(#030) - 1 Corinthians 6 - What’s the Real Problem with Sexual Immorality?

Class Outline:

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We have a choice to unite our body, soul and spirit to God or the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome To 

BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

 

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher

 

Good Morning!

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries…an intimate, local Christian Church with worldwide impact.  My name is Pastor Rory Clark.  At Barah Ministries we know this truth…that Jesus Christ is God.  As the Lord He is 100% Deity… He is God the Son.  He is also 100% human just like you and me and His name is Jesus Christ.  The Lord…God the Son…became flesh…Jesus Christ...and lived among us.  He is the uniquely born One, the God-Man…He is the Sovereign God of the Universe…He is the Savior of the whole world…and He is the Jewish Messiah.  

 

Those who make Barah Ministries their spiritual home are Christians…we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and we have a deep, intimate, and personal relationship with the Lord because Christianity is a relationship, not a religion.  The Lord Jesus Christ is a Person.  He is not a thing and He is not a concept.  Just as we do with anyone whom we love, we spend time getting to know the Lord through the study of His Word.  You can’t get to know the Lord without knowing His mind, and the Bible is His exact thinking.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

What’s the Real Problem with Sexual Immorality?

 

LESSON INTRODUCTION

 

Most people would contend that the reason God forbids sexual immorality, and more specifically sex for hire, is because the Lord doesn't want us to have any fun.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In today's lesson, we'll find out the one thing the Lord knows that we prefer to ignore that makes sexual immorality among the worst of sins.

And as we do every month, we’ll celebrate The Lord’s Supper…we’ll honor our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…and we’ll learn that His work at the covered all of our sins with His forgiveness.

 

SONG INTRODUCTION

 

Happy Mother’s Day!  Our opening song doesn’t need much introduction since you hear it every year in our Barah Ministries Mother’s Day tribute.  I don’t think there are lyrics that better describes what it’s like to have a female parent who actually does the job only she can do.  I had such a female parent…a woman who was both mother and father to me.  And these words say it all…

 

MAMA

 

Mama…Mama you know I love you

Mama…Mama you’re the queen of my heart

Your love is like tears from the stars

Mama I just want you to know 

Loving you is like food to my soul

 

I had a Mama who taught me determination by her life’s example…she taught me to give all my heart, and all my soul, and all my mind, and all my strength to everything I do…to every relationship…to every task.  And it’s my pleasure to reflect the life she taught me…to reflect how she trained me…in every interaction I have…one person at a time.  If you’ve met me, you’ve met my Mama.  In Ephesians, Chapter 6, Verses 2 and 3, the Bible tells us to…

 

EPHESIANS 6:2

Honor your…mother (which is the first mandate with a promise attached)  …

 

EPHESIANS 6:3 

…so that it may be well with you (so that you may live a prosperous life) … and so that you may live a long life on the earth.

 

To Mothers…we honor you today…and we thank you for your tireless service in doing one of the hardest jobs there is…the job of nurturing and raising the next generation.  Here’s Boys2Men with A SONG FOR MAMA.

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

A SONG FOR MAMA

Boys2Men

 

OPENING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…

 

Father, we’re slow to learn…but You knew that before You created us and You decided to create us anyway…and to give us the time required to grow in Your grace and knowledge…You did that because You trust Yourself and Your plan for us…thank you for Your provision, Your protection, and Your presence in our lives…

 

Help us, Father, to be a sterling example of the way You are Mother and father to us…help us to reflect Your training and Your example in every moment of every day…

 

…we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s

name...Amen.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

What’s the Real Problem with Sexual Immorality? 

 

Today we bring to a close our study of the sixth chapter of the apostle Paul’s first letter to the believers in Corinth.  Let’s get right to it.  The believers in the Corinthians church were making excuses for their immoral behavior… especially sex for hire…they found nothing wrong with consorting with prostitutes.  Paul tackles the problem directly in First Corinthians, Chapter 6, Verses 12 to 20…

FIRST CORINTHIANS 6:12 

You Corinthians believers say, “All things are permissible for me” … but (I Paul say) not all things are beneficial for you. You Corinthians believers say, “All things are permissible for me” … but I (Paul) will not be mastered by anyone or by anything.

