Freedom from Immorality

Freedom from Immorality
1 Corinthians 6:9-20
September 1, 2024

     In this chapter we touch on very practical and controversial topics. It is not politically correct. The thing is, the truth is not always popular, but it is good, because Christ came to set free. Not the false freedom that this world offers which actually leads to bondage, but true freedom resulting in you not being a slave to anything.

     Paul writes to the church in Corinth, they were babies in Christ and immature and we have seen him corrects them on multiple issues. “Are you not walking like mere men…?” Paul asked them.

     What does it mean that they were mere men? It means that they were just men, only men; in contrast to what? In contrast to being spiritual men. That’s the spiritual maturity Paul wants to build in them. There is something more important. Some higher calling. A higher way of living.

     The transformation from being mere men who have received Christ and are saved, but are not spiritually mature; to mature men who are spiritual in nature is important for all of us to understand because God wants the same for us.

     The church in Corinth came to Christ out of a culture that was very similar to the times in which we now live. Corinth was affluent and was a major center of commerce in the Roman Empire. It was also a major center of immorality. The Greek port of Corinth was the free-living “Amsterdam of the ancient world.”

     After landing at the Corinthian docks, sailors would climb the thousand steps or so to the top of a stunning crag of rock called the Acrocorinth, which offered 360 degree vistas of the sparkling Mediterranean. There they would pass through the marble columns of the Temple of Aphrodite, goddess of beauty and love, where a thousand temple prostitutes worked around the clock receiving funds for their deity.

     Aphrodite was the patron goddess of Corinth and it was the very center of immorality in the Roman Empire. The Greek men of Corinth were terribly chauvinistic and regarded their wives suitable only for raising families. For pleasurable sex they went to prostitutes and young boys. Those who came to Christ, came out of this culture.

     There lies the struggle. You came to Christ out of this world also and it is common to bring some of the world with you. But why did you come to faith in Christ at all? Because the end of those things is death and we gained no benefit from the things of which we are now ashamed – Romans 6:21.

     Paul shows them the way of maturity, the way of the Spirit. Do you not know, Paul is saying, that you’re not what you used to be, you’ve been washed, you’ve been sanctified, you’ve been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.

     Therefore, walk in the light of who you are now in Christ and not the way you lived when you were in the world. We are in Christ, we have the Holy Spirit, and we are called to walk in a new life, transformed by the renewing of our minds.

I. Be Mastered by Christ

• Paul begins by listing those things which will enslave a person through the desires of the flesh.

Verse 9 – Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 

• This was not a theoretical list. “Such were some of you,” Paul said.

Illus – That reminds me of the story of a man who felt out of place in church, thinking that everyone around him looked so put together, yet he was a broken sinner. The pastor just happened to be reading these verses and when he heard, “Such were some of you,” and saw people nodding their heads in agreement, he knew he was home.

• God called us out of those things and washed us in the blood of Christ. We were drowning in a muddy quagmire, but God pulled us out and washed us clean.

Illus – First few chapters of Proverbs deal with this issue. It is the first big warning: Stay away from the adulterous woman!

• God is calling us to understand and walk in wisdom, then we will stay out of trouble and he won’t have to rescue you out of it. Stay out of the miry clay!
• The point is that there is a distinction between the kingdom of heaven and this polluted world in which we live. There are many ‘churches’ today that accept the pollution, bring it in, and even celebrate it. They are missing it.
• Those walking in these things will not see the kingdom of God. What is the definition of the kingdom of God? People tend to think it is what we enter into when we die.
• That is very true, but you step into the new kingdom the moment you are saved. You start to live as a citizen of the new kingdom. It has implications now.
• If you live in these wrong things, you will also not have victory in this life. God’s kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy.
• You will see that those who walk I these things doe not have righteousness, peace, or joy. They are always haunted by not feeling right, having anxiety, depression, and fear.
• God wants to change our perspective and renew our minds so that we see the way He sees this world; these things must be spiritually appraised. He wants us to live in the blessings of His kingdom now and in eternity.

A. All things are lawful…

• Paul repeats this phrase twice. Paul had taught them about Christian liberty and no doubt it was something they had taken hold of, but they had completely misunderstood its meaning.
• It shows the importance of understanding and rightly dividing God’s word.
• The fact that we are no longer under the law is an essential aspect of the gospel, but to use that as a way to justify living like the world is what mere men do, it’s certainly not spiritually mature.
• We are now under the law of grace and love, loving God and WANTING to live aligned with His holiness.
• Paul gave us another principle that helps us understand…

Galatians 5:13, For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

1 Peter 2:16, Act as free men, (SET FREE FROM SIN)  and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God.

Romans 14:23, Whatever is not from faith is sin.

Habakkuk 2:4, … the righteous will live by his faith.

• What you cannot do out of faith, knowing that it pleases God, is sin.
• “Not all things are profitable,” Paul said. These things have power over you and that’s not good.
• Then Paul gives another principle, “I will not be mastered by anything.” Spiritual men are led by the Spirit, they are not mastered by anything in the world. Do not step back into the bondage of immorality, greed, anger, directed by the flesh or emotions.

B. Have the right perspective

• “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food.” Paul here is quoting a common saying that was used to justify sexual desires.
• The common thinking was that eating is just a natural process so there’s nothing wrong with it. Well, sex is also a natural process, so there must be nothing wrong with it either, or so they thought.
• Paul addresses their error and says their thinking was off, they needed God’s perspective. There’s a huge difference between food and sexuality.
• In modern times, it has been taken even further. Evolution theory says we are essentially animals, and as such we should surrender to our animal impulses. That makes it all ok because we don’t really have control of it.
• People use this to justify sexual immorality, but this kind of thinking does not hold up against careful scrutiny, because if people would really subscribe to this view, it would lead to total destruction of society.

