“Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.” (1 Corinthians 6:18)
As a believer, when you commit sexual immorality, your body becomes ‘one flesh’ with the other person. This is according to 1 Corinthians 6:16, which says:
“Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For ‘the two,’ He says, ‘shall become one flesh.’”
When your body gets joined to the other person through sexual immorality, you also become one spirit with her. This is very wrong because when you became a believer, your spirit was joined to Christ Jesus as recorded in 1 Corinthians 6:17:
“But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.”
This means that, when a believer engages in sexual immorality, he subjects the spirit of the Lord to defilement, which greatly grieves the Holy Spirit. Therefore, every believer should always remember that after getting born again, their body, soul, and spirit became God’s property. Hence, they are supposed to lead their lives completely sold out to God. This sentiment is echoed in the book of 1 Corinthians 6:19, which says:
“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
Why should every believer flee sexual immorality?
Here are some of the reasons why every believer should flee sexual immorality:
1. God will destroy those who defile their bodies through sexual immorality.
A believer should flee sexual immorality because God will destroy the person who defiles his or her body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit. This is recorded for us in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17:
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”
2. Those who commit sexual immorality will not inherit the kingdom of God.
A believer should flee sexual immorality because all those who engage in it will not inherit the kingdom of God. This is recorded for us in various scriptures, including the following:
1 Corinthians 6:9
“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor the covetous, drunkards, revilers, or extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”
Revelation 22:14-15
“Blessed are those who do his commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers, and whoever loves and practices a lie.”
3. God wills that believers should abstain from sexual immorality.
The Bible teaches that it is the will of God that believers should be sanctified by abstaining from sexual immorality. This is recorded in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7, which says:
“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness but in holiness.”
4. Sexual immorality destroys one’s soul.
A believer should flee sexual immorality because it destroys one’s soul. This is recorded in Proverbs 6:32-33 as follows:
“Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; he who does so destroys his own soul. Wounds and dishonor he will get, and his reproach will not be wiped away.”
How can a believer flee sexual immorality?
1. A believer can flee sexual immorality by keeping the commandment and the law of God.
This is recorded in Proverbs 6:23-29.
“For the commandment is a lamp and the law is light; reproofs of instruction are the way of life, to keep you from the evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a seductress. Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, nor let her allure you with her eyelids. For by means of a prostitute a man is reduced to a crust of bread, and an adulteress will prey upon his precious life. Can a man take fire to his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be seared? So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; whoever touches her shall not be innocent.”
By observing the commandment of God, a believer is able to escape from death and hell, embodied in sexual immorality. This is according to Proverbs 5:1-5, which says:
“My son, pay attention to my wisdom; lend your ear to my understanding, that you may preserve discretion and that your lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword, her feet go down to death, and her steps lay hold of hell.”
2. A believer can flee sexual immorality by shunning worldliness.
Many believers fall into sexual immorality because they have surrendered their lives to worldliness. Their love and affection for the world and the things in the world has made them prey to the spirit of sexual immorality, among many other evils. Specifically, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life have caused many believers to backslide and forsake the race of faith.
This is according to the book of 1 John 2:15-17:
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
One way by which a believer becomes enticed by the world is by falling for everything that social media is offering. For instance, the devil has successfully used x-rated sites to entice and hook many believers into sexual immorality to the detriment of their spiritual life.
The lust of the eye has made it impossible to satisfy their appetite for wanting to see more and more of the said x-rated videos. Consequently, many have become enslaved with no idea of how to free themselves from this addiction. They have thus become a living example of what the Preacher teaches in the book of Ecclesiastes 1:8 about eyes that are never satisfied with seeing:
“All things are full of labor; man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.”
In light of this, it becomes important for every believer to learn how to responsibly use the available social platforms to ensure that they do not get hooked up and eventually led astray. Moreover, if you discover that you are weak, it is better to completely keep off the Internet if that is what it will take for you to inherit the kingdom of God. This is what Jesus meant when he said,
“And if your eye makes you sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than, having two eyes, to be cast into hellfire—‘where‘their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” (Mark 9:47-48)
A believer can also overcome worldliness by yielding his body as a living sacrifice to God on a day-to-day basis. This is recorded in Romans 12:1-2, where scripture says:
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
The mind of a believer can only be renewed by the diligent study of the word of God, by constantly engaging in prayer, and by occasionally setting time aside for fasting. These are the key pillars upon which every believer should strive to build their lives if they are keen on overcoming sexual immorality.
