WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.960 Grab your Bibles, because we are going to jump 00:00:01.960 --> 00:00:05.700 right into it this morning. We are in a series 00:00:05.700 --> 00:00:08.140 in 1 Corinthians, and we are in 1 Corinthians 00:00:08.140 --> 00:00:11.160 chapter 6. Go ahead and turn there if you will. 00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:14.740 Even though we're only covering three verses 00:00:14.740 --> 00:00:17.780 this morning, we have so much to talk about. 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:21.219 So we want to get started. By the way, if you 00:00:21.219 --> 00:00:23.519 are newer here at Oak Hill or you're visiting 00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:26.579 with us this morning, you probably will not have 00:00:26.579 --> 00:00:30.239 heard the warning that I issued. to our church 00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:33.700 family and to our parents in the past week. And 00:00:33.700 --> 00:00:36.060 if you didn't hear that and that's the case, 00:00:36.200 --> 00:00:38.119 let me give it to you now. We're going to be 00:00:38.119 --> 00:00:41.299 discussing some mature themes that come up in 00:00:41.299 --> 00:00:44.920 this morning's passage, themes of a sexual nature. 00:00:45.020 --> 00:00:48.140 So if you have a child and that child is not 00:00:48.140 --> 00:00:50.799 ready for those conversations. You might want 00:00:50.799 --> 00:00:52.799 to head over to our children's ministry, check 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:54.759 them in, then come back. And if you need to do 00:00:54.759 --> 00:00:57.079 that, we have some ushers in the back. Blake's 00:00:57.079 --> 00:00:59.460 walking around somewhere. He can help you, direct 00:00:59.460 --> 00:01:03.880 you on how to do that. Fact is, sometimes these 00:01:03.880 --> 00:01:06.159 things come up, right, as we work our way through 00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:09.099 the Bible. We're looking at verses 9 to 11 this 00:01:09.099 --> 00:01:12.000 morning, but let's back up to verse 1 so that 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:14.480 we make sure that we read it in context. 1 Corinthians 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:20.340 6, beginning verse 1. Here's what God says. When 00:01:20.340 --> 00:01:23.799 he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go 00:01:23.799 --> 00:01:26.719 to law before the unrighteous and not before 00:01:26.719 --> 00:01:30.060 the saints? Or do you not know that the saints 00:01:30.060 --> 00:01:33.099 will judge the world? If the world is judged 00:01:33.099 --> 00:01:36.500 by you, are you not competent to constitute the 00:01:36.500 --> 00:01:39.579 smallest law courts? Do you not know that we 00:01:39.579 --> 00:01:43.239 will judge angels? How much more matters of this 00:01:43.239 --> 00:01:46.340 life? So if you have law courts dealing with 00:01:46.340 --> 00:01:48.400 matters of this life, do you appoint them as 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:52.159 judges who are of no account in the church? I 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:57.040 say this to your shame. Is it so that there is 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:00.739 not among you one wise man, one wise man, who 00:02:00.739 --> 00:02:02.680 will be able to decide between his brethren? 00:02:02.760 --> 00:02:05.500 But brother goes to law with brother, and that 00:02:05.500 --> 00:02:08.860 before unbelievers. Verse 7. Actually then, it 00:02:08.860 --> 00:02:11.240 is already a defeat for you that you have lawsuits 00:02:11.240 --> 00:02:13.780 with one another. Why not rather be wronged? 00:02:14.539 --> 00:02:17.919 Why not rather be defrauded? On the contrary, 00:02:18.039 --> 00:02:21.060 you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this 00:02:21.060 --> 00:02:24.280 even to your brethren. So obviously the members 00:02:24.280 --> 00:02:27.240 of the church there in Corinth in the first century 00:02:27.240 --> 00:02:30.460 were completely ignoring the basic principles 00:02:30.460 --> 00:02:33.039 of forgiveness and reconciliation, and they were 00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:36.139 not allowing church leadership to get in there 00:02:36.139 --> 00:02:38.860 and help them work through these conflicts according 00:02:38.860 --> 00:02:41.569 to the pattern that we have in Scripture. Instead, 00:02:41.669 --> 00:02:43.930 they were dragging each other into court. They 00:02:43.930 --> 00:02:47.129 were seeking financial vengeance, gouging one 00:02:47.129 --> 00:02:50.229 another, and doing it all before unbelievers, 00:02:50.250 --> 00:02:52.490 dishonoring the name of Christ and the testimony 00:02:52.490 --> 00:02:56.150 of his church there in that city. So Paul says, 00:02:56.250 --> 00:02:59.030 don't you realize that you are different from 00:02:59.030 --> 00:03:02.129 the world around you? So why are you acting like 00:03:02.129 --> 00:03:04.710 the world? Why are you operating as they operate? 