Church Gone Wild, Week 4
Tim Rivers | July 28, 2024
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Y'all ready to keep going in this series? Church gone wild Now, I told y'all last week to put your seatbelts on because it was going to get real today. Put your seatbelt on and put your helmet on because we are going there. Turning your Bibles to First Corinthians chapter six, the book of First Corinthians chapter six. We're going to read from verse number 12. While you're turning there, I do want to say this. This week we became aware of just the senseless killing of Sonja Massey. And anytime a situation like this happens in our society, it can evoke a lot of different emotions and it also reveals the tension between various groups of people. And just as we did a few weeks ago, we prayed for the peace on our country at the assassination temp of Donald Trump. Last week I preached on the Constitution and how it is incumbent upon all of us to respond when the Constitution has been broken.
And so I think it's incumbent upon us as a church to respond when something like this happens because we're the only ones that have the true answer, which is Jesus. And so it's incumbent upon the church to call out to the Lord and pray for the peace of our land. Pray for accountability, pray for protection, and somebody say, amen. Can we do that? Are you okay with that? Let's pray. Dear Lord, first of all, we just pray for Sonya Massey's family and the loss that they're dealing with. I pray that you would comfort them, give them peace as they're grappling with just the senselessness I pray for we as a people, the people of God, that we would weep with those who weep and that we would find biblical strategies on how to introduce peace and unity into the environments that we're in. Lord, we come against every spirit of violence, every spirit of destruction, every spirit of murder, every spirit of killing.
It's not of you, it's the enemy's playground. We come against it in Jesus name and everybody say amen. Alright, go with me to one Corinthians chapter six, verse number 12. Now, last week I read to you from the Message Translation and I'm going to read from the Message translation again this week. Now, I got to address this because I know there's some Bible scholars in here. You're pulling out your hair because I'm reading from the Message translation. So let me really quickly give you kind of a hermeneutical lesson, which is the way to study the Bible. There are really two main ways to translate the ancient texts. The scriptures were originally written in Hebrew Old Testament, and then New Testament predominantly in Greek. And then several scriptures have been written in Aramaic. So when you are trying to interpret or translate an ancient scripture, it's important that you pay attention to every word because every word, it does not just translate to the English language.
There's certain meanings that can be lost if you just paraphrase everything. So there's two types of translations. There's what we call a formal equivalency, and this is a word for word translation, meaning that the translators went in, looked at the original language and translated each word to the modern language. KJV, anyone grew up on KJV thou, they used to say, if it was good enough for the apostles, it's good enough for me. You got to be a church kid to understand that makes no sense at all. E-S-V-N-A-S-B, they're all word for word. And then you have what they call a dynamic equivalency, and this is a paraphrase. So the message translation, NLT, is kind of a combination of both, but it's important for you to know that especially as a believer because if you're going to go deep into the study, get you a translation, that's word for word so you don't miss anything. If you want to stay awake at night, get you a paraphrase. I like using the message translation for these passages because it brings the language to our modern vernacular and it's punchy. So one Corinthians chapter six verse 12, just because something is technically legal doesn't mean that it's spiritually appropriate. See what I'm saying?
If I went around doing whatever I thought I could get by with, I'd be a slave to my whims. You know the old saying, first you eat to live, then you live to eat. Well, it may be true that the body is only a temporary thing, but that's no excuse for stuffing your body with food or indulging it with sex. I told you, man, this translation gets it real, doesn't it? Since the master honors you with a body, honor him with your body, God honored the master's body speaking of Jesus by raising it from the grave, he'll treat yours in the same resurrection power until that time, remember that your bodies are created with the same dignity as the master's body. You wouldn't take the master's body off to a whorehouse. Yo, that's a lot more punchy than the KJV. You wouldn't take the master's body off to a whorehouse, would you? The trap house,
I should hope not. There's more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact as written in scripture, the two became one. Since we want to become spiritual one with the master, we must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy leaving us more lonely than ever, the kind of sex that can never become one. There is a sense in which sexual sins are different from all others. In sexual sin, we violate the sacredness of our own bodies. These bodies that were made for God-given and God modeled love for becoming one with one another with another. Or didn't you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit. Don't you see that you can't live however you please squandering what God paid such a high price for, he gave his life for it. The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body and somebody say, amen. Amen. Here's my title, sex and the Church part two.
