Alright, let's take our Bibles
now and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. We've been studying
the book of Corinthians, who were an example of a church that
was showing signs of corruption and decay. Paul recognized them
as the elect of God. He recognized them as people
for whom he had a hope. He believed they were saved men
and women. But in their midst were signs
of decay and signs of corruption. And the reason why those things
were going on is because the gospel had been set aside. And they found other things and
other means of worship. The Apostle Paul used four chapters
in his letters to the Corinthians to establish the importance of
the gospel of Christ being preached. On and on and on he goes, the
preaching of the gospel. And yet this church had set that
aside. They had set aside the ordained
means of God. They had set aside the very thing
that reveals the glory of God in Christ, they'd set that aside
and they'd begin to glory in one another. And self-glory began
to rise in that church. What is self-glory? What am I
talking about? Well, I'm talking about glorying
in ourselves. Glorying in ourselves. It is
any ministry that focuses on man. That's their focus. I'm not saying that they don't.
There's Calvinistic churches who are self-glory. They self-glory in those churches. Man has taken the focal point. Where Christ ought to be taking
the focal point, man has taken it. Natural man, when it comes
to religion, demands to be glorified. He demands it. He hungers for
it. He has an appetite for it. We had a fellow come in here
one Wednesday night. Evidently, he was a heavy drinker,
a womanizer, I suppose just a hell-raiser in his day. And he came in to
put on a show. He'd made up his mind. He was
going to come in. He knew exactly what he was going
to do when he got here. And he was going to put on a
big show. And he was going to give himself to Jesus, I suppose, is the terminology
he would have used. And he was going to put on such
a show. He was going to make a public
confession. And he was going to do it in
such a way as to glorify himself. He got here early. He got his
times mixed up. And he sat here for a little
while. And then he said, here's what we're going to do. He said,
you elders get around me and I'm going to kneel down here
and I'm going to accept Jesus as my personal Savior and you
all pray for me. And I'm going to make a profession
of faith. No sir, that's not what we're
going to do. What you're going to do is sit down and listen.
I'm going to preach the gospel, and then we're going to see what
the Lord does. But I hope you can understand
what I'm saying. I'm not trying to poke fun at
this individual. I'm trying to make a point that
what had happened in this church, this was a genuine church. Were
they Calvinistic in their doctrine? Absolutely. Absolutely. I don't
have a doubt in my mind that they were Calvinistic in their
doctrine. And yet the church was full of decay. They'd left
that glorious gospel of Christ. They'd left that looking to Him
and waiting upon Him and glorying in Him. They'd left that. And
they began to glory in their own wisdom, whether it be intellectualism
or whatever it was. The Bible just says wisdom. And
they were glorying in themselves. Self-glory is exalting the preeminence
of man above God. Man's will and man's wisdom and
man's ways and man's purpose. I told you in our last study,
there's no other way to approach God, worship God, or glorify
God apart from Christ. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me, is what our Lord said there in the book of John. And
He told them that after He said this, I am the way, I am the
truth, I am the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. He's the way. Now you set apart
the way. You set apart the truth. You
set apart the life. What's left? Religion. Religion. And man. That's all that's left. That's
all that's left. I go in these churches and listen
to them sometimes at funerals and different things, and I listen
to them. There's nothing there. It's like going into a cemetery.
I look around. There's no life. There's no truth.
They are not talking about the way. They are not pointing to
Christ. They are talking about things. They are talking about
things. And this is what happened here
in Corinth. Through Him, Paul said, we have
access by one Spirit unto the Father. And this self-glory can
be as easily manifested in Calvinism as it can in Arminianism. All of the proper motivation
constraints and foundation principles come through and by the Lord
Jesus Christ. So if you take that away, if
we take that out of the church, how are true believers going
to be motivated? Paul said, the love of Christ
constraineth us. But what do you know about the
love of Christ? Nothing unless you hear it. Nothing
unless it's preached to you. Nothing unless it's taught to
you. Turn with me to Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2. Paul deals
with this very thing here in Colossians chapter 2. Look down
here at verse 6. As ye have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. How did we receive
Him? We received Him as the truth.
We received Him as the way. We received Him as the life.
