Transcript

Please turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. We have been doing a series titled ‘Redeemed.’ And we particularly talked about one particular area of redemption that is how we are redeemed from sickness. And in that connection, we started talking about the redemption of our bodies. Now when you talk about redemption of our body’s, people simply think that that is something that is scheduled to happen in eternity to come. That is when eternity is ushered, in when Jesus comes, that is when redemption of our bodies is going to happen. It is true that when Jesus comes and eternity is ushered in redemption is going to come to a completion, in the sense that one aspect of body redemption which is immortality will be given at that time. We don’t have immortality now. But immortality is something for our body is going to be given at the time when eternity is ushered in. But the Bible does teach, that the redemption of our bodies in so many ways is happening in the here and now in our lives, it’s a very interesting thing. This is something that I’ve never addressed here in the church. Redemption is something that is happening in the here and now it’s an on-going thing. It is happening right now in our lives in so many ways. The completion of it is going to happen in eternity to come.

Now, when we talk about redemption, we easily understand that He has redeemed us from our sins, from our bondage to Satan and all of that, all of that we don’t really have to talk about right now because it is something that we have talked much about, and we understand. But somehow people begin to think that except for things that have to do with the spiritual which is forgiveness of sins, and deliverance from the bondage to Satan and so on. Everything else will have to wait until Jesus comes in, until eternity is ushered in, they think. It has been like that for as long as I know, generally that’s how people think. But think about it like this; see man is made as spirit soul and body. He is given a family; his work of his hands is part of his life. Social life is part of his existence. Now when man fell into sin, sin and its consequences touched every one of these areas. You cannot divide man into pieces like spirit and soul and body, we divide it for the sake of teaching purposes. For the purpose of teaching, we divide it. We talk about spirit, we talk about soul, we talk about body, we talk about family and so on. But man is a total being, he is someone that has all of these things as a part of his being. So, when sin came and the consequences of sin touched his life, it touched every one of these aspects of his life. So, when redemption comes, redemption must necessarily touch every one of these aspects that have been touched by sin and its consequences, otherwise it cannot be redemption. Now it will help us to understand what I’m trying to say today, better if we understand this. And it’s so important that we understand this because it will enable us to receive so many things that are available for us in the here and now today. Otherwise, we’ll miss so many blessings that are available to us right now. Like I have been saying, “If the down payment is so big sometimes, then just with the down payment, so many needs can be met.”So, you’re just selling a property and the value of the property is very high. Just the advance amount that you receive is enough to take care of so many of your needs. It’ll pay for another house for you, it will pay for all your debts, clear all your debts and so on it can.

Now the down payment that God has given in redemption when He sent Jesus and He died on the cross and made this redemption available for us. Certainly, the Bible says that we have received the down payment and the redemption is going to be completed in a sense in the days to come when Jesus comes when eternity is ushered in. But the down payment itself is so huge that it takes care of so many needs for us in the here and now.

So, we’ve been looking at how, in what way is redemption for our bodies experienced in the here and now, if it’s not all for the future, if there are things that we can have and enjoy today. In what way can we experience the redemption of our bodies in the here and now? The first thing I told you was through forgiveness of sins; you can experience the redemption of our bodies right now. Not all sicknesses are because of man’s sin. Well, sickness in general is because of Adam’s sin. But when we get sick, it’s not all the time because we have sinned personally. But there are some sicknesses that are related to our sin and the resulting guilt and condemnation that we experience in our mind. It results in sickness, which is what is called psychosomatic illnesses. We talked about it the other day. Psychosomatic means the mind the body connection because the mind is ridden with guilt, because the mind is burdened with this unbearable guilt. It does something to the body. So, the body shows up with certain sicknesses. Real sickness not imagined one’s – real sicknesses. Now, the doctors can treat us for sicknesses. But in order for the psychosomatic illness to be treated, you need to deal with the mind because that’s where the root is. The cause is in the mind and it does result in sickness. Unless you treat the mind, you cannot really completely get rid of the sickness. You can get rid of pain and give some relief to a person in his body, but unless you treat the mind you cannot bring about true healing in that sense.

So, there are the sicknesses we showed you that are related to our mental condition, because our mind and the guilt ridden mind and the burdened heart brings about sickness, and we saw the case of the psalmist in the Bible, where he talks about how his body is waxing old and his bones are really becoming old, he is growing old very quickly because of all the guilt that he suffers from. And he comes to ask God for forgiveness, he says “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence,” and so on. And as he asked forgiveness from God as God cleanses him and washes, he says “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.” And when he experiences God’s cleansing. Then that results in bodily healing also there’s a difference, that happens as a result of the mental burden of guilt being removed. So, that one thing we saw, through forgiveness of sin, you can experience redemption of your body in the here and now. Healing for your body is here and now. Secondly, we saw last week, how through the Word of God and through obedience to God’s Word you can experience bodily redemption. We went to Proverbs chapter 4, we talked about how the proverb says “My son, give attention to my words;Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh..”

