Good evening. Tonight's message
is called, Such Were You. Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians
chapter 6, and we will read verses 1 to 11, where Paul is bringing
forth a fault in the Corinthian church, which is they are taking
one another to court before unbelievers to settle their differences.
The rebuke consists of two parts. Number one, our differences ought
to be settled among ourselves on the basis of love and grace,
not before the wicked who know nothing of either. Not to be
able to do this makes the gospel we believe to be held in contempt
by wicked men. And number two, true believers
ought to endure injuries and misunderstandings with patience,
love, and forgiveness, rather than seeking revenge and compensation. But that will not be the topic
of our message tonight. The topic of our message will
be found in verse 11 of the text that we'll read. So let's read
1 Corinthians chapter six, verses 1 to 11. Dare any of you, having
a matter against another, go to law before the unjust and
not before the saints? Do ye not know that the saints
shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged
by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye
not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain
to this If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this
life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.
I speak to your shame. It is so, that there is not a
wise man among you, no, not one, that shall be able to judge between
his brethren. But brother goeth to law with
brother, and that before the unbelievers? Now therefore there
is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to the law one
with another. Why do you not rather take wrong? Why do you not rather suffer
yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong and defraud,
and that your brethren. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither
fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
the self with mankind, nor thieves, nor covets, nor drunkards, nor
revivalers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of
God. And such were some of you. but ye are washed, but ye are
sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
and by the Spirit of our God. Now the verse I'd like us to
consider in this message is verse 11, where we see the words, in
such were some of you. These words are attached to the
verses before, which proclaim that the unrighteous shall not
inherit the kingdom of God. Then we see a list of traits
of those who are unrighteous, fornicators, idolaters, adulterers,
effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind, thieves, covetous,
drunkards, revilers, or extortioners. Paul then tells the Corinthian
church, and such were some of you. Beloved, the scriptures
declare that we are not to forget the rock we were hewn from. Don't
ever, ever forget where you came from. Don't ever forget where
you were when the Lord saved you by his almighty grace. The
scriptures declare in Isaiah 51.1, hearken to me. Ye that
follow after righteousness, ye that follow after Christ, ye
that seek the Lord, Jehovah, look unto the rock whence ye
are hewn. Look back to where you were.
Look back and see the rock you were hewn from. a sinner dead
and trespasses and sins with no hope in this world. Scripture
goes on. Once you are human to the whole
of the pit, once you are digged, don't ever forget the pit that
you were in, the pit of sin that you were in when the Lord saved
you. We had no hope. We had no way
to save ourselves. But God, by his mercy and grace,
saved us. So the Apostle Paul here, again,
by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, brings forth a reminder
to the Corinthian church and all who are born-again blood-washed
saints, we who are looking at this tonight, God brings before
us our natural state before we were saved. Over in Colossians
chapter three, turn if you would to Colossians chapter three with
me, we see Paul again by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, when
he's exhorting the Colossian believers to mortify their members,
he brings forth the fact of our sinnership, the fact of where
we were before the Lord saved us. Colossians chapter 3, we'll
read verses 5 to 7. Mortify therefore your members
which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry, for which
things sake the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience,
in the which ye also walked some time when you lived in them.
See, that was our state. We were just like everyone else,
dead in trespasses and sins. And then in Ephesians chapter
two, turn with me if you would there, Paul pens these words
to the Ephesian church. And you, God's born-again blood-washed
saints, and you, He quickened, God quickened us, God regenerated
us, who were dead in trespasses and sins, dead, with no ability
to save ourselves, with no ability to regenerate ourselves, with
no ability to pay for any of our sins. Where in times past
you walked according to the course of this world, according to the
Prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, We were slaves to sin, beloved,
just like everybody else. We were slaves to our own sins.
Scripture says in verse three, among whom also we all had our
conversations in times past in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. We were just like everyone
else, dead in trespasses and sins. You couldn't tell a sheep
from a goat in our natural state. Then again, in Colossians chapter
2 verse 13, Paul pens these words, and you being dead in your sins,
in the uncircumcision of your flesh, there's our natural state.
Hath he quickened, again, you're regenerated. Together with him,
we're one with Christ. Heaven forgiven you, oh, wonderful
words. Heaven forgiven you, all trespasses,
all of them, they're all gone, praise be to God. So let me address
you, who are the born again, blood washed children of God.
Let us read our text again. We who are the people of God.