 

Another way to translate this…“I have the liberty to do anything, but I will not let anyone or anything take liberties with me."  I love that! The believers in the Corinthian church were like college students away from home for the first time.  They lost their heads after Paul left for Ephesus, and they blended in with the world culture of first-century Corinth.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 6:13 

You say, “Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food…and one day God the Father will do away with both the stomach and food.”  (I, Paul say…)   Your body is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body…yet the body is not for sex for hire…it’s the Lord’s possession.

 

The Corinthians erroneously suggest that the appetites of the body, whether for sex or for food are always okay.  God disagrees.  Christianity is a lifestyle God designed so EVERYTHING would go well with us.  It can’t be dumbed down to a lifestyle of right and wrong as the legalists would have us do, nor to a lifestyle indulging in sin as the licentiously lascivious would have us do.   The believers at Corinth were both legalistic and lascivious, much to Paul’s dismay.  

 

God is concerned with your body and your soul and your spirit.  Paul wanted the Corinthian believers to be concerned with all three as well, and to be concerned with how their conduct in the body affects those who might want to believe in Christ but see no benefit if Christianity is the same as the world.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 6:14 

(To demonstrate the importance of the body) … God the Father has not only raised the Lord Jesus Christ’s body from the dead, but He will also raise believers in Christ’s bodies from the dead through His divine power (omnipotence).

 

God turns our body of weakness…our current earthly tent which will be torn down…into an indestructible resurrection body…described in the Bible as a building from God.  I’d say God cares about our bodies!  In fact, the whole Trinity cares enough about our bodies to indwell them.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 6:15 

DO YOU NOT (ouk) KNOW that your bodies are members of Christ (in union with Him)?  Shall I then take away the members of Christ (from His possession) and make them members of a prostitute (letting them become one flesh with EVIL)?  May it never be (this is unimaginable)!

 

Sex with prostitutes contaminates your body and simultaneously contaminates your relationship with the Lord.  Freedom without authority is anarchy…it puts our souls into chaos.  Master your body with your will or it will be mastered by the flesh!

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 6:16 

Or DO YOU NOT KNOW that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “The two shall become one flesh (fused).”

 

Sexual union changes people.  Union with Christ at the moment of salvation changes us.  Union with Christ is not compatible with a union with a prostitute.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 6:17 

(In contrast)…the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

 

As believers, we’re not only one flesh with Christ, we are also one spirit with Him…a double whammy.

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 6:18 

(A command…) Flee immorality (don’t do it)!  Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, except for sex for hire…a sin man commits that sins against his own body. 

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 6:19 

Or DO YOU NOT KNOW that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is indwelling you (believers in Christ) … whom you have from God the Father?  You are not your own!

FIRST CORINTHIANS 6:20 

For you believers in Christ have been bought with a price!  Therefore… (a command)… glorify God in your body (do this)!

 

Christians have an identity.  We are sanctified and that demands holiness and sexual purity.  The point of this passage is that sexual immorality in any form, especially in the form of sex for hire, is worse for us than other sins.  

 

Why?  There are many human reasons why sex for hire is a bad idea.  It's either fornication (pre-marital sex) or adultery (post-marital sex…or sexual infidelity), both of which God thinks is not best for us.  Sex for hire objectifies a person…it makes them something to be used instead of seeing them as a person.  Sex for hire makes you one with evil…it erodes your soul by uniting you in “one flesh” with a rebellious one…it is a melding of personalities.  Sex for hire often funds criminal activity like sex trafficking.

Sex for hire obliterates your standards…it convinces you to believe that “It’s all good.”  Sex for hire offers a destructive career path…brothels and strip clubs that foster mistreatment of the victims.  Sex for hire transmits sexual diseases.  Sex for hire can result in pregnancy.  When engaging in sex for hire, the person you are interacting with may be married and have a family.

While engaging in sex for hire, you could be killed.  Sex for hire promotes a “do it yourself’ mentality.  Sex is one thing you can’t do yourself no matter how good you are at simulating pseudo sex.  Sex for hire destroys authority orientation and sponsors confusion in the mind.  Sex for hire cancels exclusivity…the “he cheated on me” lament = we are no longer exclusive = a fox has been permitted into the hen house!

