Would you turn with me to First
Corinthians, Chapter six? I want to begin reading in verse
12 and read down to the end of the chapter. And I want you to
notice when we read this passage of Scripture. Our body is mentioned
eight times. in this passage of Scripture. Let's read this together, beginning
in verse 12. All things are lawful unto me,
but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me,
but I will not be brought under the power of any. Meats for the
belly, and the belly for meat, 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. And God hath both
raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by His own power. 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 an harlot? 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. flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is
without the body, but he that committeth fornication sinneth
against his own body. What? Know ye 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? For you are bought with
a price. Therefore, glorify God in your
body. and in your spirit, which are
God's." When you think of a person, an image pops into your mind.
If I think of you, there's a face that pops into my mind. There's
a body that pops into my mind. There's an image of a person. You think of their physical bodies.
Our bodies are a part of us. And they are very important to
us. You know, Paul said in Ephesians
chapter five, no man ever yet hated his own body, but he nourishes
it and cherishes it, even as the Lord of the church. And there's
not anybody in here that I'm talking to whose body is not
very important to you. It's important to you. You know
that. You know, we're not souls living
in bodies. We're men. You know, when we're
resurrected, we're still going to be in these bodies that will
be glorified bodies, but we're bodies like when you get sick,
you don't say, well, I'm doing great, but boy, my body's hurting.
No, not at all. You say, oh, I'm sick. I'm sick. You can't separate
your soul and your body. We're men. And when the body's
in pain, oh, how it troubles us. When the body's feeling good,
it makes us feel good. I tell you, the way you feel
physically has a whole lot to do with how you feel emotionally,
isn't it? I mean, you found that in your own experience. These
bodies of ours are our bodies, and they're important to us.
We want to take care of them. We want them to be healthy. We
want them to be fit. Everybody has that desire. We
are men. We have bodies. And we will spend eternity either
in heaven or in hell in these bodies. And notice how Paul ends
this passage. In this last verse, he says,
For you're bought with the price, therefore glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's. It kind of reminds
me of 2 Corinthians chapter 7. Hold your finger there and turn
to 2 Corinthians chapter 7 for a moment. Having, therefore, these promises,
dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness
of the flesh." He's talking about sins of the body and spirit,
perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Go back to 1 Corinthians
chapter 6. We must begin in verse 12. We looked at this last week.
Paul is speaking of temperance. He says in verse 12, all things
are lawful unto me. Now, understand this, sin is
not in things. There's no sin in tobacco. There's
no sin in alcohol. There's no sin in drugs. Now,
there's sin in the abuse of those things. There's no question about
it. But as far as sin in things, there is no sin in things. Sin
comes from the heart. Out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts, murders, adulteries and so on. Sin's not in things. When you think it's in things,
you've missed what sin is altogether. All things are lawful unto me,
but not everything is necessary. Not everything is expedient.
All things are lawful unto me, but I will not be brought under
the power or the control of any. Now, Paul is speaking in this
passage of Scripture of temperance. These bodies are what we serve
the Lord with. Your body. hand, this eye, this
ear, this tongue. These bodies are what we serve
the Lord with. Your feet carry you in here.
Your tongue is used to sing his praise. Your ears hear his gospel. Your arms are used to embrace
and to encourage and to give. Your eyes see the needs of your
brothers and sisters in Christ. We serve the Lord with these
bodies. We have bodies that we're very
concerned about. And these bodies could also be
used as the instruments of sin. You know, Paul speaks of meats
for the belly and belly for meats. Food is certainly lawful. Aren't
you thankful food tastes good? I mean, I'm so thankful for that. The Lord could have made it where
it doesn't even taste good. But he didn't because I'm thankful
for good tasting food. But Paul's saying, I'm not going
to be controlled by that. I'm not going to be brought under
the power of anything. Meats for the belly and belly
for meats, God will destroy both it and them. Now look what he
says next. In verse 13, Meats for the belly and the belly for
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. The body is not to be used for
sexual sin, is what he's saying. It's to be used for the Lord. The body is for the Lord and
the Lord for the body. And when he mentioned in these
previous verses, verses 9 to 11, these 10 sins that those
who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God,
three of them are sexual sins. He makes a big issue of this
thing of sexual sin. The body is not for fornication,
but it's for the Lord. Now, the intimate act of a man
and woman in the bonds of marriage is beautiful. God invented it. It's wonderful. It's sanctified
and sanctioned by God. And it pictures the relationship
between Christ and his church. Turn to Ephesians 5 for a moment.
