Something that captivated me
listening to that song is just this phrase, the Christ of the
cross. What a blessing it would be to
me and you if we thought about. Everything that that means all
the time, the Christ of the cross. Now, would you turn back to first
Corinthians chapter six, that 11th verse was his answer. to the first 10 verses. So I'd like to read this passage
together again, beginning in verse one. Dare any of you having a matter
against another go to the law before the unjust and not before
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? Know ye
not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain
to this life? If then you 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's 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, you do wrong and defraud
and that your brethren. No, you not. Excuse me. Verse nine. No, you 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. And such were some of you, but
you are washed, but you are sanctified. but you are justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. I've entitled this message, Washed,
Sanctified, Justified. Now this is Paul's conclusion.
And argument against those abuses that were going on in the Catholic,
in the church of Corinth. He doesn't say, here's what you
need to do about it. Here's his statement, but you
are washed. You are sanctified. You are. justified. He didn't give them a list of
the things they need to do, straight things out. He says, this is
what you are by Christ. You are washed. You are justified. You are sanctified. Now, Paul,
in the beginning of this chapter says, dare any of you. And we know what that means.
How dare you? We said that. How dare you? And
that is the expression Paul is using with regard to what he's
speaking of right now. Dare any of you, having a matter
against another, go to law before the unjust and not before saints. The Corinthians were suing one
another. They were going into litigation. This was a gospel
church, don't forget this. This was a gospel church, and
they had this stuff going on in this gospel church. They had
people bringing each other to law. They were going into litigation
against one another, which runs totally contrary to what the
Lord said when he said, by this shall all men know you're my
disciples, by your love one to another. It certainly doesn't
look like love, does it? They were actually suing one
another in a court of law. Church members profess brothers
and sisters in Christ, taking each other to court. Now, this
is not saying that all lawsuits are wrong. Uh, this is not saying
going before an unbelieving judge is wrong. Paul appealed to Caesar,
didn't he? What was going on in this church,
though, is always wrong. He says, this is utterly a fault
among you. There's no way this can be justified. There's no way this can be accepted. This is shameful. It's always
wrong. Such conduct brings reproach
on the gospel of Christ for people who say they're brothers and
sisters in Christ to sue one another. I mean, think of that. Now, if there's a dispute, you
should seek out a believer. Look what he says. Dare any of
you having a matter against another go to the law before the unjust
and not before the saints? It ought to be brought before
the saints, not the unjust. It ought to be brought before
the saints. Now, if there's a matter of dispute,
seek out a believer, somebody with the grace of God, somebody
that you respect, someone that has some wisdom. and ask them
to help you settle the dispute. That doesn't mean there will
not be disputes among believers. You see, we're sinners and all
the problems that that causes. But Paul says under no circumstance
should this be done. Verse two, do you not know that
the saints shall judge the world? And if the world should be judged
by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest of matters? Now,
how is that? Because I'm in Christ. And when
Christ judges, I'm making the same judgment with him, being
united with him. That's not talking about this
big, uh, Wherever the judge sits and you have millions of people
making the judge. No, Christ is the judge. We're in him. And
his judgment, we agree with, don't we? Whatever he judges,
we say amen to. It's perfect, it's glorious.
And we're gonna judge the world. In Christ, we're going to be
judges of the world. Now, if that's the case, if the
world should be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the
smallest matters? really, in the grand scheme of
things, insignificant matters. You know, most of the time, when
you feel like you've been wronged by your brother, forget it. Just, he was having a bad day.
Forget it. There'll be times when you feel
like you've been wronged, and the best thing to do is overlook
it. May God give us the grace to
just overlook things. And he calls these things the
smallest matters. Now, once again, in verse three,
he says, know ye not that we shall judge angels? Well, Christ
is judging angels. So are we, because we're in him.
How much more things that pertain to this life? If then you have
judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge
which are least esteemed in the church. Now, Paul is speaking
sarcastically here. He said, you'd be better off
doing this. Take the person that you have the least respect for
in the church. You have the least respect for
their wisdom and set them up and let them be the judge. He
said, that'd be better than going into litigation between unbelievers
and before unbelievers. Take those people that are less
esteemed and let them be the arbiters. He says in verse five,
and this is what lets us know that he's speaking sarcastically.