Let us read this text. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse
11. And such were some of you. That's what we were before. Those
people described in verses 9 and 10. That was us in our natural
state. And such were some of you. But
ye are washed, but ye are sanctified. but you are justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Hallelujah. If you are a believer,
you are a child of God. You are now righteous before
God in Christ. God calls you a saint, one who
is holy, one who has been sanctified by his grace, set apart for him.
But as we've seen in verse 11 of 1 Corinthians, we were not
always in that blessed condition, were we? And we must never forget
that, beloved. We must never forget the state
we were in before the Lord saved us. That it's only by God's grace
and it's only by God's mercy that we are saved, beloved. And
beloved of God, we have seen in the scriptures that we just
read over there and in Colossians that we are admonished by God
to remember who and what we were. when God saved us by His grace.
And we're admonished to see that even in the verse we're looking
at tonight. We must never forget who and what we were by nature,
sinners, dead in trespasses and sins, and also enemies in our
minds with God. Listen to this wonderful scripture,
which we read in Isaiah 51.1. It says, hearken to me, ye that
follow after righteousness, you that follow after Christ, ye
that seek the Lord. Look unto the rock whence you
were hewn, into the hole of the pit whence ye were digged. 1
Corinthians chapter 6 verses 9 to 11, we see the Holy Spirit
pointedly reminds us of those things and tells us what God
has done for us in Christ by his almighty grace. He reminds
us of the rock that we were hewn from, beloved. Listen to that
again. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verses
9 to 10. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither
fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind. nor thieves, nor covenants, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the
kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but
ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Beloved, we
are all unrighteous by nature. We were born unrighteous. As
both our evil hearts and our evil deeds make us unfit for
heaven's eternal glory, Just the fact that we're sinners makes
us unfit in our natural state for glory. And the scriptures
declare that some were adulterers, some were drunkards, some were
thieves, some were covetous, but we know from the scriptures,
we all were guilty before God. Every one of us, every one of
God's elect in our natural state, we're guilty before God. And
we were nothing but sin and we did nothing but sin. The scripture
says we drank sin like water. There's not one particle of goodness
in us, in our natural state. There's nothing within us in
our natural state that would commend us to God. We were all
born with the plague of sin. The plague of sin in our hearts
and sin was the natural course of our lives. This is what we
were and where we were when God saved us by His grace. Let we
who are the redeemed of the Lord never forget the rock which we
were hewn from. Let us never forget the pit we
were in when the Lord saved us. Sin was the path in which we
chose to walk day by day. until God intervened to save
us by His almighty sovereign grace. Listen to these wonderful
words. Turn, if you would, to Ephesians
chapter two, and we'll read verses four to 10. And just behold the
wonder. the wonder working power of God. Look what God has done. We saw
in verses one to three, how we are dead in trespasses and sins. And we walked according to the
course of this world, the lusts of our flesh. But look, look
at these wonderful words in Ephesians chapter two, verses four to 10. But God, now let's just stop
right there. But God, oh, it's wonderful. God didn't leave we who are his
people where we were, and we're going to see that. But God, who
is rich in mercy, you cannot measure the mercy of God. You
can never plumb its depths, and you can never plumb its breath.
He's rich, rich beyond measure, beloved, in grace and in mercy. Look at this. But God, who is
rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us. Now,
his love is great, because he's the great eternal Jehovah. Everything
he does is great. Oh my. Even, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together, born again, regenerated
by the Holy Spirit of God with Christ. Oh, beloved, we're in
Christ. And then it says, by grace, you're
saved. By grace, by grace alone. It doesn't say by man's works.
It says by grace, you're saved. And that's the grace of God in
Christ Jesus, shown to unworthy sinners. And hath raised us up
together and made us to sit in heavenly places. Here's the key,
in Christ, in Christ. That in the ages to come, he
might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. Now, in case we did not understand
in verse five, where it says, by grace are you saved, the Holy
Spirit has Paul pen these words in verses eight and nine. For
by grace are you saved through faith. It's by grace. We are
saved only by the grace of God. We're not saved by anything we
do. We're not saved by anything we say. It's not God in us. It's
God alone who saves. He alone. For by grace are you
saved through faith. That's a gift of God, isn't it?
He grants us faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
absolutely wonderful. And that not of yourselves, see
there, it's not of anything we do. When you receive a gift,
you're just receiving a gift, aren't you? You don't do anything
to earn it. It's a gift from the giver. Oh, look at this.
