New Episodes every Thursday morning at 8:00 a.m. (Eastern)
Helping men and women find hope, help, healing, restoration and redemption
leading to lasting victory over sexual addiction through a growing, vibrant, powerful relationship with Christ.
Episode #68 "Body Parts"
Transcript
The fact is you cannot live a godly life apart from your body. You are dependent upon your body for more than just sucking in air and moving from place to place. It’s through the use of your body that you either glorify God or magnify self. This is why its’ so vital that you learn how to yield to the Spirit’s control of your body – so that you can offer it daily as a sacrifice to God.
Hi everyone. Welcome to The Point of Purity Podcast. I’m your host, Steve Etner, Author, National Speaker, and Purity Coach for The Pure Man Ministry. This is episode #68, and in this episode, we are going to take a look at what the Apostle Paul means when he says we are to “Offer (our) body as a living sacrifice to God.” So, grab your bibles, open them to Romans 12:1 and let’s talk about “Body Parts”
If you’ve been following this podcast for any length of time, then you know that our aim as a Christian is to glorify God in everything we think, say, and do. But consider this very carefully: you cannot glorify God in your daily life apart from your body. You need your body in order to fulfill your purpose in life. You cannot live, you cannot function, you cannot serve, you cannot bless, you cannot minister, you cannot give God the praise, honor, and worship He alone deserves without your body.
Peter says we are to “live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God.” (1 Peter 2:12) How can the unsaved see your “good deeds” apart from your body? They can’t. Jesus admonishes us to “let (our) light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
The activities you choose to do with your body, the things you physically do each day are what people see. Are your attitudes and actions bringing glory to God or attention to King Me? It’s when you choose daily to yield to God in your every moment behavior that you bear much fruit and show yourself to be God’s disciple (John 15:8).
The bottom line is this: when you choose to let the flesh rule in your life, your attitudes and actions will reveal it because “the acts of the (flesh)” – don’t miss this now – the acts of the flesh “are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” (Galatians 5:19-21) Did you listen closely to that list? Did you notice that there’s not a single thing on that list that glorifies God? There’s not one item that shows the power of God to a lost world around you. Your life will reflect your decisions. When you choose to please the sinful desires of your flesh, God promises you will reap destruction (Galatians 6:8).
However, when you choose to live each day by the Holy Spirit, when you daily choose to yield complete control of your life over to Him, it will be just as obvious to the people around you. Why? Because “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22)
Did you listen closely to that list? Every one of those things brings honor and glory to God! Furthermore, not one of those things are of your own doing. King Me will never – because it can never – do any of those things. That’s why they’re called the fruit OF (or belonging to) the Spirit. When this fruit is evident in your life, it’s not because you have manufactured the right kind of love or have generated the correct amount of patience or kindness. When there is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control being manifest in your daily life, it is solely because you have chosen to fully yield to the Holy Spirit and as a result HIS fruit is being seen through your daily living.
Let me remind you that we are not to allow sin to exercise kingly authority over us in our bodies. We are not to obey its evil longing for pleasure. Paul goes on to admonish us saying, “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness.” (Romans 6:13) You cannot prevent sin from persisting to try to maintain control over your body. But, through Christ, you are able to keep sin from RULING in your body by making a continuous, conscious choices to offer yourself entirely to God, which includes every part of your body.
Praise the Lord there is a day coming when you will no longer need to concern yourself with this! As a born-again believer, Scripture says your “citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.” (Philippians 3:20-21)
To be honest, I can’t wait for that day! I can’t stand my body right now. No, I’m not referring to my looks, or even my physical shape or condition (although the latter could probably use some assistance). I just can’t stand how my body is always working against me. Sometimes the temptations I experience, and the deep cravings for sinful pleasures it presents me with, are almost overwhelming. I understand what Paul means when he says, “We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” (Romans 8:23)
What is the “inward groaning” Paul is talking about? It’s the new nature God placed within you crying out for the redemption of, or deliverance from, our sinful bodies so that we can live the life we were created for – glorifying Him without any hindrance from a sinful, unregenerate body.
Until that time though, your body IS the “temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God ... you are not your own.” (1 Corinthians 6:19) Through the power of the Holy Spirit, because of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary, you are able to say “No!” to the reign of sin in your body. The Apostle Paul put it this way, it is by the Spirit that you are able to “put to death the misdeeds of the body.” (Romans 8:13)
Before you were saved, you “were controlled by the (flesh), the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in (your) body, so that (you) bore fruit for death.” (Romans 8:9) As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:13, your body is meant for the Lord, and the Lord for your body. Since your body already belongs to God, offering it to Him as a living sacrifice is a reasonable and spiritual act of worship (Romans 12:1). So how are you doing with that?
