1 Corinthians chapter 6. Chapter 5 of this letter to the
Corinthians dealt with the incident of immorality in the church.
This man had committed adultery with his stepmother and all the
church was aware of it and apparently did nothing to discourage it.
And there are four main lessons that I want to reinforce from
that chapter that I believe will take us into chapter 6 with a
good sense of the context here. Remember from chapter 5 these
four things verse 6 says your glorying is not good That's a
key statement right there. Your glorying is not good Glorying
in the flesh is never good. Well, that's kind of obvious
in it. Yeah. Well, why are you still doing it? Why am I still
doing it? Glorying in this flesh but to
do so in the context of open sin is absolutely abominable
And that's what Paul is condemning particularly here. Now this lesson
to us on that. We are by nature incurably and
terribly proud creature. And if we know that, we know
that going in now, if we prepare for it and expect it of ourselves,
then God may use that. He will use that. He instructs
us regarding it and warns us regarding our condition, our
nature. and by those means he restrains our evil. Let our prayer
be this, Galatians 6.14, but God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words,
God don't allow me to glory in anything that I do but to glory
in what He did. By whom this world is crucified
unto me and I unto the world. Don't let me glory in this world.
This world is dead to me and I'm dead to this world. And don't
let me glory in self. We have no confidence in this
flesh. Your glorying is not good. Take that lesson from chapter
5 into chapter 6. And then secondly, remember these
words, a little leaven, a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
Satan is subtle. Our wicked hearts are subtle. Glorying in the flesh is a subtle
thing. We're not legalistic and we're
not suspicious of one another. all the time and always, you
know, looking and examining one another. Let's each examine our
own hearts, and that'll be sufficient. And so don't think of it that
way. And yet, let me say this, every
thought, attitude, word, or deed that glorifies man and does not
glorify Christ, it must be unacceptable to us, to all of us. And it must
be shown to be unacceptable. Now, that doesn't mean that we
go around and that we're great prolific rebukers of, I know
some places where that seems to be the case. That's not, it
won't be necessary for us to rebuke one another. It takes
two to keep this kind of a destructive fire alive. And what do I mean
by destructive? This leaven, this little leaven
can be several things. It can be lots of things. False
doctrine can creep in. Somebody can say, well, what
about this? I believe the doctrine is great, but what about this?
And that can creep in and people can say, yeah, that sounds reasonable.
I think you might be right about that. And next thing you know,
a little bit of leaven has leavened the whole lump. But it takes
at least two, doesn't it? If the one that starts the fire
doesn't have anybody that agrees with him, it'll die. It'll die. And then discontentment. I've
given you this before, but I went somewhere to preach one time.
And one of the older fellows in the church that should have
known better said to me, we're just not doing enough here. Our
pastor doesn't do enough. And I said, well, does he preach
the gospel of Christ to you every week? And he said, well, yeah,
he does that. And that's not enough. That's not enough. What
are we thinking? What are people thinking when
they say something like that? But that's discontentment, see?
It's not being satisfied with the simple gospel of Christ. If the gospel motivates you to
do something, then do it. But don't be looking at somebody
else and what they're not doing. You see the difference? Discontentment. A little bit of that eleven.
Eleven of the whole lump now. A little complaining. We ought
to be doing this or this should have been done that way. If we
don't do anything else but preach the gospel here, we're doing
what God gave us to do. Don't be discontent with that.
