1 Corinthians 6:12–20

1 Corinthians 6:12–20 (ESV)

Flee Sexual Immorality

12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. 13 “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 6:12–20 (UBS5)

Glorify God in Your Body

12 d​Πάντα μοι ἔξεστινe ἀλλʼ οὐ πάντα συμφέρειf πάντα μοι ἔξεστινg ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἐγὼ ἐξουσιασθήσομαι ὑπό τινος. 13 h​τὰ βρώματα τῇ κοιλίᾳ καὶ ἡ κοιλία τοῖς βρώμασιν,i ὁ δὲ θεὸς καὶ ταύτην καὶ ταῦτα καταργήσει.j τὸ δὲ σῶμα οὐ τῇ πορνείᾳ ἀλλὰ τῷ κυρίῳ, καὶ ὁ κύριος τῷ σώματι 14 ὁ δὲ θεὸς καὶ τὸν κύριον ἤγειρεν καὶ ἡμᾶς ἐξεγερεῖ2 διὰ τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ. 15 οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι τὰ σώματα ὑμῶν μέλη Χριστοῦ ἐστιν; ἄρας οὖν τὰ μέλη τοῦ Χριστοῦ ποιήσω πόρνης μέλη; μὴ γένοιτο. 16 [ἢ] οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι ὁ κολλώμενος τῇ πόρνῃ ἓν σῶμά ἐστιν; Ἔσονται γάρ, φησίν, οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν. 17 ὁ δὲ κολλώμενος τῷ κυρίῳ ἓν πνεῦμά ἐστιν. 18 φεύγετε τὴν πορνείαν.k πᾶν ἁμάρτημα ὃ ἐὰν ποιήσῃ ἄνθρωπος ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματός ἐστινl ὁ δὲ πορνεύων εἰς τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα ἁμαρτάνει. 19 ἢ οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι τὸ σῶμα ὑμῶν ναὸς τοῦ ἐν ὑμῖν ἁγίου πνεύματός ἐστιν οὗ ἔχετε ἀπὸ θεοῦ,m καὶ οὐκ ἐστὲ ἑαυτῶν;n 20 ἠγοράσθητε γὰρ τιμῆς· δοξάσατε δὴ τὸν θεὸν ἐν τῷ σώματι ὑμῶν3.

With a market cap of 164 billion, the world’s largest supplier of footwear and appeal is stationed right here in the United States. Raise your hand if you are wearing Nike right now?

νίκη means to be victorious over, to be a victor, to conquer. The appeal to conquer runs deep.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He created man to take dominion over creation. Instead, he was dominated by the snake.

After the fall, God promised that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the snake. Finally, man would reign again.

God warned the first offspring of the woman, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” (Gen 4:6–7)

But we know what Cain did next. We know what we all did next.

Everyone has succumbed to sin . No one has been able to fully claim victory.

Save One.

And because of Him, we can take dominion over sin and be restored to right relationship with our Maker.

Today, we will look at four steps to conquer sin.

Don’t be dominated by sin (v12)

12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.

Ever tried to play a sport without eating? You’re going to run out of fuel quickly. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got the best nike gear. You don’t eat, you don’t perform.

The fuel for conquering sin is in the preceeding verses.

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (ESV)

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

The LORD Jesus. He has overcome. If you are in Him, you are no longer enslaved to sexual immorality, or idolatry, or adultery, or homosexuality, nor stealing, nor slandering others, or manipulating others to get what you want. You are no longer enslaved to food, to screens, to body image, to exercise, to grades, to the opinion of others.

You are sanctified, justified in the only name by which mankind may be saved.

Before we get started today, is this you? Do you see progress against sin? Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ? If not, you will have no fuel to rule over sin. It will have you.

Repent! Turn from your sin now and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you do know the Lord, you’ve got something bigger to live for than your comfort, your feelings, your ego. You’re part of the team, that shows man who they were meant to be. You represent the perfect Man. If you’re on a middle or highschool team, you could eat that donut but you’ve got something bigger to live for. You could sleep in but your desire for sleep is overcome by the greater desire to get up and workout. You do what is best for the one you represent.

Paul had similar choices to make. He chose what was profitable for His greater purpose of proclaiming Christ across the known world. He put off many privileges to preach the Gospel to the Corinthians. He made his own living. He served them for a year and a half. He wrote 4 letters to them. He lived to see Christ exalted above all else. So he will not be dominated.

