July 23, 2025 • 41 mins
What if the path to true happiness isn't through getting what you want, but through discovering who you truly are?
In this soul-stirring exploration of identity in Christ, we unpack how grace fundamentally transforms not just our relationship with God, but with everyone around us. The Corinthian church—so self-focused they were actually suing each other—serves as a powerful backdrop for understanding how easily we can forget our true identity and fall into patterns of harmful self-interest.
When Paul repeatedly asks "Do you not know?" he's not being condescending—he's lovingly reminding believers that they've forgotten something essential about themselves. Their behavior wasn't stemming from being terrible people, but from identity amnesia. Sound familiar?
We dive deep into the counterfeit paths to happiness our culture promotes versus the counterintuitive truth Jesus offers. While Satan whispers "you're missing something," God declares He's already given us everything we need through Christ. This revelation changes everything about how we pursue joy and make daily choices.
The sermon tackles difficult topics like sexual immorality within this context of identity, offering hope rather than condemnation. Our bodies aren't simply our own—they house precious cargo: the very Spirit of God. This truth doesn't restrict our freedom but reveals our immeasurable value and the path to genuine fulfillment.
Ready to stop "body-surfing on a dead corpse" of your old identity? Join us as we discover how embracing who we are in Christ leads to the joy, peace, and purpose we've been searching for all along.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jesus, I do thank you for your love and grace in our
lives and as we look at thischapter and as you speak to us,
lord, I pray that our heartswould be open and soft to
hearing your truth, hearing yourgrace, even being corrected
away from paths that would leadus to destruction and pain.
But, lord, help us understandwhere your blessing is, in a
(00:24):
grace relationship with you.
In Jesus' name, we pray, amen.
So today's sermon is calledDoes Smuggling Baby Spider
Monkeys Make you Happy?
Does Smuggling Baby SpiderMonkeys Make you Happy?
This article we'll come back tothis later, but I thought you
would like the pictures.
I think they're super cute and,amy, that's for you Everyone.
(00:50):
Amy loves monkeys, just so youknow.
Okay, when you see your identitythrough grace, as we've been
talking about, it changes howyou treat others, okay.
So when you learn about yourrelationship with God by grace,
it changes how you treat others.
It's no longer about you andwhat you can get from people.
First, that's because Jesus hasalready met your needs.
(01:14):
You don't need anything fromanybody.
And then, secondly, you don'tneed to be about protecting
yourself from people, becauseJesus promised that he'll be
with you, and he'll be with youin everything that happens.
So this life of grace thatwe're living, where you realize
(01:35):
Jesus is everything that youneed, it's something you have to
learn.
You don't just get this right.
When you become a believer, youlearn that Jesus is everything
that you need, and sometimesthat learning process can be
really super painful.
You know, we will naturallykeep on living like we always
have in this world until wediscover how grace has
(01:56):
transformed our identity, and sowe've been kind of using the
image of putting on graceglasses during our series,
looking at 1 Corinthians here.
So that identity has changedour hearts and when we walk in
this new identity, understandingwho we are, who God has made us
to be, it will make you happy.
It really will make you happy.
(02:18):
It will bring joy.
That's called joy when you haveidentity in your relationship
with God, when you have joy inyour identity with God.
That is what am I trying to say.
Let me rewind all that.
When you walk in your identity,you have joy.
(02:41):
Scratch everything else youjust heard.
You have joy.
Scratch everything else youjust heard, because you have the
Holy Spirit inside you, andwhen you walk in holiness, it
makes him happy.
That's the choices that youmake when you're walking in
holiness.
It makes the Spirit inside yourejoice.
(03:04):
It's like I'm a Broncos fan andI love when the Broncos score a
touchdown or sack a Cowboysquarterback.
It just brings me so much joyin my heart, and so I rejoice
(03:29):
when my team does well.
Well, it's the same thing.
The Holy Spirit inside yourejoices when we make righteous
choices in our life.
Does God want you to be happy?
Does he care about yourhappiness?
Is he just some God up inheaven upstairs?
That's like you do everything,I say and I don't care about you
.
No, he actually cares aboutyour life, but he tells us the
(03:50):
path that will make us mosthappy, which happens to be
aligning ourself with his will.
That's what will make you mosthappy.
He tells us the path that willmake us happy, and we generally
tell him to pack sand.
We generally tell him we'regoing to do everything we want
(04:12):
to do until we discover the painand the sorrow of consequences.
And then we repent and say,father, I'm really sorry for
living the way that I was.
Hopefully we sulk back to himand find out that as his child,
he always knew what was best,didn't he?
Have you guys ever been throughthat Because I know I have
(04:36):
Walking my own path, thengetting consequences, then
running back to him andrealizing he was right all the
time, even when it didn't makesense to our hearts and minds.
He always knows what's best.
It tells us this in John 10.10.
It says so Jesus wants you tohave an abundant life, a life
(05:08):
that's meaningful to you andimportant to God's kingdom.
And joy is a fruit of theSpirit.
It says in Galatians, chapter 6.
So when you're walking in theSpirit, when you're walking
God's path, doing God's will,you will have joy.
That's God's promise.
It's just a promise of God.
(05:30):
That's the way it works.
Romans 15, 13 in the New LivingTranslation says this I pray
that God, the source of hope,will fill you completely with
joy and peace because you trustin Him.
Then you will overflow withconfident hope through the power
of the Holy Spirit.
Man, what a beautiful verse.
(05:51):
That's the life God intends forus to have overflowing with
confident hope, rejoicing inhaving peace.
Like so many Christians, I talkto so many people in the world I
talk to.
What they don't have is peace.
What they don't have is joy,and so they're searching for joy
(06:11):
in all the places that they tryto find it in the world.
They search it in drugs and inrelationships and in all kinds
of sinful things.
Anything that's not God is sin,and so they're searching for it
in sin, their joy and theirpeace.
I'm not going to have peaceunless I have this and they
discover it's not there, theystill don't have the peace, they
(06:33):
still don't have the joy.
So the path to happiness isn'tdoing what we want.
It says here.
It's trusting in Jesus.
That's the path to joy, theonly path to joy, and it's
clearly given to us.
It's the path of faith andhumility, or, as I call them, f
(06:55):
and H Faith and humility.
That is the path that we walkon as believers.
Happiness is like peeing yourpants Everyone can see it, but
only you can feel the warmth.
I look to my wife for areaction.
(07:24):
From every joke I tell I cantell if she's laughing.
It was good.
Okay, all right.
So with that as our intro,knowing God wants you to be
happy, but he's given you a pathof happiness, let's begin
starting to read our text sothat we can understand what it
says.
1 Corinthians 6.
Dare any of you having a matteragainst another, go to law
before the unrighteous and notbefore saints.
(07:46):
Okay, so what happens here isthe church was not happy.
The church in Corinth was nothappy.
Why were they unhappy?
Because they had their eyes oneach other's stuff and they were
thinking about how to get more,and they were literally suing
each other to take each other'sthings.
That's what was happening inthis church.
Not because someone had donesomething wrong per se, like
(08:09):
there was an accident.
They weren't like a bunch ofaccident lawyers, like all the
billboards you see around hereif you get in an accident and
call these guys, but they wereliterally just trying to take
each other's things.
That's how self-centered thischurch was.
This is the epitome of prideand self-focused living.
(08:31):
Remember, though, love real loveis always giving.
I'm going to give, I love you,so I give of myself to you, and
we're supposed to love God,we're supposed to love others.
We're supposed to love ourfamily, our wife, so it's a
giving relationship.
But Satan's deception of loveis he says it's about what I can
get.
What do I need to be happy?
That's the lie.
(08:52):
That's the wrong question.
That question was inspired bySatan saying it's about you.
You're missing something.
That's why you're not happy.
God says I've already given youeverything you said at the same
time I did because you knew itRight God's already given you
his son.
(09:12):
What else can he give you?