Don't graduate beyond the simple gospel of Jesus. Because a little
bit of that can eleven a whole lump now. I've seen it. And then
personal grievances, a little bit of that, you know, division,
cliques. That was a problem with this
church that Paul addresses here. A little bit of that now can
catch on. It'll go like wildfire. But there's
got to be at least two, doesn't there? If somebody's willing
to start the fire, may there never be a second one to help
keep it going. It's got to be unacceptable to
us. If somebody says something like that, just say, well, you
know, just look at the blessings of God on us. Don't be discontent. Look at what God's doing for
us. Look at the positives. Look at what God is doing, not
what we think ought to be happening. You know what I mean? And with
the false doctrine, somebody says, well, something, say, wait
a minute now. You haven't learned Christ that way. This is what
we hold dear, and that's not according to that. Let's talk
about something else. It's got to be unacceptable now,
a little bit 11. And then thirdly, let's take
this lesson from chapter 5. The proper judgment in this case
was to put this man out of the church. And that may seem like
a harsh thing, and that can be a very hard thing to do. I've
known more than one case of somebody being put out of the church,
and I said before that that's a rare thing. But I've been in
the church a long time, and I've seen it more than once where
somebody needed to be put out. And that can be a very, very
difficult thing now. There can be hurt feelings over
that. There can be personal ties involved. There can be family
ties involved in a situation like that. Let me say this too. It's easy for believers to think
this way. Well, the Lord was long suffering
with me and he forgave me, so we ought to be forgiving in this
case. That's not what Paul said do here. He said he's got to
go. Is that right? And so we don't
lean on our own understanding in this, we have the Word of
God. And we ought to be willing to be forgiving and long-suffering,
but there's a right time when this kind of a difficult thing
has got to be done. We should be long-suffering,
we should be forgiving, but we should also be willing to obey
the Word of God, which says that they have to go. If it's disruptive
to the worship of Christ, it's got to stop. And let me give
you another piece of advice that may be taken wrong, the wrong
way, but I've got to give it to you anyway. Listen to your
pastor in matters like that, whoever he is. And that's all
I'll say on that. Paul said, I have judged in this
matter in verse three. Is that what he said in verse
three, chapter five? I've made a judgment here. He didn't quote
chapter and verse of the scripture, but his judgment was according
to the scripture. He made a judgment call. Sometimes
that has to happen. Who's going to make that call?
the one that God put in authority. And that ain't all it cracked
up to be. Don't be quick to be a leader or a judge or have authority. Don't desire that unless God
has given it to you. There was a judgment made here
and it was made by the one that God had put in authority over
that church. And then remember this about
this, the fact that this judgment in this case, the right judgment,
was to put him away. That may not always be the case,
but it was here. And remember this, It was done
that he might learn, not that he might go to hell. It was done
that he might be rebuked and learn something from it. Sometimes
it's the best thing for somebody to be shut out. And I'll tell
you this, if he's a believer, nothing will have a greater effect
on him than to be excluded from the gospel. Is that right? That'll
correct you real quick if you're a believer, won't it? You'll
have to have that gospel. and you'll do whatever you have
to do to hear that gospel. Is that right? So what better,
wiser judgment could have been made in this case? None. And then fourthly, remember these
words again, the key words in the whole chapter, I believe.
Sincerity and truth, verse 8. We're keeping the feast. We're
keeping the Passover in a sense, aren't we? Not that we keep a
day and say this day is a holy day. No, Christ is our Passover. We keep the feast, though, like
they did, in sincerity and in truth. It's got to be heart worship
or it's not worship. And it's got to be in, around,
and through the truth of Christ. You're not going to worship when
somebody's lying on God. It's not going to happen. It
might make people feel warm and fuzzy and feel good about themselves,
but nobody's going to worship if somebody's lying on God. it's
got to be in truth. So let's remember those key things
from chapter five, and that brings us into chapter six with a real
sense of context here, I believe. Look at the first eight verses
of chapter six. They also deal with a specific
issue. And let's read them together.
Verse one. Dare any of you having a matter against another
Go to law before the unjust and not before the saints. Do you
not know that the saints shall judge the unjust, shall judge
the world? Do you not know that the saints
shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged
by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know you
not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain
to this life? 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. Is it
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 you go to 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, defraud, and that you're again. We don't need for
a matter like this to exist among us in order to learn the lessons
involved. We don't have a lawsuit, somebody
suing somebody that I'm aware of, but these lessons are just
priceless in this. You catch some phrases in that
passage that are just, just jump out. Not only are we warned by
mistakes made by others, but we see the wicked nature that
we all have. We're warned concerning that,
but also God fits us in this way to avoid these kinds of problems. If we could just learn this before
it happens, then God has used it to bless us, hadn't He? To
keep us from evil. And that's His way to do that
so often. Also, if we learn this now, Not
only might it prevent a similar incident among us, but perhaps
most important of all, this teaching establishes an attitude that
is glorifying to Christ, condemns one's dishonoring to Christ.
