Tape 2459.03 iLife #3, 1 Corinthians Series
Senior Pastor, Jeff Jones

Flee from sexual sin; don’t fight it.

Flee from sexual immorality
1 Corinthians 6:18a

If you don’t want to fall off the cliff, don’t go to the edge. You are not a temptation superman!

1 Corinthians 10:12

Get married and keep your sex life healthy.

Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry. But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. I say this as a concession, not as a command. I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.

Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
(1 Corinthians 7:1-9 NIV)

Abstinence is the ideal before marriage, not within a marriage.

Don’t deprive each other (1 Corinthians 7:5) so that Satan will not tempt you. Withholding sex is a sure fire way to invite Satan into your marriage. This is not a justification for sin, but this sets you up for a fall.

Be seriously resolute in your commitment to sexual purity.

“Everything is permissable for me” was a popular slogan in the Corinthian church. Reality: we are free from sin, not free to sin! 1 Corinthians 6:12-13

Sexual sin is uniquely offensive to God.

1 Corinthians 6:15-20

The original Greek porneia means any sexual activity outside the marriage.

Wherever we go sexually, God goes with us. Dwell on that a bit the next time you are tempted sexually. Sexual sin is uniquely dangerous to us (v 18). Honor God with your body (v 19-20).

Jeff recommended The Gift of Sex: A Guide to Sexual Fulfillment by Clifford and Joyce Penner.

Listen to iLife: Staying Pure in a Sex-Crazed World with iTunes.