“Peril and Power”
(1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
Series: Chaos & Correction (1 Corinthians)
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson
•Take your Bibles and join me in 1 Corinthians 6 (page 770; YouVersion).
We are preaching our way, verse-by-verse, through the Book of 1 Corinthians and we left off last time at verse 8 of chapter 6 so in a minute we’ll pick up at verse 9 of chapter 6.
We have noted that the Apostle Paul has thoroughly debunked the false notion popular in our day, the wrong notion that says, “Well, Christians aren’t supposed to judge.” Some Christian says, “You know, you’re not supposed to judge.” Well, yes Christians are supposed to judge, they are not to be a “judgmental people,” looking down their noses upon the lost and unchurched. They are, however, to judge one another, to hold one another accountable to their Christian convictions.
If you see me in sin, you should love me enough to tell me to stop it. And if I see you in sin, I should love you enough to tell you to stop it. According to our church covenant, we love one another, encourage one another, pray for one another, warn one another, and correct one another.
The Church in Corinth had failed to do these things. They had become soft on sin and looked the other way when one of their church members was living in open, unrepentant, sexual sin. We read about that in chapter 5 when we studied the matter of church discipline. Then in chapter 6 Paul addresses the failure of the church to take care of their own civil legal matters. That was last week. Paul reacts to the church’s wrongly airing their dirty laundry before the unbelieving world by suing one another in secular court. Paul rebukes the Corinthian Christians for taking their cases “outside” the church, appearing before “unrighteous,” unbelieving judges.
So Paul continues talking about those “outside” the church, the unrighteous (verse 7) unbelievers, who are not included in the kingdom of God. He’s talking about these earthly, secular, unrighteous judges as well as others who “will not inherit the kingdom of God (verse 9).”
•Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
9 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,
10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you. 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.
•Pray.
Introduction:
I read last week where Michigan university has issued its annual list of annoying words. Did you know there was such a list? Since 1975 Michigan University has released an annual list of words they consider annoying. The words are nominated and the list has grown to over 800 words, words from sports, politics, and popular culture, words that have become part of everyday vocabulary, words they say should be banished, “due to overuse, over-reliance and overall fatigue.”
Some of the words suggested this year, words that folks believe should be banned, include: “selfie, twerking, hashtag, and Mr. Mom.” A “Selfie,” a picture taken of oneself usually from a smartphone, led the list of over 2,000 nominations.
An AP article reports other words or terms that made the banned list. These include: “Twittersphere,” ‘’t-bone,” describing something or someone as ”intellectually/morally bankrupt” and anything “on steroids.” The article adds, “People are also tired of the suffixes “-pocalypse” and “-ageddon” used to make words such as “snow-pocalypse” or “ice-ageddon.” For example, in Henderson we were originally supposed to receive so much snow some referred to it as, “Snow-mageddon” or, “Snow-pocalypse.”
A couple years ago Time Magazine also released a list of words and phrases many hoped folks would stop using. These included the terms: “Stoked, Just sayin’, whatever, seriously?, epic, and the phrase, “it is what it is.”
New words become popular when they memorably capture a behavior that describes a person or a situation. The words often become verbs to describe that behavior and are used in everyday conversation. It is the inevitable evolution of words that become popular slang terms. It’s been going on as long as we’ve been speaking languages.
In Paul’s day, there was one such word. It seemed that everyone in Corinth was engaging in loose, immoral behavior—so much so that people in other cities described the behavior in their city with a term or phrase that was born in Corinth. Historical records indicate that the memorable phrase in Corinth was the phrase, “To Corinthianize.” The phrase, “To Corinthianize” was a popular way to describe the sexually immoral behavior of the average citizen in Corinth.
This behavior, unfortunately, seems to have creeped into the church as we discover by reading on in 1 Corinthians. We certainly note this behavior in today’s passage. In fact, we see in today’s passage a list of some ten behaviors that indicate just how chaotic the church had become. Paul reminds the church that these behaviors have no place in their Christian lives. And so the verses are equally helpful to every one of us.
So I want to read through these verses again and note three considerations for us this morning. Number one, let’s:
I. Consider the Plight of Non-Christians (9a)
Paul is very clear about the plight of the non-Christian in verse 9. Look down in your Bible as I read the first part of verse 9, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” Stop there.
We noted last time that the phrase, “the unrighteous” refers to the non-Christian, literally the one who is “un-righteous,” the one to whom Christ’s righteousness has not been imputed. He is not wearing Christ’s righteousness so he is “unrighteous.”
