Sinners Made Saints — And Such Were Some of You

Text: 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Theme: We are now witnesses to a revolution that is sweeping away a sexual morality and the definitions of gender, marriage and family that have existed for thousands of years. We must resist in love with the Scriptures.

Date: 09/05/2021 Title: 1_Corinthinas_10 ID: NT07-06

Earlier this week the north-eastern states experienced a storm and subsequent flooding of such magnitude that they are referring to it as a 1 in 500 year event. Geography has been changed, property damaged and lives lost.

Similarly, we are living in a culture that has been radically changed and significantly damaged by a moral storm that has engulfed the nation. We are now witnesses to a revolution that is sweeping away a sexual morality and the definitions of gender, marriage and family that have existed for thousands of years. It’s a revolution that has succeeded faster than its most eager advocates could have imagined.

Every Christian, and every Church now faces huge decisions in the wake of this moral storm. How do we rebuild a culture that has been so significantly damaged? Just as there was significant destruction caused by last week’s storms to homes and businesses and families so too the moral revolution has caused it’s own kind of damage. Across America homes and businesses and families have all felt the brunt of a sexual agenda that has vowed to take no prisoners. Like ancient armies flying the red flag that indicated no quarter would be given to the opposing force, LGBTQ activists have declared that no quarter will be given to those who oppose their agenda.

Many churches, indeed entire denominations, have already acquiesced to the demands of the sexual revolution, and in doing so have abandoned the Scriptures and lost the gospel. We are living in an era when even the Church calls good evil and evil good. In this sexual milieu the Apostle reminds us that 1) this is not a new problem for the church, and 2) Jesus still changes lives. What does this morning’s passage teach us?

I. DON’T DISMISS Ungodly Behavior

“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? ... ” (1 Corinthians 6:9, NIV84)

1. we’ve already seen in the previous chapter that the Church of Corinth had a tendency to dismiss some sinful behavior as “no big deal”

a. in that chapter we read of a young man who was in an intimate relationship with his stepmother

b. some in the church were actually celebrating this as a fellow Christian exercising his new-found freedom in Christ

c. the Apostle plainly says that the man’s behavior is like a cancer that needs to be cut out of the body

1) there are some behaviors the Church cannot dismiss as a mere difference in theological opinion

2. now, Paul leads off the passage with a rhetorical question “Do you not know ... ?”

a. he asks a question they certainly should know the answer to

1) the Apostle had spent 18 months in the city winning people to Christ and teaching them the ways of Christ

b. they have heard and do know that the unrighteous — which is a more kind way of saying “the wicked” — will not inherit the kingdom of God

3. in these three verses Paul makes it clear that how a professing believer lives reflects their relationship with Christ

a. he reminds them that there are two classes of people in the world

1) the unrighteous who will not inherit the kingdom of God

2) the righteous who will inherit the kingdom of God

b. I suppose you could say that there is a 3rd class of people — the unrighteous who are thoroughly convinced that they are righteous even though they are living unrighteously

4. the Church simply cannot dismiss an unrighteous, an ungodly lifestyle in a fellow believer and not warn them of the gravity of their spiritual situation — the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God

Don’t Dismiss Ungodly Behavior (as no big deal)

II. DON’T DECEIVE Yourself About Ungodly Behavior

“ ... Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9b–10, NIV84)

1. in every culture there will be those who simply dismiss ungodly behavior

a. their response is, “Yeah, it’s immoral. So what?”

b. on the other hand, we have lots’ of people in our culture attempting to convinced themselves, and others, that their immoral behavior is not immoral

c. they are deceiving themselves

2. the word deceived in vs. 9 is the word from which we get the English word planet

a. the ancients were puzzled by the movement of the planets and considered them to be wanderers in space

1) the word means to go astray or to wander, and eventually came to refer to someone who is wandering from the truth or an established way, and is therefore self-deceived

b. Paul’s point? ... people who think they can live immoral, scandalous lives, and still go to heaven are self-deceived