And that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God. Salvation is
a gift of God, in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, who shed
his precious blood to redeem his people at Calvary's Cross,
to purchase them by his own precious blood, giving his life in obtaining
eternal salvation for us, for God's people. For by grace he
is saved through faith and not of yourselves. It is a gift of
God, not of works. Again, See the emphasis here?
It's not of works. In verse five, it says, by grace
you are saved. In verse eight, it says, by grace
you are saved. And then here we see in verse
eight too, it says, in that not of yourselves. And then here
in verse nine, we see not of works, not of anything you do.
Not of anything I do. Nothing. Nothing can commend
us to God. It's all what Christ did. It's
all based upon his perfect, sin-atoning, finished work, beloved. Not by
works, lest any man should boast. We can only boast in Christ.
We can't boast about anything in us. All we are are sinners.
Oh, but we who are redeemed, we can boast in Christ Jesus
our Lord, can't we? We can boast in our mighty Savior,
who saved us by his grace. And look at this. Look at this.
For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus. Oh he's conforming
us to the image of the Son the Father is. For we are his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. Now we are but saved
sinners beloved. We are saved sinners but we're
still plagued with sin. But praise be to our great and
glorious God We are saved right now. We who are trusting and
resting in the Lord Jesus Christ, because we were redeemed by the
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago when he
died on Calvary's cross as the great sinner's substitute. And let us never forget that
there is no evil recorded in the word of God or written upon
the pages of human history, the seed of which is not in your
heart and mind, by nature, by nature. And hearts of all men
and women are cesspools of iniquity, as one preacher says, in which
the loathsome monster sin produces its many offsprings. And we are
constantly reminded of this, aren't we? We are constantly
reminded of the painful fact that we're just sinners in the
word of God. God's people are constantly reminded
that we're just sinners saved by grace. Why is this bought
before us in scripture? Well, here's four reasons I'd
like us to look at. 1. To humble us and to keep us
from pride and self-righteousness, to which we are so naturally
inclined. 2. To honor, exalt, and magnify
the grace of God in Christ. 3. To encourage sinners to come
to Christ with all their sins, trusting Him alone for salvation
and eternal life. to inspire in our hearts the
intense zeal and ardent love for Christ, our great Savior
so richly deserves. He deserves all the glory. He
deserves all the honor. He deserves all the praise, beloved.
Now we, by nature as humans, are a proud, boastful bunch.
This is true of all of us, saved and lost. And by nature, we see
in the scriptures that we are reminded of the fact that we
are sinners by birth, nature, and choice, even after we're
saved. We still struggle with sin. We actually struggle more
so with sin now, after we are regenerated and born again, because
now we know what sin is. So the first point I'd like us
to consider of why we are reminded of our sinful past and what we
were when the Lord saved us is to humble we who believe. Paul,
in the words we looked at, brings forth where we were when the
Lord saved us. When we as believers see this
truth revealed, the fact of our sinnership, then we're humble.
And this keeps us from being proud as we know the only one
who made us to differ is God and God alone. The only one who
made us to differ, we who are saved and redeemed from the lost
is God. So the fact of our sinnership
being revealed in the scripture is to humble us and to keep us
from pride and self-righteousness to which again we are so naturally
inclined. Listen to how clear the scripture
is. Turn if you would to 1 Corinthians
chapter 4 verse 7 and notice how clear the scripture is that
it is God and God alone who has made us to differ one from another.