00:03:05.630 --> 00:03:07.629 It'd be better if you allowed yourself to be 00:03:07.629 --> 00:03:10.310 wronged and cheated by someone than to go after 00:03:10.310 --> 00:03:13.310 each other in court and bring division and disgrace 00:03:13.310 --> 00:03:17.810 into the body of Christ. I say this to your shame, 00:03:17.969 --> 00:03:20.669 he writes, which is strong language because remember, 00:03:20.789 --> 00:03:24.009 Paul is their spiritual father. I say this to 00:03:24.009 --> 00:03:26.310 your shame, but here's the truth. This is already 00:03:26.310 --> 00:03:31.189 a defeat for you. Now he goes on. Here are three 00:03:31.189 --> 00:03:33.210 verses for this morning, beginning in verse nine. 00:03:33.800 --> 00:03:35.759 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not 00:03:35.759 --> 00:03:40.560 inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. 00:03:42.599 --> 00:03:46.759 Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:50.900 nor the effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, 00:03:51.219 --> 00:03:54.400 nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, 00:03:54.419 --> 00:03:57.479 nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:02.780 Such were some of you, but you were washed. But 00:04:02.780 --> 00:04:05.860 you were sanctified. But you were justified in 00:04:05.860 --> 00:04:08.199 the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the 00:04:08.199 --> 00:04:12.379 spirit of our God. So let's start here. Who is 00:04:12.379 --> 00:04:14.740 Paul talking about at the beginning of verse 00:04:14.740 --> 00:04:17.980 9? He's talking about the unrighteous, he says, 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:20.800 adikoi in the original Greek. This is the same 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:24.000 word that he used up in verse 1 when he chastised 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:26.560 the Corinthians for bringing lawsuits before 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:30.639 unbelievers, before the unrighteous. Or as it 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:32.660 could be read, you bring your case before men 00:04:32.660 --> 00:04:37.279 who are unjustified in God's sight. He's speaking 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:39.519 of people out there in the world who have no 00:04:39.519 --> 00:04:42.319 fear of God, no saving knowledge of Christ, and 00:04:42.319 --> 00:04:44.620 obviously then these are people who will not 00:04:44.620 --> 00:04:48.759 inherit the kingdom of God, Paul says. But here 00:04:48.759 --> 00:04:50.620 was the problem. Some of the church members in 00:04:50.620 --> 00:04:54.240 Corinth were living just like the unrighteous, 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:56.920 unsaved population around them. They'd been sucked 00:04:56.920 --> 00:04:59.870 into the culture. So Paul feels compelled to 00:04:59.870 --> 00:05:02.850 warn them severely in the middle of verse 9. 00:05:02.990 --> 00:05:07.050 Don't let yourself be deceived, he says. Do not 00:05:07.050 --> 00:05:09.750 be self -deceived. You may profess to know Christ, 00:05:09.970 --> 00:05:13.329 but you're habitually living like people who 00:05:13.329 --> 00:05:16.769 will be shut out of heaven someday. Imagine getting 00:05:16.769 --> 00:05:21.129 that letter from the apostle. And this is important 00:05:21.129 --> 00:05:23.170 to point out before we get to the list of sins 00:05:23.170 --> 00:05:26.089 that comes next. Paul is warning them about having 00:05:26.089 --> 00:05:31.519 a lifestyle So this isn't just I stumbled into 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:35.800 sin or momentarily on occasion I fell into temptation. 00:05:36.339 --> 00:05:39.699 He's talking about professing believers living 00:05:39.699 --> 00:05:43.800 in an ongoing, continuous pattern of sin, clinging 00:05:43.800 --> 00:05:46.720 onto their desires without any sense of repentance. 00:05:47.079 --> 00:05:49.839 They're not battling against their sin. They're 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:52.100 not seeking God's face to try to overcome it. 00:05:52.180 --> 00:05:55.300 They've simply chosen out of their own will to 00:05:55.300 --> 00:05:58.180 resist. the moral commands of Scripture, and 00:05:58.180 --> 00:06:01.319 go their own way. That's the posture that they've 00:06:01.319 --> 00:06:03.600 taken. If that's you, Paul says, you should know 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:06.899 this. You are not a Christian. You cannot live 00:06:06.899 --> 00:06:10.139 that lifestyle and claim to be a Christian. You're 00:06:10.139 --> 00:06:12.399 not saved. You're either lying to yourself and 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:15.019 those in the church or you're self -deceived, 00:06:15.060 --> 