. So you seek purity in your relationship with your spouse. And if some infidelity has taken place, Whether it's physical or virtual or in your thought life, the right response is forgiveness. And there's a process to that. And it begins with repentance. And then it moves to forgiveness. And then acceptance of the spouse back. Trust is rebuilt and God will do that if you submit to him. A sin like this doesn't have to be the end. So what do you do if you've done this or you're involved in this right now? You confess it, which means you agree with God. That's what the word confess means. You agree with God that it is sin. You repent. You turn from it. That's what that means. And you say, yeah, but isn't there some period of time where it's like, yeah, I'm forgiven, but I'm defiled and others see me that way and hold me at arm's length? No, there is not. 1 John 1, verse 9. John writes, if we confess our sins, listen to this, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And you know what's not tacked onto the end of that verse? It doesn't say, and when he feels better about it, or when other people feel better about it. It says, if you confess and repent, he's faithful to forgive, he's faithful to cleanse. And listen, dear friends, what God has cleansed and what God has forgiven is forgiven and it is cleansed. That's why Romans 8.1 can say there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. No holding someone at arm's length. No probation period for your forgiveness. No lack of cleansing. Though you were defiled, now you are clean. Though you were guilty, now you are forgiven. And you say, but how can that be? And the answer is because Christ paid the price for that sin. Christ took your shame. And so you confess and you repent and you return. There's a beautiful text about the relationship between God and the nation of Israel that explains this to us and how God feels about this. So turn in your Bible to Jeremiah chapter three. Jeremiah chapter three verses 12 to 15. The nation of Israel had been very unfaithful to God. He describes her all over the Old Testament as being adulterous, as acting as an adulteress toward him. Using, again, shockingly graphic language to describe what Israel has done. Jeremiah chapter three, verses 12 to 15. God says this. Go, and he's speaking, this is God speaking to Jeremiah, and he's telling him to go speak these words to the nation of Israel. He says, go call out these words toward the north, that's to Israel, and say, return, faithless Israel, declares Yahweh. I will not look upon you in anger. For I am one of loving kindness, declares Yahweh. I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your sin. What's he asking them to do? Confess, repent, turn from it. Only acknowledge your iniquity that you have transgressed against Yahweh your God and have scattered your ways of harlotry to strangers under every green tree. And you have not listened to my voice, declares Yahweh. Return, O faithless sons, declares Yahweh, for I am a master to you. I will take you, one from a city, two from a family. I will bring you to Zion. Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart who will shepherd you on knowledge and understanding. What's he saying? He's saying, listen, Israel, though you have been adulterous to me, I am your master, I am a husband to you. And what does he require of her? Return, repent. Do you notice in this, who's the one doing the pursuing? It's God, isn't it? Who's the one who's been hurt? It's God. Return, faithless sons, to Claire Jawe. For I'm a master to you. I will take you, one, from a city, two, from a family. You repent. As many of you as repent, I will bring you back. I will bring you in. He's still pursuing his people, even though they've sinned. And when she repents, what will he do? He will bring her back to Zion. That's the holy city of Jerusalem. And he will settle her in the land. And he will give her leaders after his own heart. leaders who will sanctify her by his word, leaders who will love his people like he does. See how Yahweh searches? How he calls to repentance, and when repentance happens, he restores, and he loves, and he heals. He embraces his people's back who have wandered from him. Even though he was the one wronged, he's the one who reaches out, who forgives, and who restores. That's what our God does. And that's what he calls his people to do. Father, this morning, we thank you for this teaching that you've given us from your word, specifically on the issue of sexual immorality. Father, though each of us at different times has strayed from you, you have pursued us, you've sought us, you've forgiven us, you've reached out to us. And it's the person of Christ who took the penalty for us. Father, keep us free from this sin. Help us to understand the devastating nature of it. and also what's required if we do it. Confession, repentance, and you will make us clean. So Father, help us to be a people that reflects the purity of your heart, that the things we do and the things we say, and that we flee from this. And may you restore in our hearts a sensitivity to these issues. May you restore to our hearts a right view of this that our culture has so destroyed that we would in every way reflect your heart and your understanding on this. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.