The church at Corinth was a very
large church, most probably the largest congregation on earth
at this time. And this congregation had been
blessed of God with many gifts, physical, spiritual gifts. And
this church began, had a good beginning, good foundation. That
church began under the ministry of the Apostle Paul. Now Paul
was a very missionary-minded man. He didn't spend very much
time in one place, going from place to place preaching. But
he stayed in Corinth 18 months. The Lord told him, I've got much
people in this city. Now you stay, and he stayed for
18 months preaching to them, preaching the whole counsel of
God, preaching to them the Word of God, which at that time was
all of the Old Testament. But now, sometime later, Paul
is compelled to write back to this church to correct some errors
that had arisen. And the one error I want us to
deal with in our lesson this morning is how they tolerated
immorality in the church. So the title of the lesson is
to flee fornication. Flee fornication. Now this is
an important lesson for every believer. And I hope this morning
that we'll be taught the importance of the believer's walk and conduct.
Now let me make this crystal clear. Don't forget this. This
is the foundation of this war we've got to start. The believer's
standing before God is in Christ alone. Our acceptance with God
is wholly, completely, and only in our Lord Jesus Christ. We're
accepted in the Beloved. Our acceptance with God is not
based upon our obedience. Our acceptance with the Father
is based entirely upon the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ, how
he kept the law for us. Now, that being true, while there's
no excuse for our sin, our sin does not affect our standing
before God. Not the believers it doesn't, because Christ already
paid for that sin with his blood, didn't he? And in the exact same
way, Our good deeds do not make us more accepted by the Father. Because we're accepted entirely
in the obedience of Christ without any works of our own. Now hold
your finger there and look over Galatians chapter 2. This is
what Paul tells the church at Galatians. That our acceptance
is entirely in the obedience of Christ without any works of
our own. Galatians 2 verse 16. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, by his
faithfulness to fulfill all the law for us, and not by the works
of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. So our acceptance with God is
based entirely upon Christ without any works of our own. But now
this is equally true. The life of a believer and our
conduct matters a great deal. Salvation is not just some mental
agreement to some doctrinal facts. Salvation is life. It is life. True salvation and true faith
will always have an effect on the way we live our lives because
that new nature that's born in us and a new birth will direct
our steps. So anyone who is living in ungodliness,
that's the tenor of their life. All that shows is God has not
done a work of grace in their heart. A believer strives for
godliness. We're to strive for godliness,
not in order to be saved. Not in order to hang on to our
salvation or to improve our acceptance with the Father. We strive for
godliness because God has already saved us. He's put his spirit
within us. So our lesson here begins in
verse 9 of 1 Corinthians 6. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Now there are two important
rules in that one sentence. Salvation is by grace alone. And salvation is received in
the new birth. The way Paul writes this, the
language that he used tells us plainly, salvation is all of
grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. He said we inherit
salvation. You can't earn an inheritance.
An inheritance is given. And that's what salvation is.
It's an inheritance. It's given as a free gift of
God's grace. And the second truth is this.
The only way anyone can enter the kingdom of God is to be righteous. To be perfectly righteous. And
the only way you and I can be made righteous is in the new
birth. There's got to be a new man born. There's got to be a
new nature born that is righteous. Paul says it's impossible for
the unrighteous to inherit the kingdom of God. Well, all of
us, that's us, isn't it? We're unrighteous. We're unrighteous
in our birth. Every choice we make is unrighteous. We're unrighteous in our practice.
Everything we do is unrighteous. So the only way we can be made
righteous is in Christ. We can't be made righteous by
cleaning up our act because we can't. The only way we can be
made righteous so that we inherit the kingdom of God is to be born
again, to have a new nature born in us that is righteous. And
Paul says that anyone who has not been made righteous in Christ,
they cannot enter the kingdom of God. Read on here in verse
9, he says, Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with
mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers,
nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. Now Paul
tells these believers at Corinth, and this is a good warning for
us, don't you be deceived. Don't be deceived that your knowledge
and the many gifts that God has given you will save you. You
must have Christ formed in the heart. You must. And any salvation
that does not change our way of life is not salvation from
sin. And this is also true, this is
the other side of the coin. Any salvation that only changes
the way you live your life and doesn't give you a new heart,
that's not salvation either. Salvation is the giving of a
new heart, a new nature, and that changes our walk, our conduct
in this world. So Paul says God's not saved
anyone who's living in these various sins that he talks about.
If this is the tenor of their life, God hasn't saved them.