00:06:17.480 and therefore you need to wake up and hear the 00:06:17.480 --> 00:06:21.279 truth. If you persist in a lifestyle that mirrors 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:24.060 the unrighteous, you will not inherit the kingdom 00:06:24.060 --> 00:06:27.740 of God. It's a strong language, right out of 00:06:27.740 --> 00:06:32.060 the gate in verse 9. And then we come to something 00:06:32.060 --> 00:06:34.959 that Paul uses fairly regularly as a literary 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:39.019 tool. We call this a vice list, a vice list. 00:06:39.160 --> 00:06:41.519 And these are not unusual. You'll find lists 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:44.259 in the book of Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, 00:06:44.279 --> 00:06:47.579 and Colossians. And oftentimes you'll see a list 00:06:47.579 --> 00:06:50.680 of vices that are contrasted to a list of what? 00:06:52.180 --> 00:06:55.079 Virtues, right? A vice list and a virtue list. 00:06:55.680 --> 00:06:58.399 And the intent of these lists in Scripture is 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:00.500 not to be exhaustive. Paul's not trying to list 00:07:00.500 --> 00:07:03.560 every possible vice or every possible virtue. 00:07:04.060 --> 00:07:07.420 He's using representative sins on the one hand 00:07:07.420 --> 00:07:09.779 and representative examples of righteousness 00:07:09.779 --> 00:07:13.300 on the other. And here in 1 Corinthians 6, he 00:07:13.300 --> 00:07:17.379 picks a sampling of 10 sins that show us, even 00:07:17.379 --> 00:07:21.060 today, what an unrighteous lifestyle looks like. 00:07:22.019 --> 00:07:24.920 So let's walk through them. And as we do, Here's 00:07:24.920 --> 00:07:26.720 what I want you to do. I want you to resist the 00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:29.339 temptation to say, this doesn't apply to me. 00:07:30.819 --> 00:07:32.699 Because we all have that defensive measure in 00:07:32.699 --> 00:07:35.519 us to say, oh, this is interesting, but not for 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:39.279 me. Maybe for you, but not for me. So be careful, 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:43.040 right? Before you do that, I want you to consider 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:45.839 the range of meaning of each of these words. 00:07:46.759 --> 00:07:49.740 The range of meaning. Consider the most blatant 00:07:49.740 --> 00:07:53.259 manifestation of these things, but also the most 00:07:53.259 --> 00:07:56.560 subtle. manifestation, the ones that are least 00:07:56.560 --> 00:07:59.600 detectable, that might actually be seeping into 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:02.480 your life right now. You might be surprised. 00:08:02.500 --> 00:08:04.680 If you dig deep enough into your heart, you might 00:08:04.680 --> 00:08:08.079 say, you know what? Now that I read that, I probably 00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:10.879 need to guard my heart against the seeping into 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:13.100 my life. So let's start with the sinful lifestyle 00:08:13.100 --> 00:08:17.939 that Paul puts first. It's fornicators. Fornicators. 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:22.139 In the Greek, the root word is pornos. Now, we've 00:08:22.139 --> 00:08:24.120 already come across this word three times already 00:08:24.120 --> 00:08:27.660 in the first six chapters of this letter. Obviously, 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:30.360 it's the root of our English word, pornography. 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:33.500 And in the context of a vice list like this, 00:08:33.580 --> 00:08:37.460 it refers to a general category of sexually immoral 00:08:37.460 --> 00:08:40.419 people. That would mean any sin that is forbidden 00:08:40.419 --> 00:08:43.759 in God's word. Given Paul's Jewish background 00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:46.120 and his understanding of the Old Testament, he 00:08:46.120 --> 00:08:48.620 would probably have in mind things like prostitution, 00:08:48.820 --> 00:08:54.299 adultery, incest, homosexuality, and yes, here's 00:08:54.299 --> 00:08:58.620 the big one, any sexual activity outside of the 00:08:58.620 --> 00:09:03.500 covenant of marriage. We categorize that as fornication. 00:09:03.879 --> 00:09:06.000 This is why I just cautioned you to consider 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:08.159 the range of meaning. It would be so easy to 00:09:08.159 --> 00:09:10.759 say, well, listen, I'm never going to engage 00:09:10.759 --> 00:09:14.559 in prostitution or incest, but then miss the 00:09:14.559 --> 00:09:17.080 possibility of the more subtle one, which is 00:09:17.080 --> 00:09:21.690 any sex outside of marriage. So you might understand 00:09:21.690 --> 00:09:24.389 why, if somebody were to come into our church 00:09:24.389 --> 00:09:27.470 body and say, I'm living with my boyfriend or 00:09:27.470 --> 00:09:30.230 living with my girlfriend, that any of us members 00:09:30.230 --> 00:09:34.710 lovingly should confront that situation and issue 00:09:34.710 --> 00:09:36.789 a warning. And I know that's not a comfortable 00:09:36.789 --> 00:09:39.590 conversation to have, but it's a necessary one 00:09:39.590 --> 00:09:41.929 for this reason, because we care about that person. 