Now, the Word of God can really heal sickness it says, literally puts it that way: medicine to all your flesh. How can the Word of God become medicine to all your flesh? Another place we read that God sends His word and heals them all. So, the Word of God has a healing property in it. When you walk by the Word of God, when you obey the Word of God, when you put it before your eyes, when you meditate upon it with intention of doing it. Keep them before your eyes, put them in the midst of your heart, and guard them. Then you walk in health also and healing also. The amazing truth. You know, when we think of healing, we think of going to some healing meeting and some evangelists preaching and praying and some people getting healed. That is there but the Bible doesn’t teach about healing only in that way. The Bible teaches healing in this way. The redemption of our bodies can be experienced by believers on a day-to-day on-going basis in the here and now. You don’t have to wait until eternity comes in. You can experience it today. You can start practicing it now; you can derive the benefits that come from obeying God’s word and receiving forgiveness of sins. Keeping your heart clean and coming to God for cleansing. Through all of this you can experience healing.

Now, today we want to go to the third thing, today want to look at how through dedication and stewardship of our bodies by dedicating our bodies to God. And by managing and taking care of our bodies, by caring for our bodies, how we can experience bodily redemption. We can experience healing and health and strength and so on. By dedicating our body to God and caring for our body as a body that belongs to God. Let me go into it. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, I hope you’ve got it turned there and let me read through from verse 9 itself. “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 covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” And now look at this and such where some of you he tells the Corinthians, some of these people who were living that kind of life, very ugly life, very sinful life. And he says, “But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” So, what he’s saying is, there was a time when your body was an instrument of unrighteousness. You took your body and used it for all kinds of purposes to please yourself, to fulfil your lust and your desires. You went after whatever your heart desired, had no qualms about it. And did whatever your heart wanted and used your body like that and didn’t think twice about anything bad about it. But now, you’re washed, you’re sanctified, you’re made righteous, that means you’re saved. And something has happened to you that should make a difference in the way you use your body now, that’s what he’s getting at.

Now, he says in verse 12 “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any “. What is he talking about? It means to say that I’m free. I’m a free person. I can do anything but I do not use my freedom to do things that are not right. You know, all things are not helpful. All things are not good. Even though I can do all things, it doesn’t mean that I can just go and do it. All things are not good. All things are not helpful. All things are not right.

What does he mean? He explains that food for the stomach and stomach for the foods, but God will destroy both it and them. There are people that have this philosophy. You ask them what the stomach is for they say, “it’s there so you can dump the food in there” and you ask them why food is there and you say, “it’s for the stomach” and you ask them why the stomach is there, they say “stomach is there for the food.” But God will destroy both it and them. Now the body, now listen to it, he’s getting to a point here. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. Now this passage here starting from verse 9 itself, but particularly from verse 13. Here, all the way to the end is one of the most important passages giving us a theology of the body. What does the Bible teach about the body? What is the biblical teaching about the body? Here you have a wonderful teaching. It gives us six things that we need to know about what the Bible says about the body. And the first thing that he says is, the body is for the Lord. The body is for the Lord.

Now, what he means is this, he means that God has given you a body and you used it for all kinds of purposes. You just did whatever you wanted with it, whatever pleased you with it. You didn’t know any better. You’re a fallen person, didn’t know God, didn’t know the truth. So, you did whatever you wanted with it. But now you’re washed, sanctified, redeemed, you are made righteous. Now you ought to know better he says, God gave you the body, body is not your invention. You are not the creator of your body. When God gave the first man body, he took the dust of the earth and formed a body and breathed into that body his life and man became a living soul. So, the body is the gift of God. God is the maker of the body; he is the creator of the body and so God says now I gave you the body and you ruined it by sin. You started using it for all kinds of purposes. I gave it to you for a purpose. I gave it to you because I wanted the body to belong to me. Body is for the Lord and the Lord is for the body. I gave it to you so that the body will belong to me so that I will come and dwell in your body. I will move through your body. I will work through your body. Your body will express my will and do my work. That’s why I gave you the body there’s a purpose behind the body. Nothing is without a purpose. Body is a very important part of man. We have to deal with it every day. And look at the purpose that God has for the body. He gave it to us so that the body can belong exclusively to Him, so that it can be His domain so that He can live in us. The body will be for the Lord and the Lord will be for the body. And that He can work himself and express himself through the body. So that we can do the will of God through this body that God has given to us.

Now God says “you took the body and use it for all kinds of things” that we read about 9th verse and 10th verse and so on, you did whatever you like. But now I’m saying “you’re washed, you’re sanctified, you’re made righteous, give me back that body. Give back the body that belongs to me, that body belongs to me I am the maker of the body and claiming it in redemption. That body belongs to me. The body is for the Lord.” Now this is a very important point. I want to spend most of my preaching time here today. On this point, the rest of the five points I can just do it in 10 minutes. Because once you understand this, everything else falls in line. So let me take time to explain this.

So, the body belongs to the Lord, it is meant to belong to the Lord. The Lord is supposed to live in the body, supposed to belong to the Lord. Therefore, your body belongs to the Lord. It is not to be given there for immorality. Is not to be given to overwork, it is not to be given to sloth. It is not to be given to abuse; it is not to be given to neglect. You’ve got to be responsible for your body. Be a responsible steward of your body, responsible caretaker of your body. Now, prior to the conversion, our body was dedicated to and was directed towards self and sin. What I want, what is pleasurable to me. That’s what it was dedicated to: what feels good for me, what thrills me, self, and sin. But now, Paul says it is dedicated to God. Let me take you to another passage, keep 1 Corinthians 6 because that’s where we’re going to spend our time but let’s go to Romans 12 and a few other places to explain this fully. And we’ll come back to 1 Corinthians 6.