1) now, let’s be blunt ... we all sin, but Paul is not referring to our normal experience with sin, wherein we sin, we realize we’ve sinned, we ask forgiveness of it and seek to have a spirit of repentance

2) he is, instead, referring to a regular, consistent pattern — what we would call a lifestyle — of sin that we are unrepentant of

3. in these two verses the Apostle refers to spiritual sin, and to social sin and to sexual sin

a. we will camp out the longest at sexual sin because it is so relevant to what our culture is now experiencing

b. that’s not to in any way imply that the other sins Paul mentions are somehow “lesser” sins

c. Paul is clear, professing believers who habitually commit adultery, who habitually covet extraordinary amounts of wealth, who are habitually drunk, who habitually slander or swindle others are people who are practicing evil are deceiving themselves if they think they are true believers ... they will not inherit the kingdom

ILLUS. Do you recognize the name "Mickey" Cohen? Probably not. Let me tell you part of his story. In 1949 an evangelistic crusade in Los Angeles propelled a new young Baptist evangelist to national fame. His name was Billy Graham. Soon all kinds of personalities, politicians and Hollywood entertainers where going to hear Graham preach and wanting to meet him.

During Graham’s Los Angeles crusade, a man named Jim Vaus walked forward and accepted Christ as his Savior. It made headlines because Vaus was working for the west coast mob. Many doubted, but Vaus’ conversion was genuine and in time he because an evangelist and Christian youth worker.

Vaus worked for "Mickey" Cohen an infamous member of the Jewish-American Mafia with connections to organized crime figures across the country. Cohen was intrigued by Vaus’ decision to leave organized crime for a life of service to Jesus. His interest in Christianity brought him face to face with Billy Graham himself. They talked for hours, and by the end of the conversation it appeared that Cohen had become a Christian, too.

But Cohen’s life didn’t change. Unlike Vaus, Cohen continued his life in the Mafia, and did what Mafia folks do — he extorted, he swindled, he threatened. When confronted with this inconsistency, he responded, "You’ve heard of Christian football players, Christian cowboys, Christian politicians — why can’t I be a Christian gangster?"

1) you can not hyphenate your Christian life with anything that identifies you as still being your old sinful self

2) it’s one thing to call yourself a “biker for Christ” it’s another altogether to call yourself an “crook for Christ”

4. Paul would say don't deceive yourself about ungodly behavior

A. DON’T BE DECEIVED ABOUT SPIRITUAL SIN

1. the Apostle mentions idolatry and greed

a. as Christians we are usually way more concerned with the sins of the flesh than we are the sins of the spirit

b. our attitudes and thoughts are of just as much concern to God as our behavior as Jesus made ever so clear in his Sermon on the Mount

1) remember those “you’ve heard it said ... but I say unto you” statements?

2) Paul here reminds us that the sins of the spirit must not be taken lightly

B. DON’T BE DECEIVED ABOUT SOCIAL SIN

1. in this category he mentions adulterers, thieves, drunkards, slanderers, and swindlers

2. people who make a practice of such behavior should question whether or not they are saved at all

C. DON’T BE DECEIVED ABOUT SEXUAL SIN

1. in vs. 9 the Apostle uses three words to describe the sexual sin that was so rampant in 1st century Corinth

a. those three Greek words are porneia, malakoi, and arsenokoitai

1) porneia is translated as sexually immoral in most modern translations, and in the KJV is almost always translated as fornication

a) it refers specifically to sexual intercourse outside the covenant of marriage

ILLUS. Porneia is the one-night hookup, the couple living together before marriage, two teens in the back seat of the car going to far. It’s Porneia — sexual immorality — and it’s sin.