What else could God possiblygive you that he has not given
you in grace?
He's given you it all.
He has oceans of his grace andhe says it's all yours already.
So he says so.
Satan's deception is what can Iget?
This church would totallyfallen in.
They were getting tripped up bySatan and they were all.
They were suing each other.
And so he says do you not know?
(09:33):
Okay, that's the first timewe're going to see this.
We're going to see this severaltimes in this chapter.
Do you not know?
Do you not know?
That's so important becausewhen Paul says do you not know,
he's going to ask it over andover.
What he's saying is don't youunderstand your identity?
Didn't you listen to the firstfive chapters of what I wrote to
you?
Don't you know?
You should know your identity.
(09:53):
What you're struggling with isnot because you're a bad person.
It's because you don't know thetruth of who you really are.
That's why you're doing thethings that you're doing.
You just don't know, do you notknow?
So he's not being a jerk sayingdon't you know?
Like, sarcastically, he'ssaying guys, I've taught you
this and this is what you need.
Don't you know this?
(10:15):
He's saying it like that.
So he says don't you know thatthe saints will judge the world?
Okay, so, again, when he asks adon't you know question, it's
always about identity.
So right now he's pointing towhen he asks a don't you know
question, it's always aboutidentity.
So right now, he's pointing toour union with Christ, saying
don't you know, you're going tojudge the world.
Well, we know that Jesus isgoing to judge the world.
(10:35):
So then, this is talking aboutour union with Jesus, that we
are in Christ.
So, because we know Jesus isgoing to judge the world yes,
he's the savior of the world,but he's also the judge.
He has to judge everyone whorejects his free salvation.
He has to judge them.
That's both parts of the rolehe has to play he's redeemer and
(10:56):
judge.
He has to do it.
He's perfectly willing toperform what the needed judgment
, because he's also righteous,he's loving, he loves people and
he was willing to give his lifeto give you a salvation.
And freedom.
Judgment, because he's alsorighteous, he's loving, he loves
people and he was willing togive his life to give you a
salvation and freedom.
But he's also just meaning hehas to punish, he has to judge
the world.
Why does God have to judge theworld?
Because it would be unjust tojust let sin go unpunished.
(11:21):
Do you really want Hitler justgetting away with it?
Sin go unpunished.
Do you really want Hitler justgetting away with it?
Everyone in the world would say, yeah, hitler's got it coming.
I bet he's burning in level 10of hell.
Well, yeah, we all agree.
(11:43):
Everyone in the world wants tosee terrible things come to
people who have earned it.
We just don't understand thataccording to God's standard.
His standard is so high that wealso face God's judgment if we
don't accept the grace of Godnow.
So we also fall short.
So Hitler, yeah, he fell short,but we use him as an example
because we want to feel goodabout ourselves.
(12:03):
Well, at least I'm not Hitler,right?
So, deep down, we all want Godto judge, because we want a God
that's righteous, that does theright thing.
And Paul is telling these peoplelisten, what your problem is is
that you need to understandyour union with Christ, that we
(12:24):
stand with him and we're goingto be a part of that day when
judgment happens, we're going tosee how good and perfect he is
and we're all going to agreewith everything he does and
we're going to have a part in it.
I don't know what that part is,but we're going to have a part
in it, probably casting ourcrowns down and saying thank you
, god, for the mercy that you'vegiven me.
And he says this, he goes onand if the world will be judged
(12:52):
by you, are you unworthy tojudge the smallest matters?
So they were going to the worldto help them live their lives.
They were suing each other andtrying to get what they want
through the world, and thisbecause they believe themselves
to be unworthy.
Paul says so again.
They didn't know their identity, they didn't know what God had
given them, they didn't knowabout their union with Christ.
(13:13):
They didn't know he's alreadytheir life and they already have
everything they need for anabundant life.
Jesus said and this, when weknow it, helps us to make all
our decisions, even the smallestones, if you understand how
valuable you are to God, what hehas given you Verse 3 he says
(13:34):
do you not know there it isagain that we shall judge angels
how much more that things thatpertain to this life.
Okay, judging angels?
That's weird.
What's he talking about?
Well, fallen angels is whathe's talking about.
Can anyone think of a fallenangel?
Satan, right, so we're going tobe there when they get their
(13:56):
final judgment.
We're going to be there, we'regoing to be a part of that, and
this is why Satan hates you somuch.
Did you know this?
Satan hates you and he wants toruin your life because he knows
, at the end you're going to bethere, laughing at him as he
gets what he gets, praising God,rejoicing because he gets what
(14:17):
he gets, because God loves youso much and you're not nearly as
beautiful as Satan, so he'sjealous so much.
And you're not nearly asbeautiful as Satan, so he's
jealous of what you have.
You have a relationship withGod, you're a child of God, you
have been exalted because ofGod's love, and Satan can't have
that and he's mad, and so hehates you.
(14:37):
All right, so now we're goingto see.
Paul is going to give us thepath of life, the path of life
that this church should havebeen walking.
Paul is going to teach themwhat this path of life looks
like.
Verse 4,.
If, then, you have judgmentsconcerning things pertaining to
this life.
Do you appoint those who areleast esteemed by the church to
(15:02):
judge?
I say this to your shame.
Who are least esteemed by thechurch to judge?
I say this to your shame Is itso that there is not a wise man
among you, not even one who willbe able to judge between his
brethren?
But brother goes to law againstbrother, and that before
unbelievers.
Now, therefore, it is alreadyan utter failure for you that
(15:25):
you go to law against oneanother.
Why do you not rather acceptwrong?
Let me read that again why doyou not rather accept wrong?
Why do you not rather letyourselves be cheated?
No, you yourselves do wrong andcheat, and you do these things
(15:48):
to your brethren.
Brethren means family.
You are doing wrong andcheating your own family.
He's saying.
So the path of life, the pathof grace that we're learning
about, is humility.
Of grace that we're learningabout is humility.
(16:09):
He's saying accept the wrong.
Just why wouldn't you rather,if you love people and you read
about them, just if they'retrying to steal, just accept the
wrong, just rather be cheated,because that's a great example
of humility?
So what is humility, guys?
Humility is not thinking lessof yourself.
It's not thinking you're lessimportant or less valuable.
(16:32):
Humility is simply not thinkingof yourself at all.
It's not thinking less ofyourself.
It's not thinking of yourselfat all when you're thinking
about others.
That's love and that's whereyou're going to find the life
and the joy and the happiness.
(16:53):
And this church.
They were not happy becausethey were walking a path of
self-life.
What can I get?
How can I exalt myself?
By putting other people down,by taking their stuff, by being
richer, stronger, whatever theyneeded.
They were actually doing wrongand cheating each other.
This is called the flesh lifedoing whatever my flesh wants.
(17:16):
And they were doing it.
They were cheating their ownfamily.
He says you're doing it to yourbrethren and that equals family
.
So, as the church, you know allthe believers here in this room
and all the believers on theisland and all the believers in
America and all the believers inthe world.
God says we are a family andwhat I love about this church is
(17:38):
I don't have to tell you guys,spend time with your family,
because I see you all week longspending time with each other
and it's awesome.
And if we haven't gotten toconnect yet, if we need to get
together, we want to grow.
What this family's aboutRelationships are always grown
by spending time with.
I love that about this churchis that you guys are spending
time together throughout theweek.
(18:00):
You live your lives together.
I guess it's an island so it'snot that hard, but it's good to
see you guys.
Out there In Colorado there'slike millions of people.
We never saw anybody at ourchurch like at wherever we were
at.
It was rare.
All right.
Verse nine Do you not know?
There's the identity.
Words again that theunrighteous will not inherit the
(18:22):
kingdom of God.
Okay, so again, what's hetalking about when he says do
you not know Identity?
He's talking about identity.
Do you not know the unrighteouswill not inherit the kingdom of
God.
So what does that mean?