Verse 9, what will the unrighteous, what will the non-Christian not inherit? Verse 9, he “will not inherit—what?—the kingdom of God.” What does that mean? That means the unrighteous, the non-Christian, is not in favor with God. He stands outside of the kingdom. He is lost. He is unsaved. He dies and his soul does not go to heaven. He remains separated from God.
See every one of us in the room this morning falls into one of two categories: the righteous and the unrighteous. Paul is not talking about morally good people and morally bad people. He’s talking about those who are clothed in Christ’s righteousness and those who are not clothed in Christ’s righteousness. You either are or you are not clothed in Christ’s righteousness.
We are saved not on the basis of what we do, but on the basis of what Christ has done for us. He lived a perfect life and died a perfect death. In His life he fulfilled the law perfectly for us. That’s His active obedience. He never sinned, not once. And He kept the 10 Commandments and all the moral law perfectly for us. And in His death, in His passive obedience, He died as our perfect substitute, taking our sins upon Himself that we would be justified—declared righteous.
So to quote the hymn-writer:
Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;
Buried, He carried my sins far away;
Rising, He justified freely forever;
One day He’s coming—O glorious day!
The Christian is righteous because of who Christ is and what Christ has done. Christ’s righteousness is imputed to the believer, to the Christian. This is what makes the Christian righteous. So the Christian may enter the Kingdom of God, inheriting the Kingdom of God, because of Christ. But the plight of the non-Christian, the unrighteous, is exclusion from the kingdom of God. Again, verse 9:
“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” Paul does not say the unkind will not inherit the kingdom of God, nor does he say the uncaring or the unfeeling. He says, “the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Consider the plight of the non-Christian. He will not inherit the kingdom of God. Number two:
II. Consider the Peril of Deception (9-10)
Read verse 9 again, but this time keep going for a bit. Verse 9, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be—what?—deceived. To whom is Paul writing? The church. Is it possible for people in the church to be deceived? Yes.
Paul says, “Do not be deceived.” That is, “Don’t allow yourself to be deceived by untrue beliefs about spiritual things. The peril of deception is that many in the church think they are okay with God when they are not okay with God.
I mean, here is a timely warning for many in our day. “Do not be deceived” about who will enter the kingdom of God.
Are there not many in our day who are deceived about who is going to heaven and who is not? Is it not popular today to say things like, “Look, there are many kinds of Christians. There are those who are extremist, fundamentalist, so-called “Born-again Christians” and then there are more moderate and less fundamental Christians—but everybody is okay in the end. Verse 9:
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.
Consider Nicodemus in John 3. This religious person comes to Jesus one night and says, “Rabbi, I know there’s something special about you. God must be with You.” Jesus says, “You must be born again.” If you are not born again, Nicodemus, you cannot see the kingdom of God.
There is only one kind of Christian, one who is born again. Don’t be deceived.
Now look again at verse 9 and following:
9 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,
10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
Paul lists 10 behaviors that are obviously inconsistent with Christian living. There are 10 there. In listing these 10, Paul is not saying that Christians will never sin. You and I look at this list and we’re like, “Well, I’ve been covetous, I’ve been greedy, I’ve taken something that wasn’t mine, looks like I’m out.” Paul is not talking about momentary episodes of unrighteousness. He’s talking about regular daily living of the unrighteous. He’s talking about day-to-day living of the the non-Christian, the one for whom these behaviors are the routine way of living. He’s talking about a pattern of behavior, a lifestyle of non-Christian living.
But there is a force hear that Paul intends. He’s like, “Look at your life and see how you’re living. Do these behaviors characterize your day-to-day lives? Are these behaviors indicative of a pattern? Don’t be deceived! Those engaged in unrighteous living will not inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t be deceived.
The peril of deception is the peril that one can live for the world and surely because God is God of love, He will simply overlook my worldly living. Don’t be deceived.
Remember the context preceding in chapter 5? Paul rebukes the church for not taking seriously a man who was living in public, unrepentant sexual immorality. He was a church member but was living in a way inconsistent with Christianity. Paul said to them, “And you are puffed-up about this!” You are proud of your so-called tolerance. Don’t be deceived.
And loved ones the same warning goes to you and me: Do not be deceived. The pop culture of our day tells you all kinds of things are permissible: You know, “Don’t be such a prude. Everybody’s doing it.” Paul says, “Oh, no they’re not. Christians don’t live that way. Don’t be deceived.”
Verses 9 and 10, Here are those who will not inherit the kingdom of God: Fornicators—that is those who engage in sex before marriage. Does that describe any of you? Remember the word translated here, “Porneia” from which we get “porn” or “pornography.” Do you any of you regularly read or view pornography?