Romans chapter 12, verse 1. Now Romans is a wonderful book. I’ve taught this verse by verse, complete the book here for seven and a half years during Sunday morning services. First 11 chapters have to do with how God takes a sinner and makes him a righteous person. That’s the first 11 chapters. After giving us the first 11 chapters about salvation how God makes a sinner righteous verse 12 begins like this, “I beseech you, therefore”, the therefore refers to the first 11 chapters, because you’re saved, I’m now appealing to you. He 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..”So, Paul says, “Look, you’re saved now. I showed you how you get saved, how sinner becomes righteous. Therefore, I’m now beseeching you to live in your practical life, to reflect that reality. That you present your body.” How do you do that? You present your bodies as living sacrifice. Now notice the word living sacrifice not as a sacrifice, living sacrifice. Now back when I was growing up, I went to a meeting where they said, at the altar call time and every altar call I was there because I wanted to do something, I wanted to serve the Lord, do something for the Lord. So, one fella gave the altar call saying, “How many of you are ready to die as martyrs for Jesus,” and I was there like in the front. Because a whole lot of fellows were there. But none of them looked like good martyrs, including me. I think we were there because we knew in our heart, nobody’s looking for us to kill us. And it’s never going to happen, most likely not going to happen. So, we don’t have to be afraid. And we don’t have to hesitate to turn ourselves in saying that we will be martyrs.Thank God in this country, we still have freedom and liberty to preach and practice and believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nobody’s trying to kill us. Nobody’s trying to take our life away from us. So, we went before the altar and gave our lives to become martyrs ready to die. But the bigger question is, are you ready to live? That’s the most difficult thing. Ready to die is way easy I think when you realize you’re not going to die. Are you ready to live that’s the question and ready to live is a very complicated thing? How do you live for God? How do you live as a living sacrifice to lay yourself on the altar of sacrifice when they kill you and your life leaves you that is easier? How do you live as a living sacrifice? There are two ways I believe that you can present your bodies as living sacrifice. One way is what Chrysostom talks about. I don’t know if you’ve heard of Chrysostom. He is one of the Church Fathers that lived in the first few centuries of the Church known to be a very great preacher. So great, so wonderful because I read his history and they say that he was a bishop and he would preach long sermons and he preached like two and a half hours one time. Thousands of people were gathered, preached two and a half hours and after two and a half hours of preaching he stopped and people were yelling, saying “More! More! More”! That’s the kind of preacher he was, just imagine. And his sermons are available in English to read right now. So, he says this and how is the body it said to become a sacrifice “Let the eye look on no evil thing and let that become a sacrifice, let thy tongue speak nothing filthy and it has become an offering. Let thine hand do no lawless deed and it has become a whole burnt offering.”

Now, we can see how you can give yourself as a living sacrament.To be a living sacrifice, you need to live for God. Where your eye doesn’t look at things that are not good and your tongue does not speak anything filthy and your hand does not do any lawless deed. This is how you offer yourself as a living sacrifice.You live for God, a holy life. Live for God, a life that pleases God. Do only what God will and God is pleased with. And he says this is your reasonable service Paul says.So, regular meetings together of Christians for praise and mutual edification like we have right now on Sunday mornings are appropriate and commanded in Scripture and we need to get together every Sunday. Sing, worship the Lord, hear the Word of God and we need this. Neglect not the assembling of yourselves together, the Bible says. That’s very good. But such special times of corporate worship are not the only aspect of the worship that a believer offers to God. The worship that the believer offers to God is continual worship and is supposed to be continual worship, where all the time you’re living, worshiping the Lord, so that each of us offer to the Lord the sacrifice of our bodies, day-by-day. Not just coming on Sunday mornings and shouting hallelujah. But every day, all the time, living for God in the way that Chrysostom defines.

Now, what Chrysostom has talked about has become Sunday school songs in my day. When we were in Sunday school, we used to sing songs about you know, be careful what you see, what you do with your hand and what you hear with your ears and I don’t know if they sing it now. But we used to sing like that and that truth really got in.It comes from Chrysostom’s preaching; it’s become a song and the truth has been driven home. And it’s a very simple and profound truth. It is so true. To be a living sacrifice, first of all, you need to live a life for God. Live a holy life. Do what is pleasing with this body, every day, all the time. That is the reasonable service.Reasonable service means that is the only thing.In Tamil it says [Tamil 26:19] that means that is the only logical, rational worship.That’s what it means. Logical, rational way of worshiping. I think Paul was having in mind that the irrational, illogical, senseless, meaningless worship that some other people were doing at the time in the society. He was comparing that in his mind.He says,“Christians are not to worship in that way as senseless, illogical, irrational worship.” A worship, which doesn’t make sense. What would that be? That would be a worship where you go and do a few rituals and ceremonies and you claim I’ve done this; I’ve done that – what more do I have to do. I’m ready to give some money. I’m ready to do my duty. I’m ready to do this, that and so on. And then, you feel like you’ve worshipped. That is senseless worship.

