Not Your Own | 1 Corinthians 6:15-20

Grab your Bibles. We're jumping right into it

this morning, 1 Corinthians chapter 6. And when

1 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

I begin a sermon like this, it usually means

we have a lot to talk about. And we do this morning,

a lot. Now, as you know, if you're with us the

last few weeks, we are in a, I'll call it a sensitive

part of Paul's letter to the Corinthians with

some mature themes in it. We tried to get most

of that out last Sunday because the kiddos...

are with us here this morning, so I'm going to

tread a little bit lighter and use language that

hopefully isn't quite as severe. I'll choose

my words carefully for the sake of our kiddos.

But hopefully you'll be able to follow along

as we go. All right, we're focusing on verses

15 to 20 this morning. We're going to start up

in verse 12, though, the section that we covered

last Sunday in our message. Notice once again

now as you look at verses 12 and 13. Paul is

referring to ideas that apparently had become

very common in the city of Corinth in the first

century, and now he's got to do some work correcting

them to give them right thinking when it comes

to what they do with their bodies. So let's read

beginning in verse 12, and I'll add some of my

thoughts as we go along. Verse 12 says this,

all things are lawful for me, say the Corinthians,

but Paul clarifies, not all things are what?

profitable or beneficial for the believer. So

there are some things in the Christian life that

are permissible for us, and yet they're still

not beneficial for us. So you might have that

glass of wine, Scripture permits it, but you

have to ask the question, is this a good choice

for me? So decisions like this, permissible,

profitable, decisions like that require knowledge

of self and applying wisdom, right? Good, he

goes on, all things are lawful for me, say the

Corinthians, but then Paul clarifies, I will

not be mastered or enslaved by anything. Again,

there are things in the Christian life that you

are free to engage in, but in doing so, beware,

do not open the door to let those things control

you or to make you its slave. Do not be mastered

by it. Verse 13, food is for the stomach and

the stomach is for food, say the Corinthians.

But then Paul adds, God will do away with both

of them. And so food and the stomach designed

to process food, they are part of this present

order that will someday pass away. They are not

eternal things. Paul goes on, yet the body is

not for porneia. The body is not for sexual immorality.

What you do with your body is in a different

category than how your stomach processes food.

What you do with your body is more than just

a response to a natural need. It's not just physical.

What you do with your body has spiritual and

emotional consequences. And so Paul says, those

bodies that you have right now, they weren't

given to you for porneia. They are, Paul says,

for the Lord. And the Lord is for the body. Verse

14, now God has not only raised the Lord, but

will also raise us up through his power. So unlike

the processing of food in the stomach, our bodies

will extend into eternity. They will be reconstituted

on the day of resurrection and will live on into

the new heaven and the new earth. That means

our bodies really, really matter. They're highly

valued by God. And therefore we should take care

of them as good stewards. The foundational way

that we steward them properly is to recognize

first and foremost that what we talked about

earlier, they belong to God. They belong to Christ

if we're found in him. Now let's read on verses

15 to 20. Do you not know that your bodies are

members of Christ? Shall I then take away the

members of Christ and make them members of a

prostitute? May it never be. Or do you not know

that the one who joins himself to a prostitute

is one body with her. For he says the two become

one flesh, but the one who joins himself to the

Lord is one spirit with him. Verse 18, flee sexual

immorality. Every other sin that a man commits

is outside the body, but the immoral man sins

against his own body. Or do you not know that

your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who

is in you, whom you have from God, So in these

last six verses, guys, there is some of the most

important Christian doctrine that we hold precious

and dear to us. Three very important doctrines

that get brought out here, and we're going to

touch on all three of them as we walk through

this passage. The first one, here's what they

are, is union with Christ. which you may have

sort of vaguely heard about, but may not fully

understand why that matters. The second is the

indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which I'm sure

you've definitely heard about, but it's possible

that you haven't really understood what that

means in a metaphysical sense. And then third,

the doctrine that we're going to look at this

morning is the doctrine of redemption, which

is an absolute foundational aspect of the gospel.

So that's where we're headed this morning. Let's

start with that first one. Go back up to verse

15 and let's look at union with Christ. The key

verses here are 15 and 17. Do you not know that

your bodies are members of Christ? Drop down

to verse 17. The one who joins himself to the

Lord is one spirit with him. If you're one of

those folks who likes to underline or highlight

in your Bible, there's some great phrases to

underline or highlight. This describes our union

with Christ. Don't you know this, Paul asks?

