Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. I'd like to look at verses 9
to 11 this evening. We're just going to pick up right
where we left off. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Verse
9, the Scripture declares, 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 revelers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of
God. And such were some of you. But you're washed, but you're
sanctified, but you're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
and by the Spirit of our God. Let's pray. Our Father, this evening we ask
Your blessing upon Your Word. Lord, we ask that You'd help
us, help us to hear, help us to worship. Thank You, Lord Jesus,
for Your presence. How we pray Bless us tonight
and forgive us. For Christ's sake we ask. Amen. There's a truth that every believer
knows. And it's this. That the Lord
did not save him by his own works. A believer knows that. Every
believer knows that it's not by works of righteousness that
we've done. The scripture declares, for by
grace are you saved. And you know it through faith. And that, not of yourselves,
that is, that salvation or that faith. Not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. Not of
works. Lest any man should boast. And
that's what he'll do. Man is a boaster by nature. He boasts. Good Master, what must I do to
inherit eternal life? What does the scriptures say?
Well, honor your father and mother. Don't steal. Oh, all of these I've kept from
my youth up. God's people are saved by the
grace of God and through the works of another. Knowing that a man is not justified,
that is, he's not rendered or declared just. Justification
is the declaration based on Righteousness before God. It's the declaration
by God's law. No charge. A man is not justified by the
works of the law. Why? Because of the severity
of the law. The demand of the law for obedience. A man is not justified by the
works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Now listen, if we get one thing
out of the message tonight, let's get this right here. What is
the basis of a believer's justification before God? What is the total
basis? If someone were to ask you, what
is the foundation of being justified before God? What is it? That's
a good question, isn't it, Neil? If somebody were to ask us, tell
me, where in lies my hope? Here it is, right here. It's
totally by our union in Christ, being in Christ. A man is not justified by the
works of the law, so that means that that totally takes him out
of the equation. But by the faith of Jesus Christ,
being found in Christ, He who has pleased the Father, and God's
people being chosen in Him from before the foundation of the
world, and God dealing with His people totally as Him having
put them in Christ, Mysteriously, marvelously are God's people
in the Lord Jesus Christ and being in Him. It's not their
works. It's not by the works of the
law that they've done. They're not justified by the
works of the law. They're justified by the faith. When the Lord Jesus
Christ obeyed God, all in Him obeyed God. That's the foundation of a believer's
hope. The scripture says, knowing that
a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the
faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ,
we do believe Him. What do we believe? That we believe
that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. That's what
we believe. You might say, well, I'm a Christian
because I believed on the Lord. No, you're not. You believed on the Lord because
He gave you faith to believe that it was not by the works
of righteousness that we've done. Not by the law, but by the works
of the law shall no flesh be justified. But though we are
not saved by our works. And we all admit that. It's not
a believer in here that doesn't admit that. We're not saved by
our works. We know that. But does that mean
that works has no part in a believer's life? Absolutely not. Does a believer have works involved
in his life? Yes. The scripture declares, Ephesians
2.10, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. Now listen, this is what happens
at conversion. Almighty God gets a sinner under
the sound of the gospel. I know this. We've proven that. Romans 1.16. Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel. A gospel that declares salvation
to be all of grace. Salvation is of the Lord. We
don't have anything to brag on in ourselves. And Almighty God
puts a man, puts a woman under the sound of the gospel. And when it pleases God, He imparts life. He gives a new
heart. He just puts life, new spirit,
that's imparted into the vessels of God's mercy and compassion. And therefore, when God puts
life in one of His own, There's a new attitude toward faithfulness
and obedience to the Lord. Now, you talk to a believer and
ask them, how much do you see yourself
being obedient? And let me tell you what a believer
will say. I don't see any obedience in me. I don't see any. The scripture says that he is
a believer. Why? Because he believes God.
I tell you what I believe. I believe that in myself I see
no good thing. I believe that. I believe the
scripture declares that there's life within and I can tell you
how that life is manifest. I want to obey. To will is present
with me. and everyone that believes God
to will is present. But how to perform that which
I would? I find not. The life of a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ is a life that is vitally governed by the
Spirit of God. Listen to this, Romans 8, 14.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, They are the sons
of God. It is a life that is consistent
with the doctrine that he professes. Almighty God is love. God is
love. A believer loves. Almighty God
has shown mercy and grace and compassion. A believer is compassionate. He just... Does he find any kind
of hope? Any reason for his existence
in Christ because of that? No. But I can tell you what he
does. He's faithful. to be gracious, I want to be
found gracious. James 2.20, But wilt thou know,
O vain man, that faith without works, that is, of the Holy Spirit,
is dead? Here's what James is saying. Faith that does not have the
evidence of life from above is not the faith of God's elect.