00:09:42.190 --> 00:09:45.740 We care about their soul. We want them to know 00:09:45.740 --> 00:09:47.799 that they're living in disobedience to God's 00:09:47.799 --> 00:09:50.639 commands and that such a lifestyle might someday 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:54.879 exclude them from inheriting eternal life. Is 00:09:54.879 --> 00:09:57.399 that not love to have that conversation because 00:09:57.399 --> 00:10:00.220 we care about them? But also we would want to 00:10:00.220 --> 00:10:03.000 tell them the good news about how to overcome 00:10:03.000 --> 00:10:06.620 this problem that they have engaged in. What's 00:10:06.620 --> 00:10:09.470 the remedy? Repentance. Submission to Christ 00:10:09.470 --> 00:10:12.129 combined with practical steps to move out of 00:10:12.129 --> 00:10:15.309 that lifestyle and to walk in holiness. Those 00:10:15.309 --> 00:10:17.970 are important conversations that we have within 00:10:17.970 --> 00:10:21.590 the body of Christ. Fornication. It's a big general 00:10:21.590 --> 00:10:24.190 category. That's the first one. Second one is 00:10:24.190 --> 00:10:28.730 idolaters. Idolaters. Now here, based on the 00:10:28.730 --> 00:10:31.649 context of first century Greek culture, it's 00:10:31.649 --> 00:10:33.970 likely that Paul has in mind all of the religious 00:10:33.970 --> 00:10:36.870 activities. that were happening there each and 00:10:36.870 --> 00:10:39.350 every day in the city of Corinth. Things like 00:10:39.350 --> 00:10:43.610 sacrifices being made at pagan temples, worship 00:10:43.610 --> 00:10:46.590 of Greek gods and goddesses, religious festivals 00:10:46.590 --> 00:10:50.070 and banquets in honor of Zeus and Apollo and 00:10:50.070 --> 00:10:53.429 all the gods, even the cultic sexual practices 00:10:53.429 --> 00:10:57.029 that we know were taking place inside those pagan 00:10:57.029 --> 00:10:59.929 temples. And again, we might say to ourselves, 00:11:00.049 --> 00:11:02.889 well, I'm not planning to stop at a pagan temple 00:11:02.889 --> 00:11:05.779 on my way home. I'm not going to build an altar, 00:11:05.879 --> 00:11:09.600 a pagan altar in my living room today. But obviously 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:12.080 the term idolatry has a huge range of meaning. 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:15.220 In fact, you could say that idolatry may be the 00:11:15.220 --> 00:11:19.779 most basic and fundamental of all sins. It's 00:11:19.779 --> 00:11:22.299 giving status and loyalty to anyone or anything 00:11:22.299 --> 00:11:25.440 that rightly belongs to God alone. And we are 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:29.909 all under the temptation, me included. to fall 00:11:29.909 --> 00:11:32.350 into this, right? To subtly prioritize things 00:11:32.350 --> 00:11:37.450 above our devotion to the Lord. Things like money 00:11:37.450 --> 00:11:40.629 and material possessions, career and achievements, 00:11:41.009 --> 00:11:45.529 vanity and appearance, safety and security, personal 00:11:45.529 --> 00:11:49.049 comfort, entertainment, political ideologies, 00:11:49.250 --> 00:11:53.029 social media, and the list goes on. We can end 00:11:53.029 --> 00:11:56.009 up making those things idols. They come before 00:11:56.009 --> 00:11:58.509 our devotion to the living God. And that's why 00:11:58.509 --> 00:12:01.049 it's so important for a believer to constantly 00:12:01.049 --> 00:12:04.210 be in prayer with the Lord, assessing his or 00:12:04.210 --> 00:12:07.990 her heart, to walk through that self -examination, 00:12:08.110 --> 00:12:11.090 asking the Spirit of God to reveal the deepest 00:12:11.090 --> 00:12:12.870 part of our hearts, to say, Lord, what is it 00:12:12.870 --> 00:12:15.289 I truly love? You know me better than I know 00:12:15.289 --> 00:12:18.250 myself. I think I know what I love, but tell 00:12:18.250 --> 00:12:21.200 me. Are there things that I need to lay aside? 00:12:21.379 --> 00:12:24.639 What are the motivations behind why I do what 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:27.519 I do? That kind of self -examination and prayer 00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:29.759 with the Lord is really important. This is how 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:32.240 we avoid falling into a habitual lifestyle of 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:34.019 idolatry. And by the way, there are going to 00:12:34.019 --> 00:12:36.340 be times in our lives when we can be kind of 00:12:36.340 --> 00:12:39.960 blind to our own idolatry. We end up in a habit 00:12:39.960 --> 00:12:41.879 or something we're doing where we're kind of 00:12:41.879 --> 00:12:43.779 blind to it. This is why we need one another. 