Don't you know that your physical being is intimately

connected to the Savior who died for you? Don't

you know that, Paul says? It appears that the

Corinthian believers thought far too little about

this subject matter. And so they acted like,

well, casual use of our bodies is not a big deal.

apparently many of them held to what we call

a platonic dualism. This is the view where the

soul is considered to be the real you, right?

The inner man is the real you, and the body is

just sort of a less important container for the

soul. So it doesn't matter that much. The body

has little importance to them. So that means

I can do what I want with it, and somehow I can

separate what I do with my body with my inner

man, who's the real me. So if I physically join

myself to another, that's a completely separate

thing for my soul. That's just my body. It's

no more important than the natural function of

food for the stomach. That's the way the Corinthians

were looking at this. So obviously, Paul has

to come down very hard in correcting him here.

God is not going to let you compartmentalize

your body in that way. Now, it's true that the

body and the soul are two distinct parts of a

man. But they can't be separated. They are inseparably

linked. And together they constitute the whole

of the person. So no, your body is not just a

disposable container. And no, your soul is not

the only thing that is the real you. And so this

is Paul's big point. Don't you know that as a

Christian, your bodies not only matter, but they

are now a part of Christ's body. Think about

that for a moment. That means... any use of your

body where you become one flesh in a union outside

the covenant of marriage, you have betrayed your

union with Jesus. It's a betrayal of that union

because you've given a part of yourself to somebody

who is unauthorized in God's eyes. And that's

what we do in porneia. We give ourselves, a part

of ourselves, to another outside of the union

that we have with our Savior. And if we do succumb

to that temptation, Tragically, we drag Jesus

into our sin. Can you imagine the horror of that?

That's the shocking message Paul is trying to

drive home to the Corinthians in verses 15 and

16, and it should be a warning for each one of

us as well. Do not drag Jesus into your porneia.

Now, let's look more closely at the language.

that Paul uses here in these two verses. Starting

in verse 15, he says, your bodies are members

of Christ. What does Paul mean by using the term

member? We think we know that right off the top

of our heads, but we shouldn't just blow past

this as if it doesn't matter, because it does.

This is, you see the word on the screen, this

is the Greek noun melos, and it's a very common

word that Paul uses 29 times. In his letter,

he uses this word, 16 of which are here in 1

Corinthians. And in its simplest form, it can

refer to a body part or to a limb. It's our eyes,

our ears, our mouths, our hands, our feet. These

are all members of our physical body that are

supposed to be used to glorify God. But then

there's a second use of melos, a relational term

where Paul uses it to talk about belonging. A

relational term where he talks about belonging.

In particular, he talks about Christians belonging

to two things. First of all, we're members of

Christ. That's what we just read in our passage,

meaning we belong to him, the one who died for

our sins. And then second, Paul talks about Christians

being members of one another. Members of one

another. And there he's speaking of the church,

which is the body of Christ, right? how our lives

belong to each other, and that's especially true

here in a local assembly like the one here at

Oak Hill where we live life together. We are

members of one another. Now, those are big statements,

and they shouldn't be brushed off without serious

consideration because I think, my opinion, is

in the American church today, we don't take those

concepts as seriously as we should. Too many

professing Christians seem to think that they

can do as they please. Just live as they want.

You know, I've got a little bit of my life in

church. I'm loosely attached to this local church

body. But you know what? It's my body. And it's

my life. So I can do as I please. And that is

sort of uniquely American, isn't it? This individualistic

spirit. But you can't have your cake and eat

it too. You can't say, well, look, I want to

be found in Christ when I die so that I go to

heaven. But in the meantime, it's my body and

it's my life and I'll do as I please. You can't

do both. In the same way, if we're members of

one another in the church, you can't say on one

hand, well, I want to be known as a part of the

body of Christ, but right now I'm not all that

interested in living out the one another's with

real people. Those things don't go together.