What is rational worship,which makes sense.What is this [Tamil 27:22] that Tamil describes it as?What is the logical, rational worship?A worship where you live your life for God every day, on a daily basis, moment by moment basis? And then you come on Sunday and together sing and worship and praise the Lord and hear the Word of God and so on.That is the rational, true way of worship that makes any sense. All right. So, that’s the first way.The second way is a little deeper.It needs a lot of explanation. That’s why I’m going to take some time. What is the second way? Second way is what we see in the lives of the Apostles themselves. Paul demonstrated it and so many other Apostles demonstrated it, what it means to live as living sacrifice for the Lord and worship the Lord in that way. In a way that makes sense. What is that way that the Apostles demonstrated? Turn with me to Galatians, chapter 6 and let me read verse 17:From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Very interesting thing. I want you to listen carefully. From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Now, in order to understand what he’s trying to say, you need to understand the book of Galatians. This is the end of the book of Galatians.He’s just closing the letter. So, without understanding what the whole book of Galatians is all about, you’re not going to understand this.

The whole book of Galatians is about this. He has gone into the region called Galatia and established churches.He has taken the Gospel, so many people from the Gentiles came and received Jesus as Lord and Saviour. They were of course, some people from the Jewish background also. So, he established churches, many churches in that area. And he finished the work there and went back to Antioch. And while he was away, back in Antioch, some Christians, but these Christians were mixed up, because they were trying to bring in the Jewish teachings and mix them with Christianity. In their mind they didn’t understand Christian teaching so well. So, they were confusing it. They’re taking the teaching of God’s grace and making it a works religion based on what they’ve learned in Jewish religion. Even in the Jewish religion, they did not understand. For example, they had what is called circumcision. Circumcision was a sign that God gave in a man’s body, there is a need to cut away a part of their flesh. That’s what circumcision is all about. They take the flesh and cut a little part of that flesh. This God told Abraham to do and God brought all male children born to the Abraham’s descendants to do and they did it. This was a sign of a covenant. Now, later on, they became so proud of that sign of that covenant. Remember David going against Goliath? He looks at Goliath and says he is an uncircumcised Philistine.In other words,he’s saying he’s just like the bear and the lion that I killed. He’s just liked another animal. He doesn’t have any connection with God. He has no covenant with God. He has no favour with God. He doesn’t have God’s help. I am a covenant man. I bear in my body circumcision, the sign of the covenant.Look at his pride. He believed in it. The covenant meant that when two people came into the covenant agreement, each of them said to one another, that if the other ever lacked anything, they can receive it from the other party. So, one would say to the other, all that belongs to me is yours, and the other would say the same thing. All that belongs to me is yours.Now, just imagine what covenant between us and God is like.

God says, all that belongs to Me is yours. And that’s wonderful because a lot of things belong to God. And I say to God, all that is mine belongs to You. But what belongs to me?What do I have that God doesn’t have? Now, this is a good deal. In Tamil they have a TV show they say[Tamil TV show 00:31:54] And I say, this is a good deal.This is an excellent deal where I say all that I have belongs to You and I have only sin and shame and all of these things to give, but He has everything good to give. That’s the best deal that we’ve got. That’s the covenant.

So, the Old Testament people believed in this covenant, and took pride in that covenant and circumcisions served as a sign of the covenant. They were so proud of that. And these Galatians churches had lots of Gentiles and Paul did not insist on them to be circumcised. Circumcision was a Jewish thing.It was given to Abraham and his children, to teach them something about the spiritual truth. Now, Paul felt that it was unreasonable to make the Gentile Christians to do that. So,he didn’t bother them with that.He never asked, he even preached saying that it’s not necessary. And God had confirmed later on by the Jerusalem apostles, that it’s not necessary because it’s just a Jewish thing for a purpose at a time. He himself was circumcised as Jew. But he never took pride in that. As a Christian, he never took pride in that but he finds these Christians that are coming and teaching these Galatians and misleading them. They’re taking pride in that, they’re demanding that those people the Gentiles also be circumcised, apart from being baptized and all that.They needed to have circumcision and all that. So, he’s angry at them, he literally chews them out in Galatians and then he comes to the end of the letter after some very strong words throughout the Epistles. He now finishes the letter saying, “From now on, let no one trouble me.” You can see the tone of the letter now. Then don’t trouble me anymore with this nonsense. And he says, for I bear in my body, the marks of the Lord Jesus. In other words, he’s saying, you’re so proud about the bodily marks that you bear in your body, the circumcision mark, but I bear the real mark that you need to bear, the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in a new covenant now. The new covenant has come and I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. He’s taking pride in something else. They’re taking pride in circumcision. He’s taking pride in the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, what are the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ?The word “marks” are marked in a body was used back in those days by slave owners, because slavery was there all over the world. And when owners bought some slaves and made them their own, they would put a mark in their body that cannot be erased so that they will forever be known as slaves that belong to a particular owner and even religious people sometimes put certain tattoos in their bodies of certain figures and so on, as a sign of the religion or religious symbol. So,“mark” is a word for that. So, when Paul says that I bear in my body, physical marks.Some people have gone to the extent of saying just like people today wear a chain with a cross or something that Paul had literally gone ahead and put some mark in his body. And he’s talking about that mark to identify himself as a Christian. I think not because in Leviticus chapter 19, verse 28, the Bible tells us not to put any tattoos. Have you ever thought about why the Bible says don’t do any tattoos? I think God is saying, “Look, the body is Mine. Don’t be scribbling on it. You have no right to be doing such thing. Don’t be messing up your body. That body belongs to Me. I put my sign. Circumcision is my sign. I put it on there. Don’t be putting any other sign on it. That body belongs to Me.” He says it like they meant in other words, look at the way He says it. I don’t have the time to read it. He says, “Do not put such things as tattoos for I am the Lord.”That is the way He says it. Why should He say,“I’m the Lord?” He says“I’m the Lord of your body. Your body belongs to Me. Don’t be messing with that body. Your body must be treated as a sacred space with respect because it belongs to Me. Don’t be messing with that,” He says. So, I don’t think Paul would have put any mark on his body. And this is not referring to that mark. Then what is it referring to? Most Bible scholars they think that it’s a reference to the scars and other marks on Paul’s body that are as a result of his persecution on behalf of Christ. You read about that in 2^nd Corinthians, chapter 4. 2^nd Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 10. Listen to this: “Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. Now, he didn’t say always carrying in the body the death, you know.It’s not referring to the death of the Lord Jesus; he’s carrying the dying of the Lord Jesus. In other words, it’s not talking about death. It is talking about the process of dying, rather than the final state of death.