00:12:44.519 --> 00:12:47.419 loving fellow church members that will pull us 00:12:47.419 --> 00:12:49.919 aside, again, motivated by love and concern to 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:53.120 say, hey, I'm seeing something in your life. 00:12:53.179 --> 00:12:56.120 Can we talk about this? Because we don't want 00:12:56.120 --> 00:12:58.879 one another to fall into idolatry. Does that 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:03.559 make sense? Third one, adulterers. So here Paul 00:13:03.559 --> 00:13:06.820 narrows the focus to a subset of the first one. 00:13:07.179 --> 00:13:09.620 sexually immoral people. These are people who 00:13:09.620 --> 00:13:12.340 are unfaithful to their covenant marriage vows. 00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:14.940 They're engaging in sexual relations with anyone 00:13:14.940 --> 00:13:17.759 other than their spouse. But of course, in the 00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:20.139 Sermon on the Mount, we know Jesus expanded the 00:13:20.139 --> 00:13:22.899 meaning of adultery, didn't he? To include this, 00:13:22.919 --> 00:13:26.379 simply looking at a woman with lust in your heart. 00:13:27.720 --> 00:13:31.580 Ouch. And the obvious point of Jesus doing this 00:13:31.580 --> 00:13:34.399 was to emphasize that a sin like adultery is 00:13:34.399 --> 00:13:39.100 not just physical. Correct? Because long before 00:13:39.100 --> 00:13:42.840 a man or woman physically cheats, he or she has 00:13:42.840 --> 00:13:47.639 thought about it, rehearsed it, lusted after 00:13:47.639 --> 00:13:52.580 it, and probably planned it in detail. So it's 00:13:52.580 --> 00:13:54.679 a sin that begins in the heart and in the mind, 00:13:54.740 --> 00:13:57.620 then it's fed by the heart and the mind as we 00:13:57.620 --> 00:14:00.340 rehearse it. And then when the opportunity comes, 00:14:00.620 --> 00:14:04.429 it flows easily out of the heart and mind. It 00:14:04.429 --> 00:14:06.429 becomes one of the most devastating sins that 00:14:06.429 --> 00:14:09.330 we can commit. You know why? Because it has ripples. 00:14:09.590 --> 00:14:13.549 The consequences of adultery radiate out like 00:14:13.549 --> 00:14:18.029 waves and affect all of our relationships. So 00:14:18.029 --> 00:14:20.370 as Solomon warned us in Proverbs 4, guard your 00:14:20.370 --> 00:14:25.629 heart with all diligence, for from it flow what? 00:14:26.070 --> 00:14:29.629 The springs of life. Guard your heart. Be diligent 00:14:29.629 --> 00:14:33.909 about it. Be careful. Now, the fourth and fifth 00:14:33.909 --> 00:14:37.629 words in Paul's list are the effeminate and homosexuals. 00:14:37.629 --> 00:14:40.629 I'm going to lay those aside for a second because 00:14:40.629 --> 00:14:42.190 we're going to come back to them. They are at 00:14:42.190 --> 00:14:46.470 the center of a very wicked propaganda effort 00:14:46.470 --> 00:14:49.309 in our culture today, and I want to spend some 00:14:49.309 --> 00:14:51.169 extra time on those two things, so we'll come 00:14:51.169 --> 00:14:53.990 back to them. As we look at verse 10 now, we 00:14:53.990 --> 00:14:57.590 see number six in our list, thieves. You see 00:14:57.590 --> 00:14:59.870 what the word is there? Kleptists. Where do we 00:14:59.870 --> 00:15:04.720 get from that? kleptomaniac, someone who has 00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:08.759 a recurring compulsive urge to steal. Now, in 00:15:08.759 --> 00:15:10.779 the context of that day in Corinth, I think Paul 00:15:10.779 --> 00:15:12.940 likely has in mind the very thing he referenced 00:15:12.940 --> 00:15:16.080 up in verse 8 of the same chapter when he talks 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:18.740 about these church members who are wronging and 00:15:18.740 --> 00:15:21.399 defrauding their fellow brothers and sisters. 00:15:22.419 --> 00:15:25.899 They're stealing. So with this one, don't think 00:15:25.899 --> 00:15:28.539 of people, when we see kleptomania, what do we 00:15:28.539 --> 00:15:32.909 think? Shoplifting? stealing supplies from the 00:15:32.909 --> 00:15:35.970 office, things like that. But I want you to think 00:15:35.970 --> 00:15:39.950 bigger. Thievery happens any time we manipulate 00:15:39.950 --> 00:15:45.990 a situation to get a financial advantage, where 00:15:45.990 --> 00:15:48.970 we manipulate it. We get an advantage over other 00:15:48.970 --> 00:15:51.370 people. When we cheat people out of what they're 00:15:51.370 --> 00:15:56.110 owed, or we lie to get some kind of deal that 00:15:56.110 --> 00:15:58.830 we really don't deserve. And I know there are 00:15:58.830 --> 00:16:00.149 people out there that will say, well, look, I'm 00:16:00.149 --> 00:16:02.730 