Seeing Sin Seriously | 1 Corinthians 6:18–20

I have one main aim this morning as your pastor and that is that you would see sin more seriously when we're done then you did when you came in all right so that's my main goal this morning is that you would see sin seriously which means I've got some difficult things to say some hard things to say they fit within the current series that we're in if you've been warned for multiple weeks that there may be times during this series that there will be some sensitive subjects discussed this is one of those weeks probably the pinnacle of this series in which we're going to do that but it's not so that you think I'm weird or that our church is weird if you're a guest or maybe you're a new attender and you're like man they talk about really plain honest stuff in that room we do on purpose but all of this is designed so that that you and I together when we leave we'll take sin more seriously then than when you came in that's my goal I want to do that in two ways this morning I want to analyze our passage the three verses 18 through 20 which conclude the nine verses we've been looking at this month if you are a guest or this is your first week maybe you're back from Tom time away I'd love to review all that but time does not allow me so go to our website and check on the other two messages they're there you can watch or listen and that will catch up to speed so we can just continue to make tracks this morning beginning in verse 18 all right so we're gonna do that first of my analyzing the passage then we're going to apply the point of the passage and we're gonna just really ask God to help us see sin in the serious way that we should and here's what's going to happen to you emotionally today I think you'll probably dip with me and and there'll be a point in which we'll all be under the way and guilt of sin you'll see what I'm saying and there'll be some emotional effects that you like man who can stand up to this some of that will be conviction by the Holy Spirit which we we think is good some that will be man-made guilt which is not good we'll have to let you figure out which is which and the Holy Spirit will work with us but there will be a sense in which we'll be kind of diving and you'll feel the weight of that but we will come out of that with the glorious truth of the gospel okay and I've been praying all week that God will just continually help us even while we see the seriousness of sin that he will overcome and empower us to see the gloriousness of the gospel all right so that's our Trek ahead today and the goal of course this is that as we show sins seriousness that you will deal with sins deep root which I've been maintaining contending that sins deep root is all about the myth of autonomy that you actually belong to yourself that I belong to myself that we are our own people were self-made men and women we own our bodies and the truth is according to the Bible in explicit terms we don't we're not our own we are God's and so in just very explicit language autonomy is a myth instead we fall under the truth of can you might say the word we've made up and are using bought on imme the bible says we've been purchased with a price we've been bought and so we want to come up under bought on ax me and the more we embrace of autonomy the more we reject the myth of autonomy I'm convinced we will see sin and it's appropriate seriousness and deal with it now I will mainly be helping us deal with sins deep root and helping you see its seriousness through Scripture today that's what pastors do that's my my aim with use to feed you well each week to Pastor you as a flock and to bring you green pastures so to speak and so I mainly stay in the scriptures I don't do a lot of storytelling I and you know that I'm not the world's best at application but I'll bring you the doctrine I'll bring you the scripture and I'll feed to you straight but that doesn't mean other things aren't helpful just means that when we're here together we have limited time and so let's give it the priority and that's the Word of God but other things are helpful in two things that I want to give you today that are helpful along the lines of this subject of seeing sins seriously especially sexual sin and dealing with its deep root one is an article and the other is a booklet so if you'll go to on our social media sites Instagram Twitter Facebook go to our website you'll you'll find there an article called how sex became king it's an excellent insightful piece that has much for you to kind of consider theologically and culturally there's also a booklet there that has the most recent stats on pornography both in the church and in the culture it is eye-opening and it will help you begin to see sin seriously in fact that's the point of s cubed s3 whatever you call it right is that you'll see this today pop up several times I want you to do what say with me see sin seriously so we're going to focus on the scriptures those two other things are very helpful to you so go to our website go to one of our social media sites you'll see links there between services and then throughout the week if you don't have any internet access I have a few hard copies up here if those are gone and you still want some just see me I'll make sure our office gets those to you because I want us to see sin seriously and deal with its deep root and in doing so we'll see the gospel even more gloriously so let's dive in to our text this morning can we I won't read all of the nine verses we've been looking at this month I'm gonna begin in verse 18 where we left off last week which is really Paul's first imperative in this section this is a nine verse closing section to what I think's a longer grouping of subjects that begins in chapter three he's closing this out with these nine verses in chapter six verses 12 to 20 and in verse 18 he - his first imperative in this set of nine verses and again this just really highlights the seriousness of sin especially sexual sin with this first imperative the first four