 

All of these human reasons would be enough…but God has the single and best reason…sexual immorality destroys unity…unity with the Lord…unity with others…and unity with your own body.  The Lord doesn't want us to destroy ourselves this way.  That's one of the reasons why sexual sins are so prominent on Satan's menu for us.  He knows the devastating effect these particular sins have on our lives.  Flee sexual immorality!  When we return from our five-minute break, we’ll take the offering and then we’ll celebrate The Lord’s Supper.  

 

FIVE MINUTE BREAK

NOBODY

Casting Crowns

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

What’s the Real Problem with Sexual Immorality? 

 

In Luke, Chapter 12, Verse 48, the Lord says…

 

LUKE 12:48c

From everyone who has been given much (such as believers in Christ who have received a “so great” salvation) … much will be required…

 

Matthew, Chapter 10, Verse 8 says…

 

MATTHEW 10:8b

Freely you received…freely give.

 

The Lord has given His believers access to unlimited assets.  Our time, our talent, and our treasure are to be used for the Lord’s benefit…not merely for our own enjoyment…and for the benefit of the world around us including the unbelievers in our periphery.  We appreciate your generosity very much and assure you that it is being directed to the Lord’s work.

 

Let’s welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall with the offering message.

 

THE OFFERING

Deacon Denny Goodall

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 12:13

For by means of the One…God the Holy Spirit…we believers in Christ were all baptized into one body (The Body of Christ)…whether Jews or Greeks (regardless of nationality)…whether slaves or free (regardless of social class)…and we were all given one Spirit to drink…God the Holy Spirit (who indwells us).

 

OFFERING SONG

THERE IS NONE LIKE YOU

David Bauer, Instrumental

 

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

At the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ Covered Our Sins with Forgiveness

 

Welcome to The Lord’s Supper Celebration, the most intimate expression of our love for the Lord Jesus Christ in The Christian Way of Living.  The Lord demonstrates His desire for a deep, intimate and personal relationship with His believers by creating a way to keep on sharing His body and His blood with us, just as He did with His apostles on the night before His death.  Luke, Chapter 22, Verses 14 to 16…

 

LUKE 22:14

When the hour had come (and His crucifixion was near) … the Lord Jesus Christ reclined at the Passover table…and the apostles reclined with Him.

 

LUKE 22:15 

And the Lord said to the apostles, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover meal with you before I suffer … ”

 

LUKE 22:16 

“…for I say to you I (the Lord Jesus Christ) shall never again eat this

Passover meal until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God the Father.”

 

In First Corinthians, Chapter 11, Verse 26, the apostle Paul says, on behalf of the Lord…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 11:26

…as often as you eat this bread (representing His body)…and as often as you drink this cup (representing His blood)…as part of the Lord’s Supper Celebration…you proclaim as a reality and you announce the significance of the Lord Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross…and His resurrection from the dead…until He comes again at the second coming.

 

The Lord’s Supper Celebration is a time when the resident members of this congregation join hands through the miles with our non-resident members, and we demonstrate our unity by remembering our Lord together.  This is a celebration for which we set aside time.  We don’t do it on the move.  

 

During the Lord’s Supper Celebration, Jesus wants His believers to look

back to the Cross for a moment.  He wants us to REMEMBER how He rescued us from the kingdom of darkness.  He wants us to REMEMBER the sacrifice of shedding His blood to cover our sins.  He wants us to REMEMBER the deliverance to the resurrection life He orchestrated, bringing us into His kingdom of light.  Most of all, the Lord wants His believers to look forward with ANTICIPATION that He is coming again.   

 

As believers in Christ, when we celebrate The Lord’s Supper, we ask ourselves in reflection, “What did the Lord Jesus Christ do for us at the Cross?”  

 

At the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ covered our sins with forgiveness.

 

Our earthly parents, if they are immature, inculcate faulty ideas into us that we readily adopt and willingly believe.  One of those ideas is the evaluation of things from a standard of right and wrong…from a standard of success and failure.  Another faulty idea is that mistakes must be accompanied by shame.  The old ladies in my neighborhood growing up used to say, “Boy… you ought to be ashamed of yourself!”  I should be ashamed for breaking Mrs. Johnson’s window?  It was a home run!  I wasn’t ashamed.