2) malakoi literally means the soft ones and is often translated as effeminate

a) in 1st century Greek and Roman culture it almost always referred to the passive partner in a homoerotic relationship — and it’s sin

3) arsenokoitai literally means men who bed men and is a clear reference to what Jewish culture called sodomy and what we call homosexuality

a) Paul uses the word to refer to the aggressive partner in a homoerotic relationship — and it’s sin

ILLUS. Just so you know, several modern translations, such as the popular English Standard Version, combine these last two words and translate them as nor men who practice homosexuality.

b. any message from the Church that speaks honestly and biblically about the traditional interpretation of these three words will immediately be branded as homophobic, unkind, and divisive

1) but speak honestly we must

2. the Scriptures absolutely, unapologetically condemn homosexual sex

a. there are eight traditional passages used ... (see bulletin insert) ... to defend the Biblical view of human sexuality, sex and marriage

1) unfortunately, the LGBTQ community refers to these eight passages of Scripture as clobber passages

a) they insist that we unfairly use such passages, and that the Church has actually misinterpreted these passages for 2,000 years

b) take for example the experience of Lot in the city of Sodom; the LGBTQ community tells us that the story is really about inhospitality, not homosexual assault and rape. No it’s about homosexual assault and rape

2) the LGBTQ community, of course, is playing a full-court press to dissuade the Church that these verses actually mean what they seem to mean — that homosexuality is a sin and that homosexuals are sinners

a) sadly, they have been largely successful

ILLUS. Authors such as Rev. Dr. Mel White, who in April of this year (2021) released a book titled: Clobber the Passages”: Queer People and The Seven Deadly Biblical Verses, writes, “Homosexuality like heterosexuality is just another of the Creator’s mysterious gifts.” He calls on Evangelical churches to stop taking the Bible literally, and to stop using the “clobber verses” to “beat gays over the head” with.

b. we cannot be faithful to Word and do that

1) we must be winsome in our debates with the LGBTQ community

2) we must not be gleeful when we preach these passage

3) we must, however, not be deceived by those who would persuade us that orthodox Christianity has been wrong about this issue for 2,000 years

ILLUS. I suspect that when Paul writes, Do not be deceived ... people who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God that he has a lump in his throat and a tear in his eye and an ache in his heart when he writes this. Paul undoubtedly knows people trapped in this destructive lifestyle — some who profess to be Christians.

Over the years, I’ve known a number of professing Christians who have come out as homosexuals. Every one of them would be welcome in my home this evening if they showed up on my doorstep. I would invite them in. I would feed them. I would fellowship and laugh with them. I would put them up for the evening. But, if they asked my opinion about the lifestyle they are living, I would confess honestly, that their sexual behavior makes me fear for their eternal destiny. And I would have a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye and an ache in my heart as I shared, not my personal opinion, but what God’s holy Scripture says about their choice.

Don’t Deceive Yourself about Ungodly Behavior

III. DON’T DEFEND Ungodly Behavior

“nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:10, ESV)

1. for the second time Paul says that those who are sexually licentious, sexually perverted, sexually debased will not inherit the kingdom of God

a. like some of the Christians in Corinth who defended a young man’s incestuous affair with his stepmother, we have Christians today who defend all kinds of sexual immorality

2. many Christians today have abandoned the authority of the Scriptures for the authority of the culture

a. behaviors Christians previously and universally viewed as sinful according to the Bible are now increasingly tolerated, accepted, and even celebrated

3. one of the ways they defend sin is simply by redefining sin

A. DEFENDING BY REDEFINING

1. defending sin by redefining sin is nothing new

ILLUS. We see everyday examples: Politicians don’t lie any more, they simply miss-speak. We’ve learned that rioters ransacking metropolitan downtown districts in 2020 were not looting, but merely collecting reparations. Sin is no longer sin, but merely moral failure, a misstep, or a foible. Even as Southern Baptists we have softened the way we talk about our fallen nature. In the 1925 BFM we are described as inheritors of a corrupt nature and in bondage to sin. In the most recent edition of the BFM we are merely inclined toward sin.

a. we can fully understand why a lost humanity would want to redefine sin

b. what’s harder to understand is when the Church wants to redefine sin and toss out twenty centuries of established biblical teaching