And so may the Lord teach us this here. Christ is preeminent
in all of this. Remember that now. Chapter 5
was written out of a desire for correction. and good for the
church. There's no question about it.
But more importantly than that, out of jealousy for the name
of Christ and for the worship of Christ, for the gospel of
Christ. And that's clear in that chapter and it will be in this
one too. Now there are two things dealt with in these eight verses. Two aspects of the problem that
are pointed out. First of all, this issue is dealt
with. Who is able to best judge in
matters of dispute? He establishes that here, doesn't
he? Let's look at that first. Look at the first two verses
again. He said, Dare any of you having a matter against another
go to law before the unjust and not before the saints? Do you
not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world
shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest
matters? First he exhorts them to see
this from an eternal perspective. Did you notice that? Don't just
look at this as he did me wrong, let's just go settle this. I'm
going to have my way and I'm going to be compensated and we're
going to get this right. Look at it from an eternal perspective.
We as believers will judge the world. They won't judge us. And so why should they judge
now in matters pertaining? It puts a little eternal perspective
on the thing. Why should we allow this world
to settle disputes among us? Judgment in matters of dispute
between brothers should be made. Judgment should be made with
love, passion, and with a desire for the glory of God. And this
world doesn't know anything about any of those things, none of
them. So they're disqualified. They're not qualified to judge
between brethren. Look at verse 4 again. If then you have judgments of
things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least
esteemed in the church. I want you to see how he says
this. He's not saying, he's not giving
a directive, he's not giving instruction here that the least
esteemed in the church are the ones that should judge in this
matter. He's saying the least esteemed in the church are more
qualified to judge than the highly esteemed in this world. You see
the context there? He goes on to say, have you not
some wise in in among you that can judge. So he's not saying,
he's not giving a directive there, find the least esteemed and he's
the judge. That's not it. He's saying it
to their shame. That if you, no matter who you
picked in the church to judge, it would be better than what
you're doing. You see how he's saying that? And that's so good.
That's such a good lesson for us. Unbelievers in this world
now, you think about it. I'm not being harsh, but you
think about the cold, stark reality of the fact that unbelievers,
those who hate God, who know not the Lord Jesus Christ, they're
insane and they're demon possessed. Is that who you want judging
in a matter of dispute between you and a brother? Somebody that's
not in their right mind and is possessed with devils? That's
taken captive by Satan at his will and knows nothing of the
love of Christ? Doesn't know what forgiveness
means? Has no heart whatsoever of love? given by God, like a
brother has for another brother? Why in the world would you want
them to judge your disputes? Now, Paul here is not condemning
courts of law. Paul is clearly taught in his
letters and in the Word of God that we're to honor and obey
civil authority, whoever they are, having been established
by God. God gave them the authority that they have, whatever it is.
And we're to see it that way and honor the office of whatever
authority it is. but he's saying here that believers
should not pursue legal issues with other believers outside
of the church. And there's just no way around
that. It should not happen. He condemns this practice of
disputes being handled in a divisive, punitive way rather than in love
and forgiveness and jealousy for Christ's glory. So you see
the two ways Paul deals with this here. First of all, from
a standpoint of wisdom. It just doesn't make any sense.
It's not smart to do it. And then secondly, from the heart.