who has made us to differ, we who are the redeemed from anyone
else in the world. It's nothing we've done, it's
nothing we've said, nothing we've prayed, nothing. It's all the
grace of God in Christ. We were made willing in the day
of His power. It's He who's chosen us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. It's He who's redeemed
us at Calvary's cross, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. It's He
who's made us to differ. It's the Holy Spirit who's regenerated
us. We could never regenerate ourselves. We could never make
ourselves anew. We could never change our dead
natural state before God. We must be born again. We must
be. And that's the work of God, the
Holy Spirit. So listen to how clear this scripture is. 1 Corinthians
chapter four, verse seven, for who make it thee to differ from
another? Who made you and I as believers to differ from anyone
else in this world? Now there's billions of people
in this world. Who made us to differ from them? If you're a
believer and you're hearing this message, who made you to differ
from anyone else in this world? It was God, isn't it? It's God
alone. And look at this. And what has
thou that thou didst not receive? Now, salvation is a gift from
God. We received it from God. He gave it to us in Christ and
through Christ. We couldn't work for it. We couldn't
earn it. We couldn't merit it. As we saw,
it's by grace and grace alone. As we saw in Ephesians chapter
two, we're saved by grace, period. So what do you have that thou
didst not receive? Now, think of that. Even all
the knowledge we know is all comes from God. Everything comes
from the Lord. And then it says here, Now if
thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst
not received it? See, man is naturally inclined
to self-righteousness. Man is naturally inclined to
be proud. That's in our nature. And even
as believers, we still struggle against that, don't we? There's
no difference between any of God's elect and the most vile
reprobate in the world, except the difference made by the grace
of God and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. As our text brings
forth, it says, in such were some of you, but ye are washed,
but ye are sanctified. but ye are justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's Christ who's washed us from
all our sins in his precious, precious blood. It's Christ in
whom we're sanctified, in whom we're made holy, in whom we're
set apart. It's Christ in Christ alone in
whom we're justified before God. And it's by the Holy Spirit of
God that we're born again. Praise God. All our sins have
been forgiven. All of them bought and paid for.
How? By the precious blood of the Lamb. the Lord Jesus Christ.
And now we who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ have been washed
in his blood, sanctified and justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our great God. The second
point I'd like us to consider, why we are reminded of our sinful
past and our sinnership and what we were, is number two, to honor,
exalt and magnify the grace of God in Christ. Beloved, by the
grace of God, we are what we are. In His matchless grace,
God chose us in Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, in His
matchless grace, redeemed us with His precious, precious blood.
And God, the Holy Spirit, by His matchless grace, regenerated
us and preserves us, beloved. Listen to these words in 1 Corinthians
1, verses 26 to 31. For you see your calling, brethren,
Paul's writing again to born-again, blood-washed saints. For you
see your calling, brethren, How that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God
hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty, and base things of the world,
and things which are despised hath God chosen. and such things
which are not to bring to naught things that are." Now, remember
the list that we read. Oh, the base things of the world. That was us in our natural state.
Why? Why has he done this? Why has
God shown grace and mercy to the base things of the world?
Well, that no flesh should glory in his presence. Verse 29, but
of him, are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom. Christ is all our wisdom. and
righteousness. He's the Lord our righteousness.
We're clothed in this perfect, spotless righteousness. And sanctification,
we're sanctified in Christ. And redemption, oh, praise be
to God. The eternal souls of God's people
have been purchased with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He obtained eternal redemption
for us, beloved. Hallelujah. And then it says
in verse 31, that according to this written, He that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. O beloved, we have nothing to
glory about in ourselves, but let we who are the redeemed of
the Lord glorify our great God and our great King. He alone,
the Lord Jesus Christ, is worthy of all honor and all praise. And let us exalt and magnify
the matchless grace of God in Christ, which has been shown
to we who are the redeemed. of the Lord. The third point
I'd like us to consider while we are reminded of our sinful
past and our sinnership and what we were before the Lord saved
us is number three, to encourage sinners to come to Christ with
all their sins, trusting Him alone for salvation and eternal
life. Let we who are the redeemed of
the Lord consider what grace has done for us and for so many
saints who have gone before us. Christ is willing to save any
sinner who simply trusts Him. And what He has done for me,
He can do for you. Listen to these wonderful words
from Isaiah chapter 1 in verses 18 to 20. Come now, let us reason
together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet. That's
double-dye red there. They shall be white as snow.
Oh, and the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses
His people from all sin and makes us white as snow. Though they
be red like crimson, there they shall be as wool. If ye be well
and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. But if you
refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with a sword, for the
mouth of the Lord has spoken it. Are you laden down with sin? Are you laden down with sin?
Are you trying to work your way to heaven by your own works?
Well, cast those works aside. There are nothing but filthy
rags in the eyes of the Lord, and you'll never be accepted
by God by your own righteousness. The only way you or I can be
accepted by God is to trust in Christ and Him alone. for the
salvation of your soul. Listen to this in Matthew 11,
similar words as Isaiah 1, verses 18 to 20. Listen to this, Matthew
11, verses 28 to 30. Come unto me. These are the words
of the master. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden.