The process of dying means you remember when Jesus was handed over.Jesus himself said the Son of Man on the way to Jerusalem. He said to the disciples, who were really scared going to Jerusalem expecting trouble there. Jesus said, “The Son of Man is going to be handed over to men.” In another place, He says in the very next chapter in Mark, He says, “The Son of Man shall be handed over to the scribes and the Pharisees and they will hand Him over to the Gentiles,” talking about how He’s going to go suffer and die. That kind of thing is talking about because look at the verse 11, it says, For we who live are always delivered to death—, see that word “delivered to death”. That is the word that is used for delivering Jesus to be handed over, to be punished, to be arrested, to be judged and to be condemned and to then finally be put to death.That whole process of dying, For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake. In other words, he’s saying they haven’t died. The Apostle Paul hasn’t died yet. He’s writing. He says, but we are delivered to death many times. I went through the same process that Jesus went through. I was handed over; I was arrested and thrown in prison. My hands and legs were bound. I was beaten so many times with 39 stripes. I’ve gone through all the Jesus went through in the process of dying. This thing has happened to me. We who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake. So, that death refers to the process of dying, referring to the persecution or the suffering that Jesus experienced.

So, Paul is saying, look, I’m carrying in my body, so many marks of the beating, scourging, my chains, the suffering that I endured in my body. You can find marks all over my body. I carry on my body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, he says, if you look at my body, you will know Who’s I am. I belong to Christ.It’s the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a tremendous remark this is.Now, you may say, well, you’re talking about bodily redemption. In what way is this bodily redemption?This man got beaten so many times, whipped so many times with 39 stripes, whipped by all kinds of people, suffered with marks all over his body. You call this bodily redemption. That’s the way the Bible treats it, as bodily redemption. Do you know why? Before his body was used to hunt down Christians, his body was used to travel from town to town, going and killing people, persecuting Christians, arresting Christians, and giving them trouble. He used the God-given body to do all this evil, not knowing that God has given the body for some other purpose. He was a sinner, did not know. And he was using the body like that. But now, since he’s been washed and been sanctified and been made righteous, his body now belongs to the Lord. That is why he is writing in 1 Corinthians 6,“The body is for the Lord”. He believes it really; he believes that his body now belongs to the Lord. Now, his body has turned around.It is not hunting down Christians, it is not persecuting Christians, the strength of his body is not used to whip Christians or go after Christians. His body and the strength and health that God has given to him is now used to travel from one town to another, from one nation to another, one place to another, carrying the Gospel all over the world. The body is for the Lord. That is why when the body got hit, when the body was whipped, when the body bore the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ,which speaks of the redemption of his body. This body has been redeemed. It used to be a body of sin. It used to be a body that committed sin. It used to be a body that lived in sin,which did things against God.But now, it is a body that belongs to the Lord. The mark in his body shows that his body now belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that way, you and I can say this is a redeemed body.This is the redemption of the body. He’s got the marks to show that his body has been redeemed. It no more belongs to sin and the devil. It belongs to Christ. Christ is the owner of this body.

Paul got those marks in four kinds of suffering that he suffered. He talks about it in verse 8, for example. “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair.”Now, let me read verse 7, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”. He is talking about the body as earthen vessel, but carrying the treasure of God’s glory, the knowledge of God and all of that. Body’s an earthen vessel.Earthen vessel means you drop it, it’ll break into pieces. Body is a very breakable thing. It can perish. You can kill it, destroy it. But in the body, God has put a treasure.Why?For His glory. He has chosen to put in the body, which is the earthen vessel, the Bible calls it, chosen to put His glory in the earthen vessel,His power in the earthen vessel, so that when people see Paul ministering, when the power of God is working through him, they know it’s not from him. It is not from this body because his body is just an earthen vessel. They know it is from God.The power belongs to God.