Illus – Animals also kill whenever they want. They have no court to decide if it was warranted. Animals sometimes eat their own young. Animals kills and abandons the weak ones. They will fight to the death when threatened.

• We are not animals. We were created in the image of God. We have a moral compass.

Illus – We have a dog that is obsessed with his toy. Whenever we take out the toy, he cannot resist it. We can make him jump for it, run after it, and see him twirl when we spin it in circles. He just cannot stop. He has no control over the impulse.

• This is what the enemy does with people. He is manipulating and toying with them. Only it is not with something innocent like a plush toy, he has convinced people that they have no constraint sexually and is laughing at them as he is playing with them like animals with no control, destroying their bodies and souls in the process, leading them to eternal death.
• We are not just animals. We are made in God’s image. Even sexuality has a spiritual implication. And in a Christians life it stands under the authority of God.
• The body was made to have sexual desire, but it was not made for immorality, it was made for the Lord. We do not stand under the wiles and manipulation of the enemy. We are set free.

II. Glorify God in Your Body

• The body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, says Paul, and the Lord is for the body. God is not against the body, but it must be placed under authority of the Spirit.

Romans 12:1-2, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, well pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

• God gave us our bodies as a gift that we might use them for His glory and His purpose, not to be misused, abused and degraded. God has a higher, more honorable perspective of the body.

A. Sexuality and spirituality are connected

• “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?” This is a powerful argument. If they could take hold of this truth, it would truly transform their thinking.
• They were taking sexuality too lightly. Yet from God’s perspective, sexuality and spirituality are interconnected.
• Verse 17 – we are joined together to the Lord in one spirit.
• Verse 15 – our bodies are members of Christ.

Ephesians 5:30-32, We are members of His body. “For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I’m speaking with reference to Christ and the church.

• In other words, the relationship of husband and wife represents the relationship of Christ and the church. Because husband and wife become one flesh, they are connected in their souls.
• The World has made it cheap. Many still feel the repercussion of the cheap sex, because there is a deeper meaning to it. Women feel that they were robbed, and men feel like they have stolen something that wasn’t theirs. There is no such thing as casual sex. It leaves a mark.

Illus – If you take a piece of rump roast and you tear it, it is not a pretty sight.

• Sexual desire was given for marriage, own husband, own wife. It is beautiful in the marriage. It is a celebration of the covenant between husband and wife. God made and ordained it, and encourages it.
• This is important to God, because it has a much deeper spiritual meaning and connection.
• Notice that Paul quotes from Genesis 2:24 both in Ephesians 5 and here in 1 Corinthians 6. It’s the same point. God’s intent from the creation of man is that sexuality represents the intimacy and closeness of God and man.

Isaiah 54:5, “For your husband is your Maker, whose name is the Lord of hosts; and your Redeemer is the holy One of Israel, who was called the God of all the earth.”

• God places His Spirit in us. In other words, there is a connection to God that is deeply spiritual. His Spirit comes to live inside of us and fuses with our Spirit just like the fusion in intimacy between husband and wife.
• There is spiritual and soulful intimacy. Only He can satisfy the deep spiritual need of the soul that needs to come alive.

B. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit

• Verse 19 – if your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, then sexual immorality, which is done, of course, through the body, is an offense to the Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 6:14-16, Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God.

• This would have made sense to them since the temple of Aphrodite was where much of the immorality happened.

Illus – There was a time in Israel’s history where idolatry had gotten so bad that they actually had idols set up in the temple in Jerusalem. Imagine the offense to God. In the same way, imagine the offense when a Christian brings immorality into the temple of God.

C. Know when to run

• When we understand this, we can see why the enemy using the systems of this world drives sexual immorality with such force, because he knows it has a devastating physical and spiritual impact and he can shove the destruction of the ones made in God’s image in His face. “Look, I am destroying your image and they are working with me!”
• The answer, Paul says, is to flee immorality. There is a time to stand and fight, but when it comes to immorality, the response is to run. Don’t walk; run.
• This is important because many people want to see how close they can get. No, God is saying, just run.
• One of the sayings that captures this truth is this, “If it’s not right, I don’t want it.” That can apply to many things. Regarding sexuality; if it is not right, I don’t want it.
• One of the best biblical illustrations of knowing when to run is Joseph who, when Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him, ran as fast as he could.

2 Timothy 2:22-23, Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

• But the problem is that the flesh doesn’t consider the consequences, it wants what it wants and it wants it now. The flesh says, “Me want food… me want woman.”
• But our spirit man, connected with and directed by the power of the Holy Spirit can stand against this.

Galatians 5:1, It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

John 8:36, So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

• The world says that it gives freedom. Freedom to do whatever you want. Freedom to have sex whenever and with whoever you want. The reality is that that is not freedom, it is bondage. It makes you a slave.
• The consequences of immorality are not worth it. Not in this world, and not in the afterlife. It drains the soul. It breaks down faith. It waters down intimacy, it brings anxiety and fear.
• Freedom is only found in the parameters of God. Freedom is only found in the purpose and design God designed something for. Therein is life.

Romans 6:21, What benefit did you gain from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.

• You are not your own, you’ve been bought with a price, therefore glorify God with your body.
• Live in the freedom and guidance of the Spirit.