If you thought we were going to move on to something else, welcome. All right, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your goodness and your mercy. We thank you Lord for your word for this, a lamp into my feet and light unto my path. I pray that your word would do what it does, that it would convict the heart that would draw us closer to you. I pray, Lord Jesus, you give us ears to hear a heart, receive a mind, to understand what you would say to us. We give you a name, the praise, the glory and the honor because you're worthy of it in Jesus' name. And everybody say amen. Amen. So when Janice and I told you all the story before we got married, we moved us for laka for six months. When we came back, it was time for us to get a place to live. And so we ended up finding an apartment in Fort Worth, 335 square feet, $550 a month. Can you imagine? Only paying $550 a month for apartment the things dreams are made of. But we didn't have that. We didn't have a ton of money. So we had the apartment, it was a one bedroom apartment and our furnishing was limited. It was limited to what people gave us
Or what we already had somewhere stuck. And so we had someone gave us a bed, we had a bed frame, but for the first little while we ate on the floor. So for all of y'all single folks waiting for this person to roll in with a ton of money, sometimes you got to start small. Sometimes you got to eat on the floor and go off the dollar menu. You know what I'm saying? And sometimes you can't even do the dollar man, you got to do ramen noodles. So well, we started to buy some furniture. So we bought most of our furniture at the beginning from Craigslist, paid $50 for a couch, paid $50 for an entertainment center including delivery, let's go. Talked him down from 50 to 40 and then back to 50 for delivery. You know what I'm saying? We also received a free tv, 32 inch high definition, 10 80 p. Come on a 32 inch tv now is a computer monitor. Let's be real. We're this close watching it. So well then we started to get a little money in our pockets, you know what I'm saying? And so when we got a little money in our pockets, we decided to elevate our furniture games. So we went to Ikea furniture
Made in Europe. Come on, we know this high class, we about to take it up. So we go to Ikea and if you've ever been to ikea, IKEA knows exactly what they're doing. If you have kids when you first walk in, they got the little spot where you can drop off the kids. They know you buy more when you don't have kids with you, you drop. We didn't have kids at the time, but we did. How many know that when you get a little bit of, you don't have to have a lot, a little bit of money, you walk different. We walked into Ikea like we own the place looking at tags and stuff, and one thing IKEA does is they provide for you what they call an inspirational showroom.
And in the inspirational showroom, they take all the different furniture pieces that they sell and they put it into a setting that inspires you to purchase it. If you don't have much of an imagination or a creative mind, you need this place because this place will tell you what you can do with the table. So we walked into these showrooms and you know what you do, man? You start getting these little tags off the furniture and then you're going to pick it up at the end. So we went through man, we decided, hey, this is what we're going to get. And then we stopped halfway and got the reheated meatballs and the cold mashed potatoes that they try to sucker you with. So we got all the way to the end, and when you get to the end, you have to type in the product that you want into a computer and it'll tell you where it is.
Well, at Ikea, once you type in the product that you want the product that inspired you in the showroom, the computer will give you a list of all the parts and instructions on how to put it together. You may think you're going to get a table that's already set up, but no, you're going to have to go to aisle five, bend number 73 and pick up the tabletop. Then you go to aisle seven, bend 73 to get the legs for the table. Then you go to aisle number 17, bend 73 to pick up the screws, but you're not done yet. You still got to go to aisle number 45, bend number two and pick up the hardware. So by the time you get through, you got 375 pieces of a table that you got to take home and put together. Now here's what's interesting about ikea.
They will provide you all the parts for the table and they will also give you the instructions on how to put it together. But how many of you view instructions as a challenge not to follow them? And if you fancy yourself a handyman, you're not even going to look at the instructions. If you ever bought anything from ikea, the instructions are about this thick. So if you decide not to follow the instructions, IKEA knows exactly what's going to happen. You may go, go ahead, go ahead and try to make it work your way. Go ahead and try to put the legs where you think they go. Put the screws where you think they go. You will end up with 47 screws left, three different brackets that you didn't know where they go, and an extra leg for the table. I thought it was supposed to have four legs.