How about you? Are you mastered by anything? Could be sex, money, drugs, what other people think of you, how you look, how much you bench. If you are in Christ, you have the fuel to not be dominated. Decide now to not be dominated for the greater purpose of knowing Christ and making Him known.

2. Discern Who You Were Made For (v13–20)

Humanity is up for grabs in the modern world. The famous psychologist, Freud saw humans as basically sexual beings. This thinking permeates our modern culture. It was no different 2,000 years ago in Corinth.

They had this saying, “food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food.” If you want it, its only natural, so do it. You want food, eat it. You want money, get it. You want sex, have it.

Paul blows up this domination by desire in verse 13, “yet the body is not for immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.”

You were created for God, not for your desire. Disney preaches, follow your heart. God preaches, your heart is deceitfully above all things and desperately sick, who can understand it? (Jer 17:9)

Is it any wonder why depression is on the rise? Following desire leads to death, but God has joined you with His Son Jesus Christ! You have life, true life in Him.

You have what you need in Him. Jesus will never leave you or forsake you. At God’s right hand are good and right pleasures forevermore. You were made for God. Augustine says in his confessions, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”

Stop wondering around in the darkness of your desires, discern who you were truly made for.

3. Develop a Disgust for Immorality (v13–20)

Have you ever just spent a summer being lazy and felt gross? Maybe that’s this summer for some of you. You were made to work so excessive rest or laziness is disgusting. You are being dominated by your sinful desire and missing your true purpose in life.

It is this way with any sin. But particularly with sexual immorality. This sin is unique. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body (1 Cor 1:18).

Sinning within your body is so wicked because of who you are. You were made for God. As a believer, you are indwelt by God. Do you have a God centered disgust for immorality? Do you see any lustful thought as joining Christ with a prostitute?

Nothing develops a disgust for immorality like your intimacy with your Savior. The closer you are to immorality, the further you become from Christ.

May it never be that we give into sin. May it never be that idolatry, coveting, thieving, screens, opinions, endorphins from exercise, a rush from sugar, or that high from looking at porn would ever take dominion over us who were made for so much more.

As C.S. Lewis states, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Develop a disgust for that mud. We have become accustomed to it. It’s everywhere in this world. You see Satan is about the business of making unrighteousness normal and righteousness abnormal. STOP giving into his lies. Let’s just call it what it is. Those mud pies are more like cow pies. It sickens us. It is disease ridden. Ever been in a nasty portapotty? My son had to go and there we were at the park on a hot summer day. You can guess what happens from there. Don’t descend into the sewer of sin. Flee from it! Verse 18’s command to flee immorality is in the present tense. You can’t do it once and its over. Do it again, and again, and again. You may be motivated to flee now, but you will need to flee again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day. So, develop a disgust to the immorality all around us and within us. It may seem natural and normal but it is not.

Here is what we are truly meant for:

4. Dwell as a Doxology (v19–20)

While Satan is making unrighteousness normal and righteousness abnormal one day, the whole earth will be filled with the glory of Yahweh. The knowledge of Yahweh will fill the earth as the water covers the sea. One day, no one will need to say, ‘do you know Yahweh?’ for everyone will know Yahweh.

You are a taste of what is to come. You are ahead of the curve. In Christ, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you. You are not your own. You have been redeemed. You have been bought with a price.

Therefore, you get to do what you were created to do. The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever! Don’t be dominated by anything less.

Look past this world to the one coming:

1 John 5:4 (ESV)

4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 39.57 νικάω; νίκη, ης; νῖκος, ους

αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ νίκη ἡ νικήσασα τὸν κόσμον, ἡ πίστις ἡμῶν ‘this is how we win the victory over the world: with our faith’ 1 Jn 5:4.

Look past the things that are seen to what is unseen! See our coming conquering King who gives us true victory over immorality, over any other sin that seeks to rule us. He has won!

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 39.57 νικάω; νίκη, ης; νῖκος, ους

νῖκος: τῷ δὲ θεῷ χάρις τῷ διδόντι ἡμῖν τὸ νῖκος διὰ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ‘thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ’ 1 Cor 15:57.

Therefore, glorify God in your body. Live for His glory. Dwell as a doxology for Him, knowing that very soon, the whole earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord.