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Sermons and messages from Pastor Jason White and others at Colonial Hills Baptist Church in Tyler, TX
But today we are going to finish up this summer message series. This is our 10th and final message of this message series, where we've been looking at various verses and really diving into the true context of what they mean, because they often get said to mean something completely different. And today we're looking at something that the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth. It was in his first letter to the church at Corinth, and it's in chapter six, and it's in verses nine and 10. The apostle Paul writes this. Or do you not know that the unrighteous, some translations say wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived. Paul says, Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers nor swindlers, none of them will inherit the kingdom of God now, oftentimes, when you read these verses, or you hear people talking about these verses, what some will often say that they mean is that the unrighteous, the wrongdoers, really will not inherit the kingdom of God. Specifically because Paul highlights these sins right here, the sexually immoral, the idolaters, the adulterers, those who practice homosexuality, those who are thieves and greedy and drunkards and revilers and swindlers. If you have committed those sins, then there is no chance you can go to heaven, because the Apostle Paul says it right here. He says, Do not be deceived. None of these people will inherit the kingdom of God, and so a lot of people will say, That's it. You need to have stayed away from those sins. And even though we try to preach that Jesus died on the cross for your sins. Well, apparently he did most of them, but not all of them, specifically these right here, because you're done with so some will say, that's what it means. Now there are others who will try to come back and say, no, no, no, no, no, that's not that's not accurate. Jesus did die for all sins, and if we come to Him and receive what it is that he accomplished through the cross, By grace and through faith alone, in Him alone, then we are completely forgiven and we are saved. But here's the deal, because of what Paul says here, if you've prayed to receive Christ and you accepted this grace into your life, and you begin to see these sins appear in your life, or they continue to appear in your life from your previous life, then that proves that you are not a Christian, or specifically, not just if you just committed them one time, but if you persist in committing these particular sins here, then that proves that you were never really a Christian in the first place. Why? Because, I mean, Paul says you will not inherit the kingdom of God. So what else could that mean? And so this is a common interpretation that you'll hear a lot of people say with this or what I mentioned earlier. But as we've been doing all summer long, I'm here this morning to tell you that neither one of those interpretations are what that verse means we've been looking at the real context of these things, and we look at the immediate context, and then we look at the overall context of Scripture and the things that Paul said in later on in the letter, and we put it all together, we'll really see what he's talking about here. For example, this is written in chapter six at the bottom, we said this chapter six, verses nine and 10, which means this is verse nine and 10 of chapter six. There were eight verses that come before this particular passage that we're looking at these two verses here. And what you would see if you went back and you read through all eight of those verses is that Paul is addressing people in this church in Corinth, who were suing people who were taking their disputes to people outside of the church and allowing them to settle things between conflict and disputes that were going on instead of people within the church. And so I'm not going to read all eight verses, but here's a taste of what it is that Paul said in those first that first section, he says, if any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord's people? If you have disputes, Paul says, about such matters. Do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church? Why not rather
be wronged? Paul says, why not rather
be cheated? Why not turn the other cheek? If you will, instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong and. Do this to your own brothers and sisters. So this is the first eight verses, and then all of a sudden we get to verses nine and 10. What I just read that all of these people and these people associated with these behaviors will not inherit the kingdom of God. What's Paul doing? He's trying to give them some examples of this, darn it, this way of life that is scorned in the church, which is exemplary of those who are they're taking their matters to before the ungodly for these judgments. And they're going, these are people who participate in all these kind of behaviors that he listed in verses nine and 10, and yet you take it to them to settle disputes among you. Shame on you. He's saying, listen, first, just turn the other cheek. Quit getting into all these conflicts about things. Just be wronged about it. But if you can't do that and you have to settle the matter somehow, then, at the very least, don't take them before those people. Take them before the godly, those who are believers in Christ, your own brothers, and see sisters who have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them, and count and understand the context in which this is coming from. And so this is, this is the context that Paul writes verses nine and 10 in and what we see again that he's really trying to help them see this behavior no longer lines up with who they are in Christ, this way that they're handling conflict. And there is a different way that the spirit would lead them in if they would just fix their eyes on the spirit and on Christ. But there is something even though we see the context, and that's what Paul is trying to do. Even in verses nine and 10, we do still see a list of sins. We do still see Paul list this language of these people will not inherit the kingdom of God, which leads a lot to, again, that idea of, well, are people who are participating in those things going to be in heaven one day. Or if you say you're a Christian and yet you continue in any of those behaviors, will you not inherit the kingdom of God one day? And so we need to look at it from those perspectives. And so the first perspective that we said earlier was