3. A believer can flee sexual immorality by keeping the right company.
In 1 Corinthians 5:9 and 5:11, the Apostle Paul urges every believer to shun the company of sexually immoral people, including those who are born again. Here are the scriptures:
1 Corinthians 5:9
“I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people.”
1 Corinthians 5:11
“But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother who is a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.”
Elsewhere, the Bible teaches that bad company corrupts good morals. This is recorded in the book of 1 Corinthians 15:33 as follows:
“Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits.’”
This verse teaches that if you are a believer, you better walk with individuals whose conduct is aligned to the word of God. This means you should associate with individuals who fear God and keep His commandments at all times. Keeping the company of committed believers will challenge you to walk in holiness and flee sexual immorality. On the other hand, if you keep company with people who are sexually immoral, you will also become sexually immoral.
This instruction is echoed in the book of 2 Corinthians 6:14-18.
“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them.’ Therefore, ‘Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.’ ‘I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters.’ Says the LORD Almighty.”
4. A believer can flee sexual immorality by getting married.
The Bible instructs a man to get married to avoid sexual immorality. This is according to the teaching of Apostle Paul as recorded in the book of 1 Corinthians 7:1-5. The scripture says:
“Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: it is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband.
The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”
According to this scripture, a believer can freely enjoy sex within the confines of the institution of marriage. It is explicitly clear that neither the wife nor the husband should deny their partner sex for whatever reason. The only exception is when they agree to abstain from sex so as to seek the face of God in prayer and fasting.
Otherwise, if the husband deliberately denies his wife sex as a form of punishing her, the wife may get involved in extramarital affairs in order to satisfy her desire. The same thing may happen when the wife chooses to deny her husband sex. Unfortunately, the Bible teaches against extra-marital affairs, and strict judgment awaits those who violate this commandment.
Furthermore, the Apostle Paul instructs widows who cannot exercise self-control to get married and not burn with passion. This is recorded in 1 Corinthians 7:8-9 as follows:
“But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: it is good for them if they remain even as I am; but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.”
Forms of sexual immorality prohibited in the Bible according to the Old Testament
According to the book of Leviticus 18:6-23, God strictly warned the children of Israel against committing the following sexual sins:
· Having sex with your biological parent (Leviticus 18:7)
· Having sex with your stepmother (Leviticus 18:8)
· Having sex with your biological sister or step-sister (Leviticus 18:9, 11)
· Having sex with your granddaughter (Leviticus 18:10)
· Having sex with your aunt (Leviticus 18:12-14)
· Having sex with your daughter-in-law (Leviticus 18:15)
· Having sex with your brother’s wife (Leviticus 18:16)
· Having sex with a woman and her daughter (Leviticus 18:17)
· Having sex with your sister-in-law (Leviticus 18:18)
· Having sex with a woman during her menstruation (Leviticus 18:19)
· Having sex with your neighbor’s wife (Leviticus 18:20)
· Having sex with a male as with a woman (Leviticus 18:22)
· Having sex with a beast (Leviticus 18:23)
I hope this is helpful. God richly bless you.
Related post: What does the bible say about adultery, fornication, and divorce
Also read: What does the bible say about a seductive woman
Prayer to get born again
Are you willing to become a born-again Christian? Make the following prayer:
“Lord Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner and hereby ask for your forgiveness.
I believe in my heart and confess with my mouth that you are the only begotten Son of the living God.
I believe that you were sent by your Father to the earth to save sinners like me.
I believe that you died and resurrected in order for me to receive eternal life.
I now accept you as my personal Lord and Savior.
Come into my heart and baptize me with the Holy Spirit.
Thank you for saving me.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
Amen!”
Congratulations, friend! You are now a born-again Christian!
Welcome to the family of God!