We're not saved by works, but we're not destitute of the evidence
of regeneration. good works for where his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works." God's people walk
like God's people. They don't put any confidence
whatsoever in their flesh. They don't. But they walk like
a believer. Now this problem obviously was
being manifested Corinth. There were some things that were
acceptable in the life of the Corinthians that were just not
acceptable. according to God's Word, the
leadership of God's Spirit. So the Apostle Paul begins in
this verse 9, where we are right here, and he said, No, you're
not, that the unrighteous, unrighteous, I looked it up, this is what
it means, wrongdoers, unrighteous, wrongdoers, shall not inherit
the kingdom of God. Now obviously there's an inheritance,
to be had. There's an inheritance that has
been prepared for God's people before the foundation of the
world. This is what Scripture declares, Matthew 25, 34. Then
shall the king say unto them on his right hand, he separated
the sheep from the goats. Sheep have always been sheep.
They've always been sheep. Goats don't become sheep, and
sheep don't become goats. They were sheep. They were chosen
before the foundation of the world. They were God's sheep. The Lord said, He said, Other
sheep I have. He was talking to some Jews.
He said, Other sheep I have. They're not of this fold. They're
not Jewish. They're Gentiles. Them I must
bring. But they were sheep. They were
lost sheep. They were unconverted sheep, but they were sheep. So,
then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come,
ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world. There's an inheritance, the scripture
says, for God's elect. It's an inheritance that's given.
It was prepared. It wasn't earned by them. The Lord gave it to them. He
prepared it for them. So here, Paul declares, that
this inheritance is going to be possessed by a people. But it's a people of God's description. They're the ones that are believers. This is how you know them. How
do you know a believer? A believer, when I say believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ, this is what I'm saying. He doesn't
believe in himself. Now, I either believe in Christ,
that my salvation is all of Him, or I believe in me. I believe
that either I've done something or He's done something. To believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ does not mean that He's offered to
you, that you can make a decision whether you accept Him or whether
you don't. That's not what that means. To believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ is to believe what the Scripture declares concerning
Him, that life is in Christ, God saves in Him alone, and reveals
it to God's people, and gives them faith to believe it. So,
here's those that this inheritance is for. It's those that the Lord
regenerates by the grace of God, Those who are possessor of this
new life, new spirit, new heart, and they believe this, that righteousness
has been imputed to them, that they've not earned it. Now, if
we want to talk about our righteousness, I can sum it up this way. Filthy rags. And we just ended it. That's
our righteousness, filthy rags before God. But these that Paul
is talking about that are going to inherit the kingdom of God,
they're the ones that are the possessors of true righteousness
before God. Now, know you not that the unrighteous
They're not going to inherit the kingdom of God. So who is
he talking about? These unrighteous ones. It's
those that are destitute of the imputed righteousness of God. How do you know who they are? You know this. How do you know
those that are destitute of the imputed righteousness of God?
They don't believe This gospel. They don't believe it. They don't
believe it. They don't believe the gospel
of God's grace. This is the message of God. This is God's gospel. There's
only two messages being preached. That salvation is an offer from
God to be accepted by man by doing something. And the other
message is the truth. It said, Almighty God, before
the foundation of the world, according to an everlasting covenant
of grace, chose a people. Ephesians 1. Go back and read
Ephesians 1. He chose a people in Christ before
the foundation of the world that they should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. Having predestinated them unto
the adoption of children, adoption of sons by Jesus Christ to Himself. This is the truth of who Almighty
God saves. He saves His people. saves them,
but the unrighteous, those that are destitute of the imputed
righteousness of Christ. But there's a second thing. He's
also speaking of those who lack the evidence of that imputed
righteousness. And there is an evidence of it. Those who lack the evidence of
that righteousness that is given by God. To those who are the
possessors of the imputed righteousness of Christ, there's a manifestation
of that righteousness. I've heard Brother Scott say
it so many times. You know, those that Almighty
God does something for, it's going to get out on them. It's going to come out on them.
You're going to know it. I can't remember exactly how
he said it, but there's going to be an evidence of it. The
Scripture declares, if any man be in Christ, not in mere religion,
but by faith in Christ, by regenerating grace, he is
a new creature. He's a new creation of God, and
old things are passed away. His old life, old legal righteousness,
and old legal religion, old foolish thoughts of God. Behold, the
apostle says, all things have become new. In the new creation,
there are new principles of life. There's a love now for God as
He set forth in the Scriptures. And there's a new love for His
people that wasn't there before. I love just to come here and
be with God's people. To be here with believers. and to fellowship with them.
