No church was more confused and
had more problems than that one at Corinth that Paul ministered
to. Here's another example of that.
1 Corinthians 6, 9 through 11, such were some of you. Know ye
not that the righteous 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. And such were some of you, but
ye are washed But you are sanctified, you are justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. What company
did we keep? Such were some of you. I mentioned that Corinthians
had many problems that Paul had to deal with, and he deals with
them in this epistle. But in chapter 6, the apostle
comes to confront another one of the evils that was present
and prevalent there in the Corinthian congregation, this I think if
we count is the third practice, that would be suing one another
before the heathen courts at law. Letting pagan judges sit
in judgment between brethren and decide the matters that were
to be decided between professed Christian brethren. going to
law before the unjust, is how Paul put it, and doing wrong
and degrading and defrauding one another. They not only went
to law, as in verse 1 and verse 7, and that they did against
each other, but they did so before what Paul calls, verse 1, the
unjust, and down in verse 6, the unbelievers. letting unbelievers
decide matters between believers. So, let's tie something together. Where in the end of chapter 5
of 1 Corinthians, verse 12, that is, we, the saints, the church,
are not to judge them outside of the church, so we ought not
to judge one another before law, before them that have the power
legally to be judges over us. And here's a point. It is clear
from the New Testament scripture that the Roman government had
granted the Jews that lived there the right to settle religious
matters and religious disputes among themselves. You can see
that in John chapter 18, 31. You see it again in Acts chapter
18. and verse 14 and 15. And Paul exhorts the saints,
the children of God, to avoid, if at all possible, any litigation
in the Roman courts. That saints who are to judge
the world and to judge angels, in verse 2 and verse 3, surely
ought to be able to settle matters one between the other, ought
to be able to settle brotherly disputes and matters that did
arise between themselves. Some contend, and no doubt it
is true, that a litigious spirit characterized the Greek nation. And we wonder, and this is just
a way of humor, we wonder if they were plagued with an abundance
of barristers in that particular day. Perhaps if they had ways
of advertise, to make a point with humor, were their lawyers
advertising along this line like they do today. Have you been
injured in a chariot wreck? Has someone hurt your feelings? Are you owed money? Then come
to the law offices of Diogenes, Plato, and Smith, the smart,
tough lawyers who will get you all the money that you deserve. I was injured, someone said,
when a wheel came off of a chariot. So therefore, Paul says to them,
Nay, you do wrong and defraud, and that your brethren. Not only did they suffer themselves
to be defrauded in verse 7, but they in turn inflicted fraud
on another that was called unto them a brother. But now coming
to verse 9 in our text today, to the end of the chapter, the
apostle gives them a very stern warning and a strong rebuke. against unrighteous behavior
and tolerating it in the church. He warns them against many heinous
evils that were present in their society and in their day. To show them that such manner
of conduct is absolutely inconsistent with the Christian life, that
they which do such things are not to be counted as Christian
and that one They had been delivered from such practices as that by
the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. And number two,
that they must not be caught up in the practices of the heathen
society that was with them and around about them. So coming
to verse 9 through verse 11 by declaring that Christianity is
a religion of righteousness and of morals. Christianity cannot
be practiced apart from a practice of righteousness so that to say
that one is a Christian who is swallowed up in the prevalent
sins of that particular society is an evident contradiction according
to the word of God. It flies in the face of all scripture
and is as ridiculous as if one were to say that one is a good
wicked person to say that one practicing All manner of these
vices is reckoned as a Christian brother. Now, before proceeding
with the text, there is a point here that is to be made concerning
the morals of the city of Corinth. Though the whole world lies in
wickedness, wherever we might go, we will find the world lies
in wickedness, as 1 John 5 and verse 19 very clearly tells us
and yet there are some places and some areas such as Sodom
and such as Nineveh that the scriptures describe as exceedingly
wicked. called exceedingly wicked by
the scripture and by the word of God. Now, such a city was
current in Paul's time, in the time that Paul visited there
and brought the gospel. I was reading John Gill on the
description of the city of Corinth, and he wrote these words, quote,
the Corinthians were a people very much given to uncleanness
and luxury without measure, unquote. Said another, quote, all of the