I got three on there. Here's what's going to happen. If you build it your way without the instructions, guess what's going to happen? You're going to miss parts. You're going to have stuff left over and it won't hold weight. IKEA knows. This is why they sell things as parts because they know once you get home and try to build it yourself and you didn't follow the instructions, you'll be back for more screws. You're going to be back for more legs, more brackets. Here's the thing, we know that if you don't follow the instructions of the manufacturer who designed the table that it's not going to work properly. How can we know that about ikea? But when it comes to sex in the church, we try to do it our own way. Lemme tell you something. If you try to define sex outside of scripture, you're going to be left with extra parts, a table that's leaning and it won't hold any weight. God has not only given you all the parts and hardware for sexual intimacy, but he also gave you an instruction manual. The problem in our culture is that our culture says, well, I got all the parts. I'll figure out where they go.
I told you I was going to get quiet. If you don't follow then instruction manual provided to us, we end up having things in places they don't need to be and missing situations and wondering what do we do with everything that's left? This was the problem in the church of Corinth because remember we've talked about this. Corinth was continually influenced by the cultural perspective on sexuality and therefore, Paul consistently and constantly talks about proper alignment when it comes to sexuality and sexual relations within the church. The reason why we still have issues of sexual immorality within the church is because the church has not done a very good job about talking about sex within the church. You know why? Because it makes people uncomfortable. But if it's in the scripture, let's talk about it. If we're going to preach the full counsel of God, we have to wrestle with things that are affecting not just our culture, but the culture within the church. Now, let me add this clarification. The asterisk. Paul is not talking to unbelievers, he is talking to the church. You cannot trip out about the world acting like the world. The world is not adhering to the constitution of God's word.
Can I meddle a little bit the Olympics? Yes. People tripping right now, right? Yes. Is it offensive? Absolutely. But why are we shocked that the world is acting like the world? The world does worldly things, especially if you go and you think about how the Olympics began. It didn't begin in the church. It wasn't like church. People got together and said, Hey, let's have a sack race in the name of Jesus. It wasn't like you were at a church service and saw somebody run the aisles and say, I wonder if we put 'em on a track. How fast could they go? The Greeks and the Romans started it. It didn't start off as a church event. We cannot think that this scripture applies to those who are not in covenant with Jesus. At the same token, we cannot as believers think that this doesn't apply to us.
So the reason why in Corinth was dealing with sexual immorality, and the reason why it's still happening today is because of this fundamental need within the human being for sexual intimacy. Here's usually what leads to sexual immorality. I've got s, I've got needs. God gave me a sex drive and the keys to drive. Why would he tell me what highway to take? Because if you take a road trip without a roadmap, you end up off a cliff.
God gave you all the parts for sexual intimacy and then gave you an instruction manual. If it ain't working, you got to go back to the manual. I remember I had this car and it was a Volkswagen Golf and I was having some problems with the transmission, and so I said, you know what? I ain't got the money to go to the dealership. I'm going to take this to a shade tree mechanic. And if you wonder what that is, it's a mechanic under a shade tree. It's exactly what it is. And he was going to charge me, I think three or $500 to rebuild my transmission. I brought it over to him. He rebuilt it in a couple in a week, called me back. I said, great man, that cost me three, $400. So I got on the road, guess what? Problem was still there. So I knew that the dealership was going to be expensive. So you know what I did? I just found another person that worked on transmission. I said, yo, my transmission ain't working right? They said, no worries, we just have to buy a used transmission and put it in and should fix the problem. So I bought a used transmission, put it in, didn't work, took that transmission out, bought another one, put it in. It still didn't work. By this time I could have been driving a brand new S-Class Mercedes.