words flee from sexual immorality you see that it means to run away from get away leave the scene of the crime don't stay close hit the trail make tracks get out of Dodge however you want to say it Paul is saying clearly because of the the seriousness of sin and and what we're doing when we sit in a sexual way especially you can read the previous verses to see that he says get away from sexual immorality flee from it I do think he probably was thinking of some of the Old Testament writings in the latter part of Genesis when Joseph fled from Potiphar's wife he just got out of town didn't he Paul also told Timothy on several occasions flee from immorality so this is not a new thought in one sense and Paul is maintaining and and emphasizing there are moments when perhaps due to hormones circumstances situations your best tactic is to leave run away so let's just be real Frank you're in this first imperative that Paul gives it's it's prudent wise that when you feel temptation towards sexual immorality don't think you can just manage it on the spot get out of the location get away run away and I think one reason that that maybe we tend to not want to do this is because we think that if we run away we're admitting that you we wanted it like well if I run away that's kind of saying well I really wanted to run away I don't think it's saying that I think it's saying that it wants you sin wants you sin wants to steal to kill to destroy it's out to get you and it will capitalize it will try to seize you members sin always disguises divides and destroys and sometimes you don't notice its sin until suddenly you that the mask is off and you're in this situation like oh my what's going on man if it says involving sexual immorality get away run who cares what anyone thinks get out of Dodge I'll always remember the day my wife was at Walmart in line the man approached her leaned into her and said you are gorgeous you know what she didn't do she didn't reason with the guy why she didn't think she was she didn't say well let's debate this let's talk about it or she didn't give the guy my number that's right you know she did she didn't look at him I'm not sure exactly all the details but she left pronto so maybe she left things on the counter I don't know all I know is she said I must stay here and it's not because she wanted that she was aware of something sin wanted her so there's no one here above this command when you sense temptation coming your way especially regarding sexual immorality if you think you can manage it deal with it you must think you're better than King David and King Solomon you're not and I'm not here's a good idea let's flee the scene and what's good about this verse is Paul doesn't just give this command without some reasoning in other words he doesn't just give you a what and then leave you high and dry he gives us a why this is what the rest of the verse unbolts for us look at verse 18 beginning of the fifth word here's why we flee sexual immorality every other sin a person commits is outside the body but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body 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 oan for you were bought with a price so glorify God in your body there's a remainder of this passage and if you'll notice it has an interesting what I would call a chiastic and I would even say unintended structure in other words chiastic structure means that something is is reasoned with us going a b c b a there's a pattern to it and i don't think this is intentional personally i don't know if paul did this on purpose but it works out this way in the translation notice with me he makes a command in verse 18 right FLE you notice at end of verse 20 there's the second imperative glorified you see that so you have two commands of bookending this set of verses after each command you have after the first command and before the last command you have a statement and in the middle of all this is a question so if you were to put this on i clastic way you'd say that Paul is making a command a statement asking a question which is rhetorical and then a statement and a command so you could call it ABC ba but it helps us remember what's going on here what Paul is doing is raising the stakes he's elevating our view of how sin is very serious by by a command a statement a question a statement in a command we'll cover more about the last command next week I want us to focus mainly on this first aspect so that we see sins seriousness and Paul's reasoning for fleeing from sexual immorality Paul's argument for how serious it is is rooted in verse 18 in this odd phrase every other sin a person commits is outside the body but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body he's saying there's a uniqueness to sexual sin this is why you should flee from it I hope you're wondering like I am what does that mean sin against your own body and what does he mean by every other sin is outside the body those are great questions I love it when you ask those I love to answer him too so what do we dig into that because this really is the the the gist of his argument why should we flee why is it so serious what's going on with sexual sin is it really different than other sins is it worse is it deeper what's going on here Todd okay well let's analyze this phrase and I think what you couldn't you know first of all about this phrase is that the the word outside the body you see that phrase outside and the word against our key words here they're both words of location and where the first verse means outside of a contained area not part of a unit and the word against a means inside a contained area in fact I think the word against could could be translated at times in contain so they're they're words of location for sure knowing that we really arrived at three options for how to see this phrase because frankly Paul doesn't describe or define what this phrase means in this text he doesn't tell us he actually assumes that the readers would know just kind of makes the statement and moves