Flee Sexual Immorality (1 Corinthians 6:18)

“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sends against his own body.”
– 1 Corinthians 6:18

Oh, there’s a ton we can talk about here in 1 Corinthians 6:18, but two thoughts in particular that I wanted to lead us into prayer. One is the word flee. Flee. Flee, like not flirt, not flirt with sexual immorality, not toy around with, not get close to, not justify, not rationalize, not all kinds of other words that we practically substitute there. The word that God for our good gives us here is flee. Run. Run away from it. It’s the whole picture, and this is why the whole argument here is so important. All things are lawful, not all things are helpful. From the very beginning in verse 12, now in verse 18, flee from sexual immorality.

Saying No to Sexual Sin

We are desensitized to sexual sin. We must not flirt with sexual immorality but flee from it. Father, help us to say no sin and cling to the Savior.

So the question we’re asking is not, okay, all right, what is allowed for me to do? How can I get as close as possible to sexual immorality without crossing that line? And that is a totally wrong way to think. It is a disastrous way to think. Run, is what God says. Run, run, run, flee, flee, flee. Pursue holiness, righteousness. Second Timothy 2:22, this is God’s will for you. First Thessalonians chapter four, verse 13, avoid sexual immorality. So many times we ask, what is God’s will for my life? I just want to follow God’s will for my life. Here’s God’s will. He says it as boldly and clearly as possible, run from sexual immorality. That’s God’s will. Run from it. Flee from it, don’t flirt with it, rationalize it, justify it. Run from it.

1 Corinthians 6:18 Explains the Harm of Sexual Immorality

And then he goes on to say every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. People sometimes we think, and even say sexual sin is just like any other sin. But that’s actually not what verse 18 is saying. So yes, sin is sin against God, but there’s a difference here. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. So there’s something uniquely damaging, uniquely harmful about sexual immorality. I don’t have time to dive into what all of that means, but it’s pretty clear like it’s uniquely harmful, different in some ways that are really harmful.

God, I know that I’m praying this prayer right now with a heart and a life, with others’ hearts and lives in a culture that is surrounded by so much sexual immorality. We are so desensitized to sexual sin, like it doesn’t shock us. We are comfortable around it in such dangerous ways. So God, I pray, we pray that you would help us change the way we think, convict our hearts, renew our minds, help us to think in line with First Corinthians chapter six, help us to believe your word here. Help us to hate sexual sin, to run from it. God, help us to run from it. Please help us to run from it by your grace.

1 Corinthians 6:18 Thanks Jesus for Setting Us Free from Sin

Jesus, you have set us free from sin and its power. May we realize this in our lives, and as your church, particularly in our culture, God help us to run from it and experience the fullness of life that you’ve designed for us to experience, help us to trust you that your word is better, that communion with you is better than all the things this world is enticing us with sexually. God, please, please, please help us to flee from sexual immorality. Just pray that over every single person’s life who’s listening to this right now, and help us as a church to help one another do this. We pray this for your glory and for our good, and for the spread of the gospel through our lives. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.