So finally I said, you know what? I'm going to take it to the manufacturer. And I went to the dealership with the original transmission back in. I said, my transmission ain't working. They did a diagnostic on it and they said, oh, easy. We just got to reprogram this part. I spent thousands of dollars trying to fix a transmission by going to the wrong source. If it don't work, go to the original manufacturer. It may just be a programming issue. Well, I just need another partner. No, maybe you just need a programming. So
If we're going to understand how God intends for sex to be done right in the church, we have to go to the manual. And the best way to do that is to go back to the original scripture that defines for us the first time sexual intimacy is mentioned. And in the practice of theology, this is called the law of first mention. So let's go back to Genesis chapter one, verse number 27. Here's my first point. God designs human sexuality. Genesis chapter one, verse number 27. So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God, he created them, male and female, he created them. Then God blessed them and said, be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Rain over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all animals that scurry along the ground. Now let me ask you this. How many agree that when God creates something is good,
How many agree that when God creates something, it's actually perfect when God designs something because he's the master builder and because he is God. Whatever he creates throughout creation, every time he creates something, he said, it is good. It's good. And then he said, it is real good. Anytime God creates something, it is good when he designs it. Now that creation may rebel against his manual, but it doesn't mean that his original design is messed up. It means that the creation rebelled against its intended design. Does that make sense? So when God created animals, he created animals with partnerships, dogs, cats, cows, zebras, lions. They all had partners. So much so that when God said, go name the animals and animals naming the animals, the scripture says that he looked around and he saw that every animal had a partner except for him. And he said, what's up God, I got paon,
I got deeds. He knew what was happening in the animal kingdom and he is wondering, where's my partner? So God who is a master designer looks at Adam and said, it is not good for man to be alone. Why was it not good for Adam to be alone? Because Adam could not fulfill the purpose of God, which was to be fruitful, multiplier prince earth of and have dominion by himself. Adam could not procreate and multiply by himself. So God decides to provide him a counterpart. So God who created Adam as a male created eve as a female. Now I want you to take note of these two words, male and female. Whenever you read the scripture, it's very important that we understand the verbiage that the scripture uses. Notice that the Bible did not say at the very beginning of creation, man and woman, although Adam was a man and Eve was a woman, the scripture says they were male and female. This is important because the actual definition of male is the ability to produce sperm. The actual definition of female is the ability to produce eggs. So when God created Adam as a male and he created Eve as a female, he created them with the ability to procreate. When they come together, it doesn't matter what Adam or Eve changed on the outside,
They could not redesign how God intended them on the inside. Culture will try to redefine male and female, but one thing they have never been able to figure out is how to reverse the reproductive organs. Why? Because God and his intelligence said, I'm going to create male and female to function differently and bring them together so that they become one flesh. So when God brings them together, now they can fulfill the purpose of God. Okay, Genesis chapter two, verse 21. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man and while he slept, took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh and the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Pay attention to that. Then the man said, this atlas is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.
She shall be called, whoa man, I can't help myself because she was taken out of man. Therefore, why for? Because God created Adam and Eve and brought them together. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife. Stop going to your parents' house and not home, whoever that's for, and they shall become one flesh and the man and the wife. Were both naked and were not ashamed. Here's what we know when in God's perfect design and his perfect picture of marriage and sexual intimacy, it included male and female coming together. And when you submit yourself to the original design of there is no shame. Now, I want you to notice this male and female sexuality is essential to God's design for marriage and kingdom expansion. There could be no kingdom expansion and without God's design for male and female that come together. Now, I want you to know this just about the scripture. When God got ready to make Adam a partner, he didn't give him options. God didn't create a group of people. Eve, Martha, Keisha, Latrell, Steve, John, and say, Adam, take your pic. Whatever's in your heart, go ahead. No, God said, I'm bringing you one person,
A female Adam. That's just what I'm bringing you. Eve, you got one person, a male, and y'all coming together. Well, I don't like that. That's what the culture says. I don't like that. God doesn't say you have to agree with him, but if you don't, you can't redesign it either. Because here's the thing, I don't agree with the speed limit. I didn't set the speed limit, but I don't like it. Sometimes I want to drive faster, right? But if I know the speed limit is 60, the speed limit is 60 because someone decided then in order for there to be unity and congruency on this highway, here's the speed limit. When I don't obey the speed limit, I also avail myself to the consequences of breaking it. We cannot break the laws of God and not expect consequences. You may disagree, but that's God's original design. And when we come into the body of Christ, we have to submit ourselves to the design that God had. Can I tell you any redesign from the original voids, the manufacturer's warranty?
I got to say it again. Some of y'all missed it. Any redesign from the original voids, the manufacturer's warranty? Can I tell you that God's original design brings with it blessings. If you try to redesign that you are outside of blessings. Anything that doesn't align with how God created it does not have the blessings of God on it. Can you do it? Sure, but it's not blessed. And if you're I with God, and you know what God says and you decide to break it intentionally, you got to be aware of the consequences of breaking the covenant of God. Am I still in the word? Yes. Point number two, God defined sexual morality. God designed us as sexual beings, meaning that without anybody teaching you anything, you became aware of attraction and desires. I don't know what age it may have happened for you, but at some point you were at the playground, Sally comes by, she hits you on the arm the year before you would hit her back. But this year you're like, Sally's kind of cute.