There's nothing dirty about this. Nothing dirty. Now, wicked men
make it so, but there's nothing dirty about this intimate act
between a man and woman. It pictures a relationship between
Christ and church. Look in verse 30, Ephesians chapter
5. For we are members of his body, of his flesh and his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh. And this is speaking, this is
a reference to that intimate act. Now he says this is a great
mystery. The only reason we know this
is because God makes it known. We would never have a clue about
this. But he says, I speak concerning Christ and the church. Now, outside
of the covenant of marriage, it's forbidden and it's a great
sin. The body is not to be used for
sin, but for the Lord. Now, let's go and read verse
14. And God hath both raised up the
Lord and will also raise up us by his own power. The Father
raised up the body of Christ and he will one day raise these
bodies and we will be in glorified bodies forever. No more pain,
no more sin, no more sickness, no more trouble. Glorified bodies
forever. These resurrected bodies will
be different. No sin, but it'll still be our bodies. I'm still
going to look like Todd. I will be... Somebody once said,
can you recognize other people in heaven? Sure you can. Can
you recognize Moses and Elijah? I mean, there's all kinds of
people in the scripture that are referred to that even came
back and talked with the Lord. Sure you can. We're still going
to be our own individual selves in heaven. I'm always going to
be me. There's parts of that I'm looking
forward to. I'm looking forward to the part that's not going
to be anymore. The flesh, I'm looking forward to getting rid
of that. But I've got an identity and you've got an identity and
we're always going to be that. The Lord is going to raise up
these bodies. Now, look what he says in verse
15. He says, Know ye not that your bodies are the members of
Christ? Your physical bodies are the
limbs of the Lord Jesus Christ. The church and every individual
is his body. And this is not figurative speech.
This is literal. I am a member of the body of
Christ. Now, that's an awesome thing
to think about, isn't it? I am a limb of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You are a limb of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look over in 1 Corinthians 12. Verse 27. Now, you are the body of Christ
and members limbs in particular, every believer is a member of
the body of Christ, look over Ephesians chapter one. And this is such an amazing verse
of scripture. Ephesians chapter one, beginning
in verse 22. And he has put all things under
his feet. God has put all things under
the feet of Christ and gave him to be the head over all things
to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth
all in all. Now, I want you to think about
what that says. It says we, us folks sitting here tonight, every
believer, it comprises every believer, and it also comprises
each individual believer. We are the fullness. of him that
filleth all things in all." Now, that's to be amazed by. I mean,
I'm just amazed by it. But yes, that's true regarding
every believer. Look over in Ephesians chapter
5 once again. Verse 22, "'Why submit yourselves
unto your own husband, as unto the Lord? For the husband is
the head of the wife, Even as Christ is the head of the church,
and he's the Savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject
unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church,
and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present
it to himself a glorious church. Not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish,
so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that
loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord
the Church. For we are members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones." You know, when the Lord said,
inasmuch as you've done it to the least of these, my brethren,
you've done it. to me, and in as much as you
did it not to the least of these, my brethren, you did it not to
me. Now, that's if I'm a believer,
I am actually a member of the body of Christ. Isn't that wonderful? And you think about how concerned
you are about your own body. You know, that's a fairly insignificant
member of my body, my little finger, but boy, smash it and
see how much I care for it. I sure don't want to lose it.
I don't want to be, this is my body. And the Lord has that care
of every single one of his people. You are the body of Christ and
members in particular. Now back to our text in 1 Corinthians
chapter 6. 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 an harlot? God forbid. I'm not to use the body of Christ. If I use my body and if I use
it to become one with a harlot, a prostitute is what he's saying.
