September 2026
Sermon Transcript
The Sin of Fornication
We are here in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. In the sermon last week we covered the first eight verses — the first 40% of the chapter. We are going to cover the last 12 verses here today. The name of the sermon is The Sin of Fornication. There are other sins listed in here, but fornication is a big theme. In next week's sermon when we get to 1 Corinthians chapter 7, it is a long chapter talking a lot about sexual sin — talking about situations of being single, being married, being divorced, having your spouse leave you, all these different situations. So the end of 1 Corinthians 6 is going to tie into 1 Corinthians chapter 7.
Verses 9–11 — The Unrighteous Shall Not Inherit the Kingdom of God
Before we get into fornication specifically, we have these verses that are very controversial. Starting in verse 9: "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
People that are unsaved can be confused by this because they could say — well, wait, you have got to be righteous to enter the kingdom of God. Well, that is true, but you have got a problem, because the Bible says there is none righteous, no not one. So yes, you literally have to be sinless and perfect to go to heaven. That is why the Bible says all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. If we are being judged by our works, we are unrighteous and there is no way we can enter into heaven. But of course when you get saved, all of your sins — past, present, and future — are forgiven. So in the sight of God, you do not have these sins. When you die, you go straight to heaven because you have been declared innocent. Obviously that does not change the fact that in this life we get punished for our sins. But in God's eyes you are sinless because even though you are not righteous, the Bible says you are imputed with the righteousness of Christ. And so you are declared innocent. The verses starting in verse 9 show us that we need a Saviour because we are guilty of these things sometimes. Revelation 21:8 is another verse that has a list of various sins that show us we need a Saviour. That is really the point of what is being said.
Now, we have a lot of online listeners who listen to our sermons because they hate everything we say. They think we are a cult. They criticise us. So this is good for them to hear. You online listeners get to hear about salvation, because you seem to think salvation is based on whether or not we live a good life, and you are angry at the idea of salvation by faith alone. You are angry at the idea of once saved always saved. Well, let me give you some Bible and you try to disprove it, because this is clearly what the Bible teaches. The most famous verse in the Bible says whosoever believeth in him — all you have to do is believe on Christ. Right? It is that simple.
Go to 1 John chapter 5.
1 John 5:4–5: "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God." How do you overcome the world? Is it by getting baptised? Nope. Speaking in tongues? Nope. Repenting of your sins? Nope. Quitting drinking? Nope. It is by believing that Jesus is the Son of God. It is that simple. Why does the Bible say overcome? Because that implies it sounds like it is really hard to make it to heaven. Well, the idea is not that it is difficult to get to heaven — it is as easy as believing on Christ. But the devil has set things up in this world to try to prevent you from believing. He is deceiving people, brainwashing people. Social media is against what the Bible says. All these false teachers and pastors teaching a works salvation — everything is trying to prevent you from getting to the truth. You have got to overcome all these things. But it is as simple as just believing. And once you realise that, it is like — wow, it is that simple. Salvation is by faith alone.
Go to Revelation 21.
Revelation 21:7–8: "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." In verse 7 it says you have got to overcome. In verse 8 it says if you do these things you are not going to make it to heaven. And a lot of people in the unsaved world would say well, see, you have got to be a good person. But the problem is God said all liars will go to hell — so that includes all of us. The only real way to overcome is by believing that Jesus is the Son of God. That is what the Bible says. When you see these lists saying if you do these things you will not inherit heaven, what it is saying is that the person trusting in their works is going to be guilty because we do commit some of those sins sometimes. Maybe you are not a murderer or whoremonger or sorcerer, but you have lied sometimes. And God said all liars will have their part in hell. So the list in 1 Corinthians 6 is very similar to Revelation 21:8. Do not be confused by someone saying you have got to be a good person because if you do these things you will not go to heaven. The problem is we are never going to reach a point where we are sinless. So we do commit some of these things some of the time.
Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 6.
1 Corinthians 6:9–10: "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." Do not be deceived by the works salvation crowd that says you can get to heaven by your works. They think we are the ones deceived by saying it is by faith alone — they say do not be deceived into thinking you can just do whatever you want and go to heaven. No, actually, you are the ones that are deceived, because we are guilty of these things sometimes.