This happens to everybody. At some point you become aware of attraction and you become aware. Your body is responding to your attraction. No one has to teach you that. You know why? Because you were designed that way. You were designed to have attraction and your body is designed to respond to that attraction. Now, here's the problem. When you feel that and you are aware of that, the question is what do you do with that? How do you respond to that? Again, God has given you all the parts for sexual intimacy, the hardware, the parts aisle. Number five, table something. You have everything. But now you have to submit to the instruction manual to see how it all gets together so that you have a stable table. Ooh,
I hide myself of y'all. I'm about to go on tour tickets to selling tomorrow.
If there is a definition for sexual immorality, which we found, remember last week we talked about this, sexual immorality is any and every type of sexual relations outside of the description of the Bible. If there is a definition for sexual immorality, then there has to be a definition of sexual morality, meaning that God has given to us a set of instructions on, yo, this stuff is off limits. So let's go to Leviticus chapter 18. I dunno, some of y'all said Leviticus, buckle up. Y'all buckle up. God established sexual morality. First of all at the very beginning with Adam and Eve. Here's how sexual intimacy works. It's within a covenant relationship between man and woman married. Okay, Leviticus chapter 18, verse number 26 Oh, verse number one, sorry. Then the Lord said to Moses, who said it?
The Lord
Who said it, the Lord. The Lord. Alright, give the following instructions to the people of Israel. I am the Lord your God. So do not act like the people in Egypt where you used to live or like the people of Canaan where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life. So first of all, God says, before I get into details, lemme just say this, don't be bringing old habits into your new life and don't also look ahead at what culture is doing in front of you and try to adapt that. Don't be too, don't be asleep and don't be woke. Follow my instructions. You must obey all my regulations and be careful to obey my decrees. For I am the Lord your God. If you obey my decrees and my regulations, you will find them. What's this word? Life through them. I am the Lord. Whenever God gives us a constitution or regulations, it's not to crimp your style. God, you stepping over my style. No, God is giving you regulations so that you will have a blessed life. What we're talking about is not to somehow punish you. God doesn't give us instructions for punishment. He gives us instructions for life when we are resistant to the regulations and the constitutions of God, the only one affected is yourself and then those that are in the body of believers. So let's look at this. You must never have sexual relations with a close relative for I am the Lord.
Do not violate your father by having sexual relations with your mother. What she is your mother. You must not have sexual relations with her. People say, well, that should never happen. We just read about it last week
In one Corinthians. It was happening in the church. Do not have sexual relations with any of your father's wives for this would violate your father. Do not have sexual relations with your sister or half-sister, whether she's your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether she was born into your household or someone else's. Do not have sexual relations with your granddaughter, whether she's your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter for this would violate yourself. Do not have sexual relations with your stepsister, the daughter of any of your father's wives, for she's your sister. Do not have sexual relations with your father's sister for she's your father's close relative. Do not have sexual relations with your mother's sister, for she is your mother's close relative. Do not violate your uncle, your father's brother by having sexual relations with your wife or she's your aunt. Now people are like, why is this in here? Because it was happening in the culture.
These are the practices that was happening in Egypt and in Cayman. It was happening all around them and God is warning the people. Listen, let me set some parameters and define what sexual immorality is. Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law. She's your son's wife, so you must not have sexual relations with her. Do not have sexual relations with your brother's wife or this would violate your brother. Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter and do not take her granddaughter, whether her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter, and have sexual relations with her. They are close relatives and this would be a wicked act while your wife is living. Do not marry her sister and have sex relations with her for they would be rivals. Do not have sexual relations with a woman during her period of menstrual impurities.