In what way he bears the marks. He says,“We are hard-pressed.”One translation says,“Squeezed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed.” The translation says,“We are bewildered,” instead of perplexed. We are persecuted. It is translated as pursued in another translation. We’re knocked down or struck down, here it says, but the other translation says knocked down. So, in being squeezed in being bewildered and being pursued and being knocked down, he bears the dying of the Lord Jesus. Whatever Jesus has experienced, he has experienced.The suffering that Jesus experienced, he has experienced. When Jesus met Saul, he said, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” And he was shocked because he said, “Well, I didn’t persecute you.” He was thinking I didn’t persecute Jesus. But because he persecuted the Christians, Jesus was saying, “Why do you persecute me?” If Jesus ever met Saul’s persecutors, he would have said the same. He would have said why do you persecute me because persecuting Saul or Paul, meant that they were persecuting Christ Himself.

Now look at verse 11. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.Now,it doesn’t stop with experiencing the dying of Jesus in the body. It’s not a negative thing, you see.It’s not just stopping with dying the suffering, but the life of Jesus is manifested in his mortal flesh he says.How is the life of Jesus manifested in his mortal flesh?It is manifested because he was squeezed but not squashed. He was bewildered but not befuddled. He was persecuted but not forsaken,not abandoned.Knocked down but not knocked out. The life of Jesus. Those who knew Paul and his ministry they know that it’s the life of Jesus because no matter what you did to the man, nobody could stop him from accomplishing what God has called them to do. He accomplished; he went all over the world preached the Gospel. Spread the Gospel everywhere, wrote the epistles, finished his work. In the end, he could confidently say, I have finished my race. I fought the good fight. I finished my race. He didn’t go,leaving everything incomplete.He finished what God has called them to do.

So, the marks that he bore on his body has to do with the sufferings that he went through because of the ministry because of the missionary work that he did. He said I bare in my body the marks, don’t be talking that nonsense about circumcision he says. I am bearing in my body, the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. I’ve suffered for Christ, there’s marks all over me. So, he’s basically saying, you want something to brag about? You want identity markers? I’ll give you some identity markers. You see the scars on me. You see these scars all over my body. I’m branded for Jesus. Become like me he says. What an amazing man this man was.So, the body that was all beat up, the body that bore the marks, is a redeemed body. We can confidently say it’s a redeemed body because before when there were no marks on it, it was not a redeemed body. It was a body that had fallen into sin,which was serving sin and Satan. It was against God. But now, God has reclaimed it. It now belongs to God. He takes pride in the fact that his body is for the Lord.He says, it’s all right I got beaten, it’s alright I got whipped. I bear my body the marks but it all goes to show Whose I am. I belong to Jesus. If I didn’t belong to Jesus, I wouldn’t be bearing these marks. It’s because I belong to him. My body belongs to him. I bear these marks he says.

Now, turn with me to Hebrews, chapter 11. Now, it is in this way only, you can understand Hebrews, chapter 11. Now, Hebrews, chapter 11, I taught recently is a wonderful chapter on faith, great achievements of faith and exploits of faith. Every time you turn to Hebrews and you want to teach Hebrew, some people are cynical about teaching about faith. They’ll look at you and say, oh, you’re teaching faith about the great achievements and exploits and all that. How will you teach verse 35 onwards? Because it’s talking about how people suffered and died, how they were cut up and how they were stoned, how they died, persecuted suffered.How are you going to teach about that? As if we’re going to have a tough time teaching about that, I thought about that? I have no trouble teaching that. I don’t have to beat around the bush because it is very clear if you understand this, you will understand this very clearly. Look at chapter 11 let me read to you from verse 32 itself. “what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms.” Look at the words“through faith.” It’s there all through the chapter.Through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions.

All this happened in the Old Testament, great achievements of faith. Man into the lion’s den and came out live the next day. Man went into the fire came out live. Not even a smell of fire was upon him,quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again. Even dead people were raised by faith, through faith. Now listen, Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, [k]were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.

 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. I’ve taught this so I’m not going to go through this again. But notice verse 35. Verse 35 says the latter half:Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. See, when people were killed, they were not straightaway killed it seems.They were given an option. They were given an opportunity to recant their faith.They were given an opportunity to back off from their faith.They were given an opportunity to go before the jury and tell them look, I don’t believe in this thing anymore. Leave me alone. I want to go back home. I want to go back all my life. I will recant I will take back whatever I believe and whatever I preached. They were given an opportunity to do that it seems like but they were not accepting deliverance.

Why didn’t they accept the deliverance? Why did they choose to die? What made them choose to die?That they might obtain a better resurrection! They did not see death as a defeat. They saw death as this, that their body is not theirs now.They’re there to speak about Jesus and if it meant that they have to die because they claimed faith in Jesus. They would rather die because the body is for the Lord! So, they were ready to die.That’s the only explanation there. Death did not mean to them defeat.Death meant it’s a further proof that their body is not theirs, it’s God’s body.So, this is God’s body. They said all right, you want to kill it, you kill it, because there is a better resurrection.Instead of sending me home now, kill it because God is going to raise this body up. Because this body belongs to the Lord.The owner is going to come get it. He will raise it up. He will give it life. He will give it the immortality. That’s the way the Bible teaches. Their death at the hands of their oppressors showed that their body belonged to the Lord. Everybody say,“Body is for the Lord.” What an amazing truth this is.Body is for the Lord.

