Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. I might also say that I got a text
this morning. Some of you are probably curious
about Brother Henry Mayhem. He was up in a chair yesterday
And they were quite encouraged by it. But he had a bad night
last night. But they're about to try to get him up again this
morning and put him in a chair. As you know, he broke his hip
and everything. So he's having a tough time remembering. I want to talk to you this morning
about the unrighteous and the righteous. This church at Corinth, to whom
this letter is written to, had some real problems. Real serious
problems. They had been pastored by Paul
for about two years with his personal presence. He was there
for two years at Corinth. where he preached with great
success and was used of God in the conversion of a whole multitude
of people. And he established this church
there, and it consisted both of Jews and Gentiles, as is clear
from several passages in the letter. You can read it at your
leisure. He had left them in a good estate
and they were existing in peace and harmony and agreement, having
the mind of Christ. But shortly and very quickly
after his departure, false teachers weaseled in amongst them and
consumed by many of them. had some very evil practices
amongst them. And they were being approved
of by the church there, or at least they were being tolerated.
But these folks fell into cliques and groups and splinter groups. And they divided over many things. And they had a party here and
a party there. And Paul, having learned of their
condition and practices, writes this letter to them. In fact, somebody there, someone,
some people maybe, some members of that church, had written him
and asked for his judgment and his opinion about some of the
things that were going on there. Look at chapter 7 and verse 1. Now concerning the things whereof
you wrote to me, they had written him." And then he goes into an
answer about the man and the woman. A man's relationship to
the woman, a woman's to the man. This place was the place of Coriath,
the city of Coriath. was of such a base reputation
and openly approving and practicing such a vile lifestyle that it
was shameful even amongst themselves at times. They practiced every kind of
uncleanness and luxury that could be imagined. But the Lord in His providence
and in His grace sent Paul and used Paul in the preaching of
the gospel to form a church there amongst them. In this letter that Paul wrote
to these folks, he addresses their conduct in
certain things. He writes them and gives them directions concerning a man and
a woman in the church in the act of an incestuous relationship. He admonishes them because they
were going to the law. They were taking one another
to court and not settling things amongst themselves. He takes
them to task over fornication. He takes them to task concerning
marriage. He advises them about things
offered to idols. If a food had been offered to
one of their idols, some believed it was still okay to eat that
meat, and others believed that it wasn't, and he gave them instructions
about why offend a brother when it's not necessary. He advises them and admonishes
them and instructs them concerning idolatry. They had made a mockery of the
Lord's Supper. They were having a feast rather
than a ceremony. And in remembrance of Christ,
those things had just become nothing. And he advises them
concerning spiritual gifts. Paul scolds them severely and
warns them that their regard for the wisdom of men and the
philosophy of the Gentiles and the philosophers of that day
And he tells them that they had brought the simplicity of the
gospel into total contempt amongst themselves. It meant nothing. And being Gentiles, they had
become as indifferent to these vile immoralities as they had
to their eating. I mean, there ain't no distinction. And then, in our text, Look at
verse 9, chapter 6. He says this, 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." I know that every time I've ever
read that in my life, that it made me just a little bit squeamish.
Does it to you? That statement stands on its
own. It's striking. And at first blush,
first impression, if you will, maybe, it's pretty extreme, considering
our natures and our propensity towards such things. and it's
offensive to our human nature, our base nature. But it's the
words of Paul, as it was given to him and revealed to him by
God the Spirit. When a man or woman lives for
these things, practice these things, it's a sure statement
to say that they shall not inherit the kingdom of God. I want to begin by appealing
to your reason. Look at verse nine and 10 again.
You just kind of browse it while I ask you this question. And
please, don't hold up your hand Because I don't want to know
your answer to this question. And I don't want you to know
mine. I wouldn't have you to know. But is there anybody here, is
there anybody here who doesn't fit into the description
that's given right here? Now be honest with yourself,
please. Paul describes these people in
one all-inclusive description. They're unrighteous. Know you not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the unrighteous? And these things are not ranked
in any order of degree. I want to make that point very
clear. One is as bad as the other. One is as vile and unacceptable
as the other. Our consciences tell us that.