Now of course a lot of these are big sins and you might not be guilty of many of them, but being covetous — we have probably all been covetous from time to time, wanting more money and desiring what somebody else has. Nor thieves — people have stolen small things from time to time. Yeah, you have never robbed a bank, but have you ever taken a pen or something small that did not belong to you? None of us can say we are innocent and perfect. There are more extreme examples here, bigger sins, and hopefully you are not guilty of those, but we are guilty of some of these things.
Now I want to go through certain things on this list. Some of them are self-explanatory, but I want to highlight the more controversial ones.
Effeminate
One of the things it mentions is effeminate. Effeminate is when a man is acting like a woman. God expects men to be men — tough, rugged, manly. The Bible speaks about playing the man and acting like a man. That does not mean there is never a time to be emotional. It does not mean there is never a time to cry. But if our attitude and lifestyle is typified by wearing our emotions on our sleeve, being super sensitive to stuff, and crying about everything — that is not really a masculine characteristic. God made men and women very different. God made women a specific way and they are perfectly designed to raise kids and take care of kids. Kids, whether boys or girls, need that motherly touch. But boys and girls also need that masculine touch coming from the father. We are expected to be men and not to be effeminate, not to be girly but to act tough. That is how we are supposed to be as men.
It is possible for somebody to be effeminate and end up getting saved. Absolutely — especially in the world we live in today. The world is teaching men not to be like men. The world is acting like being a man is a bad thing and is trying to make men effeminate. They push this metro thing where genders are gone and men act like women and women act like men. That is not the way God designed it. We are not to be effeminate. We are to be manly and tough men. You could just look at our society and it is very clear that men are not acting like men in 2026. They are not acting the way God designed them to be.
Abusers of Themselves With Mankind
There is another phrase here that is very debated — nor abusers of themselves with mankind. When it comes to this list, most of the things on it are not vague or confusing or really up for debate. They are common phrases we all know. But abusers of themselves with mankind is a bit confusing. It is something that people interpret in different ways. It is not something you read and immediately know exactly what it is saying. I know different people who are good Bible-believing Christians that have different opinions on what this is saying, and it is okay for Christians to interpret certain passages in different ways. But there are certain ways you should not interpret it, because there are a lot of wrong and false teachings about this phrase. So I will give you my opinion and be very clear about how not to interpret it.
A lot of people just interpret abusers of themselves with mankind as referring to homosexuals. But abusers of themselves with mankind is a bit of a vague, cryptic expression. And to act like that phrase means you could be a homosexual and then no longer be one, therefore homos can be saved — that is how a lot of people interpret 1 Corinthians chapter 6. That is not what we believe or teach.
Go to Romans 1.
How has this world been plagued with the LGBT? Nobody is born as a homosexual. As a guy, you are born as a guy. As a girl, you are born as a girl. Two genders. You are either born a male or a female. And if you are born a male, you go from being a boy to a man. For females, you act feminine. Men should not act effeminate — that is for females. And females go from being a girl to a woman and acting feminine and motherly. But we live in a society that is not like that.
Romans 1:24–28: "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient."
People are mad at God. They are angry at God. They do not like God. So they want to do things that are vile and wicked because they hate God. The Bible says God gave them up and said do whatever you want. Women are changing the natural use of the man for the woman into that which is against nature. And likewise the men leaving the natural use of the woman. The Bible says that being part of the LGBT is a side effect of rejecting God — eventually God gives you over to the lustful and vile affections because you hate the God of the Bible. That is what the Bible says.
Were the people of Sodom and Gomorrah born as homosexuals? No. And here is the thing — you look throughout history, it is not like there has been an equal percentage of homosexuals throughout history. It is not like every part of the world has an equal percentage. They are like a spreading plague that spreads their philosophy. They violently attack people and then in turn a lot of people choose to become bitter against God and go down the same road as the people that abused them. That is reality.
Being a Romans 1 person is being a person that is rejected. So when people say — well, they used to be a homosexual but they were washed in the blood of Jesus — no, that is not what 1 Corinthians 6 is saying. Because when you are given over, you are done. The Bible says in places like the book of Jude they have a reservation in hell. They have no hope. They have no chance.