on dead nay so he must have known they knew what he meant and I think we can as well there's three views you can kind of land on the first ones what I call the third excuse of view so look with me at verse 12 and verse 13 for a moment's backup to week one can we and you see that there are a couple of phrases that are in quotes such as in verse 12 all things are lawful for me do you see that's in quotes in your translation and then in verse 13 food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for foods in quotes some translators and commentators think this phrase should also be in quotes the very first phrase which says every other sin a man commits is outside the body they consider that to be the third cultural rationalization that Paul is using that people in that culture were giving for sinning sexually here's why they say that because in the original language is the word other do you see that in verse 18 the word other is not in the original length which it is supplied that doesn't mean it shouldn't be there but you won't find a way a word-for-word translation that includes the word other so in the most technical sense stay with me don't lose me in the most technical sense the beginning of verse 18 or this second part says every sin a person commits is outside the body so they're saying this because of that fact that the word others not in the original language this is must this must have been a quote in which folks are saying hey listen sins no big deal it's outside the body food for the stomach there's something for food everything's legal for me and permissible and you know what after all no sin is really part of the body does that make sense so they're using this is a third excuse to continue to sin sexually because hey it sits outside the body that's one view one way to see this obviously the translators of of this of the ESV didn't buy that they didn't put in quotes they feel like it's actually a legitimate use of the word other to distinguish sexual sin from other sins so if that's the case what's going on that would be viewed number two what I call the unique nature view and what I mean by this is that the view is that sexual sin has a unique nature about it in other words is there is a qualitative difference between sexual sin and other sins what is the difference watch me here it's that in sexual sin you actually are joining your body with another body only in sexual sin does that happen there's no other sin in which you would join your body in an intimate way and then consequently give mastery of your body to someone else which is really Paul's point in this text isn't it you don't own your body so why would you give it that way to another why would you take the members of Christ remember the words we looked at last week members join and one there were all words that help to see that we were union with Christ he's saying in sexual sin you're actually doing that which shows the opposite and that's the only sin in which that occurs so it is a unique sin in its qualitative nature the third view would be what we call the unique consequence of you and someone say the phrase against his body means that sexual sin contains a unique consequence they would compare this to Romans 127 which describes sexual sin and says those who commit these things they experience the consequences in their body you can check the verse out with your small group what does that mean and what's going on there they would say this is similar to that that something happens to the person consequentially as a result of their sins sexually now where do I land first of all none of these views are going to determine your eternal security we all say to that Amen hallelujah so we don't debate this endlessly but here's Ryle and I think the context proves it I'll and with number 2 I can see number 1 actually you know a little bit I can see that I tend to trust the translators and the amount of manuscripts and the ways they look at what should be supplied and I think number 2 fits the context best because he makes a strong case in all 9 verses to talk about the bodies joining together he says the words member one flesh the word joined so these are all phrases that I think help us see that there is a a qualitative difference in sexual sin and listen very carefully although it's not necessarily the worst sin it is the most unique in its character that's what we're saying and it's because sexual intimacy is the deepest uniting of two persons and so this sexual sin displays the misuse and miss ownership of the body in the deepest way you see if you were to ask why certain other sins such as anger drunkenness murder gossip you know are these any less against the body I think if we ask that we're actually dismissing and refusing to acknowledge the context of Paul's primary point and his manual astray which is that sexual sin is uniquely body joining its uniquely one fleshing it's actually member defiling that word sexual immorality is used three times in these nine verses it's a sin against the body's rightful ownership remember your body according to this text is a member of and joined to Christ verses 12 to 15 it's a temple of the Holy Spirit verse 19 and it was purchased by God verse 20 and so no other sin threatens to put the body under the mastery of something or someone else like sexual immorality in that way it is against the body and unique in its qualitative Constitution now there's a couple of other questions I want to rap to grapple with and wrestle with questions that will help us kind of continue to see sin and all of its seriousness okay because I think first of all understanding this verse helps us see sin in its seriousness that it's unique in that way no other sin pictures the the violation we're doing to Christ's body like sexual sin there's some other questions that you may be wondering about that I think will help us continue to see sin seriously you may be wondering well Todd who's the body is being referred to in these verses here's why I want to explain this in verse 18 there's