cities of the ancient world, it was the most notorious for
licentiousness of them all." And yet, it was in this very
city that God said unto Paul in Acts 18 and verse 10, be faithful,
stand by the stuff, I have much people in this city. There are
many here that are mine elect, many here that I will call and
that I will save. And yet, It is hard to keep the
wickedness of a particular society out of the church. So often it
is true that the particular wickednesses of a society even find their
way into the church, especially when they do not stress a regenerate
and believing membership. Now Paul lays out a principle
here in verse 9, the first part, which is, the unrighteous shall
not inherit the kingdom of God. They should not think so, and
they should not be led to think so. The same insistence Paul
makes in other epistles as well. In Ephesians 5 and verse 5 and
6. In Galatians chapter 5 and verse
21, where he is naming the sins of the flesh. Now, put these
sayings up beside that of the Lord Jesus. In John chapter 3,
that except a man is born again, he cannot see and he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God. There must be regeneration. The old man must be put to death. The old man must be crucified
with Christ. Grace must put down the dominion
of sin in those individuals that God is calling. So we see two
things, our words here, that get our attention. Number one,
the word inherit. This is a word frequently found
in the scripture and found in regard to salvation and eternal
life. Also the word inheritance and
again the word heirs. Now to inherit is to be an heir,
it is to obtain, it is to become a sharer or have a lot in an
inheritance, it is to be an inheritor of the divine things of God. So that an inheritor is a possession,
it is a partitioning out of an heir or a receiving from another. and then the kingdom of God shall
not inherit the kingdom of God. In Ephesians chapter 5 and verse
5, it is the kingdom of Christ and of God. That's how Paul describes
it there. Whatever we understood by this
referring to the kingdom of God or the kingdom of grace is gospel
salvation included in it. The church as the body, of the
Lord Jesus Christ, or of coming into eternal, everlasting happiness
and glory. It is entered in by the new birth,
or regeneration, and is given as an inheritance to such as
are the heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Now we see again the words of
Paul, 1 Corinthians chapter 9, And the first part, do you not
know, yes you know, as if to say, the unrighteous ones shall
not inherit the kingdom of God. There is not the article in the
Greek, it is unrighteous one. Know you not that unrighteous
one, unrighteous person shall not see or enter in unto the
kingdom such indeed may join a local church and partake of
the ordinance of baptism. But to emphasize this truth,
Paul comes back with, Do not be deceived. Do not be led astray
on this matter. This is a point on which you
must not be misled or must not be in error. And with these words,
Paul cautions them against being deceived about the state and
the case of the unrighteous person in society among that. With that,
we notice that he launches into naming here at least ten of the
awful marks and practices of an unrighteous person. There is no such thing as a Christian
drunk, or a Christian fornicator, or a Christian idolater, or Christian
adulterer. Can there be such a thing as
a Christian homosexual? With Paul I answer, Sirs, I believe
God. Acts 27, 25. Such are never regarded
in the scripture as regenerate, but as the deep degrading of
which human nature is capable of descending into all of these
manners of unrighteousness. Paul said, let such as be named,
they would not inherit the kingdom of God, such as were named by
these awful things. In Revelation chapter 22, verse
14 and 15, in verse 14, of such as have right to the tree of
life and may enter in through the gates of the city. Verse
15, for without are dogs, that is, two-legged dogs, a variety,
sorcerers, whoremongers, murderers, idolaters, or whosoever loves
and makes a lie." These are without. These will not enter into eternal
life, into the kingdom of God, and into the presence of our
Lord Jesus Christ. So in coming closer to our text,
Paul is writing in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 11, the last part, such
were some of you. Look at those words, let them
sink into our heart for they are our text for today. These words are pungent words
indeed and they state a very ugly fact. about our past or
our first estate. They talk about the great immoral
ways that He had just been mentioned. He then adds, such things, such
stuff you were. Some of you, these things were
before Christ came into your life. Now there are three little
words in this place that we might focus upon. All of them relate
to you. All of them have their relationship
unto you. Number one, such. Such you. Such as their name. You were
such. Some of you were fornicators. Some of you were idolaters. Some
of you were adulterers. And even in the mix, he puts
pederasts. This was what depravity had done. This is where depravity had carried
them. This is what depravity had worked
in the life of some of them that were in the church at Clarence.
Now the second thing is were, past tense. There was a time
when you were active in this fashion. You were in fact guilty
of this way of life. Some of you were. And then notice the word Some. Some of you. Not every one of
you. There no doubt were some who
had been what we might call moral or civil, but there on the other
hand certainly were some of them that had been the type of sinner
that Paul is mentioning here in this particular place. Now,
how does Paul mean the word some? First of all, does he mean some
of you were all of these things rolled into one? Were some of
you all of these things in one? Does he impute all of these sins
and each of these vices to each particular individual? This is
not likely, for it is not likely true. Or secondly, does he mean
Some were guilty of these, some were guilty of those. Some of
you were guilty of this and some of you were guilty of that. Some
of you were this way and some of you were an other way. Or
does he mean some of you with a limitation? Some of you but
not all. Some of you were mixed in the
deepest sin. Some of you, before you were
called, were the very worst kind of sinner that one might imagine. Though we have all sinned and
all come short of the glory of God, yet it is always true that
some are more civil than others and some are more unrighteous
than others. When Paul said, such were some
of you." I looked in my Marshall's Greek-English Interlinear and
it has it this way, quote, and these things ye were some of
you. Some. But not all were in great
sin before Christ coiled them away from that kind of life. Compare verse 1. Any of you,
that is, not everyone sued at law, but some of them did. Then notice what Paul said and
the contrast which he draws. Such were some of you. In such a thing they were true
Corinthians. They acted out Corinthian society. But, thank God, you're washed,
you're sanctified, you are justified. Now, that supports some points.
Some points such as, A, these such sins were not unpardonable. This type of sinner is not beyond
salvation. Great as it might be, these sins
are not unpardonable, they are not beyond the pale of God's
power of saving grace. Great sins, though they may be,
and if not pardoned, would certainly exclude one from the kingdom
of God and drag them down into everlasting punishment. Yet Christ's
blood can make the foulest sinner clean. Christ's blood is able
to cleanse away the foulest of our sin. And when he says such
were some of you. But then we notice something
else to their detriment. be. Some brought not their former
sins into the church. They were regenerated and granted
repentance and converted by the Spirit of God. They were not
perfect in every sense of the word, but they were changed.
They were new people in Christ. And the three things washed sanctified
and justified they were now through Christ. Then see, this was not
self-reformation. They did not go into therapy.
They did not check into a treatment center somewhere and make a life-changing
decision. They did not turn over a new
leaf, as we sometimes hear. They did not clean up their life,
as we sometimes hear. It was a work of God. to so change them and make them
new creatures that he mentions that such was done in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. And inward work of God had been
wrought within them who formerly had been ashamed and a disgrace
to themselves, to their name, and to all connected with them.
Calvin wrote, Paul uses the three expressions here in order that
he might clearly convey the idea that they had been washed, cleansed,
and loosed and bathed from their former sin. They had been set
apart from former condemnation and justified from their former
guilt by and through Christ and the work of the Spirit. Prior
to this great work of God in them, Paul could say, such were
some of you. Some of you were like that. You lived that way. Sometimes
today we might see people we think, what a shame, and look
down upon them and wonder, how they live such a life, and then
remember that some of us before grace lived in that exact same
way. So let's apply the text to our
lives. First of all, using some scripture.
Ephesians chapter 2, 1 through 7. I won't take time to read
it, but we have the contrast, dead in sin and quickened. The great contrast there is dead
in trespasses and in sin without spiritual life under the power
of sin. Verse 1, ye were dead in trespasses
and in sin. Verse 5, even when we were dead in trespasses and in sin, and
even when so dead in sin, not all were murderers, not all were
licentious fornicators, not all worshipped idols, but nevertheless,
We were dead in trespasses and in sin. We were unregenerate. And on this point, Paul would
write, such were some of you, unregenerate, dead in trespasses
and sin. Then he speaks of the effect
of regeneration grace, spelled out in Ephesians 2, verse 2 and
3. He quickens you, quickens you
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 4 there said, God is rich
in mercy when we were deep in our sin. When we were dead in
sin, what did God do? God quickened us. Verse 5 of
Ephesians chapter 2, He raised us up together in heavenly places
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's in verse 6. The point
is there was a time when we were dead in trespasses and in sin. And this applies not to some
of us, but to all of us in our former day. But then second,
there's a passage again in Ephesians 2, and it's in verse 11 to the
end of the chapter concerning the first great wave of the Gentiles
brought in to Christianity. Verse 11. being in time past
Gentiles in the flesh. Paul tells some of those members
there, what you were in time past was a Gentile. And he enumerates all that is
connected with that. But he says, now in Christ Jesus
you're made nigh. You have come near by the blood
of Jesus Christ. You are fellow citizen. You are members of the household
of God. So when He says to them, such
were some of you at one time, but no more, owing to the matter
of the application and the effect of the death of Christ being
wrought in your life. God slay the enmity that was
between Jew and Gentile, brought them together into one body. But that was their past. That's
what they were by nature, Gentiles, and lived in that awful, blindness,
and ignorant, and without revelation and knowledge of God and of the
Lord Jesus Christ. But then there's another great
passage found from Paul, and it's in the book of Galatians
chapter 4, verse 8 and verse 9. He talks there to them about
this contrast in verse 8, when you knew not God. Before you
were called, before you were enlightened, and before revelation
was made unto you. And then he says in verse 9,
but now after you have known God. See the contrast there? Gentiles I think he has in mind
probably. You knew not God. You flossed around ignorantly
feeling about for some God to worship. Note what they did when
they knew not God. Galatians 4 and 8, you did service
unto them, that is you were enslaved unto them, which were by nature
no gods at all. You subjugated yourself to them
as a servant and as a worshiper, and it was a non-existent God. But now, verse 9, knowing God,
having come to know Him, the true and the living God. Let me give you another one.
In Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 8. For ye were sometimes darkness,
but now are ye light in the Lord. Not sometimes as if it were now
and then, but sometimes you were once darkness. You were in spiritual
darkness But now are you light in the Lord. You are the children
of light. 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 5. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9,
called out of darkness into his marvelous light. But now, let
us come to it practically, to apply to our very own hearts
some of this truth, such were some of you. First, by acknowledging
not every civil, not every so-called moral person is a Christian,
and not every great sinner is an eternal reprobate. For as
to the Corinthians, such were some of you great sinners." Now
let's consider some individual sinners that we meet with in
the Scripture that were saved and their experience and account
is written up in the Scripture for us to know. Probably the
most famous convert in the New Testament would be Saul of Tarsus,
or we know him as Paul the Apostle. What was he? Not a great immoral
man. not given to great immoral sins,
but he was a religious zealot before his conversion, and in
that he was a blasphemer, and in pursuing that, he did put
people to death, and he persecuted the church of God, and he wasted
it. But he said, I obtained mercy. In my ignorance, I did all these
things, but I obtained mercy." There's another great sinner
in the New Testament, Mary Magdalene, out of whom our Lord cast seven
devils, Mark 16 and verse 9. And yet was she one of the women
that came to know the Lord and was one first at the tomb of
our Lord. Once possessed with seven devils,
unclean spirits yet at the tomb of our Lord on resurrection morn. There was the demoniac of Gadara
in Luke chapter 8, full of devils and yet cast out and sitting
at the feet of Jesus, contentedly listening unto him. There's the
Samaritan woman in John chapter 4, and what an immoral woman
had she been with all of her husbands and all of her immorality. There's Rahab who had been a
harlot in a former life but come to fear the Lord. There's Zacchaeus
who had been a thief as he was a tax collector for the Romans. in Luke chapter 19. There's that
old wretched publican in Luke chapter 18 who refers to himself
as the sinner. There's the woman taken in adultery
in John chapter 8. What a sinner had she been. But
the conclusion is name any sin, name any condition you will,
and of a truth it could be said, such were some of you, whether
righteous, whether self-righteous, despisers of the church, despisers
of the gospel, ignorant of God, a lost church member trusting
in works, an Arminian believing in a false Jesus, a false gospel,
such were some of you." Now the question is, what if scripture
was silent on such sinners as these being saved? What if there
were no Saul's? and no Rahabs or Zacchaeuses
or Mary Magdalenes. Would we conclude that only moral,
upright, righteous men could enter into the kingdom of God? The saving of great sinners is
a testimony to the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The greater the sin, the greater
the grace. As sin abounded, grace did out-abound
sin. Paul says, you are washed. Such you were, but you're washed. You're cleansed. Revelation 1.5,
washed us from our sins, in His very own blood. 1 John 1 and
verse 7, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all
sin. Such were some of you, you are
washed, sanctified, and justified. Now let's close with this. One
cannot separate morality from Christianity. It cannot be done. That a Christian instead of growing
more worldly and more sinful, grows in grace and in knowledge. For they that are Christ have
crucified the flesh with the affection and lust thereof. You know, the scriptures are
quite judgmental, quote unquote, and the world hates moral absolutes. When you start laying moral absolutes
on the world, they do not like it. the unyielding position of
scripture men do not like and would shove it aside. But Paul
says to them and to us, be not deceived, such people shall not
inherit the kingdom of God, but God is able to wash, to sanctify,
and to justify. Such were some of you, such were
some of us, but we are washed. Now, if you were not... a great,
open, vile, public sinner like some of these, thank God. But it took the same death of
Christ and the same shedding of blood to save that one as
it did to save these mentioned here in our text today. It took the same death and the
same blood to save the civil sinner as it did the greatest
sinner that ever walked upon the face of the earth. Such were
some of you, but ye are washed. What a change, what a change
did God make in our life and did Christ make in our life. When we look back on it now with
shame at the Savior's great work, such were we, but now are we
in Christ. and raised and exalted with Him. Thank God for that. Christ receiveth
sinful men, we sing sometimes. Even me with all my sin.