The first one he lists is fornicators, someone who's living in a pattern
of sexual sins. If they're living in a pattern,
a tenor of their life of sexual impurity, that just tells you
God hasn't saved them. Idolaters is the next one. That's
obvious. If you're worshiping an idol,
you don't know God. If he's revealed himself to you,
you won't worship an idol, you'll only worship him. Then he mentions
adultery. Someone who's living in a pattern
of being unfaithful to their spouse. God hadn't saved them. Marriage is a beautiful picture
of the union between Christ and his people. Anybody living in
violation of that picture doesn't know God. Then he next lists
effeminate. Now this doesn't just mean an
effeminate man. It means someone who's soft.
Someone who will not take a stand for the truth. They just go with
whichever way the wind is blowing, you know. Everything's okay. They won't call sin, sin. They won't take a stand. God
loves everybody. That's effeminate. Soft. Soft
on the truth. Then he mentions abusers of themselves
with mankind. That's homosexuality. And I don't
know that anything is more rampant in our day than homosexuality. Janet says if you watch TV, you
think everybody's a homosexual. I want you to listen to me. It's
not okay. It's not. Now, don't be homophobic. Don't go out there and shoot
somebody or don't stone them. It's not okay. It's vile. If
someone's living in, that's the pattern of their life, that's
what they're living in. It's just evidence. God hasn't
saved them. Thieves make just thieves. If
somebody takes something that doesn't belong to them. If you've
ever had anything stolen from you, oh, you're a hated thief. It's something you worked hard
for, you paid for, and somebody stole it from you. If you need
something, go out and work for it. Earn what it takes to get
it, you know. Believers are to be honest people. But I'll tell you what else falls
under this thing of thieves. It's those who rob God of His
glory. Someone whose way of life is
to steal from men and whose doctrine is to rob God of His glory doesn't
know God. Then he mentions covetous, those
who could never be satisfied. And we would be so much happier
if we learned this. Be content with what God's given
you. Oh, we'd be so much happier if we just learned that. But
someone who's covetous, they can never be satisfied. They're
always looking at what somebody else has got and desiring it,
wanting it. As evidence, they don't know
God. He mentions drunkards. Now this means abuse of anything. Someone that uses anything to
excess. It could be alcohol. It could
be drugs. But it could also be anything
else of this world. You can become addicted to all
the different pleasures and things of this world. Someone who's
addicted to those things, to the exclusion of reading the
scripture, searching for God, coming to the worship service,
those people don't know God. A believer, now we get off on
tangents, I know, but a believer, I'll tell you what they're addicted
to. A believer's addicted to Christ. You just can't go very
long without hearing him preach, without worshiping him. A believer's
addicted to the gospel. They're addicted to grace because
they have to have it. Oh, how we have to have God's
grace. Those are the things a believer's
addicted to, not the things of this world. Then he mentions
revilers. Someone who destroys the reputations
of men. They despise all men and hate
authority. That's not the nature that God
gives in the new birth. And then an extortioner is taking
what doesn't belong to you by any means necessary. They just
don't care who you hurt. Someone who lives in a pattern
of that as a tenor of their life doesn't know God. Now this is
not talking about somebody that falls into one of these sins,
you know, once or, you know, whatever. Every believer in this
room, as you go through this list of various sins, every believer
knows I would do every one of these things at the drop of a
hat if God just take his hand off of me for a moment. We all
know that. This is talking about living
in a pattern of these things being given over to them. If
this is the tenor of my life, Then it's obvious God has not
done a work of grace in my heart. Now we still have, every believer
still has that old nature that does nothing but sin. And that's
why we can fall into these things from time to time. But the new
man wars against the old man. So that while I'm guilty of all
these things, I won't be given over to them. Because the new
man rules. He won't allow me to be given
over to them. Look in Ephesians chapter 5.
So this is what this is teaching us. That this type of behavior
is not to be tolerated in ourselves. Don't just be looking
to say, I'm not going to allow this to be tolerated in other
people I know. Tell you where this needs to start. With me. This is not to be tolerated in
ourselves. Ephesians 5 verse 1. Be ye therefore
followers of God as dear children. and walk in love, as Christ also
hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and
a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling safer. But fornication, and all
unrighteousness or covetousness, let it not be once named among
you as becometh saints, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking,
nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks.
