Breaking the Power of Sexual Sin
February 8, 2025

Message Notes

Message Title: Breaking the Power of Sexual Sin
Text: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Speaker: Larry Womack
Date: February 9, 2025

12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 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. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (NIV2011)

12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. 1 Corinthians 6:12a (NIV2011)

To break the power of sexual sin…

1. We must understand it.

“I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 1 Corinthians 6:12b (NIV2011)

…Because sexual sin will master you.

20 Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife? Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman? 21 For your ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all your paths. 22 The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast. 23 For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly. Proverbs 5:20-23 (NIV2011)

…Because sexual sin will leave a stain.

3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Psalm 51:3 (NIV2011)

… Because sexual sin will cause chaos in your life.

15 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! 1 Corinthians 6:15 (NIV2011)

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. 1 Corinthians 6:16-17 (NIV2011)

2. We must confront it.

13You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 1 Corinthians 6:13 (NIV2011)

6So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!” 8But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” Genesis 39:6-9 (NIV2011)

3. We must flee from it.

18Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 1 Corinthians 6:18 (NIV2011)

8Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house, Proverbs 5:8 (NIV2011)

19Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 1 Corinthians 6:19 (NIV2011)

4. We must choke it.

20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:20 (NIV2011)

14but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Be unavailable. James 1:14-15 (NIV2011)

13Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. Avoid the Darkness.Romans 6:13 (NIV2011)

12The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.Romans 13:12-14 (NIV2011)

19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Abstain from Sinful desires.John 3:19 (NIV2011)

11Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 1 Peter 2:11 (NIV2011)

16So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Galatians 5:16 (NIV2011)

21God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV2011)