Some Things To Remember

INTRODUCTION

The writer of the old hymn Amazing Grace, John Newton has the following words etched on his tombstone:

John Newton, Clerk;

Once an infidel and libertine,

A servant of slaves in Africa;

Was, by the rich mercy

of our Lord

and Savior, Jesus Christ,

Preserved, restored, pardoned,

And appointed to

preach the faith

He had long labored

to destroy.

John Newton once said, “I am not all that I should be or what I want to be, but thank God I am not what I used to be.”

When we met the Lord Jesus Christ, He made us a new person; a new creature in Christ Jesus:

2 Corinthians 5:17 AV

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Jesus takes every repenting sinner and makes them new and the salvation He gives imparts brand new life. This text I’ve read today is a powerful description of the difference Jesus makes in the lives of those He saves! Thanks to Calvary, I’m not the person I used to be!

I want to preach a little while this morning on the thought of “Some Things To Remember”...

OUR PAST PROBLEMS

The conditions described in verses 9–10 are descriptive of many believers. Like the Corinthian believers, many of us were saved out of such a life. God wants to remind us of what we were before we were saved; and what we should be since we have been saved! Look at two things concerning our past problems:

1. We Were Excluded

Look at the first part of verse 9: “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?..”

He says that we were “unrighteous.” The word “unrighteous” simply means “unjust.” We were not right with God!

We were God’s enemies!

Romans 8:7 AV

7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

The result of our lost condition is that we were not an heir of the kingdom of God…We were cut off from God in this life and the life to come...

Ephesians 2:1–3 AV

1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past ye 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: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Ephesians 2:12 AV

12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

In our sinful condition, we were excluded!

2. We Were Deluded (6:9b-10)

To be deluded means to be deceived, mislead, lead into error…We were deluded:

A. By sensual sins

1 Corinthians 6:9 AV

9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

Fornicators: These are those who lived in sexual immorality outside of the marriage covenant. God never intended for two people to live together and see how it all works before they get married!

Adulterers: These are those who were unfaithful inside the marriage covenant. When you marry someone, it’s a covenant that God takes seriously! You have no business creeping around on your spouse! Be faithful! Adultery can also refer to spiritual infidelity which I’ll talk more about in a moment...

Effeminate and abusers of themselves with mankind: These are those who live a life of perversion…This refers to homosexuality, bisexuality, trans-genderism - Effeminate is a term pointed to men; it refers being soft or delicate to an unmanly degree, to be womanlike, to unman, to weaken, to melt into weakness. Let me just put it this way - this category is everything our society is exalting right now!

God’s Word says that anything within these three categories is sin, and sin has deluded our minds and actions!

B. By spiritual sins

Idolaters: Those who worshiped and bowed down to false gods!

C. By social sins

1 Corinthians 6:10 AV

10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

Thieves: These are those who steal and take away from others.

Covetous: These are those who desire what others have because of greed.

Drunkards: These are those who are bound by alcohol and strong drink.

Revilers: These are those who destroy with their tongues and wound with their words.

Extortionists: These are those who steal indirectly and take unfair advantage of others.

Now, you might say, “Preacher, I wasn’t any of those things, I was a pretty good person...” I’ll go ahead and point out, the Bible does say in verse 11, “And such were some of you...” This implies not all were like this, but I will remind you this morning that:

Romans 3:23 AV

23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Add to that the fact that every sinner is “dead in trespasses and sins” according to Ephesians 2:1

And, that we all “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”, Ephesians 2:2.

And that “we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others”, Ephesians 2:3.

Like Bro. Jeremy said this past Friday - If you think you deserve to go to Heaven, you’re probably not going!

But look here, we had some past problems, but look at:

OUR PERMANENT POSITION

Our Position Described

Look at the first part of verse 11...

“And such were some of you: but ye are washed...”

Thank God today for that little word “were” - There’s a lot of people today that “were” but they ain’t any more! There’s a reason for that, look at the text:

1. We are Washed

The Bible is saying that all the wicked things we did in the past have been cleansed and forgiven. It’s talking about the new birth,

John 3:3 AV

3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

John 3:7 AV

7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

When a sinner comes to Jesus by faith, that sinner is regenerated, not through personal effort, but through the grace and mercy of the Lord,

A. By the Word of God

Ephesians 5:26 AV

26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

When Jesus gave Himself for the church on the cross, it provided cleansing from every stain sin makes. Since the work of Jesus on the cross comes to us through the Word of God and the preached word, it can be said that we are washed of water by the word.

