Glorifying God in Your Purity – Part 1

A Bible Study on Glorifying God in your purity by staying pure in committed relationships. We are to be in the world but not of the world. So with that said, are you Glorifying God by staying pure with your thoughts and actions? If we tend to Honor God this is what we’re called to do as born again followers of Jesus Christ.

Glorifying God in Your Purity: Part 1

REFERENCE: 1 CORINTHIANS 6:18-20

INTRODUCTION: We have blessed assurance because of the insurance we have.

FROGS IN THE KETTLE: Purity Analogy

The frog in the kettle describes that if a frog jumps into a boiling kettle, its impulse would be to jump out, but if it started in lukewarm water and the temperature was gradually raised one degree at a time, it would not notice and would remain comfortable until it’s too late.

Now is the time, now more than ever to do a study on sexual immorality. We need to wake up and jump out of the kettle.  We are to be in the world but not of the world.

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality. 1 Thessalonians 4:3

Flee from 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 own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20

God’s Word spells out His will for our lives. He has prescribed that we are to be sexually pure and be clean vessels in His hands. Every born again believer is called into action

How can you keep Purity a priority?

There are 2 urgent actions that we are called to

1. Flee sexual sin

2. Live for the glory of God

A changed heart produces changed priorities, changed desires, and changed behavior.

The Corinthians in many ways did not see a need to change their behaviors. They were in many ways frogs in a kettle.

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. Hebrews 10:26

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them, the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. 2 Peter 2:1-3

In Corinth, men were identifying themselves with ministry leaders rather than with Christ. In 1 Cor 5, they were tolerating incest and not even disciplining the man committing sexual sin.

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

The Lord used Paul to call them out for rationalizing these sins:

• What sin are you rationalizing in your heart?
• What do you consider to be respectable sins?

Paul reveals 2 urgent actions:

1. Run!

2. Remember!

• A. Sin will betray you
• B. Your body is God’s temple
• C. The infinite cost Christ paid
• D. God’s will for you

1. Run!

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 1 Corinthians 6:18

Do not be a fugitive of sexual sin. Run for your life. Don’t flirt with it. Don’t play with it. Run! Your spiritual life depends on it.

Quote by Pastor Kevin DeYoung

“I’m afraid we (including I) don’t have the eyes to see how much the world has squeezed us into its mold. If we could transport today’s Christians from almost any other century to any today’s “Christian” countries in the west I believe what would surprise them the most (besides our phenomenal affluence) is how at home Christians are with sexual impurity. It doesn’t shock us, upset us, or offend our consciences. In fact, unless it’s really bad sexual purity seems normal  and just a way of life and downright entertaining.”

• God gives a born again Christian a heart to flee from their former sins.
• God uses the Holy Spirit to flee from all sexual temptations.
• Obedience involves being ready to run from sexual temptation at all times.

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 prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 1 Corinthians 6:15-17

Our spiritual union with Christ goes beyond the physical union in marriage. Those guilty of sexual immorality violate this union with Christ. We are bound to Him eternally and this lasts longer than marriage.

How are you doing when it comes to running from sexual sin?

Are you fleeing or are you flirting?

Are you running as if your life depends on it or are you a frog in the kettle, thinking it’s okay to do a little bit of this and a little bit of that?

Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you because you are his wife.

How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her. But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. Genesis 39:6-12

It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.” So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David.

When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was doing and how the people were doing and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king. But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord and did not go down to his house. 2 Samuel 11:2-9

One man fled to honor purity, while the other flirted

One considered pleasure while the other considered his potential sin before God.

• David went on to experience incredible difficulty.
• Joseph went on to be used in great measure by God.

We are living in a time where there are no sexual boundaries

Pornea: sins of the flesh; includes fornication, adultery, homosexuality, bestiality, pornography.

Pornia is an all-encompassing sensual or sexual immorality and a perfect description of modern-day America.

When we realize that we are complete in Christ and can now say ‘NO’ to this sin, from that point on we, are responsible for what kind of mess we get ourselves into.