Their identity is you arerighteous.
Paul says this is your identity.
You are righteous.
Do you know who?
You are Right?
Remember when Mufasa is talkingto Simba and he's like he's
(18:47):
Mufasa ghost.
And he comes to Simba and he'slike remember who you are?
Remember Because Simba wasmessing around with jungle
people, animals.
That's actually a goodillustration.
I should have dug into that.
So he was messing aroundbecause he didn't know his
(19:10):
identity.
Why do we mess around?
Because we don't know ouridentity.
You are not an addict, you arenot a fornicator, you are not a
sinner.
That is not who you are.
When you believe in Christ, youhave been transformed and
sanctified, set apart for God'skingdom purposes.
(19:31):
He loves you and he's alreadycleansed you.
He's washed you.
Those things are not youridentity.
But what is your identity?
You're a child of God, by grace.
This is vital for the next.
I want you to hear that so thatwhen I read the next part, you
understand what he's saying.
He says do not be deceived,neither fornicators, nor
(19:55):
idolaters, nor adulterers, norhomosexuals, nor sodomites, nor
thieves.
Paul tells them their identityis as children of God, and that
is more true about them than anyother identity that they could
(20:22):
identify with.
This is more true about you,and we have to let go of every
other identity if we're going tofind joy and the peace of God
that he offers.
They are a true identity.
They are kingdom kids.
They are chosen children.
They're a true identity.
They are kingdom kids.
They are chosen children.
They're transformed tots.
(20:42):
They're righteous rugrats.
They're awesome ankle bitersand that's all I could come up
with.
This is the new, jesus-givenidentity, and he says this is
your only life now.
This is your only life.
(21:05):
What I have made you, I madeyou again.
It doesn't matter how you wereborn, it doesn't matter what
you've struggled with or whatyou participated in or what
you've done.
You have a new identity, a newidentity and it's you're mine,
you're mine.
He claims you no matter who youare or what you did.
He claims you because of hislove.
(21:28):
He says I am your life now.
You don't have to find yourlife in all the things.
You don't have to try to getyour life by suing each other
and being mean to each other anddoing whatever you want.
It's I give you free life and Ipour it out and I'm not
embarrassed by you and I willgive you healing when you need
(21:49):
healing and I'll give you loveand I'll give you value and I'll
give you everything that youneed.
This is our union with Christ.
That's why it's so importantthat we talk about our union
with Christ every week, becauseit means you're okay, you have
what you need.
He says verse 7 and such weresome of you.
(22:10):
What an awesome verse.
All the things that were listed.
The church was filled withpeople who had that as their
identity.
But Paul says that's not youridentity anymore, but you were.
He lists three things you werewashed, but you were sanctified,
but you were justified in thename of the Lord Jesus and by
the Spirit of our God.
(22:31):
Our identity changed the momentwe believed.
It was no longer the thingsthat we had it in before, our
old identity that we held andbelieved in.
It was crucified with Jesus onthe cross.
That's why it doesn't meet yourneeds anymore.
That's why we struggle withdiscouragement and depression
(22:52):
when we're living in sin.
That's why we struggle withanxiety, because our bodies were
not made to live in an identitythat's not really us.
Our bodies themselves rebelagainst living a sinful life
because we were made, we've beenunified with Jesus.
That's why sin and self-focusedliving won't make us happy
(23:21):
anymore.
Our only problem is that we tryto carry around this old, dead
corpse with us and we try tolive our lives by body, surfing
on a dead corpse that wascrucified with Jesus.
That's what we're doing whenwe're choosing a sinful identity
(23:41):
.
This is my identity, butspiritually it's a dead corpse,
so it's not going to do anythingfor you.
It's not going to lead whereyou want it to lead and, yes, it
used to work.
It used to kind of meet yourneeds Before you were a believer
(24:01):
living sin.
It could numb the pain, itcould help you feel good about
yourself, it could help you meetthose needs.
But your needs for affectionand value and numbing your pain
all of that was given freely toyou as the abundant life that
(24:23):
Jesus offers you, the health andthe joy that he says is yours
now.
That's what God intends for you, and he says you can only find
it in Jesus once you meet him.
You can't go back to doing.
It's not going to work.
It's like someone puts salt onthat field it's not going to
grow.
It's not going to work.
It's like someone puts salt onthat field it's not going to
grow.
It's not going to produce fruitanymore because you found the
true life.
So he did what needed to bedone.
(24:46):
He killed that old, miserable,broken life and he replaced it
with his beautiful Holy Spirit,offering us everything we could
ever need through his Son.
And it's all gained, as wesimply believe in this wonderful
gospel that we've been talkingabout.
When you believe it, youdiscover that it's true.
(25:07):
You'll see that it's true.
If you choose to keep living bythe old corpse, your life will
smell like an old corpse andthat's not the abundant life.
It's just not what Jesus hasfor you.
He says you were washed.
That means you were set apartas clean and healed and valuable
(25:29):
.
God doesn't see you as smelly.
He sees you as clean, holy.
He says you were sanctified.
That means you were set asideand to serve God.
Your life will only matter inyour own heart.
You only feel the value whenyou're serving the Lord and
(25:50):
you're justified.
You'll never need to beembarrassed or ashamed because
all shame has been gone whenyou're justified.
That's what it means.
There's no more shame.
You don't have to be ashamed.
You can freely say I did this,I did this, I did this and Jesus
paid for it all and I'm totallyfree.
And Satan will be no, you're anidiot.
And you'll be like no, I'm not,I'm free.
(26:11):
Jesus paid for me.
And that's how shame getscompletely deleted by Jesus.
So even when you sin today,you're still free from shame.
You run to Jesus.
You don't have to beembarrassed.
You don't have to go in timeout.
God doesn't use shame to changeyou ever.
He uses the love and spirit ofhis son to transform you.
(26:33):
He doesn't use shame.
So he says in verse 12, allthings are lawful for me, but I
will not.
Not.
All things are helpful, allthings are lawful for me, but I
will not be brought under thepower of any.
So the Corinthians hadmisunderstood their identity.
They thought it was I'm free tosin and it doesn't matter what
I do now.
Yay, that's what they thoughtit meant, and we call that today
(26:56):
licentiousness.
Okay, which means I have alicense to sin.
Now that I believe in Jesus, Ican just sin as much as I want
and I will be forgiven.
So Paul gives them theprinciple that they're messing
up now.
He says guys, listen, you arefree, you are 100% free.
I want everyone in this room tounderstand and hear you are
(27:17):
free, you have been forgiven ofyour sins.
If you believe in Jesus, youwill go to heaven.
It doesn't matter how manytimes you fail or sin, you were
forgiven.
God knew what he was signing upfor to forgive you of your past
, present and future sins.
It doesn't matter if you'veconfessed each one.
God's not asking for a list.
He knows far better than youhow much you've sinned and he
(27:40):
signed up for this deal.
He says you are free.
You are not under the law, theten commandments, is not our
relationship with God.
You are 100% free from the tencommandments.
You are free.
We've died to that.
You will always be forgiven.
But as a Christian you canstill choose to sin if you
(28:04):
choose to.
But if you choose to sin, itwill hurt you and it will hurt
others.
That part doesn't go away.
The consequences of our sindoesn't go away.
And he says here you will be aslave of the sin you choose to
do.
And God says here you will be aslave of the sin you choose to
do.
And God does not want you to bea slave.
He says you are my children,you are free and I do not want
(28:28):
you to be a slave of anything.
And Paul says I'm 100% free.
I could sin as much as I wantif I wanted to, but I don't want
to because God has made me free.
I know my identity, that I'mfree and I'm not free to
dishonor God.
I'm free to love him and pleasemy heavenly father and let him
live through me.
And I ask him to live throughme every day.
And that's the life that we'refree to live.
(28:48):
Jesus, do what you will throughmy life, through my words,
through my body, my hands,everything I do.
You make yourself a slave.