For this you know. To no whoremonger, nor unclean
person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance
in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you
with vain words, for because of these things cometh the wrath
of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers
with them, for ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light
in the Lord. So walk as children of the light. Walk as children of the light
and don't let these things be named among you. Now I have a
question. Does this mean that anyone who
is guilty of these sins that Paul listed, does that mean that
they can never be saved? Someone is, if they're guilty
of what we would consider these worst of sins, if they're guilty
of these sexual sins, they're guilty of being a fornicator
or an adulterer, even if they're homosexual, does that mean they
can't be saved? Absolutely not. Of course they
can be saved. How is a sinner saved? By Christ. We're saved by the blood of Christ
without any of our works, without regard to our works at all. Is
that right? We're not saved by what we've done or what we haven't
done. God saves sinners by His grace,
which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. The only reason all of
us aren't in hell at this very moment is God's grace. Not what we've done, God's grace. And Paul's writing to believers
here. These people are believers. He said, God chose you. God called
you to be saints. He's writing to believers. And
you know what he says about them? Some of you were this way. So it's obvious God saves people
who are guilty of these things because Paul said, you Corinthian
believers, some of you used to be this way. Look here at verse
11. And such were some of you, but
you're washed. But you're sanctified, but you're
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit
of our God. Now, Paul says to these believers,
you used to be given over to these things, but not anymore. Now, these sexual sins were very
rampant and just an accepted part of society in the city of
Corinth where these believers lived. When they were in unbelief,
they lived in these things and from what Paul says, participated
in them. And now that God saved them,
they tolerated these things a whole lot more than they should. They
even tolerated it in the church. In Paul's writing to instruct
them and to instruct us, we cannot tolerate these things in ourselves.
And they can't be tolerated in the church. Paul says a believer
is not to be given over to these things because God has saved
you. Because God saved you. Because
the whole Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, has saved you. The work of the Holy Spirit is
found in this phrase, but you're washed. Look over in Titus chapter
3. But you're washed. I'll tell
you what he's talking about there. He's talking about the washing
of regeneration. Titus chapter 3, verse 5. Not by works of righteousness
which we've done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the
washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. That's
the washing he's talking about here. Being washed is being born
again. When we're born again, we're
washed. Because there's a new man born. And that new man is
clean and holy. And he'll always be clean and
holy. He'll never sin. It's impossible
for him to sin because he's born with the nature of God. Now,
I know what you're thinking. He says, but you're washed. And we all think, maybe he's
not talking about me because I don't feel clean. I don't feel
washed. You know, that's good. If you
think, yep, that's me, I've been washed, you might be a little
worried. Because only the new man sees
how filthy the old man is. If you see how filthy your sin
is, that's a pretty good indication you washed. You've been born
again. Because only the new man sees how sinful the old man is.
Now look at Acts chapter 22. Here's something else scripture
talks about in this matter of being washed. Scripture talks
about believers washing themselves. Remember in Revelation, where
John said he saw those saints, and he said, who are they? They're
those who have washed their garments. They washed their garments in
the blood of the Lamb. What's that mean? Look here in
Acts 22, verse 16. This is Ananias speaking to,
at that time he was still Saul. He says, and now, why tarryest
thou? Arise and be baptized. And wash away thy sins, calling
on the name of the Lord. Now, what does that mean, wash
away thy sins? I thought it was Christ who washed
away my sin. I thought he washed me in his
blood. How can I wash away my sin? Well, you know what Ananias
says here? Calling on the name of the Lord. Calling on the name of the Lord.
You wash yourself by calling on Christ. You wash yourself
by begging Christ to save you. It's by looking to Christ. You
wash yourself by trusting Christ to cleanse you from all of your
sin. That's what baptism is. Baptism
is not those waters in the pool cleansing us from our sin. Baptism
is a confession, I have been cleansed. I'm looking to Christ. I'm trusting in Him. He's all
my hope. And every believer does that.
You're washed. Then Paul talks about the work
of the Father. The work of the Father is found
in this phrase, but you're sanctified. Now, sanctified, it does mean
to be made holy. But it also means to be set apart
for holy use. And that's what he means in this
passage here. You're set apart for holy use. Well, when was a believer set
apart for holy use? Was it when you decided to be
saved and decided to walk an aisle? No. A believer is set
apart for holy use by the Father in election before the world
began. When God elected a people, He
made those people His. He chose them to be holy. He
set them aside out of the fallen lump of Adam's humanity for His
holy purpose. And every believer loves God's
election. How I love God's electing mercy
and grace. I'm so thankful for God's election.