 

The Lord does not require us to feel shame for our mistakes.  His forgiveness is absolute.  His forgiveness was accomplished for our benefit at the Cross, and the result is that we stand forgiven forever.  In fact, the sins you will commit tomorrow have already been forgiven.  How’s that for an amazing God?

 

Forgiveness from the Lord comes from who He is…from His very Person… it’s not just something He does.  “Boy, you ought to be ashamed of yourself?”  I’m not.  I’m forgiven.  I was pardoned in the past…I am saved right now…and God’s peace permeates me forever.  This is a peace that is your possession as well.

 

When you really get to know the Lord, you get to know how thorough and how magnificent is His forgiveness.  Luke, Chapter 7, Verses 37 to 39, and Verses 48 and 50 tell the story…

 

LUKE 7:37

And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner…and when she learned

that Jesus was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume…

 

LUKE 7:38 

…and standing behind Jesus at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and she kept on wiping His feet with the hair of her head, and she kept on kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume.

 

LUKE 7:39 

Now when the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him…that she is a sinner.”

 

LUKE 7:48

Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven (as an established and irrevocable fact).”

 

LUKE 7:50

And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you…go in peace.”

 

The woman was not saved because of her love for the Lord…her sins were not forgiven because she loved the Lord…she loved the Lord because she was forgiven, just as we do.  Do you forgive like the Lord forgives?  Here is what the Lord had to say as He hung from the Cross…Luke, Chapter 23, Verse 34…

 

LUKE 23:34

Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them (for crucifying Me) … for they do not know what they are doing.”

 

Even while Jesus was dying for all mankind…He was still being sneered at, mocked, and ridiculed…yet He kept on doing what He had come to earth to do…He saved the whole world.  He forgave us all for everything.  Luke, Chapter 15, Verses 20 to 24 tells us God the Father has the same unmatched forgiveness…

 

LUKE 15:20

“The prodigal son (the wasteful one) got up and came to his father (after squandering his inheritance). But while the prodigal son was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”

 

LUKE 15:21 

“And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight…I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’”

 

LUKE 15:22 

“But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a signature ring on his hand (the checkbook) and sandals on his feet…”

 

LUKE 15:23 

“‘…and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate…’”

 

LUKE 15:24 

“‘…for this son of mine was dead and now he is alive again…he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.”

 

Our picture of the Lord’s true character often is faulty because it has been distorted by a liar who deceives us and who seeks to rob us of our victory in union with Christ.  Yet even God’s enemy is forgiven… Romans, Chapter 4, Verses 7 and 8…

 

ROMANS 4:7 

“BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED.”

 

ROMANS 4:8

“BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.”

 

As a result of the Lord’s forgiveness, we are liberated.  God’s forgiveness liberates.  Satan’s shame paralyzes.  What are we to be grateful for as we celebrate this Lord’s Supper?  Second Corinthians, Chapter 5, Verse 19…

 

SECOND CORINTHIANS 5:19

…namely…that God the Father was…in union with Christ…reconciling, the

world to Himself…not counting our trespasses against us…and God the Father has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

 

For those of us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, we are no longer the targets of God the Father’s wrath.   We are reconciled.  The Lord removed the enmity between us and His Father.

 

THE LORD’S SUPPER CELEBRATION

Enjoying the Lord’s Supper Elements

 

Let’s remember Jesus in the way He told us to remember Him.  Obeying our Lord’s command, we keep on celebrating the Christ and His Cross regularly.  We eat to remember who He is as a PERSON.  We drink to remember His WORK on the Cross…the voluntary sacrifice He made to deliver us.  We remember with gratitude what God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ have done to save us.  Matthew, Chapter 26, Verses 26 to 28…

 

MATTHEW 26:26

While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take…eat…this is My body (which is being broken for you).”

 

MATTHEW 26:27

And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, Jesus gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you…”

 

MATTHEW 26:28 

"…for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

 

Let’s listen to the Lord…let’s keep on eating this bread and drinking this cup in His memory.  Let’s keep on being transformed by His life…His death… His burial…His resurrection from the dead…and His Word.  