Now, the rest of it is easy. Go back to 1 Corinthians, chapter 6. Now, let’s cover the rest of it in just a few minutes. So, look at the way he puts it. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord because sexual immorality was an issue there in Corinth and in that world at the time, it was an issue there. I’ll get to it in a moment. That’s why he puts it like that. He’s dealing especially with this thing of sexual immorality. So, he doesn’t simply say “The body is for the Lord,” he says “The body is not for sexual immoralities.It’s for the Lord.” And then he says,“And the Lord for the body.” Now, this is very interesting, I’ll come to the sexual immorality later on. But look at this. The Lord is for the body. This is the second truth that he tells about the body. First truth is the body is for the Lord. Secondly is the Lord is for the body. What does he mean? The Lord is not just for the spirit or soul, He is for the body. He cares for the body because He created the body.Because He created the body and He cares for the body,He provides for the body. That’s why He heals the body. That’s why He repairs the body when it needs some work. That’s why He saves the body. Even after we die, He will raise the body up and glorify that body. God is so much for the body that when He came into this world, He took a body for himself, was born through Mary. He had a body of flesh and blood and bone just like us. Body is so important to Him, He is so much for the body, that He took a body when He came into this world. He lived in a body, He preached in a body He suffered in a body, He died in a body, He rose in a body and for your information, He is now seated at the right time of the Father.

Hebrews chapter 12, verse 22 – 24, it describes the heavenly scene, the throne of God and all those that are gathered around it. All spirits are gathered there. The angels are gathered there, God is sitting there on His throne. Angels of God are there the Old Testament saints who have passed down to go to the Lord, they’ve died, their spirits are there. The New Testament says their spirits are there. That’s the way He describes it. But there, right next to God at the right hand of the Father is Jesus. And who’s Jesus? The Bible says, Paul says in other places, there is a mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ. That’s the way Bible puts it. The man Jesus Christ.there is a mediator between God and man, who is that?it’s a man Jesus Christ, in the midst of all the spirits that are there around the throne of God, there is sitting a man with a body just like you and me. Today, 2000 years after He rose again, He is sitting with a glorified body at the right hand of God. And not only that, for the millions of years to come to the eternity that we’re going to enter into and live out for all throughout all eternity that is to come, He will keep that body. He is not getting rid of that body. He took that body; He will keep that body.Now, who could say the body is not so important? The body is for the Lord. The Lord is for the body.He does all these things. He takes a body, comes in, works, lives in a body, dies in the body, rises in the body goes back, sits there in a body and all that.Why?All this, to show us that He is for the body.

There was a lot of philosophy at that time going on among the New Testament Christians when Paul was writing. You may have heard about these things, dualism, Gnosticism, and all of these that glorified the spiritual things and considered as very insignificant, unimportant, the material things. So, the body is a material thing, therefore,it’s not important they thought. That’s the way they taught it and if they entered into Christianity also a little bit and Paul is saying no, no, no, no. Christianity does not teach that. Christianity does not teach that spiritual is good and material is bad. God created the spiritual and the material. The material world is created by God. This is the kind of thinking that has landed a lot of people in trouble. A lot of people wrong because they even believe that material things, anything material is wrong and anything material is not so good. That is why they are not able to accept material prosperity and all of that, because it’s all oh this is material, we want to be spiritual. The material world you see here, who created gold and silver and all that? You think the devil created it or was it created for the devil and his children? No. God created it. Their philosophy messed it up. They said spiritual is good, material is bad.Who said so?The Bible does not teach so.Read just the first chapter and the second chapter of Genesis, it will tell you, the material world is good. It’s very good. It’s very good. Hello!

One man said to me, car is bad. Food is bad. All material things – house is bad. Anything good is bad. The Christian mind works like that. Gnosticism and all these philosophies you know they got it that way. All that material stuff is bad. You want to be spiritual? I said Yeah, go ahead and float somewhere, become vapour and be floating somewhere. Material is good. You’re still standing on the ground. You’re depending on this world to feed you, to take care of you and so on. How can you prosper with a mind like that? When you’re thinking wrong like that? It’s all God put there. And God calls it good, who are you and how dare you call it bad? Everything God created; we call bad you know.The only thing that God called bad is it’s not good for a man to be alone. He said, even that they’ve started saying the exact opposite. Now, they have become so holy, some of them. It’s better not to marry. They’ve got better wisdom than God.It’s good for a man to be alone. That kind of teaching.Who said so? Read the Bible, my friend. God doesn’t say that. Alright.

