1. The document is a summary of a sermon given at First Baptist Church in Jackson, Mississippi on March 11, 2018. The sermon focused on 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 and discussed how Christians are free in Christ but should not use their freedom to sin or become dominated by sinful behaviors and passions. 2. It discussed how some Corinthians believed "all things are lawful" meant they could engage in sexual immorality. Paul refuted this by explaining that while the body is temporary, it belongs to God and will be resurrected, so Christians should not engage their bodies in sin but glorify God with them. 3. Satan tries to convince Christians that some sins are acceptable by appealing

1. 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
“Glorifying God”
March 11, 2018
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA
What’s the number one thing?
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The Glory of God!
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1 Corinthians 10:31
31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
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2. March Memory Verse
2 Corinthians 12:9
9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect
in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that
the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Pray for the Pastor Search Committee.
• Doug Gunn, Chairman
• Lenora Bigler
• Dottie Hudson
• David Maron
• Jim Merritt, Jr.
• Elizabeth Rich
• Mallory Rosamond
• Don Waller
• Jeff Zachary
Additional Prayer Reminders
• First Baptist Jackson Church
• Jason Allen and Family
• Staff at First Baptist Church Jackson
• ARISE Campaign
• Bill Boteler’s Recovery
• Ann Graham Lotz visit April 8
References
• Barker, Kenneth, The NIV Study Bible, (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1985).
• MacArthur, John, The MacArthur Study Bible (Word Publishing, Nashville,
TN, 1997).
• The ESV Study Bible, (Wheaton, Crossway, 2011).
• Unless otherwise stated, scriptures are quoted from the ESV.
Corinth – The Las Vegas of Its Day
• Corinth was a large city (250,000 persons + 400,000 slaves).
• Corinth was a crossroads for travel by land and sea.
• There were 12 temples to Greek gods.
• One temple was for Aphrodite, the goddess of love, that had 1,000 temple
prostitutes.
• “To Corinthianize” = to practice sexual immorality.

3. Ancient Corinth
Paul’s Time in Corinth
• Paul first visited Corinth on his 2nd Missionary Journey in 50 AD.
• Acts 18:9-11 NIV
9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: "Do not be afraid; keep on
speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I am with you, and no one is going to
attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city." 11 So Paul
stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.
Introduction to 1st Corinthians
• Paul is considered a “Task Theologian” because he could apply the
theology of Jesus to everyday problems.
• Paul was a great problem solver.
• The order of the Epistles in the New Testament is based on length (Romans,
1st Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, …).
Paul’s 1st Letter to the Corinthian Church
• Paul writes 1 Corinthians in 55 AD from Ephesus on his 3rd Missionary
Journey.
• The church in Corinth had many challenges because of the cultural
environment.
• The letter addresses immaturity, instability, divisions, jealousy, envy,
lawsuits, marital difficulties, immorality, misuse of spiritual gifts.
Focus of Lesson
1. Are all things lawful (allowable) for me?
• Why or why not?
2. What are techniques Satan uses to make Christians believe that sexual
immorality is acceptable?
3. What is the purpose for our bodies?

4. 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
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.
A Corinthian Slogan – “All things are lawful for me.”
• 1 Corinthians 6:12
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.
• Lawful = allowable, permissible.
• Christians in Corinth – We are not bound by the Old Testament Law and
have freedom in Christ.
• Salvation in Christ is not tied to obeying the OT rules.
YES, You Have Freedom in Christ.
• Galatians 5:1
1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit
again to a yoke of slavery.
• Yolk of slavery = The burden of rigorous demands on the law as the
means for gaining God’s favor – an intolerable burden for sinful man.
The misuse of Christian freedom
• Galatians 5:13
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom
as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

5. The misuse of Christian freedom
• In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul exposes the error in the Corinthian Christians’
rationalization that they were free to sin because it was covered by God’s
grace.
• 1 Corinthians 5:1-2
1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a
kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's
wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who
has done this be removed from among you.
3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have
already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When
you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present,
with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for
the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the
Lord.
6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens
the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new
lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has
been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old
leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of
sincerity and truth.
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. (to other people)
• Others are more important than ourselves.
• We must consider the impact on others.
• We must live sacrificially and consider the impact of our freedom on
others.
Jesus said it this way.
• Matthew 22:36-39
36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" 37 And he said
to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first
commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as
yourself."

6. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.
• Some things will enslave you.
• This is how the exercise of your freedoms can master you (addictions).
• Satan will try to trap you in practicing your freedoms.
• Sin has power to dominate and always produces loss.
• The domination or power means “mastered”.
• Satan uses this “freedom” to make you feel its ok to sin and slowly traps
you into an addiction or deep sin (masters you) which is difficult to
escape.
Satan wants you to obey your passions.
• Romans 6:12-13
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its
passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for
unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been
brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for
righteousness.
• “to make you” indicates a powerless condition.
A Greek Saying:
• 1 Corinthians 6:13a
13a "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food"
• Meaning = The stomach and food were made for each other, so just
indulge.
• This saying was used as an excuse to indulge in anything.
• Sex was viewed in the same way – the body was made for this pleasure.
Paul is teaching that the body is temporal.
• Paul is saying that you have the freedom to indulge in these things, but
those things which you focus on which are temporary will greatly minimize
your life and eternal perspective.
• How much of your day is spent doing temporary things?
Paul wants us to focus on eternity, and not the temporary things.
• Are the decisions you are making today focused solely on the temporary?
• Are you spending the majority of your time and energy on the temporary?
“Set your mind on things that are above”
• Colossians 3:1-2
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above,
where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things
that are above, not on things that are on earth.

7. The Corinthian Theory of Philosophical Dualism:
• Humans have both physical and mental properties.
• What one does physically does not affect the mental.
• Sex is considered a physical activity which does not affect the mental
(spiritual).
• 1 Corinthians 6:13a
13a "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food" (Physical).
• Your sexual appetite is to be satisfied just like your hunger for food.
Paul refutes the Dualism Philosophy.
• 1 Corinthians 6:13c
13c The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the
Lord for the body.
• Our human nature is to live our lives for ourselves and our own
pleasure.
• God created our physical body with a spiritual purpose for the Lord.
The human body has an eternal purpose.
• 1 Corinthians 6:14
14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
• Every human has a physical body and a spirit (soul).
• The believers body will be changed, raised, glorified and made
heavenly.
Paul explains:
• 1 Corinthians 15:51-53
51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be
changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and
we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the
imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
Pauls’ opinion about the intimacy of the sexual relationship:
• The base verse is Genesis 2:24.
• Genesis 2:24
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his
wife, and they shall become one flesh.
• All sexual activity is considered a uniting of flesh to become “one.”

8. The Christian’s body is considered a representative of Christ in every activity.
• 1 Corinthians 6:15-17
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.
Sexual Sin is Different.
• 1 Corinthians 6:18
18 Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually
immoral person sins against his own body.
• Sexual sin is external and internal in relation to a person’s body.
Book by Dr. Freda Bush (OB/GYN in Jackson)
• HOOKED: New Science on How Casual Sex is Affecting Our Children
(2008)
• Our brains are wired with chemicals that create an emotional attachment
with a sexual encounter.
• The first sexual encounter for a male or a female creates a chemical
emotional attachment that God designed to last a lifetime.
• This is God’s design.
The body is a temple for the Holy Spirit.
• 1 Corinthians 6:19a
19a Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within
you, whom you have from God?
• The Christian’s body must be an acceptable place for the Holy Spirit to
dwell.

9. Your body is special to God.
• Romans 12:1
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present
your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is
your spiritual worship.
Paul’s closing statement.
• 1 Corinthians 6:19b-20
19b You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify
God in your body.
• This image is borrowed from the slave market.
• Christ’s blood is the purchase price.
Summary of Paul’s Points in 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
1. Not all things are helpful.
2. Some things will enslave you.
3. Some things are temporal.
4. Your body is the temple for the Holy Spirit.
The Final Question:
• How do you glorify God with your body?
The Answer Is:
• Live for Jesus!
• Colossians 3:17
17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the
Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Next Sunday
Luke 23:32-43
“Jesus, remember me
when you come into your kingdom.”
March 18, 2017
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA

10. The Plan of Hope & Salvation:
John 3:16
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes
in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
John 14:6
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through me.”
Romans 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a
23a For the wages of sin is death,
• Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.
• Even Jesus, the one who doesn’t deserve death, died in this life to pay the
penalty for our sin.
• The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the “second death” explained in
Revelation 21:8.
Revelation 21:8
8 “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the
sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the
lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Romans 5:8
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for
us.
Romans 6:23b
23b but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Revelation 21:7
7 "The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will
be my son.”
• Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to be conquerors.
Romans 10:9-10
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your
heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart
one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

11. Romans 10:13
13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Have questions or would like to know more?
Please, contact First Baptist Church Jackson at 601-949-1900 or
http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/