 

SONG INTRO

 

As we enjoy the elements…let’s reflect on the Lord’s gift to us at the Cross... here’s ALL GOOD GIFTS from Godspell.

 

LORD’S SUPPER SONG

ALL GOOD GIFTS

Godspell

 

GOD WANTS YOU!

Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life

 

The closing moments of our study are for the benefit of anyone who does not have a personal relationship with the Sovereign God of the Universe, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We want you to know that GOD WANTS YOU. 

 

Is religion the way to be saved?

 

Many people believe that religion and its rituals is their ticket into heaven. They embrace religious beliefs that tell them how to live a spiritual life. The religion claims either that there is a god…or there are many gods…but the religion does not discuss how to have a personal relationship with god.  In fact, religions propose that if you don’t do everything their god expects that he will be quite disappointed. And regardless of your best efforts to follow the religious rituals (which you CAN’T do…by the way) the religions do not GUARANTEE that following the rituals will get you into heaven.

 

Christianity is NOT a religion…it is a relationship with The Lord Jesus Christ.

 

In John, Chapter 4, Verses 13 and 14, the Lord Jesus Christ is talking to a woman at a well…a Samaritan woman whom the Jews wanted nothing to do with.  After a brief introduction, the Lord says to the woman…

 

JOHN 4:13

“Everyone who drinks of the water in this well will thirst again…”

 

JOHN 4:14 

“…but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him (the water of the Word…the gospel message) shall never thirst…but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to the resurrection life.”

 

It is the Lord’s will that those with whom He has a relationship live with Him in heaven forever when they close their eyes in this life.  First Timothy, Chapter 2, Verses 3 and 4 say…

 

FIRST TIMOTHY 2:3

This is good and acceptable in the sight of the God who is our Savior…the Lord Jesus Christ…

 

FIRST TIMOTHY 2:4 

…who desires all men to be saved and who desires for all men to come to the knowledge of the truth.

 

The truth the Lord wants us to know about how to be saved…about how to get to heaven…is as simple as a nine-word conversation with God the Father…Luke, Chapter 23, Verses 42 and 43…

 

LUKE 23:42

And a thief being crucified next to Jesus was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!”

 

LUKE 23:43 

And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you…today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

 

Just nine words can get YOU to heaven… Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.  Or if you prefer…it’s a five-word conversation with God the Father… “Father…I believe in Christ.”  Simply believe… merely take God’s word for what it takes to be saved…and that is the moment of eternal life for you.  

 

Who is this God who saves you?  The apostle Paul describes the Lord Jesus Christ in First Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verses 3 and 4… 

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:3

For I (Paul) delivered to you as of first importance the gospel message I also received… that it was Jesus Christ who died for our sins according to the Scriptures…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:4 

…and that He was buried…and that He was raised from the dead on the third day…according to the Scriptures…

 

Now once the Lord saves you, no matter how hard you try, you cannot lose your salvation…John, Chapter 10, Verse 28 says…

 

JOHN 10:28

“…I (the Lord Jesus Christ) give eternal life to believers in Christ, and they will never perish…and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”

 

Anyone who tells you that you can lose your salvation is lying to you.  On the other hand, if you reject the relationship offer of this God who does not want you to perish, He will honor your rejection…Matthew, Chapter 13, Verses 49 and 50…

 

MATTHEW 13:49

So it will be at the end of the age…the elect angels will come forth and take out the wicked (a description of unbelievers) from among the righteous (believers in Christ)...

 

MATTHEW 13:50 

…and will throw the wicked into the furnace of fire…and in that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 

So, follow the advice of Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31…

 

ACTS 16:31 

“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”

 

It’s not religion that gets you to heaven…it’s relationship…relationship with the one and only Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

SONG INTRO

 

There are many things that can be taken away from us or that we can lose… our health…our wealth…our earthly lives.  One thing that cannot be taken away from us is what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us at the Cross.  Here’s June Murphy to sing about it in her new song YOU CAN’T UNDO THE CROSS.

 

CLOSING SONG

YOU CAN’T UNDO THE CROSS

June Murphy

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

Thanks for coming!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for listening!

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