You're free, but you willinglylet sin tie you up in ropes when
you choose to sin.
A slave is under the power ofanother, and that's what Paul
(29:12):
says.
We can't do.
We're not going to do that.
And in our world, as well as inCorinth, this power over one
another and this sin was mostexperienced through their choice
in sexual sin.
So it was pretty wild.
(29:33):
In Corinth they had a temple toDiana in the city of Corinth
and in that temple, which wastheir god, it was the demon that
they were worshiping.
The worship they hadprostitutes, and if you wanted
to worship, you went and had sexwith a prostitute.
So their whole culture was usedto sex being a spiritual thing
(29:56):
and it wasn't a sinful thing intheir minds before they learned
about God and his righteousness.
So this was their idea.
Verse 13, foods for the stomachand stomach for foods.
What does that mean?
It means when you're hungry,you eat.
Man, I'm starving, I need acheeseburger, we all understand
that right.
(30:17):
Or else you get hangry, andeveryone doesn't like you when
you're hangry.
But God will destroy both itand them.
Now, the body is not for sexualimmorality, but for the Lord
and the Lord for the body.
So their common teaching wasfill up your appetite, it
doesn't matter.
So their culture said the samething about sex when you feel
(30:40):
like it, it doesn't matter, justdo it with whoever, whatever
it's, just meet your needs,satisfy your desires.
Whatever you want, go for it.
And Paul's saying that's Paul'scorrecting them by telling them
the truth.
And the truth is your bodyisn't your body, it's the Lord's
(31:00):
body.
Your body is the temple of theLord.
It's not about you, it's notyour body anymore.
Your body was made for the Lord.
It's not made for sinning.
We're not made for sinning.
The purpose of your life is tojoin yourself with the Lord, in
(31:22):
union with him, and you are onewith him as a believer.
So whatever you do, he's withyou.
He will never leave you orforsake you.
His love for you is so perfect.
He will endure your mess.
He will.
We were made for each other, usand Jesus.
That's good news.
It's really beautiful Verse 14,.
(31:44):
And God will both, and God bothraised up the Lord and will
also raise us up by his power.
So Jesus' body has already beenraised up.
He's been given his glorified,resurrected body.
He sits in heaven.
It's pure and holy andbeautiful beyond measure.
(32:05):
We are in Christ now, so hislife is our identity, so we will
receive what's true about us Apure and holy and beautiful
beyond measure.
That's the body you're gonnajust like a seed, goes into the
(32:26):
ground and becomes a plant, butit's still the same.
The seed became the plant, butthe team?
Do you not know what does thatmean?
Take the members of Christ andmake them members of a harlot?
Certainly not.
I was totally okay with anysexual thing.
People wanted to do so if theyfelt like it does matter,
(32:52):
because Jesus lives in you andit matters Because it's not you,
it's him.
And God has blessed marriage asthe only place where sex is
safe.
Because sex, the Bible says, islike fire.
When it's in its right place,it's beautiful.
When it's in the fireplace, itis absolutely beautiful.
(33:13):
It provides warmth, it cooks.
I mean it's beautiful.
When it's in the fireplace, itis absolutely beautiful.
It provides warmth, it cooks.
I mean there's all kinds ofwonderful uses for it.
But when it's in its rightplace, you will get burned and
possibly killed because of theconsequences of messing with
something that is dangerous andpowerful.
And that's what Paul is sayingsex is.
So what's the big deal?
Why is this a big deal?
(33:34):
Verse 16.
Do you not know that he who isjoined to a harlot is one body
with her, for the two, he says,shall become one flesh, but he
who is joined to the Lord is onespirit with him.
He who is joined to the Lord,so we have a union with Christ.
See, in the heat of lustfulpassion, spiritual things seem
(33:58):
really far away, really distant,not important.
But the root of our lustfulpassion, and when we try to do
sinful things to meet that, is adesire for love, acceptance or
even adventure, and all thosethings are more completely
(34:19):
satisfied in our one-spiritrelationship with Jesus.
That's the truth, no matterwhat you think about it, no
matter what the culture saysabout it.
Jesus says I'm what you reallyneed.
I am the only thing you reallyneed.
I'm not angry with you fortrying to meet those needs.
(34:39):
I love you.
I've already met those needs,though, so wake up and come to
me and live in this union withChrist that I'm offering you.
So what does he say in verse 18?
This is the application thatPaul has you want to be happy.
You want to be happy.
Flee sexual immorality.
Every sin that a man does isoutside his body, but he who
(35:04):
commits sexual immorality sinsagainst his own body.
And your body has some preciouscargo.
He says verse 19,.
Do you not know?
There it is again that yourbody is the precious cargo.
He says verse 19,.
So the application is reallysimple Flee sexual immorality.
Why?
Because your identity as thetemple of God and the bride of
(35:41):
Christ, and he will make youmost happy.
He is the source of your joy.
That's it.
You are not your own.
You were bought with a price.
This wasn't to control you.
God's not after trying tocontrol you.
He wants to enjoy you and hewants you to enjoy him.
(36:05):
This is showing you howvaluable you are to him, how
precious you are to him.
He says stop messing around withthings that are a waste of time
, that are not going to meetyour needs.
Only I will meet your needs.
That's what Jesus says.
Nothing you do is insignificant.
Nothing is just you doing it.
(36:26):
I'm alone.
It doesn't hurt anybody.
It's not about that.
Because you're not alone.
You're never alone.
It's not about that.
Because you're not alone,you're never alone.
It's not your body.
Jesus is truly with you at alltimes.
He will never leave you orforsake you and you are truly
free, yet not free to sin.
(36:48):
You're free from sin to go andlive your life with God and
you'll find that you're notgoing to be living your life
trying to get your needs met,but you'll be filled with this
intrinsic love and joy andsatisfaction.
And when you talk to people,it's not about what I can get
from you, it's about I'd love toshare with you how much I've
been loved by showing you that Ilove you and listening to you
(37:12):
and caring about you and meetingyour needs.
We'll close with just readingGalatians 2.20.
It says I've been crucifiedwith Christ.
It is no longer I who live, butChrist lives in me and the life
which I now live in the flesh Ilive by faith in the Son of God
who loved me and gave himselffor me.
If you're tempted to sexuallyany kind of sexual immorality,
(37:36):
which almost everyone is, theonly way to freedom is to
remember that Jesus' love ismore real and more satisfying
than anything else.
He really lives in your heart.
He will meet every need.
Life with him is a morestimulating adventure than any
(37:56):
sexual thing you could ever do,but just like any relationship,
you have to jump into thisrelationship with your whole
heart, your whole heart, andthat's what we're scared of.
And that's what we're scared of.
So I'm asking you today openyour heart fully to God.
(38:19):
It is dangerous, it's not safe.
When you open your heart fully,are there things you're trying
to smuggle through, like babyspider monkeys?
(38:44):
You can't smuggle anythingthrough.
Just confess your sin to theLord and know the warmth of his
embrace.
The love he has for you isn'tdependent on you, but you can
keep yourself from his love,experiencing his love, by
holding on to your sin.
Instead of holding on to him,grab your joy by letting go of
the sin.
You can only hold on to onething at a time, so it's him or
(39:09):
sin.
Father, we repent of everthinking that you wouldn't meet
our total needs.
We repent of ever believingthat you would leave something
out, that you are keeping usfrom some sort of pleasure or
some sort of joy.
Father, your love is so perfect.
(39:33):
It does meet our needs.
You have a design and a plan todo us good, to give us a future
and a hope.
And, god, we love that.
We have been loved by you.
And now, lord, I turn willinglyfrom my sin and I pray.
As a church, we flee sexualimmorality because it's not the
(39:58):
perfect, good-tasting love thatwe have from you.
It's an imitation, it's a lieand it brings us under the power
of another.
