The Sanctuary of God

Tonight we are going to address three excuses the Corinthians offered for their sin. Now before you tune me out thinking, “This is from two thousand years ago, and we don’t deal with these issues today, here are the questions:

If we’re saved, then we can sin and still go to heaven. 9-11

Don’t Christians have liberty? Aren’t we free from the law? 12-14

Can I not use my body as I please? 15-20

If we’re saved, then we can sin and still go to heaven. 9-11

Warren Wiersbe says this:

“While we cannot excuse the Corinthians for their terrible sins, we can certainly understand why the fell into them; no city had more temptations to immorality and vice than did Corinth. The very religion of the city (the worship of Aphrodite) was nothing more but prostitution in the name of religion! These believers had been rescued from lives of horrible sin and they were tempted to go back.”

*Question: Does liberty (freedom from the law) give us license (free reign) to live as we please?

The Bible Teaches:

Once someone is born again, that establishes a permanent relationship between God and the new believer – NOTHING can undo that relationship

A believer will go to heaven regardless of how often he/she may fail in their life, but without a doubt the new birth brings with it a new nature (2 Corinthians 5:17)

2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV 1900

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

While a believer, unfortunately, still posses the ability to sin, however, by the grace of God and the working of the Spirit, there should be no appetite for sin.

In verses 9-11 Paul explains:

Those whose lifestyles are made up of the types of sin listed here are not those who will inherit the kingdom of God.

Any doctrine that would lead one to believe you can live as you please is NOT Bible doctrine and should be refused

Paul reminds the Corinthians that they at one time were like the unbelievers, but they are washed, they are sanctified, they are justified

A Christian does not inherit the kingdom of God by living a life free from sin, rather they prove they are going to heaven by the life they live

Sanctification is the process of change! We are putting off the old sinful person with his desires and putting on the new spiritual person with new desires.

Excuse one is defeated, we move now to excuse two:

Don’t Christians have liberty? Aren’t we free from the law? 12-14

1 Corinthians 6:12 KJV 1900

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.

Did you see that! “All things are lawful unto me...”

That is about as far as some go. However, Paul did not mean as believers our freedom from the law was a license to sin!

Well, consider Galatians 5:13

Galatians 5:13 KJV 1900

13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

Our liberty from the law does not include anything forbidden by Scripture!

What did Paul mean?

He meant that the satisfaction of divinely given physical desires was within the will of God for every believer – food, drink, and sexual attraction

“All things are not expedient...I will not be brought under the power of any”

Paul here says that even though, in their proper place, natural desires are perfectly fine, if they take priority in your life they replace God and become and idol!

Paul is saying:

Christian liberty may be summed up by asking two questions:

Is the practice expedient? - is it helpful/conducive to a good Christian life?

Does it enslave? - To be brought under the power means to be under the control of something, to become its slave.

Don’t get confused here...

1 Corinthians 6:13 KJV 1900

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.

God created food in order to satisfy the stomach, and He designed the stomach so that it could properly use the food for both its satisfaction and health

The purposes of both food and the stomach will cease to be at the time of death

Even in glorified bodies, though we will have the ability to eat there is no indication we'll have a need to eat

It is the belly and not the body that God will destroy

Their argument:

The argument from the Corinthians was that just as food and stomach go together, so do the body and sexual indulgence

Paul refutes this argument by reminding them that the purpose of our bodies is to glorify and serve God

In verse 14 Paul goes on to prove that God had more in mind for us in our bodies than this temporary world can offer, this is proven by the doctrine of the resurrection

The body is crucial to redemption – we cannot separate our body from our soul as we seek to grow spiritually, it involves total commitment of ourselves

With our final excuse, we are going to destroy the whole “My body, my choice” debate...

Can I not use my body as I please? 15-20

No.

Why?

Because as Christians, we belong to God. 1 Cor. 6:15

1 Corinthians 6:15 KJV 1900

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 an harlot? God forbid.

To take their bodies and to revert to the heathen worship of their day would have been to make the members of Christ the members of a harlot

To this hypothetical question Paul responds: God forbid!

Verses 16-18 demonstrate to the Corinthians the gravity of the sexual sins they were indulging in:

The idea of the unbelievers in the world was “Everyone is doing it so why be different?”

The word joined in 16 & 17 means to glue two pieces together

If believers are joined to Christ in one spirit, then what right do believers have to also join themselves physically to a prostitute?

God gives us simple advice in verse 18:

“Flee fornication”

The sin of fornication is a sin against our own bodies, one simply needs to meet one with HIV to know this

Verses 19 – 20 bring this question to a head and give the final answer regarding whether we can use our bodies anyway we please

The body of the believer is the temple or the most holy place, where the Holy Spirit dwells

Because our bodies are the dwelling place of God, then we must realize this truth: Our bodies are not our own to do with as we please!

We are bought – literally purchased from the slave market of sin

Because we are redeemed, we are to glorify God in our body as well as in our spirit, which are God's

Take Away:

We are the members of Christ, we are His body on earth

Because we are the members of Christ, we need to seek to do what pleases Him

This includes:

When we are wronged by the brethren

Abuse of our liberty

There are many purposes for Christians and the church, but among the most important is the need to live a life which does nothing but bring glory to God