So the Apostle Paul is saying, know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Then he says, be not
deceived. That is, don't flatter yourself
with vain hope, thinking that the lack of evidence in Christ
doesn't matter. Don't be deceived. He said, now
let's hear what God has to say admitting this truthfulness and
let's call ourselves liars. He said, be not deceived, neither
fornicators, those who sell themselves lustfully in an unchecked life
of rebellion. Now, all of these right here,
let me tell you this. There's not a person ever born
into this world that doesn't have ungodly thoughts that go
through their minds. Anybody that says, well, I never
don't, well, you're just not truthful. You're just not, you're
not truthful. Everybody has thoughts. But these
evidences, and this is not all of them, it's just, there's just,
you go back and read in Galatians and read the lust of the flesh
and all these, These are just those that the Spirit of God
moved upon right here. But what he's talking about is
in an unchecked way. It's just open and blatant like
the fellow that had married his step-mom. You know, it was just
in your face. You know, just, I don't care. This is what the Scripture says,
I don't care. I had a man that was in Tennessee. And I made a statement. And I
read a scripture out of Revelation. And it was concerning when the
Lamb's Book of Life was written. And I read out of the scriptures
where the Book of Life was written from before the foundation of
the world. All the entries are already written
eternally. All of the entries in the Lamb's
Book of Life have always been there. They've always been there.
Well, they told me years ago that every time that somebody
gave their heart to Jesus, a recording angel wrote a new name in there. That's not in the scriptures. So anyway, he got mad. He got
mad. He got mad. And another fellow,
I didn't say anything to him, another fellow told him. He said,
well, didn't you just read it in Revelation, what it says?
He said, I don't care what it says. I don't care what it says. This is those who live a life
in an unchecked way of rebellion against God. Neither fornicators
nor idolaters, those who worship any other God than the true and
living God. If I tell you that God Almighty
is, you know, one that's wanting to save those that led Him, that's
not the God of this Bible. The God of this Bible is God
who rules in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and no man stays His hand. No man has a right to question
Him. He's God. Neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, those covenant breakers, what
it is, unfaithful physically, but especially spiritually, nor
effeminate. The word there, it means soft. One given to slowful shiftness,
way of living, one that is soft and given to a shiftless, slothful
way of living. But here, spiritually, one who
will not endure the hardships for Christ's sake. When the Lord
says, take up your cross and follow me, that's what he's talking
about. Or abusers of mankind, sodomites, sodomy, abusers of
themselves with mankind, nor thieves, that is, stealers of
property or reputation, but especially God's glory, nor covetous, that
is, possessors of insatiable practice of lustful uncleanness
or the greed of the world, nor drunkards, nor revelers, revelers,
a reproachful man of coarse, harsh, bitter words, a man whose
characteristic it was to abuse others by gossip or slander,
nor extortioners, that is, one who uses force to extract the
property of others. Remember, all of these evils
are descriptions of those who can, without chastisement, without
guilt, with no regard for God's honor and word, continue with
them. You know, those that will say,
look, let's just sin so that grace can abound. I told you
about an acquaintance I had back in Tennessee. I guess a lot of
these things I remember in Tennessee. But anyway, a man that was, he
was living in a just totally, disgraceful way, just horrible. And this was his answer. I asked
him, I said, what are you doing? And he said, well, you know,
I'm just a sinner. God saved me by grace. I said,
well, we've got a problem here. No, no. Paul says in verse 11,
and such were Some of you. Such were some of you. No one
is free from these vices. Don't hear again. Let's all just
admit it. Let's just all just be honest
about it and just say that, you know what, we're sinners. But we're sinners that are saved
by the grace of God. And though there is indwelling
sin within, there's a war that's going on. There's a war, there's
a battle that's being fought. Before conversion, we all possessed
an unchecked attitude towards sin. We all acted just like what
we are. We're just rebels against God.
But though sin had dominion over us, And that's what the Scripture
says. We all had our conversation in
times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and we're by nature the children
of wrath, even as others, children of wrath toward God. Somebody
talked to us about the gospel, somebody talked to us about God.