a singular pronoun at the end of the verse look with me would you it says the sexually immoral person sins against his own body it's a singular pronoun but as the rest of the verses unfold all the pronouns changed to plural and it's hard to see this in the English translation but in the original language beginning in verse 19 it's your body speaking to the whole church it's a temple of the Holy Spirit within you there's a plural whom you plural have from God you plural are not your own so he's speaking individually and plurally he's speaking singularly and yet collectively so if I were to answer the question whose body is he referring to to help us see sin seriously I would say both he's saying you your body matters it's made by God for God and yet what's this don't lose me every year every I his body matters and in all truthfulness your body is his body right that's the whole point of Bal Ptolemy so your body which is his body matters but his body collectively the church matters I think Paul is almost unintentionally having a play on words here by using both singular and plural pronouns he's saying guys sexual sin yes it affects your body but it affects our body which is all together his body correct so a lot to grapple with there but I think what it does is it raises the stakes of how we see sin and that's what we need right now a second question you may be wondering is this what is the sin of sexual immorality you've been using that word Todd for three weeks it's in here three times but what is the sin of sexual immorality there's probably a number of things that are thinking of good question the word is pornea and it's an all-encompassing kind of like tent a word it can include a lot of things and in some places it does the question is what does it mean in these verses it's a very good question my sense in my understanding is that this is referring to wrong sexual intercourse not just any sin like pornography which is a sin or lust which is a sin yes and do those lead to the final physical act of wrong sexual intercourse outside the guidelines and bounds of marital covenant yes but what is Paul actually saying in these verses and where this text stays is where I want to stay okay I think the text is pretty clear that there's a something physical happening he saw about members of Christ being joined to members of the prostitute that's the sexual act he's referring to I think the historical context of the temple being used in what we call cultic worship and so there were prostitutes available at the temple men would go to the temple and in an act of worship to God would have sex with prostitutes and thinking it was okay and so what Paul has in mind here is the actual act of wrong sinful sexual intercourse I think that's the meaning of the phrase sexual immorality I'm not demeaning or lessening other sins I'm Colombia saying to be as close to the text as possible that Paul say is let's just stay where he stays and so regardless of where you fall on the answer to that question or some of the phrases here's what I think we can all agree on none of those answers if they're different negate or change Paul's overriding point in these final three verses of this chapter which is this sin especially sexual sin is a serious matter you may think it's that number one's the view you may think he means a whole host of sins man no problem we can disagree on some of the answers we can have our own reasoning for getting there I think you can appreciate a pastor who lands on a certain place and tells you why but here's a we can all agree oh here's would come up in unity under that man regardless of how you see the answer some specific questions and phrases Paul is raising the stakes on how we see sexual sin that's the boat I want you to row with me this morning again regarding sexual sins specifically its warned against uniquely here because it is a brazen bodily demonstration of wrong mastery and ownership not only about your body but about the other person's body both people are saying we own ourselves we'll do what we want and nothing pictures the myth of autonomy in a physical body way like sexual sin but let's also expand this categorically sin is a spiritual violation of Christ's body in two ways personal yours which he owns and then corporate this one all of us together which he owns and he paid for both of them sin is spiritual immorality it's breaking our marital covenant to Christ it's playing around on Jesus unless you think I'm overstating the case I would remind you of this fact listen very intently in the Old Testament the prophets were known to make my language look tame I know the reputation for being somewhat of a bold kind of in-your-face speaker I'm good with that I have no problems with that but if I were compared to the Old Testament prophets you'd think I was Mickey Mouse read Jeremiah read Hosea as they came to the children of Israel and said you are committing whoredom as God's people in fact there are some parts of the Old Testament especially Jeremiah that are so sexually explicit that the original translators of the King James Bible had difficulty knowing if they should even put the translation in as it was word-for-word one of those and I'll just say what it is is in Jeremiah two and three in which the Prophet says to God's people who have been involved in centuries of idolatry much like here in Corinth when they were committing sexual acts in worship and also spiritual just just abandoning God's covenant Jeremiah said this about them he said you know you're you go to every high hill and spread your legs it's pretty explicit the translators worried how do we put this in the Bible and so some translations say it differently than others but in the most literal way that's what Jeremiah said to them so words like whoredom harlot adultery were used to speak of the sin of God's people when they would abandon him do you see why they would use those words because section will sin pictures in the most unique way what sin does over all and they're not alone James does