just being clever. I'm just being shrewd. Or 00:16:02.730 --> 00:16:04.610 I'm just grabbing a hold of what I can get away 00:16:04.610 --> 00:16:09.370 with. Guys, God sees all of it. And worse, he 00:16:09.370 --> 00:16:11.250 doesn't just see the physical thing. He sees 00:16:11.250 --> 00:16:13.970 the motivation of your heart when you do such 00:16:13.970 --> 00:16:18.590 things. Thievery. Number seven, covetous. Another 00:16:18.590 --> 00:16:20.730 one of the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not covet, 00:16:20.809 --> 00:16:23.710 which is an old -fashioned word for greed. Being 00:16:23.710 --> 00:16:26.710 greedy. Paul's talking about Corinthian church 00:16:26.710 --> 00:16:29.250 members who were acting in greedy ways, marked 00:16:29.250 --> 00:16:32.490 by an insatiable, selfish desire for more of 00:16:32.490 --> 00:16:35.929 everything. More wealth, more possessions, more 00:16:35.929 --> 00:16:40.190 power, more accolades, more of everything. And 00:16:40.190 --> 00:16:43.409 covetousness, that's a hard word, covetousness 00:16:43.409 --> 00:16:47.769 comes out most obviously when we see what other 00:16:47.769 --> 00:16:51.129 people have and then we want to go take it. We 00:16:51.129 --> 00:16:53.649 want that too. In fact, we want it bigger and 00:16:53.649 --> 00:16:56.700 we want it better. It's actually a compulsive 00:16:56.700 --> 00:16:59.879 expression of lust. It reveals a life shaped 00:16:59.879 --> 00:17:02.620 by self -centeredness and a lack of contentment, 00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:04.519 a lack of saying, thank you, Lord, for what I 00:17:04.519 --> 00:17:07.619 have. I'm good with this. I'm content. And it 00:17:07.619 --> 00:17:09.700 plays out in all kinds of ways that, again, is 00:17:09.700 --> 00:17:12.619 no doubt connected back to Paul's concern over 00:17:12.619 --> 00:17:15.279 these lawsuits in Corinth. He says you're suing 00:17:15.279 --> 00:17:18.740 each other out of greed for what they have. You 00:17:18.740 --> 00:17:21.559 want to take it from them. You want to see what 00:17:21.559 --> 00:17:24.500 you can get out of a brother in Christ. This 00:17:24.500 --> 00:17:28.400 is to your shame. So it can show up in our business 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:31.619 practices, in our efforts to do social climbing, 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:34.759 in power seeking, and then most commonly in our 00:17:34.759 --> 00:17:39.160 day, in playing the comparison game. We've all 00:17:39.160 --> 00:17:41.799 been tempted by this one. So don't exclude yourself. 00:17:42.359 --> 00:17:46.380 I'm going to get a bigger house than him. Now 00:17:46.380 --> 00:17:48.079 we fight that. We're like, oh, that's a terrible 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:51.839 thing. But we might feed that. I want a bigger 00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:55.819 house. I want a nicer truck. Right? I want better 00:17:55.819 --> 00:17:59.420 tools than my neighbor. We're going to go on 00:17:59.420 --> 00:18:02.700 more elaborate vacations than that family. Or 00:18:02.700 --> 00:18:07.140 I'm going to look even better than her. My kids 00:18:07.140 --> 00:18:11.039 are going to outdo their kids. And even, you 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:12.960 ready for this? I'm going to grow a bigger church 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:15.920 than that guy down the street. This could be 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:18.200 really subtle, right? In fact, every aspect of 00:18:18.200 --> 00:18:22.460 our lives, the comparison game, be aware, covetousness. 00:18:23.980 --> 00:18:27.880 Number eight, drunkards. Those who repeatedly 00:18:27.880 --> 00:18:30.420 abuse alcohol to the point where they lose self 00:18:30.420 --> 00:18:34.400 -control and they lose moral judgment. And when 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:36.640 they do it, they damage relationships all around 00:18:36.640 --> 00:18:39.559 them. But don't just think alcohol with this 00:18:39.559 --> 00:18:42.220 one. It could be any substance that we turn to 00:18:42.220 --> 00:18:45.900 for all kinds of reasons. For comfort, to deal 00:18:45.900 --> 00:18:48.039 with pain, to cope with the hardships of life, 00:18:48.200 --> 00:18:53.460 to just get a moment of escape. We'll turn to 00:18:53.460 --> 00:18:55.460 substances. And the list of addictive things 00:18:55.460 --> 00:18:58.200 shouldn't stop at just alcohol and drugs. There's 00:18:58.200 --> 00:19:01.380 all kinds of things that can master us, right? 