He's talking about sexual sin. He's talking about an illicit
sexual relationship. He says, I'm using the body of
Christ for that sin. I don't really altogether understand
that, but boy, it sounds awful, doesn't it? May the Lord deliver
us from that. I mean, if I use my body for
something like that, I'm using the body of Christ for that sin. He said, shall I do that? God
forbid. Verse 16, what? Know ye not that
he which is joined to it, harlot, is one body? For to say he shall
be one flesh, he reminds us of what happens in this intimate
act. And will you use a member of the actual body of Christ
for something like that? He says in verse 17, but he that
is joined unto the Lord. Is one spirit. And this. I kept looking at this
verse and looking at this verse, it's it's it's such an awesome
verse. He that's joined. to the Lord. And this is a reference to union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. He that is joined to the Lord,
he's one spirit. He's one spirit with the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's joined to him. Now, this thing of union,
this marriage, the two shall be one flesh. This is talking
about union with the Lord Jesus Christ. And I don't have any
doubt that this is the biggest, most amazing thing in the scriptures.
Union, being one with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I want you
to think about this. Union with Christ, one with Christ.
I gave this this illustration to the Sunday school class this
morning. When two rivers. Meet together. Are they still two rivers? No,
they're one. They're not too close together,
they become one river. Now, you think about this thing
of the two becoming one, not me being one with the Lord Jesus
Christ, not just real close to Him, but actually one with Him.
Now, let's take this a step further. Let's take it back. Here's a
river flowing. And all of a sudden, it forks off. And you know what's
happening. There's an island in the river. It forks off. Is
it still one river? Yeah, it's one river. It's going to come back and meet
there at the end. And there's a time where maybe
you're on one side of that river and you can't see the other part
because it's still the same river. Now that's during our lifetime,
while we're individuals, while we're in this thing called time,
all of a sudden we don't see our union with Christ the way
it was. But do you know that if you're
a believer, you have always, I just read that in Psalm 139
when we opened this passage of scripture, you've always had
an identity. You've always been in the Lord Jesus Christ. You've
always been one with Him. There was never a time when this
began to be. All I say about that is it blows
my mind. I mean, I'm just amazed by it.
I'm staggered by it. But I believe it. There's never
been a time when I've been independent of the Lord Jesus Christ. One
with Him. Now, my birthday was September
9th, 1959, but my existence was way before then in the mind and
purpose of God. He knew me. He had a relationship
with me. As far as my experience goes,
I don't know anything about it. But I've always been one with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Every believer has been one with
Christ. Now, you want to talk about something
that will give you some confidence. Talk about something that will
give you some boldness. His obedience is my obedience. His righteousness is my righteousness. What He did, I really did. I did it. This is my confidence. This is why I can come boldly
under the throne of grace. Because I know that as He is,
so am I. I am one with Him. He that's
joined to the Lord. He that's united to the Lord.
And that's what a believer is. He's united to the Lord. One
spirit, this scripture teaches so much about this union. The first thing that I think
of is the union of representation and that passage of scripture
in Hebrews, chapter seven, verses nine and 10, where Levi paid
tithes when he wasn't even born. Because he was in the loins of
his father, Abraham, when Abraham paid those tithes, he paid those
tithes. It says he paid them. When Jesus
Christ the Lord kept the law, I wasn't born, but I kept the
law just as surely as He did because I'm united one with Him. There's the union of the vine
to the branches. The Lord said, I'm the vine,
you're the branches. And I got to think about that. You have
the vine and you have the strings. I don't know what they're called.
You know, they're going up to bring the water up. It doesn't
actually become separate when it goes off into one of the branches,
though, does it? It's still the same, same fiber or whatever
it is going through the three. One. There's the union. And I like thinking about this,
too. There's the union of choice in this sense. I remember when
Lynn and I were married. Do you take this woman who you
hold by the right hand to be your lawful wedded wife until
death alone will part you? You know what I said? I do. And I'm still saying it. I do. And this is a union of
choice in that sense. Yes, it was before time began.