He says, I speak this to your shame. And he's saying shame
on you for doing this. Shame on you. Is it so that there's
not a wise man among you? No, not one that shall be able
to judge between his brethren. Is there not one person that
you would trust to be an arbiter in the church? Yeah, yeah, there's
plenty of people who I would judge their decision in something
like this if I needed that. But brother goeth to law with
brother. And that before the unbelievers,
that brings such reproach on the name of Christ. To do something
like that, you're, we're supposed to be people who love one another
and yet we'll go to law and sue one another. Brother goes to
law with brother and that before the unbelievers. Now, therefore
there is utterly a fault among you. Boy, that's strong language,
isn't it? He said, there is no justification for this under
any circumstance. This is utterly a fault among
you because you go to law with one another. And I love this
next statement. I hope I can enter into it because
I think I wonder if I, when he tells them this, he says, why
do you not rather take wrong? Why don't you turn the other
cheek? That's what he said. Why don't you suffer yourself
to be defrauded, to be ripped off? And that's what that means.
Why don't you go ahead and allow that to happen to you for the
gospel sake? How am I to do that? By the grace
of God. That's the only answer I have
for that. By the grace of God. You know, whatever happens to
us, we ought to remember when our brother does defraud us,
we ought to be like David with regard to Shema. The Lord told
him to do that. The Lord told him to say that. Anything that
comes my way, oh, may God give me the grace to do this, because
I'm talking about it and I think, I want to do that. I want to
protect my rights. I've got my rights. Oh, that
we would just forsake our rights and suffer ourselves to be defrauded
rather than let the gospel be brought into reproach before
unbelievers by doing things like that. May God give me and you
the grace. Maybe the Lord's going to allow
us to be defrauded by somebody in our midst, in our church,
to give us the grace and the opportunity to conduct ourselves
like this. I hope it didn't happen, but
it could be. But this is what God the Holy
Spirit inspires Paul to say with regard to this. Suffer yourself
to be defrauded. Suffer yourself to be wrong.
Turn the other cheek. That's exactly what the Lord
says. Turn the other cheek. Somebody sues you at the law
and takes away your coat, give him your coat also. Turn the
other cheek. Suffer yourselves to be... That
takes the grace of God, doesn't it? May the Lord give me and
you the grace to be these people. He says in verse eight, nay,
you do wrong. and defraud. Now this is what
he calls them bringing each other to law. You're defrauding your
own brethren. This is what you're doing. How
horrible. And let me remind you that he's
writing to the brethren at the church in Corinth. The called
of Christ Jesus. And he's dealing with a lot of
different problems in this church. And this is the particular problem
he's dealing with right now. These people taking advantage
of one another and taking each other to law and defrauding and
manipulating each other. Nay, you do wrong and defraud
and that your brethren. Now he, in the same thinking says in
verse nine, no ye not. that the unrighteous shall not
inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived. Every time I
hear those words, it kind of scares me because I think I don't
want to deceive myself. Be not deceived. Don't kid yourself. Don't lie to yourself. Be not
deceived. And then he names 10 sins. 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 heaven. Now, Paul is speaking of embracing
and endorsing these sins as my life. There is not one sin that
I just mentioned that you have not committed, maybe in the last
24 hours. Is that so? You look at these. That's not saying if you commit
these sins, you'll not be saved. It's talking about somebody who
embraces this as their life and refuse to leave this. Now you can struggle with every
one of these sins every day. I'm not saying that if my salvation
is dependent upon me stopping any one particular sin, I won't
be saved. I just won't. Nor will you. But what is he saying? This is
so important, the way he mentions these 10 particular sins. Fornication. All forms of sexual
sin. Idolatry. The worship of a false
God. And included in that is believing
a false gospel. If you believe a false gospel,
you are participating in idolatry. You're worshiping some God that
is not the God of the Bible. Adultery. Breaking the marriage
