Sexual Purity (Part #3 of 3)

Now, we are going to shift gears to sexual purity. I wanted to say a couple things about this topic before we end this session. I don’t now if you realize that the Paul wrote to a church that had major problems with sexual purity. I mean major! Corinth is the Las Vegas of the bible times. Since, Corinth was a port city like New York City; people would come from all over for many reasons to visit Corinth. One reason, most people came was to get any kind of sex they wanted. This city was more messed up than anything you could ever imagine. People would go to the temple to have sex with the temple prostitutes for all sorts of weird reasons. For example, it was very common for farmers to go into the temple to have sexual relations with the temple prostitutes in hopes that the pagan gods would make their land more fertile. So you can imagine farmer Joe saying, “Honey, gotta go fertilize the crops again.” Other farmers went to the temples to have sex with the temple prostitutes so that they would send rain down on his land. All sorts of weird practices were going on. So in 1 Cor. Paul directly addresses incest, temple prostitution for both men and women, among other sexual issues. So you can say Paul is a spiritual sex therapist and he wrote a very specific set of verses to address an extremely important subject: sexual purity. Turn with me 1 Cor 6:12-20. Here we go . . .
1 Cor. 6:12 "Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13"Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"—but God will destroy them both. The body 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. 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 he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple 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 body.

(1) “Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial.” I think we have been asking the wrong question. How many times have you said, since you got into TC? How far is too far? How far can I mess around with my girlfriend/boyfriend and not sin? It’s not a bad question, I asked it myself, but I want to suggest that it is the wrong the question, it is the permissible question. “Everything is permissible for me," in other words . . . how close can I go and still be okay? . . . I want to suggest that the right question to ask is what is beneficial for me. . It is the beneficial question. . What is going to most honor God?. . you have a choice idolatry or purity . . .Idolatry is anything that gets between us and God, the largest idol is the sexual idol, it is putting our sexual needs between us and God . . . so finally we are on edge tittering . . We justify sexual sin and rationalize it. .but here is how I view sexual purity now, this goes for both men and women before marriage, “if you can show a little integrity before marriage, then you can be trusted more after the covenant is made” But if you can’t show integrity to your own body before marriage, you are going to have a hard time after marriage trying to sexually pure for your spouse, when the devil has got his control of you.
(2) Verse 19, Paul says, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” Paul used present tense language. He did not say, do you not know that your bodies “were” temples of the Holy Spirit. He never questioned their salvation despite all the sexual sin they were presently participating in. He said YOU ARE and still are temples of the Holy Spirit and continue to be temples of the Holy Spirit.
What I found interesting here is that PAUL compared these sexually impure people to temples. This is very significant because a temple was a holy place, a place where gods lived, a place where heaven and earth intersected.
The word Paul used for temple here is extremely important. There are two words used for temple in the NT. One describes the outside of the temple, where people dwelt and the other, this word for temple, naos, describes the inside of the temple, where God dwells. They called this place the Holy of Holies. What this means is that our bodies are the HOLY of HOLIES, a place reserved only for God, a place of purity and holiness and each one of us is exactly that. We are the HOLY of HOLIES.
You might be thinking, what I thought when I first came to Christ. How can I be holy in light of my past? I had sex with this person and that person, I was exposed to all kinds of sexually explicit material, how can I ever be pure?
I want to give you 5 very practical steps you can take that will put you on the path that leads to sexual purity. Remember this, Sexual purity is not something you arrive at and once you get there you are all good, no way, it is ongoing, you will always travel towards sexual purity, it is not a destination, but a journey.

5 ways to travel towards sexual purity (Mark Batterson)