And remember the best way, the Biblical way, of saying ‘NO’ to sin is by first saying ‘YES’ to Jesus!

Quote by Pastor John MacArthur

‘Victory’ in the spiritual life is not so much me overcoming the problem but it is me being so overcome by Christ that now Christ in me enables me to overcome the strong temptation to sin. You don’t have to live the way you once did when you were dead in your trespasses and sin. Your body is now dead to sin(the power of sin) and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

“You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery.’ Matthew 5:27

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

With every temptation that we face, God provides a way of escape. This way of escape is the door of victory. You must be mindful and Spirit-led in that process.

If the building is on fire, if the pot is boiling, we need to get out!

Who can scoop hot coals on their lap and not get burned? Proverbs 6:27

Can a man scoop a flame into his lap and not have his clothes catch on fire?

Why on our lap? Think about it. In His faithfulness, God places doors of escape in our presence.

How are you doing spiritually?

• Are you ____?
• Fleeing, or are you flirting?
• Being a Joseph or a David?
• Entertaining lustful thoughts from the privacy of your own room?

2. Remember!

Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 1 Corinthians 6:18

Sexually transmitted diseases can destroy the flesh. They can be lifelong diseases that serve as a reminder. They are potentially life-threatening. There can even be a risk to a baby during childbirth. The risk was higher during Biblical times when they did not have antibiotics and ointments.

A. Sin will betray you

Quote by  Ravi Zacharias

“Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”

The consequences can be absolutely devastating.

B. Your body is God’s temple

Every act of sexual sin is committed in the Holy of Holies where God dwells.

There are 3 temples in Scripture:

• 1. Material temple
• 2. The body of Jesus (John 2:19)
• 3. The body of every baptized believer

Our sin grieves God and causes Him sadness. Our sexual sin causes shame and guilt and interrupts our intimacy with Him.

To commit sexual sin in a church auditorium, as nasty as that would be, is no more disgusting than committing sexual sin in God’s sanctuary which is your body.

C. The infinite cost Christ paid

• As we remember the cost that Christ paid, we realize the seriousness of sin.
• We no longer get to do what we want. He is now Lord of our lives.
• If we buy something from a store, we take ownership of it.
• If you are in Christ, He has the title deed to your soul.
• It belongs to Him.

Slavery was common in that time so this would have resonated with them.

As Christians, we belong to and are owned by God.

Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 1 Peter 1:18-19

The Lord Jesus Christ paid the price through redemption. We have been freed from our bondage to sin.

“Christ paid a debt that He did not owe because we owed a debt that we could not pay.”

There were finite and infinite prices paid by Christ:

• The finite price was betrayal, abandonment, mocking, beating, piercing, and crucifixion.
• The infinite price was the broken fellowship with God the Father. On that cross, Jesus was bearing abandonment, despair, and divine wrath and judgment.

The gospel does not save us once. God’s Spirit indwells us and gives us the power to fight against sin.

D. God’s will for you

For you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:20

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality. 1 Thessalonians 4:3

You and I will glorify God when we run from sexual immorality. We glorify Him when we anticipate that sin will destroy us. We glorify God when we remember that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit and an infinite price was paid for your redemption.

CONCLUSION:

This was St. Augustine’s life verse:

Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. Romans 13:13-14

There is a story of St. Augustine after his conversion encountering a woman that he formally had relations with. She approached him and he turned and ran. She ran after him and explained, “It is only I, why do you run? St. Augustine replied, “I run because it is not I.”

St. Augustine is a new creation in Christ and called to glorify God. He was not content to be a frog in the kettle.

Will you refuse to be a frog in the kettle?

This concludes Part 1

Be sure to check out Glorifying God in your Purity Part 2

I’m so thankful to have been given such wonderful notes taken from a two-part sermon series my Pastor did at Church. I don’t know about you but this was so convicting for me. I hope you will find this Study as helpful as I did.