this James for when speaking of those believers who were trying to be friends with the world and be friends with God when he called them he said you are an adulterous people see this is stark bold language it's emphatic explicit language why we're not trying to create some kind of shock and all we just want you to see sin seriously and truthfully church sexual immorality is just the brazen physical picture of the horrific nature of sin spiritually it's a violation of our relationship with Christ and that's serious business so let me put this in a single sentence for you here's how I'd say it here's our big idea sexual sin is uniquely serious because it demonstrates physically what every sin does spiritually it violates Christ's body individually and collectively now because I'm not the only one rowing this boat I won't have you read it with me I want you to enter into this these dark waters together okay I told you this what happened we would be diving down and we're there this is serious business I want us to be here for a bit so so here's what 18 through 20 especially the beginning parts are saying to us read it with me that sexual sin is uniquely serious because it demonstrates physically what every sin does spiritually violates Christ's body individually and collectively so Todd is there any hope I mean you're probably whoa if you're visiting you're a guest like man what have I stepped into today I hope what you're thinking is at least his guy's honest with me it's coming straight from the word and he's not pulling any punches so how do we move forward from this using some verses here as well as other parts of the Bible I want to give you some ways to move forward so that we begin to climb out of this like wow if this is all there is who has hope because the gospel gives us hope right well you say we begin to see the hope of the gospel and I I'd first say to move forward here's the first thing just receive forgiveness divinely okay and I want to ask you to look back at a verse that we mentioned in week one it's a verse 11 of chapter 6 it's the beginning verse so to speak of this what's the ending verse of the previous section and notice what Paul says this is so beautiful Church because we try to avoid these labels but the church at Corinth is like hey that's us we are the adulterers we are the thieves we're the greedy the drunkards the revilers were the sexually immoral do you see that in first 26 9 and 10 that's them and Paul saying guys this should not be so among you this is not how members of Christ should act and why because verse 11 says such were some of you and I would say to us and me included this is what we are Church don't run from the label of center we've all been tagged with it what's this but you were washed you were sanctified and you were justified and right there stop and listen not by anything you did not because you turned over a new leaf because you kind of rounded the corner you know you've got a little more this positive thinking in you the text tells us that we were washed and sanctified and justified after being these horrific sinners in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God in other words salvation came into our life the gospel rest Judis from our darkness man I'm so thankful I don't stand before you today as a perfect man with a perfect past some silver spoon kid who raised in his Christian home and a Christian school and a Christian University and a Christian seminary and man you don't know what it's like that's not me and that's not you we are all tainted in some way by sin but guess what the gospel washes us sanctifies us justifies us Amen Church this is why the very first thing all of us need to ask ourselves is that have I received forgiveness divinely not by another man or a woman or a system I want to ask you this have you received forgiveness from God and his forgiveness comes through His Son Jesus Christ who when he died on the cross and for three hours hung naked he was the sin offering for all the sin of mankind first John would say this he died for our sins but not for our sins only for the sins of the whole world and in those three hours Jesus Christ paid for every sin that was and would be committed against the holiness of God and he could do that in three hours because he was God in the flesh he died and was buried and then God raised him on the third day as a vindication of the sacrifice and so now and we say there's so much of this church and I'm so glad we do all who would believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ can experience divine forgiveness and trust me that's what you need your wife can forgive you for what you're did your husband can forgive you what you did that helps horizontally but it doesn't change your soul it doesn't wash away your sins it just makes things right this way and that's important that helps there's only one who can positionally make you righteous when you're not it's a god and he does that through the work of Jesus Christ alone and so the question I ask you is this to every single person here have you put your faith in the work of Jesus Christ and the person of Jesus Christ as the only way to receive forgiveness you say I don't know if I have Todd didn't I got I have an idea right now just say God would you through Jesus forgive me of my sin and would you wash me you know what God will do gotta wash you and forgive you right now for whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved so I hope you hear your pastor saying to you it's it's serious of business this sin thing is you're right but the cross is far more glorious and it's our hope I urge all of you to receive forgiveness divinely through the cross of Christ and the mercy and grace of God and just call out to him to forgive you through Jesus and he will do exactly that I just want to speak to you personally about this because I know what this feels like I know the meaning of psalm 32 when it says happy as the man whose sins are forgiven you know Julie and I we cross some lines and we were