That's something that God has ingrained in the conscience of
man that every man knows that these things are wrong. Thieves are no different than
a covetous man. Doesn't matter whether you're
a thief or just coveting neighbors. One's as bad as the other. Drunkards
are no worse than extortioners. And idolaters are no worse than
fornicators. They are all unrighteous. You know what I'm saying? And having offended The law,
God's law, they are all, they are guilty of all. Pick your spot. If you fit in
any one or any place or all. The Lord said if you call your
brother worthless, you've murdered him. Now how are you going to escape
that? And having offended You're guilty
of all. One shot or one tittle shall
not pass from the law. If you violated one, you're guilty. James said, whoever shall keep
the whole law and yet offend in one point, he's guilty of
all. And here Paul reminds them of
what they once were, so that he might strike them,
make them aware of what they now are. That's His purpose in
doing this. Look at verse 11. And such were
some of you. Did you come out of that group? But you're washed carefully notices, but you are
present tense, washed. But you are sanctified. But you are justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. What are they now? Well, if you add all those things
up, they're righteous. Are. Present tense. In their state. And first I want
you to notice that heaven is an inheritance. Some shall not
inherit, and others will. You know what an inheritance
is? You have to do it. If daddy has written a will,
you know that you're heir to it. And heaven is obtained by
inheritance, not by works. It's given you. Eternal life
and justification, sanctification, and being washed is a gift through
the inheritance of Christ, the heir of all things. Heaven's not earned. You can't earn it. You can't
work for it. Condemnation is what we've earned. The wages of sin. And that's
death. Eternal death. I want you to
hold your place and look at this verse with me. Turn to Romans
4 and chapter 13. I want to make good on that. Romans 4 and chapter 13. Just turn back a little. Look at verse 13, Romans 4. The
promise that Abraham should be the heir
of the world was not to Abraham or his seed through the law,
but through the righteousness of faith. Yes, do you see that? Only those
who are righteous are heirs. of the promise. But there's good news. It's the
righteousness of faith that marks them as an heir. Not the righteousness
of their works, the righteousness of their doing. Abraham, it says,
believed God. And it was counted unto him for
righteousness. It doesn't say he was or did. or His done, it says He believed
and it was counted to Him. The unrighteous shall not inherit
the kingdom of God. But those whom God has gifted
faith to hold to the faith of Christ are righteous by faith
in Him and the work He has accomplished on their behalf. Now, this is
not the only place in Scripture that we're warned of unrighteousness,
and the fact that salvation is by an inheritance. Galatians 5, verse 19 to 21,
let me read it to you. So now the works of the flesh
are manifest, which is these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations,
wrath, strife, seditions, and heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness,
revelings, and such like of the which I tell you before, and
I've also told you in time past, that they which do such things
shall not inherit. the kingdom of God. And we're
also told that in Ephesians. For this you know, that no formonger,
unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater hath an
inheritance in the kingdom of God. Now look back at verse 11
in our text, 1 Corinthians 6. And it says, and such were some
of you. Salvation or eternal life is
by the promise of God's everlasting covenant of grace. He is determined and has purposed
that not all of this human race will perish. He's chosen the people out of
this world, out of the unrighteous that's described. and is to this day saving them
out of this world. Let me ask you, are you interested
in this salvation that requires no works and is reserved for
the ungodly? When I think of salvation by
grace, I always go to the story of Noah. My mind always runs
there. In the day of Noah, the Scripture
says that God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth
and that every imagination of his thoughts was only evil continually. It was such that God determined
that He was going to and did destroy man whom I have created
from the face of the earth. He destroyed him. all except
for eight souls. And the scripture says immediately
after his determination that he was going to destroy this
earth, it says, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
I'm sure many of you have heard this before, but the striking
thing to me about that story is, it's what's not said about
Noah. It doesn't say that Noah was
different Have you ever thought about that?
It doesn't say that Noah was a sincere man. It doesn't say,
but Noah was a good man. And it doesn't say that Noah
performed many wonderful works, which he did. It says that Noah found grace. The imaginations of that man's
heart, the imaginations of Noah's heart, was no different than
those of everyone else around him. None. They were evil continually. But what made the difference?
Grace. Grace. And how is this grace
bestowed upon those whom God's chosen? Our text says, but you're
washed. Now what does that mean? Well you can find it in Titus
3 and verse 3. We ourselves, Paul says this,
for we ourselves also were sometimes foolish. Paul there puts himself
in the same group that's described as unrighteous. We've all been
there. We've all been there. But what
made the difference? We were living in malice and
envy and hateful and hating one another. But after that, the
kindness and love of God our Savior, God our Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ, toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness
which we've done, but according to His mercy. He saved us. How? by the washing of regeneration. And Paul says, but you washed.
But you're washed. He shed that on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Now first I want you to notice
that the Apostle Paul included himself there, as I've said. But that verse also explains
how we, as believers, are washed. Until that we're washed by this
regeneration, the kindness and love of God toward us has never
appeared to us. Never had any idea of it. Never
had any desire for it. But for the first time, the believer
finds himself called with a holy calling. The Lord called his
name and made me and you willing in the day of His power, in the
day of that regeneration and quickening by God's Spirit, and
we put our trust in the work that Christ did for us, and then
we're aware of it. We come to appreciate it. It
has its effect. Although the electing love of
God chose that precious child of God before the world began,
and wrote his name in the book of life, it wasn't until God
put his almighty hand on that unrighteous soul and quickened
him to life, who was living in trespasses and sin, he was unconscious
of his high calling. He'd been royalty from before
the world was ever formed, and now it's been revealed to him. Until then, he knew nothing of
the Father's love in His choosing, or the Son's love in redeeming,
or to any of the purposes of God. And there's not a single
blessing that we can lay claim to, or have we the smallest conception
of it, until this sovereign act quickens our soul. It says, but
you're washed. Now, he exercises the power of
the Gospel to do that through a preacher. He saves sinners. Paul says, but you're sanctified.
