TWISTING GOD'S TRUTH--PART IV

SERMON TITLE: COMPLICATING YOUR LIFE

SERMON THEME: KEEPING THE PROPER PERSPECTIVE

WHEN INTIMACY IS TAKEN OUT OF PROPER CONTEXT, IT WILL COMPLICATE YOUR LIFE.

I CORINTHIANS 6:12

¹² “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.

· THE PEOPLE OF CORINTH CONCLUDED THAT THEY WERE FREE IN CHRIST TO EXPRESS THEIR SEXUALITY IN ANY FORM.

II TIMOTHY 3:16-17

¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the servant of God^[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

THE TWIST: THE WORLD SAYS THAT INTIMACY IS OK OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE, BUT IN THE END IT ONLY MAKES YOUR LIFE MORE COMPLICATED.

WHAT DOES THE BODY GOT TO DO WITH IT?

I) YOU MUST ACT ON WISDOM.

I CORINTHIANS 6:13-14

¹³ You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.

· YOU ARE NOT FREE AS A CHRISTIAN TO DO AS YOU PLEASE, BECAUSE THAT IS NOT FREEDOM, BUT RATHER A FORM OF BONDAGE.

HEBREWS 10:26

²⁶ If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,

· YOUR BODY IS AN ETERNAL INSTRUMENT WHICH THE GRACE OF GOD IS DISPLAYED AND A VESSEL THAT WAS CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD.

II) YOU MUST ACT ON WHOLENESS.

I CORINTHIANS 6:15-17

¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶ Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” ¹⁷ But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit

· AS CHRISTIANS WE CAN NEVER TREAT OUR BODIES, OR CONSIDER OUR SEXUALITY, AS SOMETHING APART FROM OUR SPIRITUAL LIVES.

JOHN 15:4-5

⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. ⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

· AS A BELIEVER YOUR BODY IS JOINED TO CHRIST'S OWN BODY THAT WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD.

I CORINTHIANS 6:18

¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.

· WHEN IT COMES TO SEXUAL ACTIVITY OR SENSUALITY OUTSIDE THE CONTEXT OF MARRIAGE YOU ARE TO RUN AWAY.

· PURITY IS ALWAYS SMART, IMPURITY IS ALWAYS STUPID.

III) YOU MUST ACT ON WORSHIP.

I CORINTHIANS 6:19-20

¹⁹ Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

· IN THE PERSON OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, GOD IS MAKING EACH ONE OF US HIS RESIDENCE.

LEVITICUS 10:8-10

⁸ Then the Lord said to Aaron, ⁹ “You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the tent of meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, ¹⁰ so that you can distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean,

· WHEN IT COMES TO GOD'S RESIDENCE, HIS TEMPLE, THERE IS A PROPER EXPECTATION OF PURITY.

CONCLUSION: GOD HAS GIVEN US BODIES TO USE FOR HIS GLORY WHEN WE FOLLOW HIS DESIGN OF SEXUALITY.

ROMANS 12:1-2

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.