November 2, 2025
Teacher: MIke Laughrun
After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. … (4) And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.
Acts 18:1, 4
(8) Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. … (11) And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
Acts 18:8, 11
(1) Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, (2) To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: (3) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:1-3
(1) But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. (2) I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, (3) for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?
1 Corinthians 3:1-3
(12) “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. (13) “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”–and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. (14) And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. (15) Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! (16) Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” (17) But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. (18) Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. (19) Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, (20) for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Big Truth:
Jesus followers belong to the Lord.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
“The first Christians were marked by holiness of life…Their moral life was radically different from the world around them.”
J.I. Packer
“In the Roman world, the church stood out by combining things never seen together:
- radical care for the poor
- forgiveness and reconciliation
- sexual purity
- the equality and dignity of all believers
They shocked the world by loving across lines the world refused to cross.
Tim Keller
“The church grew because the love among Christians was unmistakable, and because pagans saw in them a transformed morality that could not be explained naturally.”
D.A. Carson
3 Questions…
Question #1:
What lies do we believe?
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.
1 Corinthians 6:12
Big Idea:
Freedom in Christ is never license to sin.
(13) “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”–and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. (14) And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
1 Corinthians 6:13-14
Big Idea:
The body is for the Lord and the Lord is for the body.
Some of the Corinthians had a view of the body that made what they did with it morally indifferent.. They reasoned: the body and food and drink and sex are going to be destroyed in the end. There will only be free spirits. So, the body does not matter. You can eat and drink and have sex any way you like because the body is morally irrelevant. Paul opposed this view with all his might.
John Piper
Question #2:
Why is sexual sin so destructive?
Sex is a gift from the creator
For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” V. 16
Sex is powerful
(18) Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, (19) a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.
Proverbs 5:18-19
Sex is Joyful
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
Hebrews 13:4
Sex is limited
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful…
1 Corinthians 6:12
Big Idea:
Sexual sin harms.
(3) For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, (4) but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
Proverbs 5:3-4
(27) Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? (28) Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? (29) So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; none who touches her will go unpunished.
Proverbs 6:27-29
(32) He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself. (33) He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
Proverbs 6:27-29, 32-33
But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.
Ephesians 5:3
Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
1 Corinthians 6:18
There is no other sin that a man or a woman commits that has built into it the deep-rooted damage that the sin of sexual immorality has.
John MacArthur
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.
1 Corinthians 6:12
Big Idea:
Sexual sin controls.
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.
John 8:34
(3) For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; (4) that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,
1 Thessalonians 4:3-4
What are the destructive effects of viewing pornography?
- Re-wires the brain of the viewer.
- Hinders the ability to form meaningful, real relationships.
- Objectifies women.
- Decreases sexual pleasure in marriage.
- Creates a desire for more pornography.
- Fuels human trafficking and exploitation.
Question #3:
Why does it matter what we do with our bodies?
Big Idea:
Our bodies will be resurrected.
The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. (14) And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
1 Corinthians 6:13-14
Big Idea:
We are in union with Jesus.
(15) Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! (16) Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” (17) But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
1 Corinthians 6:15-17
Big Idea:
Our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?
1 Corinthians 6:19
Big Idea:
Our bodies belong to God.
(19) Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, (20) for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Big Idea:
Our bodies exist for the glory of God.
for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:20
Question #3:
How do we respond?
What lie do I need to reject?
(3) Do you not…
(9) Or do you not know…
(15) Do you not know …
(16) Or do you not…
(19) Or do you not know …
1 Corinthians 6:3, 9, 15-16, 19
What sin must I repent and run from?
Flee from sexual immorality.
1 Corinthians 6:18
Who can I run with?
So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
2 Timothy 2:22
Am I glorifying God with my body?
…for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:20
Have I been made clean by Christ?
Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, (10) nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (11) And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. … (20) for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 20
Talk About It
- What does it mean to be adopted into God’s family? (Gal 4:3-7)
- How do we “walk by” and “keep in step with” the Holy Spirit? (Gal 5:16-26)
- Who can I sacrificially love this week by helping build them up in Jesus? (Gal 6:1-2, 10)
give
We respond in worship to God, our Creator and Sustainer, by giving sacrificially and generously. tcbchurch.org/give
respond to the gospel
If you want to know more about what it means to follow Jesus or how to respond to the gospel, visit the Hub in the upper atrium or tcbchurch.org/gospel.
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