1 Corinthians 6 - Part C

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Call 800-922-1888 or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer. Okay. We're in first Corinthians chapter six as we join Skip Heitzig for today's study. Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators. Fornication is sexual sin.

Usually it is a sin a sin described in the Bible before marriage when a person is single. Nor idolaters, worshiping false gods, false religious systems. Nor adulterers, usually a sin talked about as once a person is married.

Nor homosexuals, nor sodomites. It's an unfortunate translation because you don't really get the force of the Greek language. Those two words, homosexuals or sodomites. The Greek language is much more precise and incidentally, the old King James version happens to be a more accurate translation than the new King James.

Or for that matter, most of the other translations of this particular verse. The old King James translates those last two sins by saying this way, nor the effeminate, nor the abusers of themselves with mankind. The effeminate, that word translated here, homosexuals, usually refers to in a homosexual relationship the person who takes the passive role.

In a male homosexual relationship it would be who would take the female role, the softer role. And then the second word sodomites or abusers of themselves with mankind in the King James is in a homosexual relational context, somebody who takes the more dominant aggressive role. And he's bringing that up because he's speaking to Greeks. And high born Greeks saw homosexuality a couple thousand years ago as the purest form of all love. William Barclay says that Socrates was a homosexual as was Plato. In fact, Plato's writings, that famous writing, the Symposium of Love, was Plato writing about homosexual lovers. And in those days it was an adult with an underaged male child and that was accepted in that culture. I think I mentioned last week that 14 of the first 15 Roman emperors were also homosexuals. So it was very, very common in those days. And Plato's writings, the famous writings, the Symposium of Love, was Plato writing about homosexual lovers. And in those days it was an adult with an underaged male child and that was accepted in that culture. I think I mentioned last week that 14 of the first 15 Roman emperors were common in those days.

And in those days the older male usually took the aggressive dominant role and the young boy in that culture took the passive role. That's the reference of the word. Sorry to be so explicit, but I figured you should know that's what he's writing about. So he says, do you not know that fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, nor sodomites, whichever role they take, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, will inherit the kingdom of God.

Now I know you read that. Some of you go, man, that messes with me. It's not my problem. It doesn't mess with me. Well, that really bothers me.

It's not my problem. My only duty is to declare to you what God has said through His word and you either accept it or you don't. So in the book of Romans chapter 1, which we already covered, I'll just remind you of this. Paul writes about the Gentile flow of sin throughout ancient culture, throughout actually all time. Therefore God gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever.

Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions for even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Against nature. Likewise also the man leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their heir which was due. Now you might say, well, you know that was back then in that culture, but in today's culture things are different and you can't say those things because in this culture that kind of stuff is acceptable. It was more acceptable in that culture. The reason it's becoming now acceptable after a long period of time is because of the rich Judeo-Christian heritage this country has had for so long to abate and stem the tide of that kind of stuff in modern history. It was the injection of Christianity in the world that put an end to that. Now you're seeing a resurgence back to an ancient culture. So understand when Paul wrote these things it was like when people read this it's like because if 14 of the 15 first Roman emperors were homosexuals and Paul is like talking smack, you know, pretty upfront, you know he got blow back for it.

So here's what I want you to see. Paul says in Romans 1 these things they happen, they have happened, but it's against nature and the word there in Greek is physis and it means against God's natural created order. God's natural created order. God has set a created order from the beginning and he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. God does not change and his word does not change. So if you tell me, well God made me this way, I'm going to say no he did not.

You may be a product of your environment, you may be a product of some social conditioning, you may be a product of a lot of different messaging that is going on, you might even be the victim of some feelings that every human being has toward his or her own sexuality, but there is God's physis and then there are those things that are against physis, against the natural creative order. And then Paul says neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor homosexuals nor sodomites, but let's not just stop with a few sins because, yeah, that's right, preach it man, well keep going. Nor thieves. How are you doing on your income tax?

Reporting. How are you doing with taking things home from the office that really don't belong to you? Nor covetous.