And, jesus, you have set usfree and we will stand in that
freedom and we will live in thatfreedom and we will rejoice in
(40:19):
that freedom Because we havebeen loved, not because we've
earned it, but because of thegrace of Jesus Christ, our
beautiful eternal Savior.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.
If you don't know that you'vebeen forgiven of your sin, then
today get alone with God and saysave me.
(40:42):
Jesus has died on the cross foryou.
It doesn't.
You don't need to ask him todie, you don't need to ask him
anything.
Just, I believe in Jesus.
Save me.
I say this right now becausetwo weeks ago we had a man in
here and he died this week.
You don't know.
You don't know.
(41:04):
God says I love you so much andthis is your time.
Come to me, receive my grace,get on the victory side.
Jesus, I do thank you for your love and grace in our
lives and as we look at thischapter and as you speak to us,
lord, I pray that our heartswould be open and soft to
hearing your truth, hearing yourgrace, even being corrected
away from paths that would leadus to destruction and pain.
But, lord, help us understandwhere your blessing is, in a
(00:24):
grace relationship with you.
In Jesus' name, we pray, amen.
So today's sermon is calledDoes Smuggling Baby Spider
Monkeys Make you Happy?
Does Smuggling Baby SpiderMonkeys Make you Happy?
This article we'll come back tothis later, but I thought you
would like the pictures.
I think they're super cute and,amy, that's for you Everyone.
(00:50):
Amy loves monkeys, just so youknow.
Okay, when you see your identitythrough grace, as we've been
talking about, it changes howyou treat others, okay.
So when you learn about yourrelationship with God by grace,
it changes how you treat others.
It's no longer about you andwhat you can get from people.
First, that's because Jesus hasalready met your needs.
(01:14):
You don't need anything fromanybody.
And then, secondly, you don'tneed to be about protecting
yourself from people, becauseJesus promised that he'll be
with you, and he'll be with youin everything that happens.
So this life of grace thatwe're living, where you realize
(01:35):
Jesus is everything that youneed, it's something you have to
learn.
You don't just get this right.
When you become a believer, youlearn that Jesus is everything
that you need, and sometimesthat learning process can be
really super painful.
You know, we will naturallykeep on living like we always
have in this world until wediscover how grace has
(01:56):
transformed our identity, and sowe've been kind of using the
image of putting on graceglasses during our series,
looking at 1 Corinthians here.
So that identity has changedour hearts and when we walk in
this new identity, understandingwho we are, who God has made us
to be, it will make you happy.
It really will make you happy.
(02:18):
It will bring joy.
That's called joy when you haveidentity in your relationship
with God, when you have joy inyour identity with God.
That is what am I trying to say.
Let me rewind all that.
When you walk in your identity,you have joy.
(02:41):
Scratch everything else youjust heard.
You have joy.
Scratch everything else youjust heard, because you have the
Holy Spirit inside you, andwhen you walk in holiness, it
makes him happy.
That's the choices that youmake when you're walking in
holiness.
It makes the Spirit inside yourejoice.
(03:04):
It's like I'm a Broncos fan andI love when the Broncos score a
touchdown or sack a Cowboysquarterback.
It just brings me so much joyin my heart, and so I rejoice
(03:29):
when my team does well.
Well, it's the same thing.
The Holy Spirit inside yourejoices when we make righteous
choices in our life.
Does God want you to be happy?
Does he care about yourhappiness?
Is he just some God up inheaven upstairs?
That's like you do everything,I say and I don't care about you
.
No, he actually cares aboutyour life, but he tells us the
(03:50):
path that will make us mosthappy, which happens to be
aligning ourself with his will.
That's what will make you mosthappy.
He tells us the path that willmake us happy, and we generally
tell him to pack sand.
We generally tell him we'regoing to do everything we want
(04:12):
to do until we discover the painand the sorrow of consequences.
And then we repent and say,father, I'm really sorry for
living the way that I was.
Hopefully we sulk back to himand find out that as his child,
he always knew what was best,didn't he?
Have you guys ever been throughthat Because I know I have
(04:36):
Walking my own path, thengetting consequences, then
running back to him andrealizing he was right all the
time, even when it didn't makesense to our hearts and minds.
He always knows what's best.
It tells us this in John 10.10.
It says so Jesus wants you tohave an abundant life, a life
(05:08):
that's meaningful to you andimportant to God's kingdom.
And joy is a fruit of theSpirit.
It says in Galatians, chapter 6.
So when you're walking in theSpirit, when you're walking
God's path, doing God's will,you will have joy.
That's God's promise.
It's just a promise of God.
(05:30):
That's the way it works.
Romans 15, 13 in the New LivingTranslation says this I pray
that God, the source of hope,will fill you completely with
joy and peace because you trustin Him.
Then you will overflow withconfident hope through the power
of the Holy Spirit.
Man, what a beautiful verse.
(05:51):
That's the life God intends forus to have overflowing with
confident hope, rejoicing inhaving peace.
Like so many Christians, I talkto so many people in the world I
talk to.
What they don't have is peace.
What they don't have is joy,and so they're searching for joy
(06:11):
in all the places that they tryto find it in the world.
They search it in drugs and inrelationships and in all kinds
of sinful things.
Anything that's not God is sin,and so they're searching for it
in sin, their joy and theirpeace.
I'm not going to have peaceunless I have this and they
discover it's not there, theystill don't have the peace, they
(06:33):
still don't have the joy.
So the path to happiness isn'tdoing what we want.
It says here.
It's trusting in Jesus.
That's the path to joy, theonly path to joy, and it's
clearly given to us.
It's the path of faith andhumility, or, as I call them, f
(06:55):
and H Faith and humility.
That is the path that we walkon as believers.
Happiness is like peeing yourpants Everyone can see it, but
only you can feel the warmth.
I look to my wife for areaction.
(07:24):
From every joke I tell I cantell if she's laughing.
It was good.
Okay, all right.
So with that as our intro,knowing God wants you to be
happy, but he's given you a pathof happiness, let's begin
starting to read our text sothat we can understand what it
says.
1 Corinthians 6.
Dare any of you having a matteragainst another, go to law
before the unrighteous and notbefore saints.
(07:46):
Okay, so what happens here isthe church was not happy.
The church in Corinth was nothappy.
Why were they unhappy?
Because they had their eyes oneach other's stuff and they were
thinking about how to get more,and they were literally suing
each other to take each other'sthings.
That's what was happening inthis church.
Not because someone had donesomething wrong per se, like
(08:09):
there was an accident.
They weren't like a bunch ofaccident lawyers, like all the
billboards you see around hereif you get in an accident and
call these guys, but they wereliterally just trying to take
each other's things.
That's how self-centered thischurch was.
This is the epitome of prideand self-focused living.
(08:31):
Remember, though, love real loveis always giving.
I'm going to give, I love you,so I give of myself to you, and
we're supposed to love God,we're supposed to love others.
We're supposed to love ourfamily, our wife, so it's a
giving relationship.
But Satan's deception of loveis he says it's about what I can
get.
What do I need to be happy?
That's the lie.
(08:52):
That's the wrong question.
That question was inspired bySatan saying it's about you.
You're missing something.
That's why you're not happy.
God says I've already given youeverything you said at the same
time I did because you knew itRight God's already given you
his son.
(09:12):
What else can he give you?
What else could God possiblygive you that he has not given
you in grace?
He's given you it all.
He has oceans of his grace andhe says it's all yours already.
So he says so.
Satan's deception is what can Iget?
This church would totallyfallen in.
They were getting tripped up bySatan and they were all.
They were suing each other.
And so he says do you not know?
(09:33):
Okay, that's the first timewe're going to see this.
We're going to see this severaltimes in this chapter.
Do you not know?
Do you not know?
That's so important becausewhen Paul says do you not know,
he's going to ask it over andover.
What he's saying is don't youunderstand your identity?
Didn't you listen to the firstfive chapters of what I wrote to
you?
Don't you know?