dating we did I regret that I sinned against her I don't know I remember when that happened and we both were so convicted there's God to forgive us and we set in place some new parameters first of all the forgiveness felt great you know I'm saying and I'm not afraid to say to you man we know that the real life experience is psalm 32 happy is the man whose sins are forgiven whose transgressions are covered amen on the heels of that forgiveness we begin to set in place some really what we call to this day weird rules some hard parameters so that we would not be tempted in that way and fall we wanted to run from sexual immorality and that brings me to our second point moving forward means you must practice and pursue physical purity now listen very carefully to me here I'm not saying that other kinds of purity doesn't matter spiritual purity emotional purity those things are important but this text is concerning physical purity alright and again I'm gonna stay where the text stays for the most part and when I go out of that I'll just take my opinion but in this text Paul is calling for bodily purity so I want to say to you set some boundaries young people who are down here on these first two or three rows set boundaries no parameters K n o W not the other way around already know the parameters don't cross them and set them in advance because in the moment you won't set them you'll have a hard time remembering them in the moment but if you'll set them in advance make them fence markers and guideposts like we will not cross this line or this line will run from this kind of sin man that would be a tremendous asset as you pursue purity physically in just clear language Alex Denis clarion call to you no hookups no affairs no adultery none those are physical sins that are wrong and if you think I don't happen in the church that wake up there's a booklet that I'm giving to you whether you get it online or here it shows us stats from pornography and much of them are the same in the church as the culture some studies show us that that the divorce rate is about the same in the church in the culture I don't know how much of those things are true because there's other studies that show differently but here's where my the greatest concern is I can't believe we're even debating that fact our sexual ethics should make us so distinct that there's no question we belong to God the idea that a Christian could be in a bar and looking for a hookup that would consider sexual intimacy with someone who's not our spouse may that be far from us may Paul's words be true may it never be so I want to call you clearly to a holy Ephesians five life stuff no affairs no hookups no adultery no divorce please its bodily purity other purity matters yes but let's not refrain from making a clear call to Christians who belong to Christ part of physical purity and pursuing that means enjoying sex correctly did you know that in fact as chapter seven of this same book unfolds Paul begins to lay out guidelines for sex between husband and wife and he says in there that you no longer own your body but your spouse does so we won't get into that today but there's even a whole nother view of bought on amiright and so your bodies for your spouse's pleasure so what's this church one of the ways to pursue physical purity is to enjoy marital sex correctly so that there's not this absence and void that would make someone or bisa be for someone a temptation to look elsewhere so I would encourage you man enjoy your spouse's proverbs five would say enjoy the wife of your youth solomon told his sons let her ravish you these are good spiritual words it hard to hear in a church I get that okay you're a little awkward right now I'm a little off for two okay but it's high time to church address honest practical matters and say to you that your physical purity matters and one of the ways we pursue that is by enjoying god-given marital covenant sex correctly you know I'll tell you more about that by asking you to read chapter six of my book called home run the name of the chapter is called Grand Slam sex and I won't go into it here but I will encourage it it takes you through first Corinthians 7 and walks you through how spouses can relate so that they're pursuing not only physical purity by rejecting any form of sexual immorality but they're also embracing their god-given gift of each other to one another and when a policy are little longer and talk to you about one other thing in regards to physical purity some think that purity is impossible because they lost their virginity but I want to speak to you plainly and say to you that virginity and purity are two different things I'm not lessening one so don't hear what I'm not saying virginity is a physical issue and you can lose it once and for all purity is not it's what God gives us and restores to us both are beautiful gifts but my point in this section is to extol the grace of God in the lives of sinners like me like you like us who are not pure in and of ourselves regardless of the extent of our sexual sin or the toll is taken the truth is by God's grace and Christ's blood you can be pure I love what Isaiah said in chapter 1 though our sins are like scarlet they shall be white as snow though they are red like crimson they shall become like wool hallelujah for the cross amen where Jesus took every one of our sins which made us all impure and he washed them away and he calls us righteous and hallelujah for Jesus has worked for so all of that to say to you pursue purity physically flee from immorality set good boundaries no purities possible rooted in Christ love your spouse enjoy them and when temptation comes knocking at your door man you hit the road and you stay faithful and committed to your marital covenant the last two points I would say are this value the body EE in other words value your body because it belongs to God and don't sin against it in a sexual way yes but value this body as well because when you sin personally it affects us corporately so if you've got bitterness