I'm so glad he chose me, because I know this, I never would have
chosen him. He had to choose me first and
set me apart for his use. Then Paul talks about the work
of the Son. We see that in this phrase, but
you're justified. You're justified by the blood
of Christ. Justified means without any sin. A believer is made without any
sin, only in the blood of Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all sin. We're justified, he says, in
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in His name. I remember when my daughter Holly
got her first apartment. They had to do a credit check,
you know, and if she's going to get that apartment, Daddy
had to go up there and sign the lease. I had to be a co-signer
on that. I had a credit history. She didn't. She got that apartment because
of my name. I put my name on that. And my
name said if she can't pay it, I will. Tell you how we're saved. In the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's in His righteousness, in
His obedience, in His blood. We've got a debt we can't pay.
And we're justified, made without any sin debt, in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He signed on the dotted line
and paid the debt in full. That's how we're saved. The work
of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now, Paul doesn't give
those in the order that we typically think of the work of the Trinity.
We think Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Paul gave them in the
order of the Spirit, the Father, and the Son. And you know, that's
just fine. Because salvation is the work
of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And it's not three different
works. It's all one work. It's the work of salvation. And what I want us to see about
this is this. Salvation is a big word. A big word. All of these sins,
all of these sinners are cleansed, made without any sin, because
God saved them. That's the salvation we have
in Christ. Now, now that that's settled,
Paul goes on to talk about the believer's conduct. See, we have
to seek God's salvation before we can go on to the believer's
walk, because the believer's walk is not based upon anything
that we do, trying to get something from God. The believer's work
is all based upon what God's done for us in His Son. And now
that we've established God's way of salvation through grace,
by faith in Christ, we've got the foundation for the believer's
walk. Now we've got something to build
upon. The believer's walk is all based upon gratitude and
thanksgiving for what God's already done for us. The Believer's Walk
is not based on trying to improve our relationship with God. The
Believer's Walk is based upon the fact that God has already
given us perfect standing with Him in Christ. And we're grateful
and we have a desire to honor Him. That's the basis for the
Believer's Walk. So now look at verse 12. All
things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient.
All things are lawful for me, but I'll not be brought under
the power of any. Meats for the belly and belly for the meats.
But God shall destroy both it and them. Now, the body is not
for fornication, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body.
Now, Paul begins here talking about things that are indifferent,
things that of this life that just don't affect the salvation
of our souls. And he's talking specifically
about meats, meats that were forbidden, pork and other unclean
animals under the Old Testament law. Or maybe meats that were
offered to idols. A believer is absolutely free
to eat any of those things you want. It won't affect your soul
at all. Maybe more applicable to us would be thinking of wine. People think alcohol touches
your lips, you're not saved. Well, that's not so. What you
put into the mouth, what you put into the body doesn't affect
the soul. To us, it's like drinking a glass of wine. If you want
one, drink it. It's not going to hurt you at all. But you beware
that your weaker brethren may be offended by that. Now, you're
free to do it. You're free to drink a glass
of wine. You're free to smoke. You're free to go to movies.
All these things that, you know, free willers think are so horrible.
You're free to do it. But you're not free to do it
if it will offend your younger brother. Now, I know they shouldn't
be offended by it. They need to learn better than
that. But you still don't have the right to use those things
and hurt them by doing it. So just when you're with them,
don't do it. Just use some common sense. Just because you're free
to do something doesn't mean you have to do it. So God says,
or Paul says, that God made the body to eat and digest meat. Then eat it and be thankful.
And God made that meat to be eaten. God made those animals
with nutrients in their body to be eaten and digested by the
body. Eat it and be thankful. And remember
this. Everything in this world, everything
in God's creation is for God's children to use and enjoy. But always keep this in mind,
just because it's yours to enjoy doesn't mean you can do it if
it'll offend your weaker brother. I'll tell you a good rule of
thumb, it'll just help you in this. Remember this, your brother,
you're going to be with him for eternity. You look around you. These are the folks you're going
to spend eternity with. Treat them accordingly. And these
other things of the world, things we have to enjoy for right now,
God's going to soon destroy them. Treat them accordingly. Isn't
that helpful? Now, Paul used meats as an example. The believer is free from the
Old Testament law in every way. You're free to eat pork all you
want. But apparently, the Corinthian believers heard that all things
are lawful for me, and they thought that included fornication. And
Paul tells them, no, that's not included. A believer is not free
to use their body for fornication. Eating meat, eating pork, and
using your body for fornication are two totally different things.