Do not defile yourself by having sexual intercourse with your neighbor's wife. Do not permit any of your children to be offered as a sacrifice to molik for you must not bring shame on the name of the Lord. On the name of your God, I am the Lord. Do not practice homosexuality having sex with another man, as with a woman. It is a detestable sin. A man must not defile himself by having sex with an animal and a woman must not offer herself to a male animal to have intercourse with it. This the perverse act. Do not defile yourself in any of these ways for the people I'm driving out before you have defiled themselves in all these ways because the entire land has become defiled. I am punishing the people who live there. I will cause the land to vomit them out. You must obey all my decrees and regulations. You must not commit any of these detestable sins. This applies both to native-born Israelites and the foreigners living among you. God was very specific about defining sexual morality with his people. Now, now people look at this list and they say, well, I ain't got a problem with this and that we love to try to come after sins that we personally don't struggle with.
Notice there are 17 lists of sexual sins. Only two of them are not hetero. And yet when we talk about sexual immorality within the church, oftentimes the church highlights one or two sins that, oh man, we got a camera. No, God says, listen, anything outside of the bounds that I originally designed falls into the category of sexual immorality. Now listen, I am the mailman. I'm delivering you the mail, which is the word of God. And guess what? We all have to submit to the word of God.
I didn't read this from a different book. This is in the scriptures. So what is sexual immorality, sexual relations between a man and woman within a covenantal marriage? Hebrews chapter 13, verse number four, give honor to marriage and refrain and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery. Matthew chapter 19 verse number four, haven't you read the scriptures? Jesus replied, they record that from the beginning. God made them male and female, and he said, this explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife and the two are united into one since they are no longer two but one. Let no one split apart what God has joined together. The culture is trying to dismantle what God has designed. It is the job of the church to hold fast to what God has designed and defined. Well, I've got non-believer friends that don't understand this, they're non-believers show the love of God. The ones held accountable to the descriptions within scriptures are the believers. Paul said, I did all kinds of stuff, but I did it ignorantly. Why? Because I was not a believer yet. But when I became aware,
When God enlightened me on what's in his word, now I'm responsible to his word. Now here's generally what can happen. Somebody hears something in scripture or preached from scripture that they disagree with. I'm going to find me a spot that don't teach this. You can, but it's still in the scripture. And if you've preached a full counsel of God, all of us are going to feel that. That's personal. Ephesians chapter five, verse 31, as the scripture say, A man leaves his father and mother in his joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. Any sexual relations outside the defined boundaries God has set is not blessed. Any of it.
You may say, well, I got needs. We all have needs. We all have to submit ourselves to the instructions that God gives to us on how to fulfill those needs. Here's my third point. God delights and covenantal sex. So why would God give you a sex drive? Why would God give you s said in that accident? It just sounds a little more elevated. Why would God give that to you? Because he wants to use sexual intimacy to be glorified by it. And what's happened? There are two extremes within the church. Either it's a free for all and we don't talk about it at all. Or sex is so demonized and made to be dirty that when couples get married, they have issues. Because how are you going to teach somebody that sex is wrong and they get married and be like, oh no, it's great. Am I right? No. We have to find the balance. We have to go. No, God gave us all sex drive. God gave us these urges, these desires. Now we have to submit them to the instructions of the word of God and use it properly so that we can be blessed by it. God delights in coming into sex. There is nothing wrong with sexual desire
That was given to you by God. Let's look at, so the question always becomes, what do I do with my urges? What do I do with my pastor? What do I do when I'm single, but I'm looking for partnership? How do I handle? How do I handle the temptation to engage my desires? I got a scripture for you. One Corinthians chapter six, verse 18, run, book it, take off running. What do I do with my urges? And I'm not married yet. You better take off running. You better know Aly it. You better get up out of there. You don't have the strength to sit there and fight it. Some people put themselves in situations like, man, temptation is not a sin. Why are you putting yourself in this situation? Literally when Paul was saying, listen, let me give you the antidote to sexual immorality. Get you some hocus and run wherever. Get out. Listen, if you need to run, run, it is better for you to run. And people, where's he going? Running away from sexual immorality. Who's chasing you? Sexual immorality.