What does that mean? It means set apart or separate.
I'm going to let that stand as simply as I can with just very
few comments, but I can assure you this. Sanctification is a
state of existence. Either you are sanctified or
you're not. There's no in between. Our text says you are sanctified. Not that you will be or that
you are in a progressive state, but you are. Hebrews 10 says, we're sanctified
through the offering of the body of Christ once. Once. Not twice. Not progressively,
but once. Does that say anything about
having to make some improvements on the work that Christ has done?
No, He did it once. I tried to think of an illustration
of this. Some time ago, I was verbally jousting with a good
friend, David Wright. Some of you may know him. And my daughter was there, and
after she'd made some cutting remark to him, he looked at me
and he said, she ain't no good. She's crazy. And since we were
in the process of being crazy with one another, I said, now
you wait a minute, David. She belongs to me. And she may
be just like every other woman in this world, but she's special. She's sanctified. I set her apart. I separated her, and she belongs
to me. Furthermore, she knows that she's
special to me. And knows that she belongs to
me. And is this not the standing that we see? We're sanctified. By God, the father, through the
redemption of Christ. And having it revealed to us.
And we know that it's in the Lord Jesus who loved us and gave
himself for us. We know we're special and we
appreciate the fact that we're special. We've been set apart,
just like those vessels over in the Old Testament tabernacle.
Those cups and saucers and candlesticks and bread and tables and altars
and all that stuff that existed. You might have one of them in
your house. But that one in your house, that
table in your house, that candlestick in your house, wasn't the one that God set apart. that separated. Those were in
the temple. Those were set apart for God's
purpose, and that's what He's done to us and for us. I think
that's what Paul's saying here. We're sanctified and set apart
for a special use. Now, we've been enabled to trace
our mercies back to their source. We see ourselves as sanctified,
set apart by the Father, having been regenerated, quickened from
the dead in our trespasses and sins, and brought forth from
those who otherwise are left to themselves." And then Paul
says, you're justified. I'm going to have to hurry. By
the Spirit of God in the text there. Now listen to this. He,
the Lord Jesus Christ, was delivered for our offenses and was raised
again for our justification. How we justify? By the deliverance of Christ.
You know what justification means? It means righteous. Do you see how the unrighteous
can be made righteous now? Does anyone need any further
clarification? You are justified. It was not by the works of the
law, but by the righteousness of Christ. The righteous, those
who trust Christ, were justified from all eternity. As soon as
Christ became a surety for them, they were justified when He rose
from the dead. And now they're justified in
the court of their own conscience. Their own conscience. by the
witness of the Spirit of God, I'm perfect. Maybe not to you,
but in my standing before God, I'm perfect. That's right. He, having convinced them of
the insufficiency of their own righteousness, which is actually
unrighteousness, and having revealed the righteousness of Christ to
them and by faith working in them to lay hold on it, pronounce
them justified in their own conscience. In these few words in verse 11,
we're told of God's spirit and God's gracious action in the
washing by regeneration of God the Father, love in sanctifying
or setting apart by the election of a people, and the Son's justification
by redemption, by His blood and His righteousness. And if you
add all these things up, what's the bottom line? Such were some
of you, but you're washed, but you are sanctified, but you're
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit
of God. That's got to mean those who
stand in Christ stand in perfection before God. That's the best news
I ever heard. Those in Christ are heirs of
righteousness and eternal life. They'll never die, not to second
death. They're perfect and they never
have to move a muscle. Never had to move a muscle. Didn't
knock on any doors, do any good works. God just showed mercy
to them. For no reason in and of themselves,
but according to His own purpose. One more thing. You see yourself as one of the
unrighteous described in verse 9 and 10. Have you got any desire? a thirst for the righteousness
of Christ. I confidently declare and assert
right now, Christ came into this world, God Almighty became a
man, the Lord Jesus Christ, to redeem a whole multitude of people. Sinners. Real sinners. Those whom God chose and wrote
in the Lamb's Book of Life before the earth and the heaven was
ever created. And He chose to make them heirs. Heirs of Himself. To spend eternity in His presence. The wonder of it all. By God's grace, I'm going to
be like Job. I hope. I don't care if He kills
me, I'm going to trust Him. Though He slay me, yet will I
trust Him. Hebrews, I think Paul wrote that book
too. Paul declares in Hebrews, I'll put it that way, He is able,
Christ, is able to save to the uttermost those that come to
God by Him. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll never forget one of the
first times Henry ever stood in this pulpit. He quoted that
scripture and then he paraphrased it. He is able to save to the
gutter most. That's where he found us.