That's just wanting something that you don't have and doing things you can to get what you don't have. Nor drunkards nor revilers, people who are in your face and talk negative, talk smack about other people. Nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. See, those are part of that same list. So none of us can say, well, that sin is really bad, but these sins are okay. Why?

Well, because I do them. Now look at verse 11. This is key.

This is key. And such were some of you. Notice it's past tense. Not and such are some of you. Such were some of you. Hey, Corinthians, some of you were extortioners. Some of you were sodomites. Some of you were revilers. Some of you were adulterers, but that's in your past.

That's in your rearview mirror. You may struggle with those things. You may even fall into those things, but you don't live in them. You hate them. You want to move on from them. You want to serve Christ. That's your past tense. And if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, 2 Corinthians 5 says. All things are passed away.

All things become brand new. God is in the business of fixing people, fixing broken things, adding the glue of His grace to fix the sin in our lives. Such were some of you, but you were washed, cleansed by the blood. You were sanctified, set apart. You belong to God. You were justified. God declared you forgiven.

God declared you His Son, His daughter. In the name of our Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God. All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. It seems that Paul is using two slogans that were very popular around Corinth in those days, spoken by Corinthians or Corinthian Christians. Slogan number one, all things are lawful for me. In other words, I have complete liberty and freedom because I'm a Christian. I've been set free.

I'm not under the law. The law was a schoolmaster to lead me to Christ, Galatians says. Now that I belong to Christ, I'm not under that law any longer.

I'm free. Paul said, indeed, all things are lawful for you. That seems to be a slogan that they use that the Corinthians loved. Now it is true you are not under the law, but it doesn't mean that you can act any way that you please. Because Paul then corrects that and he says, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. So if I do certain activities, if I drink certain things or smoke certain things, sure, I can do that.

That's not the issue. Are they helpful? Do they benefit? Are they expedient? That's the old King James, expedient.

Do they expedite me? Do they push me along my path, my journey, help me reach my goal? All things are lawful, but not everything's helpful.

So keep that in mind. Look at the next. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Now I want you to keep a marker here, turn a few pages to the right, go to chapter 10, because he writes something very similar and I want to put all these together, all these three. First Corinthians chapter 10 verse 23. All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. Same thing he wrote back in chapter six.

But now he adds to that and changes something. All things are lawful for me, but not all things edify or all things do not edify. So there's three principles.

I want you to grab a hold of them tonight. If you are ever wondering what to do when it comes to the gray areas where the Bible is not very explicit about certain behavioral, should I do this? Can I do this? Is it permissible for a Christian to do this or that?

Apply these three principles. Number one, is it helpful? If I do this, if I drink this, if I smoke this, if I get involved in this activity, if I go visit this person or do this thing, will it help me? Will it expedite me? Is it good for me spiritually?

That's the first thing to sift it through. Second, all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. So if I get involved in this right now, will later on it make me addicted to it? Will it bring me under its power? Oh, I have the power. I can do anything I want to now, but will I come to a point where I can't make that choice any longer? Right now I can, but if I keep drinking this or smoking this or doing that, maybe I'm going to be brought under its power and I'll become a slave to it.

Now it's not helpful, certainly, and now I've become a slave to it. Number three, all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. So if I do this thing, what message will it say to other believers? Maybe it'll stumble a Christian. Maybe a Christian will look at it and go, what's he doing drinking that stuff?

Or what are they doing smoking that? Well, I have the freedom. I have liberty. I'm a Christian.

Right. Is it helpful? Could it be good helpful?

Could it become addictive, bring you under its power? Does it edify the body of Christ, others who are watching? That's the law of love. Love for yourself, the temple of the Holy Spirit, love for others, love for God ultimately. So those three things are important. So they were, that was slogan number one, all things are lawful, but Paul said they're not helpful. And all things, those things may bring you under its power, and then later on, is it edifying? Second slogan, verse 13, foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods.

Now that seems to have been a slogan that was popular in Corinth in general. You know, sort of like, no, I don't eat to live. I live to eat. I'm a foodie, man. It's all about the taste, the cuisine. So foods for the body and body for foods was a common way of saying sort of the same thing.