You should know your identity.
(09:53):
What you're struggling with isnot because you're a bad person.
It's because you don't know thetruth of who you really are.
That's why you're doing thethings that you're doing.
You just don't know, do you notknow?
So he's not being a jerk sayingdon't you know?
Like, sarcastically, he'ssaying guys, I've taught you
this and this is what you need.
Don't you know this?
(10:15):
He's saying it like that.
So he says don't you know thatthe saints will judge the world?
Okay, so, again, when he asks adon't you know question, it's
always about identity.
So right now he's pointing towhen he asks a don't you know
question, it's always aboutidentity.
So right now, he's pointing toour union with Christ, saying
don't you know, you're going tojudge the world.
Well, we know that Jesus isgoing to judge the world.
(10:35):
So then, this is talking aboutour union with Jesus, that we
are in Christ.
So, because we know Jesus isgoing to judge the world yes,
he's the savior of the world,but he's also the judge.
He has to judge everyone whorejects his free salvation.
He has to judge them.
That's both parts of the rolehe has to play he's redeemer and
(10:56):
judge.
He has to do it.
He's perfectly willing toperform what the needed judgment
, because he's also righteous,he's loving, he loves people and
he was willing to give his lifeto give you a salvation.
And freedom.
Judgment, because he's alsorighteous, he's loving, he loves
people and he was willing togive his life to give you a
salvation and freedom.
But he's also just meaning hehas to punish, he has to judge
the world.
Why does God have to judge theworld?
Because it would be unjust tojust let sin go unpunished.
(11:21):
Do you really want Hitler justgetting away with it?
Sin go unpunished.
Do you really want Hitler justgetting away with it?
Everyone in the world would say, yeah, hitler's got it coming.
I bet he's burning in level 10of hell.
Well, yeah, we all agree.
(11:43):
Everyone in the world wants tosee terrible things come to
people who have earned it.
We just don't understand thataccording to God's standard.
His standard is so high that wealso face God's judgment if we
don't accept the grace of Godnow.
So we also fall short.
So Hitler, yeah, he fell short,but we use him as an example
because we want to feel goodabout ourselves.
(12:03):
Well, at least I'm not Hitler,right?
So, deep down, we all want Godto judge, because we want a God
that's righteous, that does theright thing.
And Paul is telling these peoplelisten, what your problem is is
that you need to understandyour union with Christ, that we
(12:24):
stand with him and we're goingto be a part of that day when
judgment happens, we're going tosee how good and perfect he is
and we're all going to agreewith everything he does and
we're going to have a part in it.
I don't know what that part is,but we're going to have a part
in it, probably casting ourcrowns down and saying thank you
, god, for the mercy that you'vegiven me.
And he says this, he goes onand if the world will be judged
(12:52):
by you, are you unworthy tojudge the smallest matters?
So they were going to the worldto help them live their lives.
They were suing each other andtrying to get what they want
through the world, and thisbecause they believe themselves
to be unworthy.
Paul says so again.
They didn't know their identity, they didn't know what God had
given them, they didn't knowabout their union with Christ.
(13:13):
They didn't know he's alreadytheir life and they already have
everything they need for anabundant life.
Jesus said and this, when weknow it, helps us to make all
our decisions, even the smallestones, if you understand how
valuable you are to God, what hehas given you Verse 3 he says
(13:34):
do you not know there it isagain that we shall judge angels
how much more that things thatpertain to this life.
Okay, judging angels?
That's weird.
What's he talking about?
Well, fallen angels is whathe's talking about.
Can anyone think of a fallenangel?
Satan, right, so we're going tobe there when they get their
(13:56):
final judgment.
We're going to be there, we'regoing to be a part of that, and
this is why Satan hates you somuch.
Did you know this?
Satan hates you and he wants toruin your life because he knows
, at the end you're going to bethere, laughing at him as he
gets what he gets, praising God,rejoicing because he gets what
(14:17):
he gets, because God loves youso much and you're not nearly as
beautiful as Satan, so he'sjealous so much.
And you're not nearly asbeautiful as Satan, so he's
jealous of what you have.
You have a relationship withGod, you're a child of God, you
have been exalted because ofGod's love, and Satan can't have
that and he's mad, and so hehates you.
(14:37):
All right, so now we're goingto see.
Paul is going to give us thepath of life, the path of life
that this church should havebeen walking.
Paul is going to teach themwhat this path of life looks
like.
Verse 4,.
If, then, you have judgmentsconcerning things pertaining to
this life.
Do you appoint those who areleast esteemed by the church to
(15:02):
judge?
I say this to your shame.
Who are least esteemed by thechurch to judge?
I say this to your shame Is itso that there is not a wise man
among you, not even one who willbe able to judge between his
brethren?
But brother goes to law againstbrother, and that before
unbelievers.
Now, therefore, it is alreadyan utter failure for you that
(15:25):
you go to law against oneanother.
Why do you not rather acceptwrong?
Let me read that again why doyou not rather accept wrong?
Why do you not rather letyourselves be cheated?
No, you yourselves do wrong andcheat, and you do these things
(15:48):
to your brethren.
Brethren means family.
You are doing wrong andcheating your own family.
He's saying.
So the path of life, the pathof grace that we're learning
about, is humility.
Of grace that we're learningabout is humility.
(16:09):
He's saying accept the wrong.
Just why wouldn't you rather,if you love people and you read
about them, just if they'retrying to steal, just accept the
wrong, just rather be cheated,because that's a great example
of humility?
So what is humility, guys?
Humility is not thinking lessof yourself.
It's not thinking you're lessimportant or less valuable.
(16:32):
Humility is simply not thinkingof yourself at all.
It's not thinking less ofyourself.
It's not thinking of yourselfat all when you're thinking
about others.
That's love and that's whereyou're going to find the life
and the joy and the happiness.
(16:53):
And this church.
They were not happy becausethey were walking a path of
self-life.
What can I get?
How can I exalt myself?
By putting other people down,by taking their stuff, by being
richer, stronger, whatever theyneeded.
They were actually doing wrongand cheating each other.
This is called the flesh lifedoing whatever my flesh wants.
(17:16):
And they were doing it.
They were cheating their ownfamily.
He says you're doing it to yourbrethren and that equals family
.
So, as the church, you know allthe believers here in this room
and all the believers on theisland and all the believers in
America and all the believers inthe world.
God says we are a family andwhat I love about this church is
(17:38):
I don't have to tell you guys,spend time with your family,
because I see you all week longspending time with each other
and it's awesome.
And if we haven't gotten toconnect yet, if we need to get
together, we want to grow.
What this family's aboutRelationships are always grown
by spending time with.
I love that about this churchis that you guys are spending
time together throughout theweek.
(18:00):
You live your lives together.
I guess it's an island so it'snot that hard, but it's good to
see you guys.
Out there In Colorado there'slike millions of people.
We never saw anybody at ourchurch like at wherever we were
at.
It was rare.
All right.
Verse nine Do you not know?
There's the identity.
Words again that theunrighteous will not inherit the
(18:22):
kingdom of God.
Okay, so again, what's hetalking about when he says do
you not know Identity?
He's talking about identity.
Do you not know the unrighteouswill not inherit the kingdom of
God.
So what does that mean?
Their identity is you arerighteous.
Paul says this is your identity.
You are righteous.
Do you know who?
You are Right?
Remember when Mufasa is talkingto Simba and he's like he's
(18:47):
Mufasa ghost.
And he comes to Simba and he'slike remember who you are?
Remember Because Simba wasmessing around with jungle
people, animals.
That's actually a goodillustration.
I should have dug into that.
So he was messing aroundbecause he didn't know his
(19:10):
identity.
Why do we mess around?
Because we don't know ouridentity.
You are not an addict, you arenot a fornicator, you are not a
sinner.
That is not who you are.
When you believe in Christ, youhave been transformed and
sanctified, set apart for God'skingdom purposes.