So this idea of membership and belonging is stronger

than just I'm loosely affiliated to Jesus or

I sometimes attend church services. And that's

one of several reasons why here at Oak Hill we

emphasize not just being an attender of a local

church, but at some point committing to formal

membership. Because in that membership process,

we promise to each other, I belong to you, you

belong to me, we're members of one another, so

let's go out and live life together love each

other well, right? So this is at the core of

what we believe here at Oak Hill. So members

of Christ. Now let's look at the language in

verse 17, where it says, we've joined ourselves

to the Lord, and now we are one spirit with him.

The Greek verb Paul uses here is kalao, and it's

the Greek equivalent of the Old Testament concept

of cleaving. We speak of this idea of leaving

and cleaving from Genesis 2, right? Or in modern

terms, leaving and joining. This is the corresponding

word that Paul uses in verse 17. In literal terms,

this word means to fasten firmly or glue something

together, right? Think of Gorilla Glue, right?

Or whatever, you know, some super glue. Firmly

fastened together. So when he talks about joining

ourselves to Christ, This is much more than casual

proximity. You would not use this word if you

were going to say, look, I'm going to go join

a gym and I'll occasionally show up there. That

is not the depth of the word. It's much stronger.

This is a bonded, consequential connection, much

like a marriage covenant, where the husband and

wife are firmly glued together as one flesh for

life. The same principle is true in our being

joined to Christ. We are now one spirit with

him, meaning we've been brought into a genuine,

intimate, spirit -formed union with our Savior.

We've been glued together. So this is really

strong language, guys, to understand our union

with Christ. And that leads us back to Paul's

big point, back to the practical exhortation

that goes with this idea of being united to him.

And if you look at verse 18, you'll see what

the practical instruction is. Therefore, what?

flee immorality. In light of what I just told

you about you being joined to Christ, to be a

member of him, therefore flee porneia. And this

is written, if you look at verse 18, in what

we call the present active imperative, which

tells us two important things. First of all,

it's not a suggestion. It's a command, flee.

And second, It's to be a continuous action, a

state of persistence. We are fleeing all the

time from immorality. So what that means practically,

we live in a constant state of alertness. In

the sports world, we say we keep our head on

a swivel, right? Because we're always looking

around. We're alert. We're watching for temptations

that might attempt to lure us in. Are they not

everywhere around us, guys? Do we walk out the

door in the morning alert to them? This is what's

being said here. Being ready to flee in a moment,

to run from it as fast as you can. The best image

I can come up with this is just recently in my

backyard. I went outside, I'm walking down the

side yard and I get about as close to Julia here

to a rattlesnake sitting right in my path. What

do I do with that? What do I, what do I? Don't

mess with it. It could really hurt you, right?

A rattlesnake shows up in your path. You don't

go, let me see how close I can get to it without

being bitten. Think of it that way with porneia.

How close can I get? No, no, no, no, no. Paul

doesn't say, hey, approach that thing, examine

it, see if you have the strength to resist it.

Can you imagine? The late 4th century Bible scholar

Jerome actually comments on this. He says, some

temptations may be reasoned with, but with this

one, reason not, just flee. It's powerful. Do

not underestimate it. And maybe Paul has in the

back of his mind the Old Testament story of Joseph.

And Potiphar's wife, right, from Genesis 39,

do you remember? Where this woman who is married,

she's a married woman, married to this prominent

member of Pharaoh's cabinet, she quite literally

throws herself at Joseph. And rather than entertain

the thought or to think, wow, you know what?

Not only does this seem like a good thing, a

pleasurable thing, but I might be able to advance

based on that. He doesn't entertain any of it.

What does he do? like the roadrunner. He runs.

He runs. And so when we talk about this specific

form of immorality, not only do we have to be

on alert, we have to be intentional about setting

boundaries in our lives. If you never sat down

with an older person and said, tell me about

some good boundaries to protect myself, you should

do that. We're talking about boundaries that

when they get threatened, when they get pushed,

a red flag goes up in our heart, and we don't

stay there and feed the thought. We don't stay

there. Like Joseph, we get up and we move. And

sometimes it's as simple as that when it comes

to porneia. We just get up. We change our environment.

We move away from it. We change our thinking.

We renew our thoughts and set them above where

Christ is seated, and we flee from it. Amen?

And again, the theological and relational reason

we have to flee is because our bodies matter

to God, because we are members of Christ, because

we are one spirit with him, and we dare not drag

him into our sin. Amen? Paul goes on here in

verse 18. Every other sin that a man commits

is outside the body, but the immoral man sins

against his own body. And this is such an insightful

statement. We all know that all kinds of sin,

all sin stains us in some way. It all harms us.

