1 Corinthians: The Choice for God’s Design for Sexuality

Cypress Crossings Christian Church

1 Corinthians: The Choice for God’s Design for Sexuality

Part 5

February 25, 2024 • Steve Hinton • 1 Corinthians 6:18–20, Romans 6:1–4, 1 Corinthians 6:15–20, 1 John 1:8–9, 1 Corinthians 5:9–10

The Higher Calling

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 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.

Genesis 2:25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Sex Was God’s Design and Sexual Fulfillment is Done God’s Way.

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

1. The Problem

a. Absent Truth

b. Flawed Grace

Romans 6:1-4 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

2. The Truth

Hebrews 13:4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.

1 Corinthians 6:15-20 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 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.

Genesis 2:24-25 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

3. The Grace

1 John 1:8-9 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

4. The Balance

Romans 2:1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgement on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgement do the same things.

1 Corinthians 5:9-10 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people - 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.

Genesis 39:12 She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come to bed with me!" But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.

1 Corinthians 7:9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than burn with passion.

Proverbs 5:18 May our fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.

The Choice to Stand

April 7, 2024 • Steve Hinton • 1 Corinthians 16:13–14, Ephesians 4:13–14, Joshua 1:9, 1 Peter 5:8, Daniel 3:17–18

1 Cor 16:13-14 “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love.” 1. Be Watchful 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 2. Stand Firm Daniel 3:17-18 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” 3. Act like Men Ephesians 4:13-14 “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and for by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” 4. Be Strong Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Hebrews 11:36-38 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— 38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 5. Do All This in Love John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. Ephesians 4:15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ Ecclesiastes 4:12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

On This We Stand

March 31, 2024 • Steve Hinton • 1 Corinthians 15:1–8, 1 Corinthians 15:19, Romans 5:1, 1 Peter 2:24, John 14:6

1 Corinthians 15:1-2 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. 1 Corinthians 15:19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. Hope Comes When We Make the Choice to Remember 1. Remember the Gospel Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ 2. Remember the Basis for the Gospel 1 Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” Hebrews 10:10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Luke 19:9-10 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” 3. Remember the Fruit of the Gospel John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 1 Corinthians 15:55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace. Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. John 14:1-3 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me so that you also may be where I am.” Revelation 21:1-4 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 2 Timothy 4:6-8 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearance.

1 Corinthians: The Choice for the Higher Love

March 24, 2024 • Steve Hinton • 1 Corinthians 13:4–8, 1 John 4:9–10, John 3:16, 1 John 4:19, 1 Corinthians 10:24

-God’s Love is All You Need. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends.” 1. See God’s Love. Luke 6:35b “for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.” 1 John 4:9-10 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 2. Receive God’s Love. Romans 5:8 God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 3. Walk in God’s Love. 1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us. 1 Corinthians 10:24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. Matthew 7:12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (NIV)