Here's what I want you to understand: as a born-again believer, as one who fully trusts in the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ – God Himself – upon the cross of Calvary and the cleansing power of the blood of Christ ... as a Christian, sin no longer has power and dominion over you. Now, I know that at times it sure feels like it still does; but understand – that is the enemy at work, deceiving your mind, trying to get you to believe an untruth (a lie). You Are NOW DEAD TO SIN! It’s power over you is gone!
Listen to what the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 6. “We know that our old self was crucified with (Christ) so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life, and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.” (Romans 6:6-7, 11-14)
Now that’s a lot of Scripture I just read to you, but I want you to notice that in verse 11 Paul uses the transitional phrase “In the same way.” “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” In essence, Paul is saying, “you must know and fully believe what I’ve just said, or what I’m about to say will make no sense.” Ok, so what did Paul just say? What must we know and fully believe?
He said that the “old self was crucified” with Christ. Your old nature is dead and gone; therefore, the influence of sin no longer has dominion, it no longer has power over you. Because of Christ’s work on Calvary, you have been freed from the power of sin. And because this is God’s absolute truth, you need to “count’ yourselves dead to sin. The reason I emphasize the verb “to count” here is because it means you are taking it to the bank of Heaven as an absolute fact. God said it. That settles it. You are dead to sin’s power over you.
Now think about this: God says sin can reign in your body, NOT in your nature. This is so powerful that I need to repeat it. Listen to me now. God is saying that yes, sin can reign in your body, but it cannot reign in your nature. Why is this so significant? As we have seen, when you put your faith and trust in the finished work of Christ on the Cross of Calvary, when you accepted Christ as your Savior, your old sinful nature was crucified. It was put to death. “The old (nature) has gone” (2 Corinthians 5:17) and the new nature has come.
According to Ephesians 4:24, that new nature has been “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Your old nature is dead and gone, never to come back again. I don’t care what Hollywood tries to tell you – there are no such things as walking dead. There are no zombies. There are no ghosts. Unless your name is Jesus Christ, that which is dead cannot come back to life. Sin does not and cannot reign over you because you have within you a new, holy nature that is incapable of sinning. (we will talk more about that in a future episode) Therefore the only place where sin can reside in the born-again believer is in your body – in your humanness – and God commands you to not let that sin have power and kingly authority in your body.
We also see in Scripture that the new, holy, godly nature that God has placed within you at salvation is incapable of sinning. Don’t forget, through the power of the Holy Spirit, your body can be controlled. 1 Corinthians 9:27 says I am to “discipline my body and keep it under control.” I am to “abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against (my) soul” (1 Peter 2:11) This is why I emphasize so strongly that you don’t have to sin. You sin because you choose to; and you choose to because it brings your flesh temporary, self-satisfying pleasure. You do the things you do because in your heart you want what you want. And typically, we want the flesh to feel good.
Titus 2:11-12 tells us that “the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.” You see, saying “no” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and living a self-controlled godly life is a daily decision you have to make. Not just when you get up in the morning, but all the time.
Every instance where you are faced with a temptation, you are also faced with a decision. Do I give in this time or do I continue to stand firm in my faith and fight it? Do I yield to the Spirit and glorify God, or focus on what my flesh wants? You are constantly using your mind throughout the day to make decisions. This is why it is so vital that you discipline your mind to say “no” to the flesh and “yes” to the Holy Spirit.
If you would like to learn more about this topic, let me encourage you to do two things.
First, go to Amazon.com and purchase my book called “Extreme Mind Makeover: How to Transform Sinful Thoughts and Habits into Patterns of Life Pleasing to God.” Much of what you heard in today’s podcast was taken from or inspired by this book I wrote. Again, that title is “Extreme Mind Makeover: How to Transform Sinful Thoughts and Patterns” available on Amazon.com.
The second thing I would encourage you to do is download my free App. Just go to your App store and search for “My Purity Coach.” The app is free and is chocked full of all kinds of helps and resources to guide you as you walk by the Spirit. Again, that free app is called “My Purity Coach.”
And if you have not yet subscribed to this podcast, let me encourage you to do so today so you won’t miss any of our upcoming episodes!
So, until next time this is Author, Speaker, and Purity Coach Steve Etner reminding you that if you are going to glorify God in your everyday living, He must first be glorified in your every moment thinking.