So he says, flee fornication. He gives us here some reasons
to flee fornication. I'll give them to you quickly.
I like what Matthew Henry said about this. He said, other vices
may be conquered by fight, but this one only by flight. Flee
it. Don't even put yourself in the
situation. Just flee it. So here's the first
reason to flee fornication. The body is for the Lord, not
for fornication. Look here at the end of verse
13. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord
for the body. God formed your body for His
use. Then don't use it as an instrument
for sin. Our bodies and our souls both
belong to God, don't they? Then don't use what belongs to
God. Don't use what God formed for
His use for unrighteousness. See, that will only affect your
heart if God saved you. See, it's for His use. That only is a good reason to
flee fornication if you care about Him, if you care about
His glory, His person, His love. Second, flea fornication. Because
you know it's this body that will be taken to glory. Verse
14. And God has both raised up the
Lord and will also raise up us by his own power. This body is
going to be taken to glory. Now it will be changed. Absolutely,
it has to be changed. But it will still be this body. In glory, we're all going to
be us. When we see each other, we're
going to recognize each other, just like the disciples. They
recognized the Lord after he was raised. We'll recognize each
other after we're raised. Well, these bodies are going
to be raised in a body just like our Lord was raised, in a glorified
body. So flee fornication with this
body that God's going to take to glory. It's going to be changed,
but it'll still be you. Third, Flee fornication because
your body, if you're a believer, your body is a member of the
body of Christ. Verse 15. Know ye not that your
bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members
of Christ and make them the members of Inharlot? God forbid! What? Know ye not that he which
is joined to Inharlot is one body? For two, saith he, shall
be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the
Lord is one spirit. If you're a believer, you are
joined to Christ. So what you do, the body of Christ
does. Oh, that's a reason to flee fornication. Do I want to defile the body
of Christ by what I do? Am I going to be that selfish?
God forbid, Paul says. And when we dishonor our bodies
this way, we're dishonoring the body of our Savior. Then flee
fornication. out of love and respect for the
Savior. Fourth, flee fornication, because fornication is a sin
against our own body. Verse 18, flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is
without the body, but he that committeth fornication sinneth
against his own body. Now these other sins, the sins
of being a thief, the sins of being a liar or a covetous person,
an extortioner, those sins all hurt other people, don't they?
But the sin of fornication harms our own body. Not only does it
open up our body to disease and sickness, but fornication degrades
our bodies, the bodies that God made. Now, I know our body, this
fleshly body is a body of sin, no denying that. But don't ever
use that as an excuse to make our vile body more vile. That
doesn't make sense. Fifth, flee fornication because
your body is the temple of God. Verse 19. What? Know ye not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have
of God? Now, don't you know that, Paul
says? When a believer is born again, Scripture tells us the
Holy Spirit dwells in our heart. Well, then that makes these sinful
bodies the temple of God. It's where he dwells by his spirit. He dwells there. And no believer
wants to defile the temple of God. You think about this building. We call this building the house
of God, don't we? You know, we only use it two
days a week. You know, I tell you what, there's a way we can
make a little extra money on the side. We could rent this
building out the other five days of the week to a madam, and she'll
use it as a house of ill repute. God forbid, never would we do
that. We'd go without anything before
we'd allow something like that to go on in this building. This
building will soon be destroyed. Think of your body the exact
same way. Your body, if you're a believer,
is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Take care of it. Sixth, and this
is last, flee fornication because we don't belong to ourselves.
We belong to God. The end of verse 19. You're not
your own, but you're bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God
in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. The Lord Jesus
Christ bought you. He bought you, not with money,
with His blood, with His life. He gave His life to buy you,
to redeem you. You belong to Him. Now you think
how wonderful that is, to belong to Christ, because He bought
you with His blood. I'll tell you, I won't be a slave
to my appetite for meat and drink and these other things of the
world if it will offend my weaker brother. I certainly am not going
to be a slave to my sinful, fleshly desires because I'm a bondslave
of Christ. I belong to Him. What I do reflects
upon Him. Christ bought you. You don't
belong to yourself, you belong to Him. Then be careful how you
use what doesn't belong to you. If you borrow something from
someone, you borrow tools or whatever, you take very good
care of them, don't you? So you can return them back to
that person. Well, you consider your body the exact same way.
You belong to Christ. Use your body and your soul to
glorify Him. And flee fornication. Flee every
sin and use your body to glorify your Savior. I have a grateful
and thankful heart. Alright, the Lord bless you.