Are you heavy laden by your works? Are you heavy laden by your performance,
trying always to do, do, do? Look to the one who's done it
all. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, come unto me, all you
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I'll
give it to you, he says. I will give you rest. That's
a promise from God. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. and you shall find
rest unto your soul." Rest. Man's always trying to find peace
and rest. This is true rest. This is soul
rest. Rest from our labors, religious
works, rest for your soul. Not only rest, that rest can
only be found in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. He says
this, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. That's because
he's done all the work. He's done it all. All we do is
simply trust the Lord Jesus Christ by God given faith. Oh, my. Oh, may God make you willing
to trust the Lord Jesus Christ in him alone. The fourth and
final point I'd like us to consider why we're reminded of our sinful
past and what we were when the Lord saved us is to inspire in
our hearts the intense zeal and ardent love for Christ, our great
Savior, that He so richly deserves. Surely, surely men and women
who have experienced such rich, abundant, saving grace in and
through the Lord Jesus Christ will love and serve Such a great
Savior with willing hearts. Turn if you would to Luke chapter
7. Luke chapter 7. Oh we see a picture
here of this occurring. Luke chapter 7. Oh God's so gracious. He's so merciful to his people.
Look at this in Luke chapter 7. We'll read verses 36 to 50.
And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him.
One of the Pharisees invited the Lord Jesus Christ to his
house to eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's
house and sat down to meet. And behold, a woman in the city,
which was a sinner, there we are, when she knew that Jesus
sat at meet in the Pharisee's house, bought an alabaster box
of ointment. and stood at his feet behind
him weeping and began to wash his feet with tears and did wipe
them with the hairs of her head and kissed his feet and anointed
them with the ointment now now look at this here comes the self-righteous
pharisee Verse 39, Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him
saw it, he spake within himself, he didn't say this out loud,
he said this within himself, saying, This man, if he were
a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this
is that touches him, for she is a sinner. Oh, listen to that.
Listen how he drips with self-righteousness. He said this within himself.
No one else heard it, but God incarnated in the flesh is sitting
there. And He knows our hearts. He knows our thoughts. He knows
everything about us, about every single person in this world.
And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to
say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.
There was a certain creditor which had two debtors, the one
owed 500 pence and the other 50. And when they had nothing
to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which
of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose
that he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast
judged rightly. And he turned to the woman. said
unto Simon, seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou
gavest me no water. Now it was customary when you
invited a house guest over to do these things that the Lord's
gonna mention. It was customary in those times. I entered into
thine house and thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she
had washed my feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs
of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss, but this
woman since the time I came in had not ceased to kiss my feet,
my head with oil. Thou dost not anoint, but this
woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto
you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven,
the same loveth little. And he said unto her, thy sins
are forgiven. Oh, oh, those are wonderful words. That's a master saying that.
That's God incarnate in the flesh saying that to that lady. That's
one of his sheep, beloved. That's one of his sheep that
was given to him by the Father from eternity. Thy sins are forgiven. Let that ring in the ears of
we who are the redeemed. Thy sins are forgiven, praise
be to God, by the precious, precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they that sat at meat with
him began to say within themselves again, who is this that forgiveth
sins also? And he said to the woman, thy
faith save thee. Go in peace. She'd been given
faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. She'd been given
the same faith that you and I have as believers to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. my go in peace go in peace beloved
oh this is wonderful so we who are redeemed of the lord we who
have tasted that the lord is gracious again we have experienced
such rich abundant saving grace will love and serve such a great
savior with willing hearts we will desire to magnify his name
for his great grace and for his great mercy which He has shown
to the redeemed, undeserving, unmeriting sinners, in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ, we have received grace and mercy in and
through Him. We will desire to magnify His
name for His great grace and His great mercy, which has been
shown to we who are the redeemed, we who are undeserving, unmeriting
sinners, and we have been shown this grace and this mercy in
and through the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. Glory to our great
Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, for his perfect sin-atoning work.
which He accomplished on Calvary's cross as our substitute, dying
in the room and place of God's people. He came to save His people
from their sins, and we who are redeemed own our sinnership,
don't we? We proclaim that the perfect,
spotless Lamb of God, by His self and by His work, has redeemed
us, He's saved us, He's sanctified us, and He's justified us before
God. Upon the life I have not lived,
Upon a death I did not die, another's life, another's death, I stake
my whole eternity. O Jesus, Son of God, I lean on
what Thy cross has done for me. There both my death and life
I read, my guilt and pardon there I see. Praise the mighty name
of Jesus. Praise the mighty name of our
Lord and King. Amen and Amen.