He's judging it from the heart. One has to do with the wisdom
of it. The other is dealing with the motive involved. The lack
of love revealed by a tendency to take a brother to court. And
so those two things are so important here. What's important to us
anyway? Compensation or compassion? To be vindicated or unity with
brethren. A few thoughts on this now. First
of all, he said these are small matters that they're willing
to fight over. Verse 2, he said that, didn't
he? You can't judge even in these little matter, these little small
petty. And this reveals a carnal spirit, doesn't it? He's already
accused him of being carnal. He said, I had to deal with you
as though you weren't even believers. I had to speak to you as lost
people. And we find that to be true, what was true here. Usually
the biggest blow-ups are over the smallest matters, are petty,
insignificant. He said there are things pertaining
to this life in verse 4. He calls them matters pertaining
to this life. So how big can they be? Can you
think of anything worth losing a brother over? No examples are
given in this chapter. You notice that? And that's good. That's by design, isn't it? You
know what would happen if there were? We'd use it to excuse ourselves,
wouldn't we? We'd say, well, he mentioned
his thing, but he didn't say anything about this. You know,
we'd turn it around, wouldn't we? To our own purposes. And
again, let me say this. If we know in advance how petty
we are by nature, we'll be able to guard against this. Learn
it now. By God's grace, we'll be able
to guard against it. God will enable us. by His grace
to guard against it through the means of teaching us now how
prone we are to pettiness and spitefulness. Every one of us
is prone to that. So let's be warned and learn
this well. May I do so. Now notice the words
in verse 6, two words, before unbelievers. Again, it's the
glory of Christ that's in consideration here, isn't it? I'll remind you
again of David's sin against Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite. God said David said to God, Against
you only have I sinned. And the prophet told David, Because
you've done this and given occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme,
there will be consequences. And so the consequences of our
sin don't just have to do with our reputation or our witness.
It has to do with the very name and glory of God. And that's
what he said here. You're doing this before a believer.
It's a shameful thing. It's dishonoring to Christ whom
we represent. as believers in this world to
display a spirit of dispute and greed before this world. And
I say greed because even if you're right, even if you're the one
that's right, and somebody's right usually in a dispute, but
even if you are, if it's more important to you to be proven
right than to keep unity and peace in the church, then your
greedy heart is involved in it, and mine too. Which brings us
to the next thing and arguably the most important point in all
this. Look at verse, look at these words again. Why do you
not rather take wrong? What verse is that? Verse seven,
the last part of verse seven. Why do you not rather take wrong? Why do you not rather suffer
yourselves? You're frauded. Did you hear
that? Did I hear that? Paul clearly
states here that it would be better for me to suffer wrong.
It would be better for me to be cheated out of something.
The word defrauded there means robbed or deprived. It would
be better for me to be deprived of something of this world's
goods than for all of these things that we've talked about, for
the name of Christ to be dishonored, for a believer to fight with
a brother and to do that before this unbelieving world, to disrupt
the unity and the peace that we have in Christ as a church,
it'd be better for me to suffer wrong. You know we can't do that
by nature. That's going to take grace, isn't
it? Do you know yourself well enough to admit that? It's going
to take grace. There's no way I'm getting cheated
out of anything unless God's grace is on me, and then I can
let it go. if he's merciful to me, whatever
it is. It doesn't matter what hurt feelings
or cheated out of something somehow or other. It doesn't matter what
it is. Let it go. And that's going to take the
grace of God. Look at verse 9. Know ye not
that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Well,
that lets me out. No, let's listen. Look at what
he's saying. 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." You're washed. Here's our hope right here. We're
not getting in, but you're washed. You're sanctified. You're justified. I want to look at those three
words, don't you? We've seen something of our evil nature
tonight now Let's see something of the glorious nature of Christ
the love of God in Christ. We're washed. We're sanctified
We're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus by the authority
of the Lord Jesus by the authority of the one who paid for it, by
the authority of the one whose righteousness, spotless robe
of righteousness we wear, by the authority of Him, you're
washed, you're sanctified, you're justified, and by the Spirit
of our God." Paul has dealt with various sins that are prevalent
among these believers in these chapters that we've looked at.
Division, they had cliques in the church, divisive they were.