Now obviously we understand it is a crazy world and there are a lot of kids that get molested and a lot of kids being brainwashed at a young age. I do not know the full psychological effect it has on certain people because that stuff did not happen to me, and none of this was happening in schools when most of us were growing up. But there are kids who have had horrible things happen to them and it does traumatise them. That said, if somebody has grown up, is an adult, and has married someone of the same gender — it is ridiculous to say they could still be saved. Being a homosexual is not a normal sin that people struggle with. It is a side effect of being rejected by God. Think about being a serial killer or a serial rapist — a normal person is just not going to do those things. It is a side effect of being rejected.
So I do not personally believe abusers of themselves with mankind is referring to homosexuals. Another interpretation some people have is that it refers to someone who allows themselves to be sexually abused by someone of the same gender — perhaps a young teenager in a desperate situation. I am a bit more long-suffering with someone who had a horrible childhood because I honestly do not know how I would react in those situations. There could be some grey areas there. But do not sit here and tell me that an open LGBT person who has been openly living in that sin of their own free will and desire for years is saveable. They are not. They hate the God of the Bible. This is why we do not go to gay pride parades trying to get people saved. They are reprobates. They are rejected. They hate God. They are not getting saved.
Now when we go soul-winning, we do want to give the benefit of the doubt because somebody could be effeminate and end up getting saved. We live in an effeminate world. A lot of people are acting effeminate at a young age. So I give the benefit of the doubt even if someone is a bit effeminate or girly as a guy, because I do not want to risk not giving the gospel to someone who actually is saveable. But if somebody is an open LGBT person — like the Elton Johns of the world, or the various famous homosexuals in the Philippines and Australia — they are not saveable. They hate the God of the Bible. They are not going to be saved.
So what does abusers of themselves with mankind mean? Go to verse 18 in the same chapter — flee fornication, every sin that a man doeth is without the body, but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. The Bible says when you commit fornication, you sin against your own body. I do not think abusers of themselves with mankind is directly just meaning fornication on its own, because verse 9 already mentions fornicators separately. But I do believe it is a reference to things that are under the umbrella of sexual sin, because abusers of themselves — and the Bible says when you commit fornication, you sin against your own body — sexual sin causes you to sin against your own body. I believe abusers of themselves with mankind is a bit of an umbrella term for being involved in sexual sin. Fornication would be at the small end of the spectrum, and of course adultery is worse, being a whoremonger is worse. But I think it is a term that covers the fact that sexual sin causes major harm to your body. What the Bible is showing you is that sexual sin affects you like no other sin.
If you used to be a drunkard, you quit drinking and you can move on with your life. If you were addicted to cigarettes, you quit and you can move on. But sexual sin sticks with you. One day you will be married to someone and certain images and thoughts and experiences are going to be inside your head and you cannot really shake them. It was not just something that harmed you and then was over. It has a long-term effect upon you.
1 Corinthians 6:11: "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Some of the people at the church of Corinth were guilty of some of these things. It does not necessarily mean they were guilty of all of them. The list includes being covetous, which probably everybody is guilty of to some degree, but not everybody committed fornication before they were married, not everybody was a drunkard, not everybody was an idolater or adulterer. And so not all of these things did all of us do. Some people have never been effeminate. Some did not commit fornication. But this is not teaching that you can be a homosexual and such were some of you, and now you are no longer a homosexual. Abusers of themselves with mankind is a cryptic expression. You should form your doctrine and beliefs based on clear scripture.
Here is what I would like to say to people that believe homosexuals can be saved. Do you believe a person can be a homosexual, live their entire life openly in that sin, go to a gay pride parade, cross-dress, do all these vile things with people of the same gender, and be saved doing that for decade after decade? Almost everybody who would claim Christianity would say absolutely not. Well, here is the thing about this. Do you have to repent of your sins to be saved? Absolutely not. You just have to believe on Christ. So if you teach salvation is by grace through faith alone, believe only, but you also teach it is impossible to be involved in that sin if you are saved — you have a logical inconsistency. Because inside your head you are thinking there is no way that person could be saved while living like that. Here is the way we understand this. You believe on Christ, you become a child of God, and that is salvation. Being a homosexual is not a normal or common sin that people struggle with. It is a side effect of being rejected. It is not just about being a homosexual — think about being a serial killer or a serial rapist. A normal person is not going to do those things. They are side effects of being rejected by God.