Yes, it's because we're united to Him. But it's something that
just, we love being united to Him, don't we? I mean, we say,
I do to this. I do. I love being united to
Him. He says, he that is joined to
the Lord is one spirit. Not of one spirit, but one spirit,
the same Holy Spirit he had without measure, we have. We are said
to have in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, the mind of Christ. That doesn't
mean we think like him. That means we have his mind. I have the mind of Christ. I have his spirit in me. It's
his mind. Now, that's how close, that's
how real, that's how vital this union is. I mean, this is mysterious.
It's glorious. But it's so we have the mind
of Christ. Now, he was joined under the
Lord in one spirit. Verse 18, he says, in light of
that, members of the body of Christ, I want you to agree. People look for give me something
to meaning and life and significance and so on. It means significance.
It is greatly meaningful. You're a member of the body of
Christ. That's who you are, talking about special. You know, we say,
well, ain't nobody special. Yeah, if you're a believer, you're
very special. You're a member of the body of
Christ. What significance? Now, he says,
in light of what you are in Christ, flee, verse 18, flee fornication,
flee sexual sin. Every sin that a man doeth is
without the body. But he that committed fornication,
Sin against his own body, and he says, flee from fornication,
run from it, don't give in to the temptation of it, flee from
it, because in some respects it's worse than other sins. Now,
we sometimes say one sin is just as bad as another. Now, wait
a minute. Here, Paul makes a distinction, doesn't he? He actually makes
a distinction. He says other sins are done without
the body. Flee fornication because this
sin is done with the body. It's the sin you use your body
to commit. And that body that you're using
is the body of Christ. All other sins are done without
the body. When you think about fleshly
sins, I mean, they're sins. There's all kinds of fleshly
sins. I mean, abuse of alcohol or drugs or something like that,
gluttony. That's a fleshly sin. And it's
all done without the body. You don't use your body. You
use something outside the body for that. But sexual sin, you
actually are using your body to commit that act. Now, all
I can say about that is whether we understand this or not, it's
still the doctrine of the Bible, isn't it? I mean, Paul makes
this very clear. I can't comprehend everything
I'm saying. I'm just getting what I know what he means by
it, but as far as comprehending it all, no. But I take it as
the truth because the Bible teaches it. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is
without the body, but he that committed fornication sinneth
against his own body. What? Verse 19. Know ye 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? God the Holy Spirit is in me. Your body is the temple, the
dwelling place of the infinite God of glory. Which you have of God, God has
given you this gift, and you do not belong to yourself. Your
body, all that you are, belongs to the Lord. That's why your
body is not to be used for sin or abused. If you borrow something
from somebody, to use it, let's say a tool of some kind, you
take extra good care of it because it's not yours. If it's yours,
you might not take such good care of it. You should, but some
people, you know, they're not going to take good care of it.
But if it belongs to somebody else, you're going to take extra good
care of it because it belongs to somebody else. Now, that's
the way it is with your body. It belongs to somebody else.
I am under the ownership of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not my
own. Look what it says in verse 20. For you are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's, you are bought, you
have been bought with a price. And what was that price that
you were bought with? You were bought with the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He paid a payment that you couldn't
pay. You altogether lacked the ability
to make this payment. And if He didn't pay it for you,
you'd wind up in hell and you know it. But you have been bought.
You have been purchased with the price. You see, His body
was nailed to that cross. And the blood that flowed from
His body as the sin-bearing substitute to actually put away your sin,
all your debt is paid. He bought you. Just like Hosea
bought Gomer, he bought you for himself to be his body, his bride,
and he bought you at what a price, his precious blood. You've been
redeemed. And here's another thing to think
about. You've been bought. The payment's already been made.
There's really nothing for you to do. You've been bought with
a price. Your sin has been paid for. It's
been washed away. It is no more. You know, that's
the hardest thing to get hold of. But I do not have any sin
before God. Well, what about that sin you
just committed? It's already been put away. It
is gone. It is washed away from me. It's
separated as far from me as the East is from the West. God cast
it behind His back. He said there's sins and nickels.
I remember no more. There's only one reason why He
won't remember them. There's nothing there to remember. I
have been bought with a price. Now, doesn't that make you...