Thirdly, our bodies are members of Christ. Verse 15.1 Corinthians 6, verse 15 says,Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?And then he says, Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not!Let’s look at the sexual immorality thing that he’s talking about. When he first started out, how did he say it? The body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord. And now he says your body are members of Christ. Your bodies are members of Christ. How can you take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Now, you should understand Corinth and the situation there.That area particularly had this idea that going to a harlot and this whole idea of adultery and fornication all of that is all right they thought, society accepted it. Therefore, it was rampant. These houses where this business was happening was there everywhere in the city? Because the society’s thinking was this, that a wife is good for only bearing children and raising children and you take care of them well. You want pleasure? For sexual pleasure you go to a harlot and there is nothing wrong in it. After all, a man needs some pleasure. What’s wrong with it? So, everybody went, it was a general trend in that society that people went to a harlot and didn’t think anything bad about it.And to such people Paul went and preached the gospel and they received Christ and they’re in the church. And some of them are still doing that. And Paul is saying, body is not for sexual immorality, because that’s the thing that was going that’s the in thing there, that was a trending thing there. They thought well, everybody does it man, nothing wrong, it’s just for some pleasure. I do take care of my wife and my children. Take care of my responsibility. What does it matter if I just go for some pleasure? Paul says no, body is not for sexual immorality. How can you take your body which are members of Christ and make them members of a harlot?His answer is: Certainly not! A new kind of teaching has entered into Corinth. I bet they were blinking, oh my god, what kind of teaching is this? It’s a new thing for them, amazing thing.

Fourthly, our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Verse 19: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? So, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The body is the Holy Spirit’s home.Think of how much care and attention you give to your own home. I remember when I was living in rented houses for so long, I used to paint my house every so many years, you know.People used to say what are you doing? You’re crazy. This is another man’s house, why are you painting and that to, with some nice paint?I said I’m living there, man. I want to live in a clean place, so I’m painting. They said no, no, no,that’s wasting. You’re wasting the money on the other man.I said no I’m wasting the money on me.They didn’t see it like that, it was new to me. I didn’t think anything about it. But people thought it’s crazy to paint another man’s house. And I used to think at that time, well, if I ever got a house, I’ll paint it nicely. I’ll keep it nicely. I’ll spend the money; I will do whatever I need to make it look good, look beautiful because I’m going to live there.

So, we spend a lot of money, all of us do, to keep our houses nice and do everything nice. We spend a lot of energy, time, and money on our houses in which we live. But sometimes we neglect the house in which the Holy Spirit comes and lives. So, you go to a house, the garden is nice, the building is nice, the walls are nice, the painting is nice, the sofa is nice.All the gadgets are in place.Got the latest TV, latest everything but the man inside who lives in the house is in a pathetic condition. Why? Because he’s been paying attention to the house that he lives in, but never paid any attention to the house that the Holy Spirit lives in. The house that the Holy Spirit lives in is more important than your house in which you live. Keep your house nice but pay more attention to your…

Back in those days, when I was young, I used to have motorcycles and so many other guys I used to have a friend with a motorcycle also and he’s crazy too. Too much gone into that. So, on Sunday, he won’t go to church or anything.He’ll be polishing his bike;I mean from every corner. I was kind of like that also. I was into that keeping my bike all spic and span and making it beautiful all the time. One day, the handle will be there another day it will be here and seat will be up and next day it will be down. I’ll be doing all kinds of things because I was interested in this stuff also.Some stupid stuff the young people do. And he used to polish that thing, all day he’ll be doing it. I used to say take care of your children man they need some polishing also, your wife and children, they’re all looking you know, terrible. The bike is looking beautiful. But he won’t listen. Bike is more important than the wife and children, it looked like. He enjoyed the bike.

Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Your body is a temple, it’s a sacred place. The Holy Spirit comes into it and says this is My home. When you get the perspective and you think of your body as belonging to the Lord and Lord belongs to the body. When you think of your body as members of Christ, when you think of your body as the temple of the Holy Spirit, immediately, the bodily redemption is experienced every day.Immediately, your body begins to become better, more healthy, stronger, better, because you’re paying attention to it now the way that you ought to. You’re experiencing bodily redemption.You do not wait till Jesus comes you can experience bodily redemption right now, in the here and now.

Fifthly your body was bought with the price.Verse 20- your body was bought with a price.If you have a very old car and all dented and so on, you don’t worry about you know putting some scratches on someone else’s vehicle also, because you know you can drive carelessly, the other guy has to watch out because you’re not going to lose anything. But if you got a nice car and a new car, boy if you had one little scratch, you’ll lose sleep all night because that little scratch has come on your car.The way you think about whatever you have, a car or whatever it is, the value that when you estimate and calculate how much it’s worth, that’s how much you care for it. You will take care of it. You better sit down and calculate and estimate today. The price that God paid for your body and my body, the price that He paid is His very life. He gave His life to redeem us. Redeem even our body. He paid the price, price paid by His life. That’s the highest price that anybody can pay. When you estimate it, calculate it, you’ll be treating the body good and bodily redemption will begin right now. You may not have immortality now but as long as you live, your body is going to be all the better because you want to take care of it better.

And finally, he says we must therefore glorify God in our body. That’s also verse 20. This has massive implications to say,“Glorify God in your body.” That means, it matters, what you do with your body. It matters how you treat your body, what you think about your body. It matters where you take your body and what you do with it. We are not our own. The body belongs to someone, a steward. A caretaker is someone who takes care of things for someone else. For that person’s benefit and for that person’s glory, he is taking care of it. That’s what we are;we are taking care of God’s property. The body is not mine, it’s His and when we think of it and we manage it that way, care for it that way, we become more faithful stewards of our bodies. We care for it better. And we end up with a body that is stronger, healthier, and live longer and serve God and do things for God in this body that God wants us to do. Amen.

Let’s all stand together, please. Let’s lift up our hands and give thanks to God for the Word we received today.