The Bible says such were some of you, but you are washed. You are washed clean in the blood of the Lamb. You are sanctified. You are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Verses 12–14 — All Things Are Lawful, But the Body Is for the Lord
1 Corinthians 6:12: "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any." What Paul is saying is that in verse 11 you are saved no matter what — you are washed, you are on your way to heaven. But then he says all things are lawful unto me, meaning you can do whatever you want. All things are lawful if you believe on Christ. I could do whatever I want for the rest of my life — live in sin, become a drunkard, a drug addict, commit a crime — and I would still be on my way to heaven. But all things are not expedient. And all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Even though I have the ability to do whatever I want and still go to heaven, we should have the mindset — I will not let sin reign over me. Sin will not have dominion. I will live godly and serve God and do right. I will not let sin control me. That is the right attitude to have.
I have heard people say before — well, if I believed what you do, what would stop me from going out and committing fornication and getting drunk and doing all these things? And I think, what is wrong with you? Because I literally could do any of those things and go to heaven, but I just want to serve God. I want to do what is right. I am thankful for my salvation. I want to make God happy. And it is funny because these people think that by teaching salvation is a free gift we are giving a licence to sin and are going to cause people to do horrible things. In reality, people that believe what we do live much godlier lives in general than people that teach you must live a good life to go to heaven. And here is the logical reason why. When you have the standard of good works getting you to heaven, you can never meet that standard. So instead of going up and reaching God's standard, you lower the bar on what sin is. We would look at certain things as being very sinful, but people that believe in works salvation say well, that is not really a sin — they have to lower their standard because they cannot reach God's standard. Another thing is that being saved and having the Holy Spirit of God actually does teach us that we should do right. Titus 2:11–12: "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly." We should live soberly, righteously, and godly. And if you are saved, you know that. It is not a guarantee you will, but you know you should. And a lot of people that get saved have a sense of thankfulness or gratitude for what God did for them. It is not a requirement and it is not a guarantee, but when somebody gives you a gift you are often thankful. I am very thankful to be saved and I want to serve God with my life. I am trying to do better because God has done so much for me.
1 Corinthians 6:13: "Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body." At first glance you might wonder what God is trying to say. This is actually a very profound verse. He is talking about fornication, but he takes a break to talk about meats for the belly. Now the word meat in the Bible is just referring to food — what we would think of as steak and chicken is called flesh; meat in the Bible just means your food. The Bible is saying our belly has desires and God is going to destroy both it and them. Those desires we have for food — God says it is going to be destroyed. This idea that I need food for survival. Food is necessary for our survival and it is not sinful. But even something that is needful and necessary, God is going to destroy one day. We are no longer going to be saying man, I have to have food.
It is the same thing with fornication, except fornication is not necessary. Obviously if you are married, you should have a normal relationship with your spouse. But the thing is, even something that is necessary — our food — eventually God is going to destroy that desire. And the Bible is trying to tell you that fornication, your desire for sexual sin, those desires for things that are wrong — God is going to destroy them one day. So you might as well destroy them now. Do not live under the bondage of something that is only going to last for your time here on earth. Things that are sinful, eventually God is going to destroy that desire. So why not kill it off now? Kill off that desire now. Do not give in. Do not let sin reign over you. Do not be brought under the power of any. And the Bible says the body is not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. Your body belongs to God. God has given us this body for 70 to 80 years but it belongs to him, and we had better do what God says.
1 Corinthians 6:14: "And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power." We are going to be raised up. If you are alive at the rapture, you are going to be raised up. Those that are asleep in Christ are going to be raised up at the rapture. You are going to have a glorified body. And here is the thing — your glorified body is not going to be under the bondage of any sin. That is something we struggle with now, but it is not going to be like that in eternity. God says he will raise it up by his own power.
Go to 1 Corinthians 15.
1 Corinthians 15:42–44: "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." Our natural bodies are frail and they are sinful. But you will be given a spiritual body that does not desire what is wrong and is not brought under the power of any sin. That is why Paul commands us — let not sin reign over you. Let not sin have dominion over you. Realise these desires are going to be gone one day. Kill them off now. Your body is not for fornication. It is not for your personal pleasure. It is to give God glory according to the word of God.
Go back to 1 Corinthians 6.