I can, you know, the body was meant to enjoy the pleasures of cuisine that is around me. Paul corrects that by saying, but God will destroy both it and them. So your body is temporary.

One day you're married, one day you'll die. But notice this, now the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. So just like they were saying the body for food and food for the body, they were saying sex for the body and the body for sex. Just like I eat a meal, and that's just simply a physiological choice that I make to grab that cheeseburger and eat it.

No big deal. I just, you got to eat, you got to eat. They were looking at sexuality the same way. Look, it's a natural proclivity.

It's a natural desire that we all have. And Christians were saying God gave that to us, so this is how I seek to fulfill that. Paul corrects that and says the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?

Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot, certainly not. Remember there was that temple outside of Corinth, temple of Aphrodite. The prostitutes, priestesses were coming down into town at night. Men were indulging themselves.

That was very common practice. Maybe some in the church thought they had the ability to do that. So foods for the body, body for foods. He's equating that with sexuality and that no, Jesus died for you. You belong to Him.

He'll say He bought you with the price. So glorify God in your body. Sex is God-given. It's a gift.

It's a good idea. It's a great idea God gave us. But because it is God-given, it must be God-governed. Everything that is God-given must also be God-governed. God gives us things, but then He governs the use of those things. He didn't say, just have at it, man.

You decide. No, God says, I've decided, and this is how I've made you, and this is how I've made them, and this is what I want, and this is my thesis, my order, and you do it for the Lord, especially as members of the body of Christ. I remember having this conversation with a man who was struggling against my Christianity. He was a Cambridge graduate in advanced science, and I lived with him on a kibbutz in Israel, and I was sharing the gospel with him, and he goes, skip. I will not become a Christian because of the sexual negatives that the New Testament pronounces.

I mean, he was just up front. If I do that, I can't have all the fun that I'm used to having, and I remember him saying, you know, I don't know why God is so negative. I said, Tony, if you saw a sign that said, keep out, what would you do?

He said, I'd open the door and go in. I said, but keep reading the sign. What if the sign said, keep out danger explosives?

Oh, well, that's a different thing. Exactly. So when God says keep out, he does it because he doesn't want you to blow yourself to smithereens sexually, morally, relationally. The negative command has a positive rationale attached to the negative command. Just like the sign that says keep out danger explosives, all God's commandments that are in the negative have a positive rationale.

It's because God loves you, and he made you, and that which is God given must be God governed. He goes, well, I never thought of it that way. And about six months later, he gave me a call. He had read a book that I had given him, and he was very humble on the other end of the phone.

He said, I just want you to know I've given my life to Christ, and it's the best decision I've ever made. Do you not know, verse 15, your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot?

Certainly not. Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For, notice the quote from the Old Testament, the two, he says, shall become one flesh, but he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.

What is he doing? He's quoting Genesis. He's going back to the creation account when God put man and woman on the earth, and he said for this reason a man will leave his father and mother, be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So God established separation, permanence, unity, and then intimacy.

The man and his wife were naked and they were not ashamed. That's what he's quoting from. It's going all the way back to that. And he's saying, look, when two people get involved sexually, they are actually becoming one with each other. And when a person goes out and is loose with somebody other than his permanent mate, he is giving a piece of his soul away to others. He's diminishing himself.

He's not gaining anything by it. So he says, verse 18, flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man commits is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.

Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you? By the way, if you're wondering, there's only one reason that the New Testament allows for divorce, and that is adultery. Because of this truth, the oneness bond is broken when a person has sexual relations with somebody other than husband or wife. When that happens, the oneness bond that was intended to be permanent is now broken. That person becomes one flesh with another person.

And for that reason, that's such a profound disruption that that becomes the only allowable biblical rationale for divorce. Do you not know, verse 19, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have from God? You are not your own.

Here it is. You are bought at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are God's. That's Skip Heitig with a message from the series Expound First Corinthians. Right now, we want to let you know about a special opportunity you have to pursue biblical studies in a way that works with your schedule. Going to church is a great way to learn about God. But what if you want to learn more?

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