Joined To The Lord-5

JOINED To The LORD-V—1Corinthians 6:12-20

Those Uncontrollable Christians

Attention:

COMMENTS NEVER HEARD AT CHURCH...

1. Hey! It's my turn to sit in the front pew!

2. Preacher, I was so enthralled, I never noticed your sermon went 25 minutes over time.

3. Personally I find witnessing much more enjoyable than fishing.

4. I've decided to give our church the $500 a month I used to send to TV evangelists.

5. I volunteer to be the permanent teacher for the Junior High Sunday School class.

6. Forget the denominational average salary, let's pay our pastor so he can live like we do.

7. I love it when we sing hymns I've never heard before!

8. Since we're all here, let's start the service early.

9. Pastor, we'd like to send you to this Bible seminar in the Bahamas.

10. Nothing inspires me & strengthens my commitment like our annual stewardship campaign!

If we were Joined To The Lord these wouldn’t be noteworthy or humorous!

Some of you are missing out on your responsibility to the Lord God!...But you are going about it in the wrong way...You’re going about it on your terms & thus without Jesus! God may have showed up but you did not recognize the opportunity.

Lk. 19:41-44—“Now as He drew near, He saw the city & wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you & close you in on every side, & level you, & your children within you, to the ground; & they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

1Sam. 15:22-23—“So Samuel said: "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings & sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity & idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.””

*The apostle Paul warned the church at Corinth of the inherent danger of sexual immorality.

‘Inherent’= “existing in something as a permanent, essential, or characteristic attribute”

God must be allowed to control our bodies, so that...

...God’s people must be joined to the Lord.

Why must God be allowed to control our bodies?...& Why must God’s people be joined to the Lord?

4 distinctions emerge from our being joined to the Lord.

We’ve found previously that When you/we are Joined to the Lord...

1. His MASTERY Emerges(:12)

2. His USE/PURPOSE Emerges(:13-14)

3. His MORALITY Emerges(:15-16)

4a. His SPIRIT Emerges(:17-20)[*17-18 only!]

4b—When you/we are Joined to the Lord...

His SPIRIT Emerges(:17-20)[*:19 only!]

:19—“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, & you are not your own?”

“Or do you not know...”—This statement makes it obvious that Paul had correctly taught the Corinthian Christians that their bodies were “the temple of the Holy Spirit.” The Corinthians seemed to be oblivious to this fact that immorality corrupts the body.

The Christian’s body is a/the “temple” of the Holy Spirit.

Jn. 14:26—“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, & bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”

Jn. 15:26—“But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.”

Every decision a person makes, to either indulge or subdue the flesh(:12-18), hinges upon the existing fact that our physical body is also intimately & inseparably a spiritual body, & is actually a “temple” that is specifically intended for God’s worship(we worship God with these bodies) & “the Holy Spirit’s” work.

The “temple” is that inner area of the entire temple complex that is wholly given to those whom God has chosen to serve Him. It is where God & the individual priest(Christian) alone relate to one another thru our service to Him.

The presence of the Holy Spirit is constant. He is indwelling(Rom. 8:9-14; 2Tim. 1:14). He is within the believer. He lives there permanently. Every moment of the Christian’s life & every aspect of his/her being is to be dedicated to the Holy Spirit’s presence, directive, & purpose.

Rom. 8:9-14—“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors--not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”