Verses 15–20 — Your Body Is the Temple of the Holy Ghost
1 Corinthians 6:15: "Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid." The Bible says our body parts, our members, are the members of Christ. Should I make them the members of a harlot? We do not have the right to do whatever we want in our flesh because our bodies and lives belong to God. Christ who is our life — everything in our lives should be about glorifying God. I am thankful that God allows us to enjoy hobbies and spend time with our families and do things that are not sinful and do not necessarily give us an eternal reward, but things we can enjoy. But you had better not live your life just indulged in all these things with no eternal value, because our bodies are meant to glorify God. We had better do what God says. We had better do what is right and avoid what is wrong. Avoid the sins because our bodies belong to God.
1 Corinthians 6:16: "What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh." The Bible is showing you that when you enter into a sexual relationship with someone, you are basically making a physical bond. The Bible says in marriage two become one. Marriage has two aspects — you have the legal portion of it and then the physical union that takes place between a man and a woman. When people do this before they are married, what they do not realise is they are actually connecting their body with someone. And if they break up that relationship, there is still a physical attachment to that person that you cannot fully shake. That is why you are sinning against your own body. There are actually modern studies and science that talk about how God has designed something where your body ends up getting connected to someone you have this physical union with, especially the first person. You are a fool if you engage in these things before you are married because that is not something you just easily shake after you get married. You have sinned against your own body and you have caused yourself a world of harm that is just going to continue even after marriage.
Now look, I am not trying to beat up somebody that did these things before they were married or has committed this sin in the past. The past is the past. But we want to raise our kids for the glory of God to be godly and zealous and do what is right. And we need warnings against committing these sins because otherwise as people we are going to destroy our lives. You do not want to go down that road. Our bodies are meant to glorify God.
1 Corinthians 6:17: "But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body." Other sins the Bible says are without the body — not something that is going to stick with you forever. But when you commit fornication, it does stick with you.
The Bible says to flee fornication. A great example is Joseph in the Old Testament — in his case it would have been adultery because it was his master Potiphar's wife throwing herself at him. He flees and runs away from the situation. Now I do not personally believe Joseph could always have fully avoided that situation because he had to do his job. But I will say this — it is not a good idea to be in a house alone with someone of the opposite gender, because you are putting yourself in a dangerous situation, especially when she kept throwing herself at him. That is the situation he found himself in and I am not saying it was his fault at all. But for those of you that are not married and are dating — be very careful how you spend your time with the person you are dating as you are getting to know them, whether or not you end up marrying them. Do not be alone with someone of the opposite gender in a house or a room by yourself. You are asking for trouble. You should be in situations that are safe. Do not trust your flesh too much. Take heed lest you fall.
Think about Amnon who was in lust with his half-sister Tamar, and when he finally has her physically he forces her and then ends up hating her. You hear lots of stories of people like this. Christian couples date before they are married, they get physically involved, and it ends up destroying their relationship. It is never the same. They have caused major harm because they end up marrying somebody else, when it could have been a great relationship. They could have gotten married, but they destroyed it. So flee fornication. And do not even put yourself in a position where you would commit this sexual sin.
Obviously fornication is different from and far worse than a sin like pornography. But another application in today's world is — if you are addicted to pornography, get yourself out of situations where you could go down that road. If you are alone and you have let sin have dominion over you, you have got to go to extremes to get rid of that sin. And it is not just single people. Statistics show a very large percentage of married people are watching pornography on a regular basis. It is a horrible sin and you are sinning against your body and causing major harm to your life.
The Bible says in Romans 13 — put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. Do not put yourself in a position where you can fulfil these sinful desires, these lusts.
1 Corinthians 6:19–20: "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." We are meant to glorify God. We are meant to do what God says. You do not have the right to just destroy your body or do whatever you want. You are expected to glorify God with your body. And fornication is a major sin. It is a sin where God kills people in the Old Testament. And look, if God does not kill you, you are still destroying your life. You are sinning against your own body.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just this powerful section of scripture about sexual sin. God, help us to live godly, God-fearing lives. Help the single people at our churches to stay pure and wait for the right person. And help those of us that are married to also be pure and not to think of people that are not our own, or get involved in sins such as pornography or even worse sins like adultery. God, we ask you to help us to be godly and God-fearing people. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.