But this particular sin of porneia has a unique

effect upon a person. It's because of how we're

designed and because our bodies are not just

physical things, but this type of sin, it scars

the soul within us. It scars us emotionally and

spiritually. And of course, porneia has the capability

of capturing us or enslaving us. And so we not

only flee away from the temptation, this is key,

we flee toward the Lord, right? We flee away

from the temptation. We flee toward safety. towards

the Lord who functions as our shelter. Both have

to happen. We flee away from the temptation.

We flee to the Lord. This is what Paul brings

out in Romans chapter six. We'll walk through

this briefly. He says, do not let sin reign.

That word's important. Reign in your mortal body

that you should obey its lusts. Don't let it

sit there within you ruling your affections and

your desires, okay? And do not go on presenting

the members of your body to sin as instruments

of unrighteousness. Did you catch that? Don't

keep presenting your bodies to sin. Stop putting

yourself in places and situations where you know

sin is crouching at the door and that it desires

to master you. Stop doing that. That is a choice

that we make. That is a series of choices that

we make each and every day. Do we put ourselves

in the path of what we know will lure us in?

Instead, he says, do this. Present yourselves

to God as those alive from the dead and your

members as instruments of righteousness. So I'm

not going to put myself on the path of sin. I'm

going to do the opposite. I'm going to intentionally

flee to the one who shelters me and strengthens

me to turn and repent. These are choices we make,

guys. And you've got to ask the question, well,

what is it I really want? Well, I want to be

pure. Okay. Amen and amen. Then make the choice

to stop presenting the members of your body to

sin and present them to the Lord. Make sense?

Okay, that's union with Christ. It matters. It

matters. Now, let's move on to doctrine number

two, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In case

you weren't convinced that your body being a

member of Christ is enough to turn away from

sin, Paul now piles this truth onto it. In case

you weren't convinced, check this out. Do you

not know that your body is a temple of the Holy

Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God?

This is the sixth time in this chapter that Paul

starts with, don't you know this? Haven't you

already been taught this? And what that tells

me is that as he's writing, and you picture Paul

writing, he's righteously angry and probably

quite frustrated at what he hears is happening

in Corinth. It's like, you've been taught this.

This is not brand new material. Don't you know

that this is true? Don't you know that when you

trusted in Christ for salvation, that the Spirit

of God was given to you as a gift? That's what

he says at the end of the verse. He says, the

Spirit whom you have from God. He's a gift to

you. And not only is he a gift, he is now in

you, he says, as a believer. He is working to

conform you to the image of Christ on the inside

of you. in your heart, in your mind, in your

soul, in your conscience. And if you still don't

understand how much God values your body, consider

this. God says, I have made your body a temple.

It's a temple. Now, Paul could have chosen another

word. He could have said your home. You know,

it's the Spirit's home or the Spirit's house

or the Spirit's residence, but he chooses the

term temple. Consider what a mind -blowing privilege

that is, that the creator of the universe not

only knows you, is that not enough? The creator

knows you, but now desires to abide in you and

to make your inner man a sacred place, to make

it a holy place where he is working. The creator,

the creator does that. The God of this expansive

universe knows you, wants to abide in you, and

says, your body is now my sacred space. Wow,

right? Is that not a source of worship? A couple

weeks ago, I posted on social media this very

simple but profound quote from John Calvin, which

says it beautifully. Calvin says, there's an

emphasis applied in the term temple. It is a

great honor. Think of it that way. What a great

honor that God has given us, that he wants to

dwell within you, to make your body his temple.

Now, can we talk about the metaphysical aspect

of what it means to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit?

True confession, when I was a young believer,

I wondered about this all the time. I actually...

I kept thinking, well, how does this work? The

Holy Spirit's within me and I couldn't picture

it and I couldn't piece it together. And then

the more I learned about the attributes of God,

the more that kind of language kind of stumped

me because God is spirit, right? He's spirit.