covenant. I love the way the writer to
the Hebrew says, marriage is honorable in all and the bed
undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge. He speaks of the effeminate and
what that word means is you're soft. You can be easily dissuaded. You will not take a hard stand,
but you will easily compromise. You're soft. You can be got to. That's what the word means. It's
not talking about someone who acts effeminate and acts like
a sissy or something like that. That's not what that's talking
about at all. It's talking about your easy to, to be dissuaded
and moved away. You're not solid in the gospel. Um, abusers of themselves with
mankind is homosexuality, nor thieves, people that this
is their life, they rob others, thieves, nor covetous, controlled
by the love of money is the root of all evil. That's the dominating
aspect of your life, what I can get, what I can acquire, Drunkards, men who endorse, this
is my life, party, have a good time, revelry, a profligate lifestyle. Drunkards, nor revilers, that's
abusive speech. Nor extortioners, that's people
who get what they get through manipulation or through coercion
or unjustly. Now, these sins he mentions,
if that is my life, If that's what I embrace, if that would
characterize me, Paul says, I will not inherit the kingdom of God. I look at these sins and I can't look at these and
say, well, I've got that one taken care of. Check, go on to
the next thing. I'm okay. Let me make some comments. We still have the same evil nature
we were born with. And we have the same appetite
for sin that we were born with. And when someone says, no, I'm
getting more holy. Well, you, nobody believes you. I sure don't. Everybody has the
same natural wicked nature that you were born with. I wish it
wasn't that way, but evidently it's best that way. The Lord
could have made it to where we don't have that nature anymore.
And he didn't, and he's got wise and holy purposes in that. That
being said, that does not excuse a life that is not changed and
different. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? And what hast thou that thou
hast not received? Every believer by the grace of
God does differ. I am not, I've got the same evil
nature that I had when God saved me, but I'm not the person I
was before God saved me. And that's what he's talking
about here. If I embrace these things. Now, let me repeat. I guarantee you, if you have
any sensitivity, if you have the spirit of God, if you're
a new man in Christ Jesus, you look at these sins and you're
aware of the commission of one or many of these sins in the
last 24 hours. If I look at it any other way,
I'm not being honest. And I can't, from the word of
God, get any hope that, well, I've conquered this sin, I've
conquered that sin. But here's the fact of the matter
is, Galatians chapter five, verse 17, and here's the difference.
The flesh lusts against the spirit. that new man. The spirit lusts
against the flesh, the old man. These two are contrary one to
the other all the time so that you cannot do the things that
you would you would never sin again. You would never have a
proud thought. You'd never have an unclean thought.
You would be perfectly like Christ, perfectly conformed to his image.
And in Christ you are. You would never sin again. But
you've got something called the flesh that prevents that, don't
you? And if you're honest, There's some times where you would be
an absolute monster in iniquity with no restraints. But the spirit
won't let you. The flesh lusts against the spirit. The spirit lusts against the
flesh. These are contrary one to another
so that you cannot do the things you would. Now look what Paul
says. I think this is so interesting.
He doesn't say, here's what you gotta do to take care of these
problems. He says, such were some of you, but, but. Now that's the same but that's
used in Ephesians 2, 4, but God. That's the difference, but God. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. There's the difference. Such
were some of you, but. And he doesn't tell you what
you need to do, he tells you what you are. And this is what
I need. I need to hear what I am in Christ
Jesus. Such were some of you, but you've
turned things around and you've straightened up. No, such were
some of you, but you're washed. But you're sanctified. But you're justified. in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God. Now this is an unmistakably clear
statement as to what has been done for every believer and consequently
what they are. You're washed. I can say that to every believer.