Run. This is the antidote to sexual immorality. God doesn't give us any other. There's basically two options. One, and you can read about this in First Corinthians, chapter seven. Hey, listen, if you'll burn it with desire, it is better for you to marry than to burn. And that doesn't mean you just married to have sex. It means be wise about it. But not everybody is given the gift of celibacy. Celibacy is a literal gift and Paul talks about it. So he says, basically there's two answers. If you don't want to commit sexual immorality, one is get married and do it the biblical way. Or two, run. Well, I'm already already been engaged in sexual immorality. Put your clothes on and run away from it. That's literally, that's the antidote. If you want to make sure to keep your passions injected, do some squats, man, work out your legs and get out of here and run. Listen, if I started hearing reports of people running in their office, I'm be like, man, John's been running a lot lately.
Check out. This is why you need to run. This is what Paul says. No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does for sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Paul says that when you are committing sexual immorality, that you become one with the other person. Now, the scriptural definition of becoming one is the same as being married. So when a couple, a Jewish couple would be betrothed, which is basically engaged, it had the same potency as marriage, but it wasn't legitimate until they consummated. So give you some details. When a couple would get married, they would go to the bedroom chamber and they would consummate their marriage. The families of the individuals would be waiting for the couple to come back and say, the family then would celebrate. Because now the marriage is legitimate because in scriptural culture, sexual intimacy is what married you. So if someone had sexual intimacy, sexual relations with somebody they were not in covenant with, it was the same as getting married to them. So the question becomes how many people you've been married to. We don't like to hear that, but it's just the scripture. So there's no other sin in scripture that so affects you as sexual immorality does. The Bible doesn't say that if you do drugs, you become one with drugs. You don't become one with crack. Okay?
Seems to be my drug of choice to talk about. You don't become one with stealing. You don't become one with gossip. The only scripture, the only sin that the scripture says you become one with is sexual immorality. Okay, well, I've already committed sexuality. That's where the grace of God comes in. That's where the blood of Jesus comes in. Can I tell you, all your sin is under the blood, all of it. You can't perform. You can't perform to earn the love of God. God loves you unconditionally. Christ died for you for all of your sins. You're not abstaining to try to earn some kind of points from Jesus. You're abstaining so that you can be in alignment with his will. You do it out of love, not out of some weird religious obligation. You do it out. Hey Jesus, this is your body, and so I will treat my body the way you want me to treat it. Look at this one Corinthians chapter nine, six, verse 19. Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself.
It's not my body. I can do whatever I want to. Not if you're a believer, it's his body. Lemme talk to the married folks though too. One Corinthians chapter seven, my body, one Corinthians chapter seven says that as a wife, your body belongs to your husband. Hey, hold up. Hold up guy. Scripture says that as a husband, your body belongs to your wife. We got quiet. When you get married, you become one flesh. You belong to each other. It is impossible to belong to each other outside of covenant with each other. So when you are outside of covenant in sexual intimacy, you're making a promise that you're not keeping, which is to become one with someone else. Our body does not belong to us. It belongs to Jesus. We are filled with the Holy Spirit. At the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit comes in. He does not leave. So the question is, how does the Holy Spirit feel in whatever you're doing? Is he offended or is he delighted, happy, or is he grieved? How many want to be? The Lord's got about three or four people. Y'all know this is a trick question.
When you become the Lords you become, the Lords mean that he becomes the Lord, not just of your spirit. Man, I give you my spirit. Lord Jesus say, great, I got that. I need your body too. Just take my spirit. No, I want your body. The reason why we need to talk about sex in the church, and the reason why Paul addressed this topic so often is because God owns our body. He doesn't just own our spirit. He owns our body. He owns the members of your body. This applies to everything. This is why it's important. What you indulge in food, entertainment, sex, whatever. Is it bringing delight and glory to God? It's his temple. What condition is his temple in? Alright, so what do we do then? What have you been? What if you've not been within the covenant, within the parameters that God has set? I'll repeat myself because I think it's important. There's grace and God loves you enough to show you his intention for your life and then give you the grace to turn and move toward him. It should be the desire of every Christian to become more and more like Christ. That's what a Christian means, right? To become more and more like Christ. Well, I've got bas.
You will never hear that word the same. Alright, God, help me find the right person. Not according to your list, according to God's list, some people's list is so long. Ain't nobody checking these boxes.
I'm not going to do it.