ILLUS. Pastor and author Timothy Keller writes, “ … until very, very recently, there had been complete unanimity about homosexuality in the church across all centuries, cultures, and even across major divisions of the Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant traditions ... One has to ask, then, why is it the case that literally no church, theologian, or Christian thinker or movement ever thought that any kind of same sex relationships was allowable until now?”

c. the newest twist in the liberal interpretation of the homosexuality passages in the Bible says that what is being condemned is heterosexuals who engage in or experiment with homosexual sex to "see what it is all about" and not homosexuals who are born homosexuals who are simply doing "what comes naturally"

1) this assumes that the ancients were "stupid" and couldn't understand these things

2) they did, and the early church condemned sexual sin in all it’s forms

3) and let’s be honest — the Church must condemn all sexual sin

a) we cannot point an accusatory finger at the LGBTQ community while conveniently overlooking those in the Church committing “less offensive” sexual sin

b) the world readily sees our hypocrisy in this, and we must, too

2. the LGBTQ community has redefined sin by claiming, “God made me gay; and therefore, He won’t punish me for being gay”

a. it is simply not true — it does not fit with reality — God does not make anyone gay, any more than he makes anyone an adulterer or makes anyone a swindler or a drunkard or any of the other things Paul lists in this passage

ILLUS. Let’s do some pretending. For the sake of argument let’s say that our deacons approach me and say, “Pastor, we’ve heard some disturbing news. All around the community we are hearing that you’re a serial adulterer — that you’ve had affairs too numerous to count. Is this true?” To which I readily respond, “Yes, it’s absolutely true.” I then proceed to give my justification, “Look, my father was a serial adulterer. My paternal grandfather was a serial adulterer. We’re pretty sure my paternal great grandfather was a serial adulterer. My maternal grandmother was an adulterer. My brother is a serial adulterer. Adultery is simply in my genes. I was born this way, and I’ve simply gotta be who God created my to be.” And the deacons respond, “Gee, pastor. We didn’t realize. I guess we’ll see you Sunday!”

b. the Scripture is very clear that homosexuality is ungodly behavior

1) it is a perversion of God’s plan for human sexuality, just as adultery is and we cannot defend it

c. simply giving in to temptation, and then claiming that your moral deficiency is the fault of God, who made you like this, is the same stunt Adam tried to pull in the Garden

1) when God asked Adam if he had eaten from the tree, of which He specifically forbid him to eat from, Adam said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate” (Gen 3:12)

2) translation? God this is really all your fault

3. the central passages in your handout can be described using three words: Conformity, Complementarity, and Consistency

a. Conformity — from Genesis we see that, from the beginning, God’s divine decree was that men and women should come together in a covenant relationship and build a home

1) in Genesis 2:20 it is God, Himself, who looks at Adam and concludes None of the creatures I’ve brought to Adam to name are a suitable helper for him

a) and so God takes from Adam a portion of flesh and bone and creates Eve

b) the creation account is echoed throughout the Scriptures

c) we are to conform ourselves to God’s created order, because in doing so we find true human flourishing

2) it means that, for the Christian community, we understand gender roles, sexuality, sex and marriage to be rooted in God’s will for the created order and not merely in conformity to culture memes or stereotypes

b. Complementarity — this is also rooted in God’s decree for mankind is to subdue the earth and fill it, i.e. fill it with people

1) for this to happen you need two human beings who compliment each other

2) each can do things the other cannot — particularly in the area of procreation

a) don’t pass over the language of Genesis 2:18 too quickly where God declares, “I will make him a helper fit for him”

b) the language of fitedness speaks of fellowship and functionality

3) God created a companion for Adam that was similar to him, but also dissimilar to him

a) she had to be similar so there could be fellowship and love, but she had to be dissimilar from him in order that God’s decree to populate the earth could be accomplished through the procreative act of sex

4) regardless of what the secular news might tell you — two men cannot “have a baby” nor can two women

5) God created the sexes to compliment each other

c. Consistency — the first two arguments are found throughout the Scriptures

1) there is no place in the New Testament where a biblical author refutes or reverses God's divine plan for human sexuality, gender, or marriage

ILLUS. Even many revisionist and/or liberal scholars agree that the Scriptures, that both old and New Testament, repeatedly condemn homosexual acts as outside God’s created order. The gay Dutch scholar Pim Pronk, after admitting that many Christians are eager to see homosexuality supported by the Bible, writes this "In this case that support is lacking. Wherever homosexual intercourse is spoken of in the Scriptures it is condemned. Rejection is a foregone conclusion."