9 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,
“But isn’t God a God of love? Surely, Paul can’t be serious. These persons will not inherit the kingdom of God? Sounds pretty extreme, and a bit homophobic.”
Don’t be deceived. There’s a loving warning there. Don’t be deceived by your feelings, don’t be deceived by the feelings of others, don’t be deceived by pop-culture, don’t be deceived by the media, don’t be deceived by anyone who causes you to stumble or compromise. Don’t be deceived.
Leviticus 18:22:
22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.
The phrase “lie with a male as with a woman” covers every single kind of male to male sexual relationship. I note the forceful clarity of this truth only because some people, so wishing to make the Bible say something other than what it says, twist the Scriptures into all kinds of unwarranted meanings. The Bible is clear: just as adultery is wrong, so is homosexuality wrong.
Paul was beside himself earlier in chapter 5 with the reported incest going on in the church: “A man has his father’s wife!” This sin was explicitly forbidden in the Old Testament book of Leviticus, the same book from which comes strong prohibition of the sin of homosexuality. So let us not be be so quick to dismiss this text just because it addresses a sin found in the supposedly outdated or inapplicable Jewish book of Leviticus. If Paul were beside himself that the church was allowing a man to remain in an incestuous relationship, how much more beside himself would he be to discover that so many today have explained away the sin of homosexuality?
And see Romans 1:26-27:
26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.
27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
The phrase “men with men” covers every single kind of male to male sexual relationship (see also 1 Timothy 1:9-11).
Consider the way same sex partners behave in order to make possible an intimacy which mimics the God-ordained biological uniting together of opposite sexes. The very fact that one man has to “act like the woman” and the other has to “act like the man” proves the existence of a God-ordained intimacy attained solely through the uniting together of one man and one woman. Think that through.
I’m not trying to get all “Phil Robertson Duck Dynasty-like on you,” okay. I’m simply noting the fact that a homosexual union requires one person in the relationship to act like the opposite gender. Doing so, at the very least, evinces some kind of assent to the natural order of things, even if the homosexual disagrees with the biblical command.
Paul is warning Christians not to be deceived. These behaviors indicate regular, day-to-day living of non-Christians. Don’t be deceived, verse 10:
10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
Do these behaviors characterize your day-to-day living? Do you steal, are you covetous—greedy—do you drink regularly and get drunk? Do you revile or slander? Do you slander and swindle? If this is a pattern of lifestyle for you, don’t be deceived. People who live this way “will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Consider the plight of the non-Christian, consider the peril of deception. Thirdly:
III. Consider the Power of Salvation (11)
I love verse 11. Verse 11, “And such were some of you.” And such were. Say, “Were.” Were. Such were some of you. You used to live that way but you don’t anymore. Why? Because of the power of salvation, the radiant and transformative power of the Gospel! You live differently now! Such were some of you.
Some of you were these things. What things? Verses 9 and 10: Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners. Some of you in this very congregation were those things of your past. Were. You no longer are. You were but you no longer are. You’ve been changed. How?
Verse 11, “And such were some of you. 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.”
Three things God does in Christ are mentioned there in verse 11, three things God does in the power of salvation. Verse 11:
Verse 11, “And such were some of you. 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.”
You were washed. That’s regeneration. God regenerates you. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
You were washed, spiritual cleansed from guilt and the stain of sin, washed through the regenerating waters of the Gospel.
Paul says in Titus 3:5, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,”
Verse 11, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified,”
Sanctification begins at regeneration. Sanctification is a process. It is process by which the Christian becomes increasingly more and more like Jesus. We grow in our sanctification or holiness. We hate sin more as we grow and so we do it less. That’s sanctification.
We sang about sanctification earlier when we sang:
Finish, then, Thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let us be.
Let us see Thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in Thee;
Changed from glory into glory,
Till in heaven we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before thee,
Lost in wonder, love, and praise
Verse 11 again:
Verse 11, “And such were some of you. 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.”
To be justified is to be declared righteous. It happens once in time and it changes us forever. God declares us righteous in Christ Jesus.
1 Corinthians 1:30, “of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness…”
So Paul is saying, “Live like the person you have been declared to be. Don’t live like the person you used to be.”
To paraphrase John Newton, “I am not the man I ought to be, I am not the man I wish to be, and I am not the man I hope to be, but by the grace of God, I am not the man I used to be.”
Let’s all read verse 11. Stand and read this with me.
•Stand and read verse 11:
11 And such were some of you. 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.
•Bow your heads for prayer.
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