towards someone if you're entertaining a wrong relationship with someone you're gossiping backbiting if you're stealing if you're lying if you're sabotaging if you're dividing stop value your body and our body enough to stop sinning take it seriously let's run to reconciliation and as you do that you may end up still disagreeing with that person on something but guess what if you'll seek reconciliation even in your disagreement you at least stop destroying each other that comes when we value the body EE and we quit sinning not only sexually within the church but we quit sinning in other ways in the church because we know it affects our body and our body lastly confess sin regularly now this is a little different in the first point and we explain it to you doctrine and it will be wrapping up we're gonna land the plane okay receiving forgiveness divinely is when God forgives you positionally once and for all it's called salvation the moment you turn to faith turn to Christ in faith and repentance he forgives you through Christ once and for all but then there's the practical side of that what first John says as we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from the righteousness we say that there are and then in the daily life moments we bring can we just confess our sins because we're not perfect we continue to sin against God in various ways we do want to sin less but we know we won't reach sinless Ness until he comes again and so this idea of daily confession is not getting saved all over again it's not that at all nothing changes in your position what's happening is you're experiencing the practical aspect of his forgiveness and so we engage in confession just like first John 1 says we walk in the light as he is in the light and the Bible says that when we walk in the light which is simply an open and honest attitude about our sin when we do that the blood of Christ cleanses us and we have good fellowship with God and with each other and some of the reasons some of you are struggling to relate to others and to God is because you're hiding and masking and disguising your sin you can't imagine being labeled with his group in first Corinthians this is what some of you worries I was with me Oh actually it is you it's me we are all sinners I guess what the gospel came to us you heard the truth you surrendered you trusted Christ and so he's washed you were sanctified you he's justified you he's made you pure so though we don't rejoice in our sins we don't run from that label either we're thankful that God forgives sinners amen and so as forgiven sinners we continue to confess our sin regularly 28:13 says this he that confesses and forsakes his sin shall find mercy you know where Mercy's found in confession so I wanna embolden you to not run from this beautiful practice of confessing your sin here's a practice that has helped me a lot in confession I typically and usually will just try to pray above a whisper and not with anyone when I do this not with Julie or kids and this is in my own private time sometimes in the car I try to pray just above whisper because here's why especially in confession when you pray just above a whisper and you hear your own sins you know what it does I'll have a verse for this and this is more of my opinion here but psychologically it raises the stakes of your sin you begin to hear what you thought and said and did and against a person against God and suddenly your soul is ravaged like what what's what's up with me but then the grace of God steps in and says I've got you there's hope the Gospels true and and you just experienced the practical aspect of forgiveness every day as you confess your sin just above a whisper it's actually very spiritually healthy for you you begin to feel the mercy of God on you you experience the blessedness of being forgiven so these four things are ways to move forward and they're all rooted in the gospel all of them point to Jesus he's our only hope so this morning I want to close by doing this I would invite you to a few moments of confession not publicly but is there in your seat and I'm going to offer this to you that if you'd like prayer from one of our church leaders we'd love to come right to your seat and just pray with you and right now here's what's in your head I'd never admit that if there's thought there is the problem with sin you're not dealing with this deep roof you're thinking I'm own person I'll take my image oh look I got to look good there's the problem so for a few minutes as we go to prayer if you just like prayer just like Todd I want to see sin seriously I'm confessing sin to God I want to deal with his deep root I just hold your hand up we'll have one of our leaders our elders our deacons our staff small group leaders just come and just say a quick prayer with you it's not magic okay but it is what James talks about confessing our faults to one another so I'm just gonna leave us in the time of confession as we leave this morning kind of repentance the band's gonna join me and we're just gonna pray and ask the Lord to do some good work in our heart okay that we would see sin seriously and in response confess it regularly so would you bow your heads with me please and just begin talking to God would you go ahead and name those things that Satan has come to you with in disguise and you don't want those to destroy you go ahead and recall the beautiful cross of our Lord Jesus so it becomes more glorious than your sin more attractive more beautiful than what Satan would offer you Jesus dying in your place think about all of your sins piled up Church and man we've all got a list of them don't we've got a stack of them a closet full of them you know all of those sins guess what the cross stands taller and mightier and greater and stronger and there's not a single sin that will overcome the cross of Jesus Christ

Channel: First Family Church

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Id: 8M6PTQlCxvw

Length: 52min 32sec (3152 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 19 2020