We received Him as salvation itself. He is the Savior. What's
that mean? That means He can save. It means
He did save. He's able to save unto the uttermost
those who come unto God by Him. Now, as you received Him, Now
walk in Him the same way. You don't leave grace and go
back to works. You stay in grace. You stay in
grace. Salvation is all together. Listen
to what He says here. So walk in Him, verse 7, rooted
and built up in Him, and established in the faith as you've been taught,
abounding therein with thanksgiving, and beware lest any man sfole
you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of
men, after the rudiments, that is, the rudimentary or basic
principles of the world, and not after Christ. For in him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are
complete in him who is the head of all principality and power. All of these other things which
religious men hold sacred, meats and drinks and holy days and
Sabbath days and worshiping of angels, touch not, taste not,
handle not, they only have a show of wisdom in will worship. Not in the true salvation of
God. Only in will worship do they have any wisdom. And because this church had set
aside the gospel, they had neglected the one means chosen by God to
save men's souls. And the results were rank and
open immorality, no spiritual growth, no constraint, everything
from incest to brother taking brother to court over little
petty differences. was displayed and being manifested
openly in this church. There was no grace in their walk,
no mercy in their relationships, no bearing the debts and sufferings
of others. And now Paul brings it down in
our study today. He brings it down to the individual. He begins to talk about our union
with Christ, our oneness with Christ. And He tells us that
our body is for the Lord. It's for the Lord. He's our Creator. And as our Creator, He's made
these bodies according to His purpose and His design and to
a specific end. These bodies represent and picture
the body of Christ, His church. Married. Marriage itself is a
picture of our union with Christ being one with Him. And these
bodies are to be considered in this light. Our bodies, these
relationships that we have on this earth, husband and wife,
father and children, brothers and sisters, all of these things
were created for a specific end. They picture this work of Christ
in salvation. And if we take those relationships
and push them to any other design, we spoil the end for which they
were made. Marriage is a picture of our
union with Christ. And these bodies are to be considered
in this light and kept pure from the things that detract from
its intended use. Now let's look at these verses
with these things in mind. Verse 14, And God hath both raised
up the Lord, and will also raise up us by His own power. That
is, the living God raised up His beloved Son in a bodily resurrection. He did not leave that bruised
and battered body in the tomb to rot, but raised Him up, both
body and spirit. But when He raised Him up, He
raised us up with Him, because we have a union with Him. And so when he did not leave
him to rot, which Peter made that point when he was, or Paul,
one or the other, early in the book of Acts, he's talking about
David, his body corrupted in the tomb, but not the Lord. His
body didn't. His body didn't. God raised him
incorruptible. and raised him up both body and
spirit. He didn't leave the body in the
tomb. The body came forth from the
tomb. Brother Mahan and I talked one
time about the burial of a saint. And in our conversation, we talked
about cremation. And he told me that cremation
is a denial of the resurrection. And I never really thought about
it. And so after some study and prayer and some thought about
it, I believe he's right. I believe he's right. Christ
is coming again. And He's coming in power and
great glory. Paul told the church at Philippi
that our citizenship is in heaven from whence also we look for
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3.21. Who shall change
our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious
body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue
all things unto himself. And we're to guard against defiling
these bodies, because one day we'll stand in his presence. We'll stand in these bodies.
Isn't that what Job said? In my flesh, I'll stand on this
earth, and I'll see him. Now go back to our text. 1 Corinthians
6.15. 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 Harlot? God forbid! God forbid! What, know ye not
that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? For two,
saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the
Lord is one spirit." Now then, here's the next thing we need
to know about these bodies. We're one in union with Him. One in union with Him. Now, my
friend, there's no other hope of salvation than our union with
Christ. The more we know about ourselves,
the more of our own corruption we see. That's all we see. You
look at Paul, and Paul as a young man said he was the least of
all the apostles. He got a little bit older, and
he said, I am less than the least of all the saints. He got a little bit older, and
he said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
the body of this flesh? The body of this flesh. Who is
going to deliver me? O wretched man. We grow in grace
and knowledge of Christ, and this flesh ain't getting any
better. If you're looking in the mirror and you're seeing
somebody getting better and better, you've got a problem. You've
missed Christ. The Spirit of God reveals to us. We look at
ourselves, and we look at ourselves before the law, and we look at
ourselves before the cross, and all we can see is unfaithfulness,
unbelief, sin, wickedness. My best thought is altogether
foolishness. There's just one hope, union
with Christ. That I was in Him before that
law. I was in Him hanging on that
cross. And I was in Him when God justified
me and raised me from the dead and seated me at the right hand
of God. There is no other hope of salvation than our union with
Christ. And I told you last week that
there will never be a fallen angel redeemed. Never will be. Well, wait a minute, preacher.
Angels are higher in wisdom and intellect and higher in their
natures than men. Paul talks about that over there
in that first part of Hebrews. I think Hebrews chapter 2, he
talks about that. But he said, when Christ came
into this world, He took not on Him the nature of angels,
but He was made a little lower than the angels. How did He make
Him a man? There's a man lower than the
angels. But you're telling me that a man can be saved and not
an angel? How come? Because God did not
ordain for them a substitute and representative. He took no
angel in union with Himself, but He did with men. With men. We are one in union with Christ. Angels, according to Jude, verse
6, are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the
judgment of that great day. No hope for them. There is no one to represent
them before the law, no one to bear their sins and iniquities,
and no one to take them to himself. Believers are one with Christ. Will we then take His members?
Is that the way we consider ourselves, one with Christ? One with Christ? Will we then take His members
and join them to the harlot? James talks about the tongue.