So obviously he doesn't indwell my body in a

physical or spatial sense, correct? So I started

thinking, wait, is he located somewhere between

my lung and my spleen? And I know sometimes children,

it's hard for them, but even as adults, we're

like, wait, what does that mean? I know that's

not true. So I understand the language that the

New Testament writers use. You have to start

here. You have to think about how does the Holy

Spirit work in our world? And he works in two

very distinct ways. Let me walk you through this.

First of all, he operates externally in a common,

non -saving way. And he does this among all of

humanity. Everyone who's found in Adam, there's

a common function of the Holy Spirit. The result

of his work in the world is what we call common

grace. And that's poured out upon all of humanity.

But the Holy Spirit has a very unique way of

working within God's elect. An internal, effectual,

which just means it always brings to pass what

it's designed to do. internal effectual saving

way among the elect. Those who are no longer

found in Adam, but are now found in Christ, right?

Those are the two kingdoms, right? Adam and Christ,

you know, light and darkness. So that's how he

works within us. In us, the Holy Spirit works

internally, taking a man who is dead in his sins

and bringing his heart to life. We call that

regeneration of the heart. then effectually drawing

that man to the beauty of Christ and the gospel,

and then giving him or her the gift of repentance

and faith so that they can turn to God and be

saved. We then come to him freely and willingly,

turning away from our sin, inclining ourselves

towards him because of God's grace, changing

our affections, and now we genuinely desire to

worship him, love him, and serve him with all

of our heart. That's the work the Spirit does

within us. And when we put our trust in Him at

the point of salvation, we are then justified

in God's sight, the blood of the Lamb now cleansing

us from all sin, and this is where the Holy Spirit

joins us to Christ. This is where we come into

union with Him. It is Christ Himself who now

lives in us by His Spirit. Make sense? And now

everything that belongs to Him is ours. His righteousness

is credited to our account. We become participants

in his death and his resurrection. We're adopted

as sons and daughters of God. We're made heirs

of God and fellow heirs with Christ. We are destined

to reign with him in glory, and now we have access

to the Father through him, our great high priest

and mediator. All of those things become ours

because we're united with Christ through the

Holy Spirit and the work that he has done within

us. to affectionately call us to himself. Wow.

That's all true. That is straight from scripture.

So when we talk about the indwelling today, him

making our body his temple, what we mean is this.

With us, his elect, the ones who he's called

into salvation, he's not just working externally

around us, he is now spiritually present within

us internally. Get this, he is now operating

directly on our hearts and minds. That's what

the indwelling is. He's directly operating on

our hearts and minds. Now, we have a part to

play in this, right? Because while salvation

is monergistic, a work of God alone, sanctification,

the maturing of the faith, is cooperative. That's

why Paul's saying you've got to focus on what

you do with your body. It matters because we

cooperate with the work the Spirit wants to do

in growing us once we're saved. So now the Spirit

is illuminating our minds. So that even right

now, we're understanding God's word. That's a

work of the spirit within you. Right now, he's

convicting us of ongoing sin and our need to

repent. Maybe that's already happened this morning,

as you've heard from his word. He's now reordering

our affections to love God more, to love one

another more. Maybe you've already felt that

this morning as you've sung songs to him, that

I love him more. The spirit is now gifting us

for the work of ministry. Look at all the hands

that have already served this morning. gifted

us by the Spirit in the work of ministry. He's

now producing in us the fruit that he desires

in our lives, conforming us to the image of Christ.

He is now producing new dispositions in us. He's

causing us to want to worship, to desire to pray,

to seek truth in God's word, to put sin to death,

to obey his commands, and so much more. That's

how God is indwelling us and operating directly

on our hearts. And we do these things freely

in greater measure as we grow in the faith. And

yet, are you ready for this? We do all those

things freely as we cooperate with the Spirit.

And yet, every spiritual good we produce in our

walk with Him is born out of His gracious work

in our lives. Now, you might have to listen to

this online or rewind all of that. But that's

fundamental aspects of the gospel right there.

What a gift we've been given in the Holy Spirit

within us, right? Amen? We didn't earn it. We

don't deserve it. The Spirit was a gift of grace

from the Father and the Son to us. And here's

the thing. Not only is it a great privilege that

the Spirit has come and made us His home, it

comes with a great responsibility. It comes with

a great responsibility. That's coming back to

Paul's big point. If the spirit of God has made

my inner being his sacred space, then what I

do with my body really matters. It really matters.