this that we're questioning, if you commit any of these sins, does that mean that you cannot go to heaven? I mean, if you've committed those in your past, does that mean that you have no chance? There's no way for you to enter into the Christian life? I mean, after all, again, Paul says, Do not be deceived. People who do this stuff will not inherit the kingdom of God. Well, I think when we see that, and we've looked at the context in the first 10 verses, when I've heard people teach on this and say those kind of things, I never hear them one time talk about the very next verse, the very next verse will settle the matter about this perspective of things. Because in verse 11, here's what Paul writes in that is what some of you were, 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, I mean right there he lists All of these different behaviors that people were engaged in, and then he reminds them that this was actually true of some of them, that the people in this church were doing some of those sins that we just read and listed. It was part of their past. But now he's using past tense language and saying, that's who you were, but that's not who you are now, now, at the point in time that you came to trust in Jesus Christ, at that moment in time, you were washed I mean, all of your sins past, any of those that were on that list, were completely washed away. Any sins you're committing in the present or would commit in the future, completely washed away. How? Because Jesus took them all to the cross and paid the penalty for them all, and there were buried with him, and he was raised again, defeating the power of those sins and death forever. But not only were they washed in the moment that they said yes to Jesus, they were sanctified in that moment. They were made holy in his sight. They were set apart as a part of his family as a son or a daughter of God. But not only were all their sins washed away, not only in that moment were they made holy, but they were also justified. They were declared righteous before the Lord. They were not at one time. They were not righteous at one time. But now they have been declared righteous, not on their own, not because of anything that they've done, but in the name of the Lord Christ and by the Spirit. It was the it was Christ work, and a work of the Spirit in their lives that allowed them to be washed, sanctified and justified. And so that's the thing about this verse, right here, this kind of. Of disproves that perspective of things where we say, Well, Paul said in the previous two verses that anyone who's committed those sins, they will not inherit the kingdom of God. You go, Well, wait a minute. Paul also says right after that that they were committing some of those sins. And now he says this is true of them. So that that can't be true. People can have committed those sins come to Jesus, to put their faith in Him and been forgiven from those lists of sins that they had committed. So now we need to move on to the next perspective, which was okay if you can be forgiven of those in the past. Well, what about on the other side of saying yes to Jesus does persistent behavior in these sinful ways prove that someone is not a Christian. Again, that's what we said earlier, that some will say that because you participate in these behaviors after you are saved, and they continue to be something that you experience in your life, that that proves that you were never really a Christian in the first place, you never really truly received Christ and were regenerated and born again in that moment. And so let's take one of the examples, right? There were a ton of sins listed in verses nine and 10. One of those was a drunkard, right? So, so, so what we're saying with that perspective again, is that you could have been a drunkard before. I mean, you could have been an alcoholic and committed to coping with life through drinking and become addicted to it and all of those things. But then you said yes to Jesus. But then after you've said yes to Jesus, either you can never have a drink again, because those people who are drunkards and persist or do any of that behavior will not inherit the kingdom of God. That will prove that you were not a Christian, or if you drink until you get drunk, and that continues to be an issue with you, and you're wrestling and dealing with something like alcoholism, and you you stumble, you know what? 15 times? I mean, it was still just once a year. There were 364 days that you were sober and doing great, and then you messed up that one time, and then you went 300 and something more days, and you're killing it, right? And then, but gosh, you messed up again, and you're doing that once every now and then for the last 30 years of your life. And that's persistent, consistent behavior. And Paul says that those who commit those sins will not inherit the kingdom of God. So that just proves that you were never really saved in the first place. Is that what we are saying here? Well, first of all, we talked about context, right? We said that the apostle Paul is writing this to real people in a church who are dealing with specific problems. Paul knew it was a problem that they were taking their conflicts to other people. So he wrote to address that as a problem. So Paul understood what was going on the church, and now he's writing to them and saying, Listen, I'm aware of some things that you're doing as new believers in Christ, right? And this doesn't line up with who you are. This behavior needs to change. This is not the way that we're going to operate. And you're it's not consistent with your new life in Christ. But that's just one of the issues that the Corinthian church was dealing with. There were multiple things. If you've never read Corinthians, you would be shocked at what all was going on this church. I'm just going to pick one more, the apostle Paul a few chapters later, after the one that we're reading from now, writes to them about the way that they were doing the Lord's Supper. And look what he says right here in chapter 11. He says, Guys, when you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper that you eat. You think you're doing the Lord's supper at that moment, but let me just tell you that is not the Lord's Supper the way that you guys are doing it. Why? For when you are eating, he says, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers, and as a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. There were people in the Corinthian church who were getting drunk at the Lord's Supper, and Paul was aware of it, because he's writing to address it right here.