And he said, this tongue of a believer, it ought to just spew out the
fresh waters of grace. It ought to be a spring. It ought
to be springing forth, talking about the glory of Christ, and
talking about this salvation in Christ, and talking about
the glory of God in Him. It ought to be talking about
these things. But he said, it spews out salt water. Bitter
things come out of this tongue. When we think about the tongue,
do we consider that a member of Christ? Every part of this body. Our members are His members,
and they are to be sanctified in our minds and hearts as such. Verse 18, flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is
without the body, but he that committeth fornication sinneth
against his own body." He goes against the purpose and design
of his body. A man and a woman were created
to produce children to manifest Christ and His church as workers
together with God. And fornication is against God's
purpose as well as against His law. Verse 19, what? Know you not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have
of God, and you are not your own? The Holy Spirit dwells,
He indwells every believing soul. How do I know that? Because He
reveals Christ to my heart. That's how I know. That's how
I know. He reveals things to me that
the princes of this world, the wise men of this world, the leaders
of this world, the master theologians of this world have never seen.
But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. Yea, even the
deep things of God. How do I know the Spirit of God
dwells in me? Because He causes me to rejoice
in Christ and rest in Christ. Because he shows me the ignorance
of religion and the darkness of it. The lying ways of it. That's how I know the Spirit
of God dwells in me. John said he gives him a holy
unction to know the truth. To know the truth and to know
what is a lie. Gives him an appetite for the
gospel. for the salvation of souls and for the glory of God.
I'll tell you something else. I know the Holy Spirit of God
dwells in me because He comforts my soul. He comforts me when
I can't get comfort from anywhere else. I get comfort from Him. And he comforts that soul with
the great and precious promises given to him by the Father before
the world began. And this indwelling came as one
stronger than the strong man who kept his goods at peace.
He was armed, armed, armed to the hilt. And one stronger than
he took him down. He took him down and spoiled
his good. He came and with gospel truth pulled down the strongholds
and cast down the evil imaginations and brought us into obedience
to Christ. And we are to keep these bodies
in check and sanctify their use because this is the temple of
the Lord. As that old man took it over
and reigned within, even so Christ, when He moves in, He reigns.
He rules His house. He rules His house. And true
worship comes from the heart. You can't worship apart from
the Spirit of God. We know we're the true circumcision
of God because we worship God in the Spirit. And we worship
Him in truth. And then Paul tells us this.
He said, You're not your own. You're not your own. For you
are bought with a price. Verse 20. Therefore, glorify
God in your body and in your spirit, which belong to Him."
They are His. I wonder this morning how many
of us really understand this statement. We are bought with
a price. Oh my soul! Bought with the precious
blood of Christ as a lamb without spot or blemish. Bought with
His sufferings, His humility, and His death as our Savior.
bought with an everlasting love. It said He loved us and gave
Himself for us. Herein is manifested the love
of God. While we were yet enemies, sinners,
Christ died for us. When in our unbelief and sin
we thought we were the sole proprietors, what was our end? What was our
end? Sin, darkness, ignorance, and
rebellion. But now we know that we're not
our own. We were set aside by the grace
of God in election unto salvation and purchased by God's dear Son. Shall we then take what is not
ours and defile it with the wickedness of this world? We are what we
are by the grace of God. And therefore, we owe Him an
eternal debt of gratitude. And this is the thing about the
believer's walk. We glorify Him because we love
Him. We glorify Him because we owe
Him. We owe Him. We are eternal debtors
to Him. Like old Barabbas of old, he
was down on the death row. Down that old Roman dungeon.
Dark, damp, crowd outside. And he couldn't hear them when
they were just talking. And he couldn't see what was
going on. But Barabbas down that prison could hear. And he heard them out there.
Give us Barabbas! Give us Barabbas! Don't you know
cold chills run all over that man when he heard that angry
crowd crying for his blood. And then he heard that crowd
again as the voice level come up. And they said, crucify him! Crucify him! And then he could hear coming
down that old hall. He could hear them soldiers.
They flung open that door. unlocked his chains and they
marched him out all the while thinking he was going to the
cross. And they got up into the daylight and they said, you're
free to go. I'm free to go? You're free to
go. Why? Another's been chosen to
die in your stead. You reckon Brabus went back to
his stealing Went back to his nightlife? Huh? Went back to the jug? You reckon Brabus did that? I
don't think so. I don't think so. And neither
will a believer when he sees himself in the light of Christ,
owing him that eternal debt, seeing the love of God for his
worthless soul. That's what makes a man walk
in grace. Law, I could paint laws all over
the wall up here. It wouldn't do you any good.
It just, it rolls off a man like water off a duck's back. But
the love of Christ, that's a different story. That pierces the heart.
That establishes the motive. And that's why a man walks. He
walks as he receives Christ, he walks in Him. And he hears
of Him and learns of Him. He's rooted and grounded in Him. And then he walks in grace. May
the Lord reveal that to our hearts. Thank you.