The Worship of God is a vital part of the spiritual life of God’s people. In the Old Testament, God dwells among His people, especially in the Tabernacle and the Temple. The Temple is the center of worship when God’s people come to offer sacrifices to Him (Exodus 25:8, 29:45; Leviticus 26:12; Psalm 11:4; Isaiah 6:1; Ezekiel 37:26-27).
It is recorded many times that God’s people had defiled the Temple because of sin. Idolatry is a serious abomination to the Lord. Idolatry is anything that separates our total allegiance to God. It can be possessions, people, or power. Sin breaks our fellowship with God in worship.
In the New Testament, the believer’s body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. God now dwells among His people in their bodies.
2 Corinthians 6:16
For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will live and move among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
1 Corinthians 6:13b-18
The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body….
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?
Shall I then take the members of Christ’s body and make them members of a prostitute? Never!
Do you not know that he who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her?
For, as it is written, “The two shall become one flesh.”
But he who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
Shun immorality. Every other sin, which a man commits, is outside the body; but the immoral man sins against his own body.
Sexual sin defiles not just the body part alone. Sexual has to do with our total being. One cannot say that his soul and spirit is not affected by sexual sin. Sin devastates our whole being. Paul stressed this point in Romans 1:24, 26, 28
God gave them up to sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for degrading their bodies with one another… God gave them over to shameful lust. God gave them over to a depraved mind.”
Hence it is very important to recognize, that sin impacts not only the body but also our soul. Thus, the mind has become depraved. Man condones the sin of homosexuality (Leviticus 18:22).
Sin not only impacts the body, the soul but also the spirit of our being. The human spirit has been defiled. Therefore, Paul reminds us that our body is the temple of the Spirit. Certainly, sin contaminates our total being – body soul and spirit.
2 Corinthians 6:16a, 17-18
What agreement has the temple of God with idols?...
Therefore come out from them, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch nothing unclean, then I will a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
2 Corinthians 7:1
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God.
Confession and repentance of sexual Sins
Father, I confess that in my own strength I have been powerless against the continuing attacks of the enemy on my sexuality. I have chosen to sin in various ways, and I ask you to forgive me for the following.
I confess…. [be specific]
I now agree with your verdict on my sin. I renounce all pleasure associated with these sins. I ask You to cleanse my memories, heal the hurts and forgive me. I now turn from my sin. I ask You Father to forgive me for all that is past. Give me discernment to recognize temptation when it comes and strength to resist it.
Thank You that Jesus’ Blood was shed that I might be clean. Cleanse me now from all my uncleanness.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.
By Pastor Titus Soo