(19:31):
He loves you and he's alreadycleansed you.
He's washed you.
Those things are not youridentity.
But what is your identity?
You're a child of God, by grace.
This is vital for the next.
I want you to hear that so thatwhen I read the next part, you
understand what he's saying.
He says do not be deceived,neither fornicators, nor
(19:55):
idolaters, nor adulterers, norhomosexuals, nor sodomites, nor
thieves.
Paul tells them their identityis as children of God, and that
is more true about them than anyother identity that they could
(20:22):
identify with.
This is more true about you,and we have to let go of every
other identity if we're going tofind joy and the peace of God
that he offers.
They are a true identity.
They are kingdom kids.
They are chosen children.
They're a true identity.
They are kingdom kids.
They are chosen children.
They're transformed tots.
(20:42):
They're righteous rugrats.
They're awesome ankle bitersand that's all I could come up
with.
This is the new, jesus-givenidentity, and he says this is
your only life now.
This is your only life.
(21:05):
What I have made you, I madeyou again.
It doesn't matter how you wereborn, it doesn't matter what
you've struggled with or whatyou participated in or what
you've done.
You have a new identity, a newidentity and it's you're mine,
you're mine.
He claims you no matter who youare or what you did.
He claims you because of hislove.
(21:28):
He says I am your life now.
You don't have to find yourlife in all the things.
You don't have to try to getyour life by suing each other
and being mean to each other anddoing whatever you want.
It's I give you free life and Ipour it out and I'm not
embarrassed by you and I willgive you healing when you need
(21:49):
healing and I'll give you loveand I'll give you value and I'll
give you everything that youneed.
This is our union with Christ.
That's why it's so importantthat we talk about our union
with Christ every week, becauseit means you're okay, you have
what you need.
He says verse 7 and such weresome of you.
(22:10):
What an awesome verse.
All the things that were listed.
The church was filled withpeople who had that as their
identity.
But Paul says that's not youridentity anymore, but you were.
He lists three things you werewashed, but you were sanctified,
but you were justified in thename of the Lord Jesus and by
the Spirit of our God.
(22:31):
Our identity changed the momentwe believed.
It was no longer the thingsthat we had it in before, our
old identity that we held andbelieved in.
It was crucified with Jesus onthe cross.
That's why it doesn't meet yourneeds anymore.
That's why we struggle withdiscouragement and depression
(22:52):
when we're living in sin.
That's why we struggle withanxiety, because our bodies were
not made to live in an identitythat's not really us.
Our bodies themselves rebelagainst living a sinful life
because we were made, we've beenunified with Jesus.
That's why sin and self-focusedliving won't make us happy
(23:21):
anymore.
Our only problem is that we tryto carry around this old, dead
corpse with us and we try tolive our lives by body, surfing
on a dead corpse that wascrucified with Jesus.
That's what we're doing whenwe're choosing a sinful identity
(23:41):
.
This is my identity, butspiritually it's a dead corpse,
so it's not going to do anythingfor you.
It's not going to lead whereyou want it to lead and, yes, it
used to work.
It used to kind of meet yourneeds Before you were a believer
(24:01):
living sin.
It could numb the pain, itcould help you feel good about
yourself, it could help you meetthose needs.
But your needs for affectionand value and numbing your pain
all of that was given freely toyou as the abundant life that
(24:23):
Jesus offers you, the health andthe joy that he says is yours
now.
That's what God intends for you, and he says you can only find
it in Jesus once you meet him.
You can't go back to doing.
It's not going to work.
It's like someone puts salt onthat field it's not going to
grow.
It's not going to work.
It's like someone puts salt onthat field it's not going to
grow.
It's not going to produce fruitanymore because you found the
true life.
So he did what needed to bedone.
(24:46):
He killed that old, miserable,broken life and he replaced it
with his beautiful Holy Spirit,offering us everything we could
ever need through his Son.
And it's all gained, as wesimply believe in this wonderful
gospel that we've been talkingabout.
When you believe it, youdiscover that it's true.
(25:07):
You'll see that it's true.
If you choose to keep living bythe old corpse, your life will
smell like an old corpse andthat's not the abundant life.
It's just not what Jesus hasfor you.
He says you were washed.
That means you were set apartas clean and healed and valuable
(25:29):
.
God doesn't see you as smelly.
He sees you as clean, holy.
He says you were sanctified.
That means you were set asideand to serve God.
Your life will only matter inyour own heart.
You only feel the value whenyou're serving the Lord and
(25:50):
you're justified.
You'll never need to beembarrassed or ashamed because
all shame has been gone whenyou're justified.
That's what it means.
There's no more shame.
You don't have to be ashamed.
You can freely say I did this,I did this, I did this and Jesus
paid for it all and I'm totallyfree.
And Satan will be no, you're anidiot.
And you'll be like no, I'm not,I'm free.
(26:11):
Jesus paid for me.
And that's how shame getscompletely deleted by Jesus.
So even when you sin today,you're still free from shame.
You run to Jesus.
You don't have to beembarrassed.
You don't have to go in timeout.
God doesn't use shame to changeyou ever.
He uses the love and spirit ofhis son to transform you.
(26:33):
He doesn't use shame.
So he says in verse 12, allthings are lawful for me, but I
will not.
Not.
All things are helpful, allthings are lawful for me, but I
will not be brought under thepower of any.
So the Corinthians hadmisunderstood their identity.
They thought it was I'm free tosin and it doesn't matter what
I do now.
Yay, that's what they thoughtit meant, and we call that today
(26:56):
licentiousness.
Okay, which means I have alicense to sin.
Now that I believe in Jesus, Ican just sin as much as I want
and I will be forgiven.
So Paul gives them theprinciple that they're messing
up now.
He says guys, listen, you arefree, you are 100% free.
I want everyone in this room tounderstand and hear you are
(27:17):
free, you have been forgiven ofyour sins.
If you believe in Jesus, youwill go to heaven.
It doesn't matter how manytimes you fail or sin, you were
forgiven.
God knew what he was signing upfor to forgive you of your past
, present and future sins.
It doesn't matter if you'veconfessed each one.
God's not asking for a list.
He knows far better than youhow much you've sinned and he
(27:40):
signed up for this deal.
He says you are free.
You are not under the law, theten commandments, is not our
relationship with God.
You are 100% free from the tencommandments.
You are free.
We've died to that.
You will always be forgiven.
But as a Christian you canstill choose to sin if you
(28:04):
choose to.
But if you choose to sin, itwill hurt you and it will hurt
others.
That part doesn't go away.
The consequences of our sindoesn't go away.
And he says here you will be aslave of the sin you choose to
do.
And God says here you will be aslave of the sin you choose to
do.
And God does not want you to bea slave.
He says you are my children,you are free and I do not want
(28:28):
you to be a slave of anything.
And Paul says I'm 100% free.
I could sin as much as I wantif I wanted to, but I don't want
to because God has made me free.
I know my identity, that I'mfree and I'm not free to
dishonor God.
I'm free to love him and pleasemy heavenly father and let him
live through me.
And I ask him to live throughme every day.
And that's the life that we'refree to live.
(28:48):
Jesus, do what you will throughmy life, through my words,
through my body, my hands,everything I do.
You make yourself a slave.
You're free, but you willinglylet sin tie you up in ropes when
you choose to sin.
A slave is under the power ofanother, and that's what Paul
(29:12):
says.
We can't do.
We're not going to do that.
And in our world, as well as inCorinth, this power over one
another and this sin was mostexperienced through their choice
in sexual sin.
So it was pretty wild.
(29:33):
In Corinth they had a temple toDiana in the city of Corinth
and in that temple, which wastheir god, it was the demon that
they were worshiping.
The worship they hadprostitutes, and if you wanted
to worship, you went and had sexwith a prostitute.
So their whole culture was usedto sex being a spiritual thing
(29:56):
and it wasn't a sinful thing intheir minds before they learned
about God and his righteousness.