And even though Paul was aware of this behavior, and he wrote what he did about drunkards not inheriting the kingdom of God. Look at the way that he addressed these guys that he knew he was going to talk about this 11 chapters later. But look at the very first chapter in the way that he addressed these people, even the ones who were getting drunk at the Lord's Supper. He says this letter is to the Church of God, which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ, Jesus, saints by calling with whom, in every place, call on the name of the Lord Jesus, Christ, their Lord and ours. So it's not just them that saints. It's everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. We're all. Saints together. Paul understood that there was drinking, that maybe these people had experienced drunkenness before they came to know Christ. They came to know Christ, and guess what they were still doing after they came to know Christ, getting drunk. Paul didn't start this letter and say to the church at Corinth, to all the people who are no longer getting drunk and committing any of the sins that you used to commit, to those people who are saints and the true Christians, I'm writing this letter to you and all of those who are in the congregation who are still dealing with those sins. I'm writing to prove that you are really not in the church. He's addressing this to all of them, and he's calling them all saints, irregardless of the behavior that they are participating in. Right now in this moment, what I'm trying to say is that we cannot say that sinful behaviors prove that someone is not a Christian because behavior doesn't make you a Christian and behavior does not keep you a Christian. NEW BIRTH in Christ is what makes you a Christian, and Jesus is who keeps you a Christian from now all the way through eternity. Now listen, there are certain behaviors that are now consistent with the new birth, the new life that you have in Christ, and there are certain behaviors that are no longer consistent with who you are in Christ. And so behavior is important. It's extremely important. And we need to know what those behaviors are and which ones line up and which ones don't. So we can be aware of the activity that the Lord is producing in and through us, and we're aware of our fleshly Patterns of Life that we've used in the past to try to cope with the situations and stress and problems of life, and that we're still going to today in and above Jesus, and so that's why he's making us aware at various times about these different things. Again, these behaviors didn't prove they weren't Christians. Just saying these no longer are who you are. They were still Christians. They're just living as if they weren't. Why? Well, either number one, because they didn't know. Is it possible that they didn't even know getting drunk was a sin, they just said yes to Jesus. How did they know? Somebody's got to tell them, right? So they're still participating in this, and now that Paul tells them that this is what's happening, they're going, Oh, that's wrong. I guess that's not the behavior that Jesus leads me into. So what kind is, and I'm open to what he's doing in that particular area. And that's possible with any of us, after we say yes to Jesus, we don't know. But then number two is, if they did know, or we do know that, it is certainly possible to take our eyes off of Jesus, and sometimes, even though we have this new life in Christ, and we become someone very different at the core of our being, revert back to these fleshly patterns in ways that we've used in our past again to try to cope with life, and we're doing it in illegitimate ways. But we go, man, I'm tempted, and it feels good, and it provides a little bit of a temporary satisfaction. And we're like, Ah, I'm going to give in. And then, of course, we go, oh, well, yeah, no, that was not right. And sometimes we do that again, and then we do that again, and then we do that again, but again. Paul's saying your sinful behavior does not make you a Christian, but you need to not a Christian, but you need to realize that that's no longer consistent with who you are any longer, and God has something way better for you now as an outwork and an overflow of this new birth that he has given you. So when we look at this verse, we are talking about it in its true context again.
Let me go back maybe, to this one.
What do we do when we see this, and how does it then apply to our lives today based on what we're talking about in the context with which we've looked at it? Well, I think one of the ways that this may apply to anyone who's here, any of you who are watching online in this moment, is to those of you who have never, never said yes to Jesus. I mean, if you can't remember a specific point in time where you've put your faith and trust in Jesus as the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE and the only way to heaven, then this applies to you in a real way, because what we see here is that there is right behavior and there's wrong behavior, and that there's sin in our lives that's causing these behaviors, and that that sin will keep you from inheriting the kingdom of God, because he's a holy and a perfect God, and he cannot be in the presence of sin. And so maybe the way this applies to you was he prompted you to be here today or to walk. To online to it first make you aware of that.