2) Pronk agrees that the Bible condemns homosexuality — he also thinks society can just ignore the Biblical commands as antiquated

4. no positive argument for homosexuality can be made from the Bible

a. that does not keep the LGBTQ community from trying to persuade us that the Bible does not condemn homosexuality

ILLUS. Some of you may have possibly heard of a new Internet movie entitled "1946.” It’s full title is 1946: The Mistranslation that Shifted a Culture. The online site for the movie says this "More than 45,000 churches today still preach that homosexuality is a sin, citing biblical references that condemn "homosexuals." What would change if churches discovered the truth — the word "homosexual" was added to the Bible in 1946 by mistake?" Well that is what they believe, and it is what they want you to believe. Their contention is that the 1946 translation of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible mistranslated two key Greek words using the word "homosexual" for the first time, and that ever since, all modern translations have followed suit — wrongly so, which has led to decades of mistreatment of the LGBTQ community.

b. the passage they are referring to is our text for this morning

5. the good news is that it's easy to spot the fallacies in this film ... the bad news is that many people won't, and many Christian’s won’t

Don’t Defend Ungodly Behavior

IV. DON’T DESPAIR About Changing Ungodly Behavior

“And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11, ESV)

1. here is one of the most blessed verses in the New Testament, particularly the opening clause — and such were some of you

2. the Corinthian church, as churches today, had ex-fornicators, ex-adulterers, ex-thieves, ex-homosexuals

a. by the grace of God and the redemptive work of Jesus they were “Ex” whatever they were before

b. though many Christians have never been guilty of the particular sins Paul lists in this passage, every Christian here this morning was sinful before they were saved

1) every Christian is an ex-sinner who is now a saint according to the Apostle

2) and yes, we are saints who still sin

ILLUS. Rosaria Butterfield writes: The supernatural power that comes with being born again means that where I once had a single desire—one that says if it feels good, it must be who I really am—I now have twin desires that war within me: “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do” (Gal. 5:17). And this war doesn’t end until Glory.

Rosaria Butterfield lived for nearly a decade, as an openly lesbian activist deeply opposed to Evangelical Christianity. Her friendship with Ken Smith, a Presbyterian Pastor led her to re-evaluate of her presuppositions. Two years later, Butterfield came to faith in Christ. She now lives in Durham, N.C. with her pastor/husband Kent Butterfield, and their two children. (and such were some of you)

3. Christ came for the purpose of saving sinners (Matt. 9:13)

a. that is the great truth of Christianity: no person has sinned too deeply or too long to be saved

b. if you come to Christ, he’ll wash you, and sanctify you, and justify you and all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ who will send his Spirit into your life

A. LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR ENOUGH TO SPEAK TRUTH

1. when it comes to sexual immorality, any sexual immorality, but especially LGBTQ immorality, we must love this segment of society enough to speak truth to them at the risk of being canceled, labeled and libeled in return

2. we must share the truth of the Gospel with them kindly, and respectfully, but also uncompromisingly

a. it's also worth noting that it’s not the Confessing Church that is seeking to redefine marriage legally or culturally

1) it’s not us who have moved away from culture norms, but those who support the LGBTQ agenda

b. and because we are unmoved by their arguments, we are characterized in often hostile and demeaning terms by cultural elites and same-sex marriage activists frustrated and sometimes enraged by our intransigence and unwillingness to accede to their political and legal initiatives

3. the issue is sin — that's what we're against — and that's what should make our voice so unique when we speak into this debate

a. God can change ungodly behavior — and such were some of you

Don’t Despair about Changing Ungodly Behavior