Romans 10:17 AV

17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Romans 10:14 AV

14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

We are washed by the Word of God, but also, we are washed:

B. By the mercy of God

Titus 3:5 AV

5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

We are washed by the mercy of God! We didn’t save ourselves, “He saved us...” How did He do it? Through the miracle of the new birth - the work of the Holy Spirit! The washing in this verse doesn’t refer to baptism - We are baptized after we are saved, but this is talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit - When a sinner trusts Christ, he is cleansed from all his sins, and he is made a new person by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit!

C. By the blood of Christ

Revelation 1:5 AV

5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

We have been loved with an everlasting love and have been washed from all sin in the fountain of “his own blood” - The word “washed” here has a double meaning - it means washed, but it also means loosed! Christ washed away our sin when he poured out his lifeblood upon the cross, and by that blood, He made atonement for our sins! He made it so we could be “loosed” from the bondage of sin!

2. We are sanctified

Look at verse 11 again: “…but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified...”

We were unrighteous and ungodly in Adam; but in Jesus, God has “sanctified” us.

The word “sanctified” speaks of “that which has been set apart for God”

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 AV

19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

God has set us apart for Himself! He has claimed us as His own! He saved us to use us for His glory!

2 Corinthians 4:7 AV

7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

He has set us apart for His Own us and has a plan for our lives!

Many times, we think of how we used to live and think to ourselves, “God could never use me or bless me. I have been too mean and lived such a wicked life. God could never do anything with me.” But listen to me, that is where you are wrong.

It doesn’t matter what you did or how you lived, you are His now. He took you away from that old life and He has given you a new life in Jesus.

When the Lord saves us and sanctifies us, He also makes us holy inwardly, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, He enables us to live holy lives outwardly; when you meet Jesus, you’ll never be the same again!

We’ve are washed, we are sanctified, but also:

3. We are justified

Look again at verse 11: “…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.”

The word “justified” speaks of our standing before God.

When God looks at us, He no longer sees us as fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of ourselves with mankind, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortionists, etc, now all He sees when He looks at us is the righteousness of the blood of Jesus Christ.

A. Declared righteous by God

Romans 8:30 AV

30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Justification is when God declares one righteous. Justification is associated with purity. Salvation purifies the sinner. Salvation cleanses the sinner from his sins so God can declare him righteous. But if you do not need the call, you will not be justified.

B. Because of our faith in Christ

Acts 13:39 AV

39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

In Jesus everyone who believes on Him will be forgiven of our sins and justified from all the things from which they could never be justified by the law of Moses.

Salvation requires faith in the Lord Jesus! We must believe that He died for our sins and that God raised Him up again! We must trust Him and Him alone to save us.

￫We cannot be saved by keeping the 10 Commandments!

￫We cannot be saved by doing good works!

￫We cannot be saved by attending church, reading the Scriptures, praying, or any other outward work!

Believe means to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), to put in trust with.

By our belief (faith) in Jesus we are justified before God! Justified means to show or regard as innocent...

The Law of Moses could never justify anyone at any time. It never was mean to be a means of salvation!

John Phillips wrote, “The law could not justify the guilty person. The law could corner him, convict him, condemn him, but it could never cancel his sin.”

But through the blood of Jesus Christ we are forgiven of all of our sins and we are justified before God.

CONCLUSION

These are some things we need to remember today! Why do we need to remember them? Because of what we were, and where God has brought us from…It ought to encourage you today believer to think about what all God has done in your life! It ought to make you love Him even more…We had some past problems, but thanks to God, if you're saved today, you've got a permanent position!

Has the Lord Jesus Christ ever changed your life? Is there light where there used to be darkness? Is there hope where there used to be defeat? Is there life where there used to be death?

If you haven’t been changed, friend you need to be saved! If you have been saved, maybe you want to come thank Him.