I don't want to hear that. We all were like that. But by
the grace of God, When the Holy Spirit comes in quickening power,
something takes place in a believer. The first thing that the Scripture
declares in Ezekiel 36 is that there's an old stony heart removed. Now we can't have a one heart.
and the old stony heart is removed. Now, I don't mean to say that
there's not the evidence of sin that still is within, but sin
does not have dominion anymore. over a believer. That cold, hard,
rebellious heart against God's authority is removed. And there's
a new heart. He said, I'm going to give you
a new heart. A new heart of flesh. And that word is not talking
about the rebellious nature of a man. It means a pliable, soft
heart. A heart now that loves God. Now
here's an amazing thing. A believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ is one that recognizes that sin dwells in him. I know it's there. But there's
a new man there that loves God and loves God's people and loves
God's Word and loves God's way. A heart that bows. And it's a
heart that hates sin and doesn't want to. Though he sees himself
doing it. And he can't stop himself. You cannot not sin. The moment you think you have,
you're just full of pride. You're just a liar. If we say
we have no sin, we make God a liar. 1 John 3.9 says, Whosoever is born
of God does not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and
he cannot sin because he is born of God. He cannot. But what about what I see in
me? Again, that sin doesn't rule
anymore. It doesn't rule. Sin shall not
have dominion over it. You are not under the law, but
under grace. Sin is dethroned. In that regenerated
center of God's mercy, sin doesn't dominate you. It does not. We're no longer under the law
as a covenant. We're not under its curse and
its condemnation. Before, we lovingly and willingly
and without guilt, we walked in rebellion. But now we long to adorn the
gospel that we preach and that we obey. And the Lord who has
loved us now has put an evidence inside. You walk. You walk in the light. Where there's a new life, there's
a new walk. Now, Titus 2. Titus 2, verses
7-12. in all things showing thyself
a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity,
sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he
that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil
thing to say of you. Exhort servants. You want to
talk about, you fellows, men, women, You go out in the workplace,
listen to this, listen. How am I supposed to work? How
am I supposed to act? Exhort servants to be obedient
unto their own masters and to please them well in all things,
not answering again, not purloining, don't steal from them. Don't
steal time, don't steal material, don't steal their reputation,
not purloining is what it means. but showing all good fidelity,
that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men." Does that mean everybody
with that description? No, it means all kinds. Not just
Jews, Jews and Gentiles. Teaching us that denying ungodliness
and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, godly
in this present world. So yes, such were, Paul says,
some of you. But by the grace of God, in verse
11, you're washed. Now, there's so many things that
can be said about each one of you. You're washed. You're sanctified
and you're justified, but concerning this one on washing, let's listen
to what scripture has to say here. It says, Titus 3, 3-6,
For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, Disobedient, deceived,
serving divers' lust and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful
and hating one another. But after that, the kindness
and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of
righteousness, which we've done, but according to His mercy, He
saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost,
which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. By the work of the Holy Spirit
of God in quickening power, we're made to know and understand something
of God's mercy and compassion to sinners, such as we are. And until we were washed, washed
in regenerating grace by the kindness of God Almighty toward
us, we never knew or cared about obedience before God. But now,
being possessors of a new nature, we know something of that holy
calling and we're made willing in the day of God's power to
seek His face and call upon His name and desire to walk after
Him. in obedience. But he said, but
now such were some of you, but you're washed, but you're sanctified. Jude wrote concerning the believer's
sanctification, he said this, Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ
and brother of James, to them that are sanctified, what that
means is made holy, being bathed in the Holy Spirit. by God the
Father and preserved in Christ Jesus and called. Here, our sanctification, you're
sanctified, you're set apart by God the Father according to
His good pleasure and choice, having chosen you out of the
world to be His own. according to His good pleasure,
according to His good will. And we have been sanctified by
His will and purpose by being found in Christ Jesus, washed
in His blood, our guilt put away, and His righteousness imputed. There was nothing in any child
of promise that moved God to set His affection. He chose us
because it pleased Him to do so. Salvation is totally owing
to God's mercy and compassion according to His election. He
sanctified us. He chose to make us holy. He
chose to make us just and right. And then lastly, but you're justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus. You're righteous, declared just,
accepted, and brought into favor with God Almighty totally, and
this is where I started, by being found in Christ. That is the
total basis of our justification before God. We're justified by
faith. justified by faith in Him by
whose faith we're justified. Romans 5, 9, much more than being
now justified by His blood. We shall be saved from wrath
through Him. So truly, in closing, we who
were at one time unchecked, rebels against God in our minds and
in our actions, children of wrath even as others, We've been justified
in the name and authority and the character of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So here Paul reveals that all
that have been eternally chosen of God to be brought in time,
to know it by grace, we owe all of our salvation totally to Him. Paul says the unrighteous shall
not inherit the kingdom of God. We're righteous by the imputed
righteousness of Christ. That's our righteousness being
found in Him. But there is an imparted righteousness
that is put there by the Spirit of God. There's a new life. There's
a new man. There's a new will. There's a
new mind. There's a new walk. There's a
new love. And we walk before God by the
grace of God. May the Lord bless the Word to
our heart for Christ's sake. Amen.