So this was their idea.
Verse 13, foods for the stomachand stomach for foods.
What does that mean?
It means when you're hungry,you eat.
Man, I'm starving, I need acheeseburger, we all understand
that right.
(30:17):
Or else you get hangry, andeveryone doesn't like you when
you're hangry.
But God will destroy both itand them.
Now, the body is not for sexualimmorality, but for the Lord
and the Lord for the body.
So their common teaching wasfill up your appetite, it
doesn't matter.
So their culture said the samething about sex when you feel
(30:40):
like it, it doesn't matter, justdo it with whoever, whatever
it's, just meet your needs,satisfy your desires.
Whatever you want, go for it.
And Paul's saying that's Paul'scorrecting them by telling them
the truth.
And the truth is your bodyisn't your body, it's the Lord's
(31:00):
body.
Your body is the temple of theLord.
It's not about you, it's notyour body anymore.
Your body was made for the Lord.
It's not made for sinning.
We're not made for sinning.
The purpose of your life is tojoin yourself with the Lord, in
(31:22):
union with him, and you are onewith him as a believer.
So whatever you do, he's withyou.
He will never leave you orforsake you.
His love for you is so perfect.
He will endure your mess.
He will.
We were made for each other, usand Jesus.
That's good news.
It's really beautiful Verse 14,.
(31:44):
And God will both, and God bothraised up the Lord and will
also raise us up by his power.
So Jesus' body has already beenraised up.
He's been given his glorified,resurrected body.
He sits in heaven.
It's pure and holy andbeautiful beyond measure.
(32:05):
We are in Christ now, so hislife is our identity, so we will
receive what's true about us Apure and holy and beautiful
beyond measure.
That's the body you're gonnajust like a seed, goes into the
(32:26):
ground and becomes a plant, butit's still the same.
The seed became the plant, butthe team?
Do you not know what does thatmean?
Take the members of Christ andmake them members of a harlot?
Certainly not.
I was totally okay with anysexual thing.
People wanted to do so if theyfelt like it does matter,
(32:52):
because Jesus lives in you andit matters Because it's not you,
it's him.
And God has blessed marriage asthe only place where sex is
safe.
Because sex, the Bible says, islike fire.
When it's in its right place,it's beautiful.
When it's in the fireplace, itis absolutely beautiful.
(33:13):
It provides warmth, it cooks.
I mean it's beautiful.
When it's in the fireplace, itis absolutely beautiful.
It provides warmth, it cooks.
I mean there's all kinds ofwonderful uses for it.
But when it's in its rightplace, you will get burned and
possibly killed because of theconsequences of messing with
something that is dangerous andpowerful.
And that's what Paul is sayingsex is.
So what's the big deal?
Why is this a big deal?
(33:34):
Verse 16.
Do you not know that he who isjoined to a harlot is one body
with her, for the two, he says,shall become one flesh, but he
who is joined to the Lord is onespirit with him.
He who is joined to the Lord,so we have a union with Christ.
See, in the heat of lustfulpassion, spiritual things seem
(33:58):
really far away, really distant,not important.
But the root of our lustfulpassion, and when we try to do
sinful things to meet that, is adesire for love, acceptance or
even adventure, and all thosethings are more completely
(34:19):
satisfied in our one-spiritrelationship with Jesus.
That's the truth, no matterwhat you think about it, no
matter what the culture saysabout it.
Jesus says I'm what you reallyneed.
I am the only thing you reallyneed.
I'm not angry with you fortrying to meet those needs.
(34:39):
I love you.
I've already met those needs,though, so wake up and come to
me and live in this union withChrist that I'm offering you.
So what does he say in verse 18?
This is the application thatPaul has you want to be happy.
You want to be happy.
Flee sexual immorality.
Every sin that a man does isoutside his body, but he who
(35:04):
commits sexual immorality sinsagainst his own body.
And your body has some preciouscargo.
He says verse 19,.
Do you not know?
There it is again that yourbody is the precious cargo.
He says verse 19,.
So the application is reallysimple Flee sexual immorality.
Why?
Because your identity as thetemple of God and the bride of
(35:41):
Christ, and he will make youmost happy.
He is the source of your joy.
That's it.
You are not your own.
You were bought with a price.
This wasn't to control you.
God's not after trying tocontrol you.
He wants to enjoy you and hewants you to enjoy him.
(36:05):
This is showing you howvaluable you are to him, how
precious you are to him.
He says stop messing around withthings that are a waste of time
, that are not going to meetyour needs.
Only I will meet your needs.
That's what Jesus says.
Nothing you do is insignificant.
Nothing is just you doing it.
(36:26):
I'm alone.
It doesn't hurt anybody.
It's not about that.
Because you're not alone.
You're never alone.
It's not about that.
Because you're not alone,you're never alone.
It's not your body.
Jesus is truly with you at alltimes.
He will never leave you orforsake you and you are truly
free, yet not free to sin.
(36:48):
You're free from sin to go andlive your life with God and
you'll find that you're notgoing to be living your life
trying to get your needs met,but you'll be filled with this
intrinsic love and joy andsatisfaction.
And when you talk to people,it's not about what I can get
from you, it's about I'd love toshare with you how much I've
been loved by showing you that Ilove you and listening to you
(37:12):
and caring about you and meetingyour needs.
We'll close with just readingGalatians 2.20.
It says I've been crucifiedwith Christ.
It is no longer I who live, butChrist lives in me and the life
which I now live in the flesh Ilive by faith in the Son of God
who loved me and gave himselffor me.
If you're tempted to sexuallyany kind of sexual immorality,
(37:36):
which almost everyone is, theonly way to freedom is to
remember that Jesus' love ismore real and more satisfying
than anything else.
He really lives in your heart.
He will meet every need.
Life with him is a morestimulating adventure than any
(37:56):
sexual thing you could ever do,but just like any relationship,
you have to jump into thisrelationship with your whole
heart, your whole heart, andthat's what we're scared of.
And that's what we're scared of.
So I'm asking you today openyour heart fully to God.
(38:19):
It is dangerous, it's not safe.
When you open your heart fully,are there things you're trying
to smuggle through, like babyspider monkeys?
(38:44):
You can't smuggle anythingthrough.
Just confess your sin to theLord and know the warmth of his
embrace.
The love he has for you isn'tdependent on you, but you can
keep yourself from his love,experiencing his love, by
holding on to your sin.
Instead of holding on to him,grab your joy by letting go of
the sin.
You can only hold on to onething at a time, so it's him or
(39:09):
sin.
Father, we repent of everthinking that you wouldn't meet
our total needs.
We repent of ever believingthat you would leave something
out, that you are keeping usfrom some sort of pleasure or
some sort of joy.
Father, your love is so perfect.
(39:33):
It does meet our needs.
You have a design and a plan todo us good, to give us a future
and a hope.
And, god, we love that.
We have been loved by you.
And now, lord, I turn willinglyfrom my sin and I pray.
As a church, we flee sexualimmorality because it's not the
(39:58):
perfect, good-tasting love thatwe have from you.
It's an imitation, it's a lieand it brings us under the power
of another.
And, jesus, you have set usfree and we will stand in that
freedom and we will live in thatfreedom and we will rejoice in
(40:19):
that freedom Because we havebeen loved, not because we've
earned it, but because of thegrace of Jesus Christ, our
beautiful eternal Savior.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.
If you don't know that you'vebeen forgiven of your sin, then
today get alone with God and saysave me.
(40:42):
Jesus has died on the cross foryou.
It doesn't.
You don't need to ask him todie, you don't need to ask him
anything.
Just, I believe in Jesus.
Save me.
I say this right now becausetwo weeks ago we had a man in
here and he died this week.
You don't know.
You don't know.
(41:04):
God says I love you so much andthis is your time.
Come to me, receive my grace,get on the victory side.
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