I don't care what sin you have on your conscious now and how
you're smiting your heart over your sin. You're washed, and
I mean completely washed. Jesus Christ doesn't do a half
job on anything. You're washed. Washed all together. He that's washed, the Lord said,
is clean every wit. You're washed. You're sanctified. Sanctified by the Spirit of God,
justified. Now all three of these things
were done by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for his namesake,
which is the person behind the name and the invincible work
of God, the Holy Spirit, the second and third persons of the
Trinity. But you're washed, you're sanctified, you're justified. by the name of the Lord Jesus
and the Spirit of our God. Now, these are three aspects
of God's salvation. When God saves somebody, they've
been washed, they've been sanctified, they've been justified, and his
life will not be embracing these sins, giving himself over to
these sins that he speaks of. Does that mean he does not struggle
with these sins? Not for a second. You still have
a sinful nature and that's going to be with you all the way to
the day you die. It's only then you'll have no sinful nature
anymore. But you've been washed. You've been justified. You've
been sanctified. Washed. Now the word means washed
fully. All sin has been washed away. I'm clean. I'm clean. Hebrews 1.3, when he had by himself
purged, made purification for, washed away our sins, he sat
down. You know why? Because we were
washed. Utterly and completely washed. Washed in the blood of Christ.
Washed, made clean. You are sanctified. Now, if I
would pick out a word that most clearly describes God's salvation,
I'd pick out the word sanctification. Now, let me make good on that.
Most people, when they think of sanctification, they think
of the work done on the inside, and that certainly is included
in that, but sanctification is this. God set you apart to be
holy before time began. That's sanctification, isn't
it? Christ Jesus on Calvary's tree sanctified me by one offering. He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified by the witch will. He hath perfected forever
those that are sanctified. He's perfected me. He's sanctified
me. I've been sanctified by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I was chosen to be holy. I was
made holy by the Lord Jesus Christ. I was given a holy nature. in
the new birth, sanctified, sanctified by the Spirit. We're bound to
thank God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God had from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Now, in all my experience
of sanctification, whatever that means, it's never separated from
the truth. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. You're justified. You're washed. You're sanctified. You're justified. I don't know of a verse of scripture
that thrills me anymore when I read of that publican in the
temple beating on his breast, crying, God, be merciful to me,
thee, sinner. And Christ himself said regarding
that man, I say unto you, that man went down to his house justified. If I'm justified, that means
before God, I have never committed a sin. That's how glorious this
is. I have never committed a sin. I'm gonna stand before God on
judgment day as one who has never committed a sin because Jesus
Christ never committed a sin and his perfect righteousness,
his life is my life before God and I stand before God justified. We've been washed, we've been
sanctified, we've been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and that means for His name's sake. His name is the
one reason this happens. I'm not washed and sanctified
and justified because of any work on my part where I've achieved
this. I have this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for
his name's sake. And then he says also by the
spirit of our God. And I love the way he says by
the spirit of our God. He said, I'll be to them a God.
They shall be to me a people. He's our God. He's the God and
father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there are those who will
say not giving somebody something
to do is going to promote sin. Just saying you're washed, you're
sanctified, you're justified. Why that will promote sin. The only reason somebody would
say that is because they've never been washed. They've never been
sanctified. They've never been justified.
Because if you're washed, sanctified, and justified, I know this, you
hate sin. And your great desire is perfect
conformity to Jesus Christ. You want to be, poor and mourn
and meet before God and hunger and thirst after his righteousness.
You want to be pure in heart. You want to be merciful. You
want to be a peacemaker. You want to be persecuted for
righteousness sake. You want to be filled by the
Holy Spirit with love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance. That's what you want. And you
know the only way that you can have what you want is for him
to make you that. And you cry out for that. And your hope is
that you're washed. You're sanctified. You're not
going to be more sanctified in heaven than you are right now.
You're sanctified. You're not going to be more holy
in heaven than you are right now. You just won't have that
sinful nature any longer. You are washed. You are sanctified. You are justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Salvation
is of the Lord. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that you've
washed us, that you have sanctified us and that you have justified
us. How we thank you that salvation
is of the Lord and Lord, we're so thankful for this warning
in your word. Lord, cause us to be people who would suffer
ourselves to be defrauded rather than to bring reproach on the
gospel. Lord, we ask that we might be men and women who glorify you in our conduct. And we've asked for forgiveness
in our many, many failings in that. But how we thank you that
we are washed in the blood of Christ that we are sanctified
and that we're actually justified. We give thanks. Bless this message
for your glory and for our good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.