Submit yourself to God. See what he would have you do. Remember what he did with Adam and Eve? He brought them together. God can bring you the right partnership. And then guess what? Once you're in partnership, the Bible says that within marriage, the bed is undefiled. Y'all know what that means. First Corinthians chapter six, verse nine. Lemme close with this. Don't you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the kingdom of God? Don't fool yourself. Those who indulge in sexual or worship idols or commit adultery or male prostitutes or practice homosexuality or thieves or greedy people or drinkers or abusive or cheap people, none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. Let me just stop there. We love to pick the ones that we don't struggle with.
Well,
I haven't committed adultery, so I should be all right. How were you? Taxes? Are you claiming dependents that are not really dependents? Are you claiming mileages that you didn't drive? I think that, yeah. Well, I've never, hi anybody. Are your words abusive? I never stole anything. But are you greedy in coaches for people's stuff? Do you mistreat someone because you want their stuff? Jesus said. You have said if a woman, if a man sees with a woman, he's committed adultery. But I'm telling you that if a man covets after when he's committed adultery already in his heart, woo.
Verse number 11, some of you were once like that. Oh, the grace of God, right? When you read the scripture, you can feel condemnation. You can feel the pressure, you can feel the weightiness of the word. You can feel like, oh God, this seems so hard. And yet God says, some of you were just like this, but guess what? You were cleansed. You were made holy. You were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And by the spirit of our God. Can I tell you there is grace for you? If you're caught in the snare of sexual immorality, get you them running shoes. Number one, get you accountability. Number two, and be honest with your accountability and repent. Repentance means to make a commitment to go the opposite direction. That's what grace is for God's grace. It's the grace. If you're caught right now, if you're a believer, you're caught right now in sexual immorality. Lemme tell you what grace is. Grace is, yo, Tim, I need you to go preach this word and bring to light where I want my people to go. It's the grace of God that leads us to repentance, right? So there's not a place of condemnation. This is a place of conviction. This is a place where the Holy Spirit does it. So here's what I would ask for you to do. Ask the Lord, ask the Holy Spirit
To reveal to you what his intention is for you.
Ask the Lord, Lord, are you delighted in me? Are you pleased with me? Are you happy with me? Or is there something I got to change and let the Holy Spirit do its work? That's all I ask from you. And then the cool thing is you're in a church that allows for people to be in process. We don't. We expect people to change tomorrow. We want to help you on the journey. Amen. Could we all close our eyes? Bow our heads. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you that you love us enough to give us an instruction manual. Thank you that you love us enough, that you've given us your word by which we can pattern and model our lives. Lord, we've made mistakes. We've messed up whether intentionally or unintentionally, we have been caught in snares, but we thank you for your grace which has been revealed to us, which pulls us out of darkness into your light. So right now, Lord, pull us into the light. Let your light do its work. God, this is your love God, your love for us is that you want us to walk in righteousness so that we may be blessed. That's your intention for your people, Lord, and we submit ourselves to your word because we want to live blessed lives. I want to be pleasing to you, God. I want my life to be pleasing to you.
Lord. Sometimes it is difficult to read the scriptures or to go through and examine what you have said and to the human being, to the carnal man, it seems so hard, but with the power of the Holy Spirit, we're able to overcome any temptation for you have made a way of escape for us. So Lord, I pray for your people. I pray for your sheep. These are your people. Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit, God would do what it does, that it would convict our heart, that he would move us, that it would guide us and direct us properly. Lord,
We give you a name, the praise of glory and the honor because you're worthy of it. In Jesus' name. Everybody say Amen. Could you stand in your feet? I want to pray one more prayer, and that's for those of you that may be in this place, and maybe you don't have a relationship with Jesus. Maybe you have never committed your life to Christ. I want to pray this prayer. We're all going to say it together, and some of you're going to say it for the very first time. Some of you, this is the repeat. But if this is the moment you feel the Lord calling you to enter into a relationship with him, this is the moment. Today is the day. Now is the accepted time. Let's all bow our heads. Close our eyes. Repeat after me. Say, dear Jesus, dear Jesus, I acknowledge my need for you. I acknowledge my need for you. I believe that you came. I believe you did. You died. Die. You rose again, rose, and you did it all for me. You all forgive me of my sin. Forgive me of my sin. Come into my heart, into be the Lord of my life. I submit myself. Submit myself to becoming your disciple. Becoming your disciple. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus for hearing my prayer. In Jesus' name, Jesus name, amen. Come on somebody. Make some noise. For those that pray.