They were glorying in the flesh, terrible, Our tendency is to
do that. Sexual promiscuity. And he identified
it. He identified the one that did
it. Not by name here. They already
knew his name. Everybody knew who he was. And
the condoning of it. He condemns it here. Sins. And
the vengeful legal action that was taking place. They were quick
to take one another to court over small matters pertaining
to this life. And here he lists those same
ones and more. Idolatry is nothing to glory
in the flesh. What is that but idolatry? And
so he's listing those same sins and he's adding more to it. And
what is meant here by the statement that these shall not inherit
the kingdom of God? We know that it can't mean that
those who have ever committed these sins are excluded from
the kingdom of God because we're guilty. We're all guilty and
there wouldn't be any hope for us. if that was the case. And
besides, in verse 11, he mentions these three words, washing, sanctifying,
justifying. So there is hope. These guilty ones can be restored. They can have favor with God.
There is a remedy for our sin. And all of these words presume
a sinful state, don't they? If you're going to be washed,
what are you being washed from? Your sins. Sanctified. It means set apart, made holy
by God. If you're already holy, you don't
need to be made holy and justified to be declared, to be considered
and declared guiltless in the sight of God. That's needed by
guilty people. And so this sinfulness is presumed
by all of these words. And so we know that's not the
case. In Romans chapters 1 through 3, the Apostle Paul proves that
not only were we all this way, sinful, vile in the sight of
God. But we are all this way before
God. I want to read you just a portion
of it and prove that to you. But what he says here in verse
11, such were some of you. He's not saying that some of
you were idolaters. Every one of them was an idolater.
We all are by nature. We all worship ourselves. If
that's not idolatry, I don't know what is. A false god. We're all guilty of the whole
law before God. And it could be said that he
means here that some of you were outward, open, notoriously characterized
by these sins. And he may well mean that here
by what he said. Are you with me on that? He might
mean that some of you, you know, were notoriously thieves or covetous
or drunkards outwardly and were known by that, characterized
by those words, by those particular sins. But here's what I believe
he means. When he says that some of you
were these things but are washed, I believe his meaning is this.
This is the case of some of you. You were these things but now
you're washed. You see what I'm saying? Not
everybody was washed. Some of them were washed in the
blood of Christ, not all. But we're all guilty for God. Vow in his sight now. And I'm
talking about guilty of the whole law of every sin that can be
imagined dwells in my evil heart by nature. And I'm guilty of
it. Paul describes all mankind in Romans 3 beginning with verse
9. I'm going to read it to you.
But Paul has just, before this verse 9, he's described the Gentiles
as vile, godless, homosexual idolaters. Have you ever heard
more derogatory language about anybody? You read the first couple
of chapters and you tell me if that's not what he's calling
them. Godless, vile, idolaters, and every imaginable vile lust
was in their hearts. And then he comes to verse 9
and says, what then? Are we better than them? No.
Does that offend you? No. For we have before proved
both Jews and Gentiles. He's talking about the Gentiles
now in the first chapter there. Godless, vile. Every imaginable
vile lust that a man can possess. And then he says, are we better
than they are? We self-righteous Jews that keep the law and have
this heritage that we're so proud of? No. In no way. That's pretty tough. For we have
before proved, verse 9 again, verse chapter 3, both Jews and
Gentiles, that they are all under sin. As it is written, there
is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. Their throat is an open grave.
With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps
is under their lips. He said, You generation of vipers
to the most holy people that walk this earth. You generation
of snakes whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their
feet are swift to shed blood. destruction and misery are in
their way, the way of peace they have not known. There's no fear
of God before their eyes. They don't know who God is and
don't care who God is. Is that describing us? You better
believe it is. But Paul is saying here in our
text that the truth about some of you is this. You're that way
by nature, but you're washed in the blood of Christ. You see,
this is not some legal self-righteous, legalistic, brow-beating that
Paul is giving these men. He's giving them some good, heartfelt,
direct, harsh rebuke. But he's doing it in the right
way, isn't he? Out of love, out of compassion,
and showing them that this is going on among you, but the blood
of Christ is your hope now. The sacrifice of Christ, His
washing you from your sins. his sanctifying power, the sanctifying
power of his blood and righteousness, the justification, free justification
that we have in Christ. That's your hope for God. You
were wretched, vile, and hideous, but by God's marvelous grace,
you're washed in the precious blood of Christ. And he describes
it with these three words, washed, sanctified, and justified. Now,
these are similar. and they're inseparable. But
it would be a mistake here to think that Paul is just being
repetitive. Three words together. It's not
just being repetitive. Washed has to do with a condition
that we're in. We're washed. If you wash something,
it's clean. If it's not clean, you didn't
wash it. You just made an effort to wash it. When God washes,
there's a state of cleanliness. So in what sense are we actually
in a condition of cleanliness? Revelation 1 5 John said unto
him that loved us and washed us from our sins If he washed
me from my sins, I'm sinless I'm clean in the sight of God.