And we should be striving by the power that he

supplies us to make the state of our inner man

match the holy nature of the spirit who lives

within us. Amen? Okay, I know that's a lot. Aren't

you glad for this? Aren't you glad? Okay. Now,

before we go to our third doctrine, I want to

take just a quick rabbit trail and talk about

a sensitive subject, if you'll permit me. Just

a few thoughts. This is an issue that it's not

necessarily the main point of what Paul's saying,

but it's adjacent to it. So it's something I

want to talk about. We're about to read in verse

19 that our bodies are not our own. Have you

thought about the implications of that? Our bodies

are not our own. As Christians, we now belong

to the one who purchased us. As one of the responsibilities

that comes with that truth is the responsibility

we have to steward our bodies well. Okay? Remember,

a steward is one who is entrusted to care for

the property of his master. Adam talked about

it in the first catechism. So we're to treat

our bodies in a way that will make them as effective

as possible in the service of God and others.

Let me say that again. We're to treat our bodies

in a way that will make them as effective as

possible in the service of God and others. And

it's very difficult to do that if we are entangled

in habitual sin. And if we're mired in things

like pride and selfishness and envy and bitterness

and things of that nature. That's going to be

an obstacle to us doing effective ministry. But

the other thing I'd like to mention here If we

want to be available to serve God and other people

consistently, we need to steward the health of

our bodies. The health of our bodies. Now, this

is not a message about your diet. It's not a

message about how much you exercise or your weight

or whatever, because I realize that's complex

and there's a whole bunch of factors involved

in that, age and genetics and hormones and all

that. I only want to challenge you with this

thought. I want you to think about this issue

of stewarding the health of your body. If your

body is not your own, if it belongs to Christ

and we're to be good stewards, are there any

aspects of your lifestyle that you might consider

changing with the right purpose in mind? And

that matters, right? The motivation for why we

do what we do matters to God. So not changing

your lifestyle just to look better. That's not

the point, or to impress other people, or to

draw attention to yourself, but considering some

of your habits and lifestyle to increase your

joy and effectiveness in serving God and serving

others, both in your family and your church family.

And so ask the question, if I'm going to grow

in that, become more effective in that way, would

it help if I improve my diet? Would it help if

I was exercising more, if I wasn't just sitting

in front of a screen all day? Could you serve

God and others more effectively if you were feeling

stronger, both mentally and physically, if your

sleep were more consistent? And if so, should

you pray over making some changes? Perhaps ask

the Lord for clarity on this. Ask him for more

discipline, more self -control. I think when

we talk about this issue, there are two extremes

that are both sinful. On the one side, obsessing

over our bodies for all the wrong reasons, but

on the other side, ignoring it altogether, just

not caring about stewarding the gift of our bodies.

I think both of those things are problematic.

And by the way, just to ground this deeper in

Scripture, Paul does address this issue in several

places in 1 Corinthians 9. We'll get to it someday.

He'll talk about the bodily discipline of a runner

and how everyone who competes needs to grow in

self -control. In 1 Timothy 4, he talks about

godliness being profitable in every way, but

also bodily training being of some value. So

think of it this way. Think of the word fitness.

What do you want to be fit for in this life?

What's the purpose of it? For me personally,

I don't have a future as a fitness model. That's

not going to happen. And I'm not trying to impress

anybody but Tanny related to my body, how it

looks, right? That's all that matters. The rest

of you, whatever you think about my body, I don't

care. I'm sorry. But God and Tanny, I care about.

I just want to be fit enough to keep serving

God and fit enough to keep serving his people

at Oak Hill for as long as he allows me to do

that. And so I have to think about these things.

And boy, when you hit 60, you really got to start

thinking about these things. Like how long can

I keep working at this pace if I don't address

the health of my body, being a good steward of

it? So I can't ignore it. And I can't ignore

my habits that aren't leading to more effective

ministry. So I've got to look at all of those

things and keep asking the hard questions. I

just lay that before you. That's between you

and the Lord, but just to challenge you to consider

those things because don't we all wanna be more

effective in our ministry? Steward your bodies

well. Okay, let's examine our third essential

doctrine that we find here, the doctrine of redemption.

Go back to verse 19. We didn't finish that verse.