Oh gosh,
the some of these things on here are things that I'm dealing with, and I see, and I can see how that's offensive to a holy and a perfect God in that I've got a problem, right? And so he uses that to capture our attention with these things. But then the way it applies to us is okay. Well, now that I've got a problem, what's the answer? What's the solution? And we we saw that just a second ago, right? I mean, Paul said to them that that's what some of you were. You were sinners. This was an overflow of the sin nature that you had. It produced those sins. But now you're not. And you were now washed. You were sanctified and justified. And so what we see is that in the Corinthians life, there was this time that they were not washed, there was a time when they were not sanctified, when they were not justified, but then they said yes to Jesus, and now that's true of them. And so for you, maybe this is where you still are. You haven't been washed, you haven't been sanctified. You haven't been justified. Why? Because you've never called on the name of Jesus as the only one to save you from your sins, to wash those sins away, to sanctify you and justify you. And so maybe that's the step that he's leading you to take today, to say yes to Jesus, to put your faith and trust in Him for salvation. The moment you do, you will be washed, you will be sanctified, you'll be justified, and all the things that we're talking about today will become true of you in that moment, and you'll be with Christ now and forever and experience his life beginning to be expressed through you. And if that's you, I'm going to give you a chance to respond to that and apply and make that real in your life today in just a little bit. But we need to also talk about what this then means for those of us who are here today, who have said yes to Christ, when we look at this, what is this saying to us? Well, what this says to us is that, listen, there again, are behaviors that are no longer consistent with who we are. In Christ,
there are behaviors that are wrong,
and God wants to move you into new ways in behaviors that now line up with who you are. And so the first thing, like I mentioned earlier, maybe you weren't aware that some of these things are sinful. They don't get talked about as sin out in the world. And sometimes we get confused with what's right and wrong based on everything it is that we're hearing and so maybe that's the way it applies. He's going. I'm trying to show you that the way you're acting out in these ways are wrong. They're illegitimate ways to cope with life, to deal with the things that are going on in your life, and to try to find your identity and meaning and purpose and satisfaction and fulfillment in all of the above. But now that I've made you aware of those things, the second thing I need to do is make sure that you know who you are in Christ right, because then we could go, Oh my gosh, those things are wrong. I need to seriously start trying to quit doing those things, because I don't want God to be mad at me. I don't want him to be upset. I don't I want to make sure that I prove that I am going to inherit the kingdom of God, because I gotta stop those things. And I don't know about you, but if you've been there and you've been trying to follow and quit doing all of these things, well, in my life, all that really led to, at some point, was me doing them again and again and again. It wasn't until I learned my true identity and that I was not defined by these things, right? That's what Paul's saying. Here is that's what some of you were. You were defined by those things at one time because they were part of your sin nature that was producing sins, but you are those things no longer you are someone different, and even though you may behave differently every now and then, that doesn't make you not who you are now. And so that's what we really need to understand, is coming at this from those ways. We don't use this list to come back to and try to prove that we're saved right? See, I
don't do that, I don't do that. I
haven't done Oh, shoot, I've
done that. I better stop doing that. I
better make sure that I'm really saved, right? No, no, we're not defined by those things, and so when these things are in our lives, the right thing to do then is to realize that these are flesh patterns, that these are things that aren't lining up with my new life in Christ, and that I'm going to on my own apart from Christ, to cope with life in some way, to find fulfillment, satisfaction, meaning, to all the cruddy stuff that happened to me in my past, to drown it out so I don't feel it anymore, any of those things, and you go, that's flesh, but it doesn't define me. Christ defines who I am. And so the application is not to try to work harder and try harder to stop these things, but to realize who we are in Christ, that we're completely. Completely forgiven, that we are made holy, that we are made righteous, that we are no longer in bondage to these things, and we may still struggle with some of the temptation in these ways, or these patternly sinful behaviors that arise and we try to get our needs met or cope with, but we're not owned by them because of who we are in Christ now. And so their application is to continue to believe those things, the truth walk by faith in who you are now in Christ and the victory you have in Him. And if you do take your eyes off of him and you stumble, don't redefine yourself by that failure. Up. I did it again. See, I am a drunkard. I am an alcoholic. No, you're a child of God who stepped into sin in that temporary moment to try to get your need met in a legitimate way. But the power of the cross cannot be broken to redefine you based on your behavior and the mistake that you just made. And so I got to renew my mind to that truth and not allow Satan to convince me that I am now under condemnation, that I am now under shame. No, we thank Jesus for the forgiveness that we have. We fix our eyes back on him, and we begin to take our next steps with him as one who is a saint and a child of God, who is loved and adored and who has a great plan for us as someone who isn't who we once were. Amen. Amen.