Is that right? And so you're washed We're actually
clean in the sight of God and we're gonna talk more about that
in a minute But if I'm clean in God's sight, then who's gonna
call me unclean he's encouraging them here to There's sin in your
midst, and it's got to be put away. It's got to end. It's got
to stop. But here's your hope before God.
Because you're washed in His precious blood, you have hope.
You have a righteous standing. And you ought to act like it.
That's part of it, too, isn't it? You ought to act like it.
Now, sanctified. The word sanctified here specifically
means to separate from profane things and dedicate to God. You
see how it fits right into the context of what he's saying?
It ought not to be this way among you. You ought not to be divisive
and glorying in the flesh and taking one another to court to
be vindicated before this wicked world. these things ought not
to be, because you're separated from profane things. Don't act
like the profane of this world, because you're separated by God.
You're dedicated to God. It means to consecrate things
to God. It means to dedicate people to
God. God has separated us, sanctified
us, consecrated us unto himself, and we ought to act like it.
That's what Paul's saying in Ephesians 4, I believe it is,
when he said, walk worthy. I beseech you that you walk worthy
of the calling wherewith you're called. You're not like this
world. God has said you're mine and
set you apart from this world. And we ought to act that way.
By God's grace, may he enable us to act that way. We're dedicated
to God. We're dedicated by God to God. We're dedicated to his service,
to his gospel, to his cause, to his glory. And the thought
here is that those whom God has sanctified in Christ and dedicated
and separated unto his glory, they will be to his glory. They
certainly will. He doesn't fail in that. They
will honor and glorify him, and they will be jealous for his
glory. And they will not willingly nor selfishly bring shame to
his name. And that doesn't mean we can't
fall into that. But God's going to bring you out of it. And it
may not feel good when he may not be a happy time. It's not
playtime when my children do something that they have to be
corrected for. Because I don't like having to do it. But when
I do, it's going to be effective. And it's not going to be pleasant
for them. And our God is a better Father than I am. A lot better. So that's what he's saying here
now. You're sanctified by God. And there's a difference between
us and this world. Our sanctification... Listen
to Romans 12, 1, and I want to make a point about that. He says,
Paul says in Romans 12, 1, I beseech you therefore, brethren. And
when he says therefore, He's dealt in Romans 1 through 11
with free sovereign grace of God in justifying sinners freely
by his therefore I beseech you therefore because God has saved
you freely by his electing distinguishing grace and by the mercies of God
which are bestowed freely and Sovereignly I beseech you that
you present your bodies a living sacrifice unto God you see how
he uses the holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable
service and be not conformed to this world don't act like
this world we're chosen out of this world and sanctified from
this world be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God Now you and I presenting
our bodies a living sacrifice is not our sanctification before
God. Us presenting our bodies a living
sacrifice is us doing what sanctified people do. You see the difference? God is the one that sanctified
us. I don't sanctify myself before God. There is a sense in which
we set ourselves apart unto God. But I can't make myself holy.
God did that in Christ by His sin offering and righteousness.