And let me just extend Paul's question. I'm gonna

hop over the truth about our bodies being a temple

of the Holy Spirit and finish his thought in

verse 19. He says, do you not know that you're

not your own? Verse 20, why? Because you've been

bought with a price. Do you not know that you

are not your own? That you were bought, if you're

found in Christ, you were bought with a price.

So three things flow out of this. I'm gonna give

you a list of them. Number one, that a ransom

price was paid in order to buy us out of the

marketplace. And I'll explain that in just a

moment. That's number one. Number two. The fact

that a price had to be paid implies that there

was some outstanding cost or debt that was once

attached to our lives. And number three, that

our new master, the one who bought us, has now

set us free from that debt that once held us

in bondage. Those are important principles. Now,

the Greek word for ransom, loutron, is found

three times in the New Testament, twice on the

lips of Jesus himself. In Matthew 20, 28 and

Mark 10, 45, Jesus says this about the purpose

of his incarnation. We know this verse, right?

The Son of Man did not come to be served, but

to serve and to give his life as a ransom for

many. Paul uses an extended form of the same

word in 1 Timothy 2, saying there is one God

and one mediator between God and men, the man

Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom. Paul

uses it again in Titus 2, identifying Jesus as

God. He says, That word redeem is the same root

that we talked about earlier of Lutron. Peter

also uses a form of the word in 1 Peter 1 saying,

like silver or gold from your futile way of life

inherited from your forefathers. Listen, but

you were redeemed with what? Precious blood,

a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of

Christ. And so in that verse, you see exactly

what ransom price was required to purchase you,

right? It couldn't have just been, well, somebody

wrote a really big check. There's not enough

material or perishable things in the world that

could purchase you, your soul, and your body.

It had to be something of infinite value. Have

you thought about the logic of this? How is it

possible that Christ purchased me? Well, he had

to pay a ransom that was of infinite value. The

precious blood of Christ. The precious blood

of the Son of God. That's all. That's the only

thing that could pay that ransom price. In Ephesians

1, 7, we read that in him, we have redemption

through his blood. We've been purchased by his

blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses. Revelation

5, we get this glimpse of a heavenly realms where

there's this lamb who's being worshiped in song.

And it says, worthy are you to take the book

and to break its seals for you were slain and

purchased for God with your blood, men from every

tribe and tongue and people and nation. The ransom

was paid. The redemption price. The purchase

price for your body and soul has been paid by

Christ. He bought us out of the marketplace of

slavery. How many of you guys have heard that

said before? We were purchased out of the marketplace

of slavery. The reason we talk about that is

because of the context and the language in the

original Greek. Let me explain this to you. The

word bought in our passage for today is agorazo.

And the root of that word is agora, which in

any ancient Greco -Roman town, the agora was

the central marketplace. It was that place in

the middle of the town where everybody sold their

wares, where the shops were set up. You could

go to the agora, to the marketplace, and you

could purchase anything, including a slave. Including

a slave. So the picture is that we were bought.

in the marketplace. We were in chains as a slave,

and Christ, our Savior, came and purchased us

out of that marketplace. Beautiful, beautiful

imagery. So that's probably what Paul has in

mind as he writes about this idea of being bought.

Now, in terms of the debt that's owed for sin,

we start, if you're going to talk about the debt

that's owed for our sin, we have to start with

God's judicial statement in Romans 6 .3. The

wages of sin is death. That's what we've earned

as sinners, right? Right? That's what we've earned.

We're guilty before the divine judge. We are

under the law's condemnation. And that means

there is a legal demand for payment that has

to be rendered in order for our record of debt

to be expunged, to be cleansed, to be washed

away. This is the judicial statement. Guys, the

wages of your sin is death. It's one of my favorite

questions. When I talk to unbelievers, it's one

of my favorite questions to ask them. Once you

get them to admit that they sin, you're like,

okay, well, how's that going to get dealt with?

You've earned something. You've earned death.

What's your remedy for that? Do you expect to

die, stand before God, and what, talk him into

just wiping that away? You owe a debt. So whatever

pays it, it's got to be infinite in value. in

order to secure your eternal soul. So, we see

the forensic or legal demand. Now get this, you

ready? Colossians chapter two. Paul says, when

you were dead in your transgressions and the

uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive

together with him. Wait, he did that. He made

you alive. having forgiven us all our transgressions,

here it is, having canceled out the certificate

of debt consisting of decrees against us that

were hostile to us, and he has taken it out of

the way, having nailed it to the cross. Ransom

paid, redemptive price paid, debt canceled out.