00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:03.519 In fact, glance down at the very next verse in 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:06.440 this chapter, verse 12. We'll look at this next 00:19:06.440 --> 00:19:08.579 Sunday. It says, all things are lawful for me, 00:19:08.599 --> 00:19:12.019 but not all things are what? Profitable. All 00:19:12.019 --> 00:19:15.160 things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered 00:19:15.160 --> 00:19:18.480 by anything. Consider all the things in this 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:21.180 culture today. that might get a hold of you and 00:19:21.180 --> 00:19:23.779 begin to master you. We'll save that list for 00:19:23.779 --> 00:19:28.400 next Sunday. Come back. Number nine, the ninth 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:33.079 word is revilers, which is a summary term for 00:19:33.079 --> 00:19:36.680 people who are verbally abusive. They slander 00:19:36.680 --> 00:19:39.619 other people. Have you ever met someone who just 00:19:39.619 --> 00:19:42.559 seems to love to use foul and harsh language 00:19:42.559 --> 00:19:48.420 while attacking others? Right? That fellow parent 00:19:48.420 --> 00:19:51.470 in the at Little League Baseball that just can't 00:19:51.470 --> 00:19:53.990 stop? You know what I'm talking about, right? 00:19:54.450 --> 00:19:56.630 Or they're on the other side of the duck. Maybe 00:19:56.630 --> 00:19:58.069 they're on the other duck out. I don't know. 00:19:58.849 --> 00:20:00.910 But they seem to revel in this idea of using 00:20:00.910 --> 00:20:03.430 foul language or trying to, you know, insult 00:20:03.430 --> 00:20:07.349 people, mock people, demean them. They enjoy 00:20:07.349 --> 00:20:10.369 tearing others down. Even if they're making a 00:20:10.369 --> 00:20:13.009 false accusation, it doesn't matter. They enjoy 00:20:13.009 --> 00:20:16.910 using their words as weapons. They're revilers. 00:20:18.829 --> 00:20:20.710 Final word in our list for this morning, number 00:20:20.710 --> 00:20:23.930 10, swindlers. And once again, I think Paul's 00:20:23.930 --> 00:20:26.730 pointing back to the issue of defrauding one 00:20:26.730 --> 00:20:28.609 another in these lawsuits because this is what 00:20:28.609 --> 00:20:32.190 a swindler does. He's a con artist who takes 00:20:32.190 --> 00:20:34.549 advantage of other people. He's not satisfied 00:20:34.549 --> 00:20:38.089 with honest gain. He habitually seeks to cheat 00:20:38.089 --> 00:20:40.670 others out of what they have through deception 00:20:40.670 --> 00:20:45.039 and manipulation. And the sin that always parallels 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:47.980 the swindler is pride. He thinks very highly 00:20:47.980 --> 00:20:51.940 of his cleverness. He believes he can scheme 00:20:51.940 --> 00:20:54.400 his way into extracting goods and services from 00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:56.839 other people, and he's actually proud of his 00:20:56.839 --> 00:21:00.160 ability to do this. I've heard people go, can 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:02.579 you believe I got over on that guy? And I'm like, 00:21:02.660 --> 00:21:05.740 that's not good. I can't believe you're bragging 00:21:05.740 --> 00:21:11.490 about that to me. It's not good. Having finished 00:21:11.490 --> 00:21:13.089 that list, I want to make sure I say something 00:21:13.089 --> 00:21:16.490 very clearly before we move on. A vice list like 00:21:16.490 --> 00:21:19.990 this can weigh heavily upon the heart of a true 00:21:19.990 --> 00:21:23.589 believer. And it's a good thing if conviction 00:21:23.589 --> 00:21:25.869 of the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you are 00:21:25.869 --> 00:21:28.309 led to recognize something and guard your heart 00:21:28.309 --> 00:21:31.170 so these things don't creep in. But there's always 00:21:31.170 --> 00:21:33.930 the danger of a true believer reading a list 00:21:33.930 --> 00:21:36.109 like this, feeling the weight of conviction, 00:21:36.289 --> 00:21:39.549 and then wrongly concluding, maybe I'm not saved. 00:21:41.349 --> 00:21:44.109 Be careful here. Let me repeat what I said earlier. 00:21:44.329 --> 00:21:48.089 Paul is talking about professing believers living 00:21:48.089 --> 00:21:53.170 in ongoing, continuous sin. Not occasional stumbles, 00:21:53.210 --> 00:21:56.690 ongoing, continuous sin. A habitual lifestyle 00:21:56.690 --> 00:21:59.750 where they have no sense of conviction and they're 00:21:59.750 --> 00:22:03.049 not taking steps towards repentance. What they're 00:22:03.049 --> 00:22:05.230 trying to do is say, I'm a part of the church 00:22:05.230 --> 00:22:07.589 while at the same time living as they please. 