It takes the pressure off. It takes the stress off. I mean,
I've been paid for. There's nothing for me to do.
I've been paid for. I've been bought with a price. You know what? The Lord's blood actually
redeemed. I can't tell you how much I despise,
and that's the word I want to use, I despise the doctrine of
universal redemption that says that he can pay for somebody's
sins and they wind up in hell anyway. There's not a drop of
gospel in that message. I despise that. He bought you. He paid. You've been bought with
a price. The debt has been completely
paid and you owe nothing. Somebody says, well, that'll
lead to sin. I started to say that would lead
a goat to sin, but it won't lead a goat to sin. Goat's going to
do whatever he wants to do anyway. He's looking for a reason to
sin, and he'll just use that. But that's not going to lead
a child of God to sin, to know that his debt is completely paid. Makes him want to honor the Lord
all that much more. You've been bought with a price. Therefore, since you've been
bought with this price, verse 20, for you're bought with a
price, therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit,
which are God's. Glorify God in your body, certainly
by being chaste, not committing fornication and by being temperate,
taking good care of these bodies, which are the dwelling place
of the Holy Spirit. Now, this is this is important. This is what he's speaking of.
He's talking about your body, the way you're to take care of
that body. What do you think about somebody who'd borrow somebody
else's property and abuse it? Well, that is what we do in the
abuse of our bodies. Take good care of your body and
glorify God in your spirit, in your attitude, in the new man
which he's given you, which dwells in that body that you're called
upon to glorify God in. Glorify God in your body by using
it in the service of him. Turn to 1 Corinthians 9. A couple
of pages over. Verse 24. Know you not that they which
run in a race run all. But one received the prize. So
run that you may obtain and every man that striveth for the mastery
is temperate. In all things, that person who's
seeking to win that race, he trains hard, he's tempered in
all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible
crown, but we, an incorruptible, I therefore so run, not as uncertainly,
so fight I, not as one that beateth the air, but I keep under my
body. Now, you think of the desires,
the sinful lusts and desires and longings that are in your
fallen flesh, your body. Everybody in here has got plenty
of that. You've got the flesh that you deal with. Now, what
does Paul say? Paul doesn't say, well, salvation
is by grace, therefore, I'm just not going to worry about it.
No, he says, I keep under my body and bring it into subjection,
lest that by any means, When I preach to others, I myself
should be a castaway. Now, if somebody just gives vent
to the flesh and says, well, there's nothing I can do about
it, Paul says that person is a castaway, that person is a
reprobate. Now, I want to close with this
thought, talking about our bodies, talking about these physical
bodies that we have. That give us so much trouble.
You know, I think of what the Lord said, and I'm so thankful
he said this, he said, The flesh is what? Weak. Weak. The Spirit is willing. The Spirit is willing. I tell
you what, I am willing. I'm willing to be just like Christ,
aren't you? I'm willing to not sin anymore.
The flesh is willing. No, the flesh is not willing. The Spirit is willing. That new man. But the flesh,
oh, it's so weak. And it is, it's so weak. Do I
have to convince you that you're a very weak person? In light of the weakness of our
flesh, how encouraging it is to know
that because of union with Christ, I have no sin. And Paul said,
or whoever wrote Hebrews said, let us come boldly to the throne
of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need. When's the time of need? Right
now. Right now. all the time. Yet
we're called upon to come boldly to this throne of grace to find,
to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. This
flesh is weak. And remember this, one of these
days, I'm looking at this from a couple
of points of view. One of these days, you're going to have a
glorified body. No more pain. No more sickness. No more weakness. But best of all, no more sin. That's the heritage of every
believer. So glorify God. May God give
us grace. Glorify God in your body. Ask
Him to give you grace to do it. That's the only thing I know
to say about this. I mean, because when I say this, everything I'm
talking about, I'm aware of the weakness of the flesh, and the
flesh is just weak. I know that. But boy, I want to glorify God
in my body, don't you? And in my spirit, they both belong
to God. May God give us grace to glorify
God in our body and in our spirit. Let's pray together.