Do you see the beauty of this language? It's

found all over the New Testament. This is the

doctrine of redemption. What a powerful passage

Colossians 2. Prior to being covered by the blood

of Christ, there was this decree that stood against

us, a binding ordinance that had to be canceled

out if we were ever gonna be free. It's important

to recognize that God hasn't canceled out our

debt and justified us just by some arbitrary

declaration. This is one of the accusations that's

often made towards Protestants. You're telling

us God just, even though you're still a sinner,

he just looks at you and arbitrarily says, oh,

I don't see you as a sinner anymore. No, it's

not arbitrary. Christ bore the judgment on the

cross. He fulfilled the law's demands for us.

He gave his life as the ransom, the purchase

price for us. It was his blood. It's not an arbitrary

thing that God has done. It's rooted in Christ's

sacrifice. Amen moment? Right? And now believers

are set free. The chains of slavery fall off.

We now belong to God and our bodies are under

his lordship. Friends, this is a revelation that

should put your jaw on the floor and cause you

to worship like never before. The things that

God has done for us in Christ and in the spirit

is jaw -dropping. Motivated by love, God the

Son, voluntarily condescended to take on flesh

and live as a man in the midst of this fallen

world, to live and to willingly suffer through

life as we do in order to sympathize with our

weaknesses. Then he gave his body over to execution

at the hands of the very beings he created. And

through his brutal death, he purchased your body

for his own possession. You talk about value

of your body. Could it get higher than that?

What a costly price God paid to make you his

own. What a costly price. And now by a sovereign

choice and lavish grace, you belong to him. You

are not your own, Paul says. Let that sink in.

Again, you can't say, well, you know what? I

want to be found in Christ, but I still want

to do my own thing. You are not your own anymore.

And again, revealing this mind -blowing truth

has a purpose. Now that you know that your body

belongs to Christ and that his spirit is in you,

you can no longer live as you please. That is

the big point here in this chapter. You can no

longer live as you please. The Lord is for your

body and your body is for the Lord. Therefore,

do not pollute what belongs to him. You with

me? And then Paul finishes the chapter with this

very short, very simple summary statement. Verse

20, therefore glorify God. In your body. Is that

not the only logical and proper response to the

beauty of what he said? Is that not logical and

proper in all of your thoughts, choices, decisions,

and actions that involve your body? Glorify God.

Seek his honor above all else. Seek his honor.

As one author put it, and I love this statement,

let your body be a doxology in response to so

great a salvation. I wanna close out this morning

by returning to our call to worship passage from

earlier, from Colossians 3. Maybe just consider

bowing your head and maybe closing your eyes

and focus your attention on the beauty of what

God has said in this passage. Let it be a challenge

to you, but also a great encouragement. Let's

bow our heads. I'm just gonna read it to you.

If then you've been raised with Christ, Seek

the things that are above, where Christ is, seated

at the right hand of God. Can you picture that?

If you've been raised with Christ, seek the things

that are above, where Christ is, seated at the

right hand of God. Set your minds on things that

are above, not on things that are on the earth,

for you have died, and your life is hidden with

Christ in God. Do you believe that? And when

Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also

will appear with him in glory. Can you imagine

how amazing that will be? And so then how should

we respond? Put to death, therefore, what is

earthly in you. Sexual immorality, impurity,

passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is

idolatry. On account of these things, the wrath

of God is coming. In these, you too once walked

when you were living in them. Praise God that

we've been transformed by his grace. Amen? Let's

now use our bodies in a way that honors him.

Father, thank you for... our time in the word

this morning. Lord, thank you for the power of

these three doctrines that we are united with

you, that your spirit indwells us, and that you

have paid a great redemptive price to purchase

our bodies and souls. Thank you, Lord. Thank

you, Lord Jesus. Thank you for all that you have

done for us. Thank you, Holy Spirit, that you

are within us, that you are working on us, on

the inner man. We just pray. Pray, Lord, that

we would continue to yield to the work that you

want to do in us and that you would conform us

more and more to the image of Christ as the days

go on. Thank you again for our time together.

We love you. We praise you in the name of Christ.

Amen.