(1) Guard our Eyes: The battle for sexual purity is won or lost in your mind, visual cortex. . .Matthew 5:32-Cut it off-We need to cut off stuff-who ever looks at a women-most depressing verses in the bible for guys, not an easy challenge, huge challenge for guys since we are . . .Job-Made a covenant with your eyes, not to look lustfully-make a decision to make a covenant with your eyes, to stay one step removed, know your triggers, where are you tempted, when . . Identify those things, so you don’t walk blindly
(2) Get help: Sign of strength not weakness. . Most people can’t be shocked anymore . . . my respect for people who come to me for help makes me think higher of them without exception; the enemy wants you to be in secret, until you confess you will not be free. . Satan wants all of us to think we are the only one dealing with this. . the church has to be a place where we have the courage and honestly to say all of us are wrestling with this. . . a lot of us struggle with this one. . . churches have small groups. . .pick up a book . . .
(3) Reestablish Sexual boundaries: Some feel you are too far gone. . . no hope for me . . how in the world do you put it in reverse, I have been having sex with my girlfriend for a while. . . just because it is hard or failed 10,000 doesn’t mean you don’t have to reestablish these boundaries . . .go cold turkey . . there is no other way . .have a fast to accumulate enough spiritual strength. . . fast whatever you are struggling with . . what you feed grows and what you starve dies . . and if you starve whatever it is that causes that sexual desire it will evidently die . . then have measures in place to handle it after the fast . . don’t let the enemy discourage you . . if you fail, confess, repent and begin moving in the right direction . . sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is keep trying . . God loves you perfectly. . God is honored when his children move towards the standards he set.
(4) Find an Accountability partner: You can’t make it on your own. . you need someone you can trust and be honest with . . .don’t make this lame like how are you doing . . did you look at pornography this week . . did you masturbate this week . . did you have sex with your wife this week . . get specific . .it is dangerous and risky but where we need to go. Always keep accountability. What’s that mean? That someone who will look you in the eye regularly, consistently, and say, “How are you doing with God? How’s your time with Him? How’s your thought life? How’s your marriage? How’s your relationship?” and they know you well enough to know when you’re lying, and say, “Ah, no, no, no, no. No, you’re lying to me.” Always have accountability.
(5) No Comprise: If you give the enemy an inch, he will take a mile. All he wants is a foot hold. . God’s grace is bigger then any mistake you made, don’t let what’s wrong with you keeping you worship what’s right with God.. . Lets receive his grace and forgiveness . . and lets move forward pursing sexual purity . . we can’t compromise . . . choose purity. . Eph. 5:3 –don’t have even a hint of sexual immorality in your life.
The Gift Box
I bet the Corinthian Church had a hard time accepting this teaching for the first time. They did not just sin once in awhile, but they actually participated in sexually degrading rituals at their temples, so once they found out, their bodies were the HOLY of HOLIES. I bet they must have felt a tremendous amount of guilt and shame, since they have been mistreating these gifts, their bodies that God had gave them.

PICK UP THE BOX: Have a box wrapped with another box wrapped inside that looks exactly the same but smaller. Use white wrapping paper on both and a nice bow.

You might be sitting here today as I did, feeling the same way as the Corinthians might have felt. Never thinking, you can be pure again because of your past. You might be thinking, God gave me, my body and yes, I do realize it is a gift from Him, but now, because of all the impure things I have done, my gift is damaged goods.
(RIP THE BOX)
(1) SEX: You might also be thinking, since the gift that GOD gave you, was not protected, it became easier to cross the line and after you had sex for the first time outside of marriage (RIP), the second time came around and soon two (RIP) became three (RIP) and three became four and on and on and on and on (RIP) and now you don’t think there is any way, the gift, GOD gave you, your body, can ever be pure.
(2) PROSTITUTION: Some of you might have messed around with prostitution (RIP), prostitution is not just a one time thing, but for you it became a habit (RIP), and with that came all kinds of sexually immoral behaviors, (RIP) things you vowed to yourself you would never do, you found yourself doing, (RIP) so now you might think that nothing can ever make your GIFT new again. So this made you not care anymore and you did whatever, (RIP) whenever, and now you have no clue where to begin to move forward to be pure again.
(OPEN THE BOX)
There is good news for all of us, “With God, failure doesn’t have to be final.” You are a treasured possession in His sight. You are pure in the eyes of God; all of your sin does not change how HE sees you and how He loves you. He never took HIS eyes off you. His hand has been upon you and that is why you are here today. You are PURE in His sight and are valuable in HIS hand. HE has a new gift for each of you. You are valuable, significant, and beautiful. He has cleaned your slate and given each of you a fresh start. A new opportunity waits for each of you to take YOUR gift of purity and from this day forward to be pure till the day you get married and for those who are married, HIS gift of purity stretches to us as well. We must keep our minds pure so that we do not let any seeds of division creep in and ruin our present and future marriages. PURITY is a gift, and each one here is welcomed to a second chance. “With God, failure doesn’t have to be final.” Our purity is something we must protect and guard, not just for ourselves, but for our spouses and future spouses. It is a gift from GOD, but what you do with it is our gift to God.