God sanctified me. But you know what sanctified
people do? They say, here I am, God. Use me for Your glory. And
may I always be jealous for Your glory. Guide my steps. Take my
hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love. Take my
feet, my lips. Use everything. Don't let me
dishonor You. I will if you don't let me. You
see that? A sacrifice unto God. A thanksgiving. A sacrifice of a sweet savor. A thanksgiving unto God. It's
the least we can do. It's a reasonable service to
do that. And so it's not our sanctification. But sanctified
people are dedicated to God. His worship. And then we're justified. What a blessing. When you're
being rebuked, it's good to be reminded about this. This is
a legal term, meaning considered and established to be guiltless. Guiltless. God can only justify
those who are actually guilty. Proverbs 17, 5. Let me read. He that justifieth the wicked,
and he that condemneth the just, even they both are an abomination
to God. Now, unless God is an abomination
to Himself, then when Christ was condemned for my sins, it's
because he actually took me and he became guilty of my sin and
if I'm justified before God it's because I'm just sinless righteous
guiltless perfect spotless holy through the merits and blood
of my Savior is that right God not going to justify the guilty
now I'm gonna have to be made guiltless and how does that happen
by the blood and righteousness I don't know about you, but when
I'm getting whipped, I want to hear something like that along
with it, don't you? When I correct my children, I'm
not going to say I always did. I don't have to correct them
much anymore, but when I did, I'm not going to say I always
did so with compassion and love and tenderness, but I tried to
do that. I wanted to do that. And so often after I did, correct
them, and I did so pretty harshly. I enjoyed the time that they'd
come crawl in my lap and hug up on me. And they'll do that,
won't they? Because they appreciate. It's not pleasant for them, but
children do appreciate being corrected. They do. And they'll
know that they appreciate it one of these days. They don't
know it now. They do appreciate it. It makes them feel safe to
know that there are boundaries. And it's the right thing. But
this is The compassion of it right here. Terrible sin existed
in this church. But Paul here gives the rebuke,
love and compassion and hope. You're wretched and vile in the
sight of God. And we do vile things because
we're vile, don't we? You're sanctified. You're justified. And we can't ruin that. We can't mess that up. There's
no way to mess it up, is there? If we could, we would. It'd be
messed up if it could be messed up. But God didn't save me based
on what I do, and He's not going to get rid of me or exclude me
based on what I do. It has nothing to do with what
I do. It has to do with what my Savior did. And I'll say this,
and I'll quit. There's no doctrine, no teaching
that's more conducive to right living and relative purity of
conduct in this world than the truth of free justification without
works. Did you know that? Don't try
to motivate me with the law of God. It can't be done. The law
can't justify me and the law can't motivate me to walk worthy
of the calling of Christ. And you will not find anywhere
in this book where the law was used to motivate a believer.
We are constrained by the love of Christ to walk worthy of the
calling wherewith he that is called by God. He that is called
to be a soldier entangleth not himself in the affairs of this
life. Why? That he may please Him who
hath chosen him to be a soldier. We're not doing it because we're
going to hell if we don't. We're doing it because we want
to please Him. Because we love Him. Is that right? And sometimes
my children obey me for that reason. Sometimes. And I like
that. Just because they want me to
be happy with them. And that's our motivation. The
love of Christ. And there's nothing like the
gospel of God's free grace in Christ that will motivate believers
to, I've seen it to be so. And I could beat you over the
head with the law and tell you you're going to hell if you don't
act right. You'd be a bunch of godless rebels. If you ever hear
the gospel of free grace in Christ, present your body a living sacrifice
to God. You'll say, Lord, I'm yours.
Is that right? Amen. Let's bow in prayer. Lord,
thank you for the truth. Thank you for this encouragement.
Even in the teeth of a strong, harsh rebuke, Lord, we find cause
for rejoicing in the free grace of God in the Savior. Lord, we're
guilty of all these things, and we're just as foolish as these.
The only reason we have both hands in all of these type of
problems is because of your restraining grace. And I pray, Lord, you'd
continue to restrain us, to keep us from falling, to keep us worshiping
and glorifying Christ. Don't allow us display the evil
of our hearts. And Lord, when we do fault God,
that we have forgiveness in Christ and that our relationship with
you is not based upon how good we are or not, on how we act
or don't act. Thank you for the free justification
that we have in Him. And let us rejoice in Him. Rejoicing
in Him, let us walk in a way that's pleasing by your grace.