00:22:08.680 --> 00:22:11.019 and not expecting anybody to call them out on 00:22:11.019 --> 00:22:14.059 it. They're not battling sin. They're not asking 00:22:14.059 --> 00:22:18.619 God, please help me overcome these things. So 00:22:18.619 --> 00:22:21.839 listen, let the exhortation stand to guard your 00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:24.380 heart on those things, but also don't doubt your 00:22:24.380 --> 00:22:28.420 salvation. Be careful with that. Don't let any 00:22:28.420 --> 00:22:30.319 hint of these 10 things slip into your life. 00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:34.519 But if they do, what do we do as believers? We 00:22:34.519 --> 00:22:36.779 repent and we turn away. We confess those things 00:22:36.779 --> 00:22:39.599 to God and say, Lord, strengthen me to battle 00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:41.779 these things well. That is what a true follower 00:22:41.779 --> 00:22:47.680 of Jesus Christ does. Amen? Okay. You ready for 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:49.819 this? Let's go back to those two words I skipped 00:22:49.819 --> 00:22:55.019 over. Uh -huh. Let's go back to those two words. 00:22:55.240 --> 00:22:57.559 What I'm about to share is dangerous language 00:22:57.559 --> 00:23:01.160 in our culture today. So grab your chairs if 00:23:01.160 --> 00:23:04.609 you have to. First, let me say this. It can be 00:23:04.609 --> 00:23:07.950 typical of evangelicals, and it's good for us 00:23:07.950 --> 00:23:11.529 to be self -critical when we need to be. It can 00:23:11.529 --> 00:23:13.769 be typical of us to look at a list like this 00:23:13.769 --> 00:23:18.589 one and employ tunnel vision, to look at 10 things 00:23:18.589 --> 00:23:21.450 and say, yeah, but that one is more grievous 00:23:21.450 --> 00:23:24.670 than the others, and to hyper -focus on just 00:23:24.670 --> 00:23:27.829 one thing. So when we clutch our pearls over 00:23:27.829 --> 00:23:30.809 a sin like homosexuality, But then we look the 00:23:30.809 --> 00:23:33.809 other way when we think about heterosexual sin, 00:23:34.029 --> 00:23:37.490 or we look the other way and give a wink to greed 00:23:37.490 --> 00:23:40.630 or drunkenness. It hurts our credibility in the 00:23:40.630 --> 00:23:44.910 world. Makes us look like hypocrites. So we need 00:23:44.910 --> 00:23:47.190 to be consistent about the fact that God doesn't 00:23:47.190 --> 00:23:50.730 wink at any sin. They're all serious before him, 00:23:50.829 --> 00:23:52.710 and we should approach all of them with that 00:23:52.710 --> 00:23:57.269 same seriousness. Amen? Having said that, there's 00:23:57.269 --> 00:24:00.519 no question. that there is out there today, has 00:24:00.519 --> 00:24:04.099 been for decades, a vibrant propaganda campaign 00:24:04.099 --> 00:24:08.880 to categorize homosexual relationships as somehow 00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:12.420 acceptable to God. Some of you know this. You've 00:24:12.420 --> 00:24:15.519 read the books. You've heard the podcasts. And 00:24:15.519 --> 00:24:17.660 as one of your shepherds, I always feel compelled 00:24:17.660 --> 00:24:21.240 to alert you to the lies that are out there, 00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:24.819 the lies that are disguised as intellectual scholarship, 00:24:25.019 --> 00:24:29.319 but aren't. I'm always concerned that you may 00:24:29.319 --> 00:24:31.700 bump into this propaganda someday while you're 00:24:31.700 --> 00:24:34.779 doom -scrolling or something like that, and it 00:24:34.779 --> 00:24:39.140 shakes your faith, or your trust in your leadership, 00:24:39.279 --> 00:24:42.339 your elders, is weakened because you see something 00:24:42.339 --> 00:24:45.980 that looks intellectual, but it's really there 00:24:45.980 --> 00:24:49.400 to fool you. So know this. In recent years, lots 00:24:49.400 --> 00:24:52.039 of books, lots of podcasts have been produced 00:24:52.039 --> 00:24:54.619 by people that will label themselves progressive 00:24:54.619 --> 00:24:59.599 Christians. And they're trying to reform homosexuality 00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:02.720 in the eyes of God. Now, they're not employing 00:25:02.720 --> 00:25:06.500 good interpretive principles, good hermeneutics. 00:25:06.779 --> 00:25:10.400 They do this, the one thing that every good Bible 00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:13.960 student knows you should never do. And this is 00:25:13.960 --> 00:25:17.660 what it is. Rather than coming to the text to 00:25:17.660 --> 00:25:20.460 interpret it with a blank slate, laying aside 00:25:20.460 --> 00:25:23.259 all of my presuppositions, what they're doing 00:25:23.259 --> 00:25:26.779 is starting with the conclusion in mind, Right? 00:25:27.640 --> 00:25:31.339 Where they want to end up and then selecting 00:25:31.339 --> 00:25:35.259 certain passages that they can twist and modify 00:25:35.259 --> 00:25:38.819 and rework in order to get them to their goal, 00:25:38.900 --> 00:25:41.779 which is their premise, that homosexuality is 00:25:41.779 --> 00:25:43.880 okay. It's a completely backwards way of interpreting 00:25:43.880 --> 00:25:46.799 scripture. They start with their goal in mind. 00:25:47.619 --> 00:25:49.500 And if you're not familiar with any of these 00:25:49.500 --> 00:25:51.859 works, you'd be surprised at the lengths that 00:25:51.859 --> 00:25:54.819 they'll go to because they desperately want the 00:25:54.819 --> 00:25:59.759 Bible To justify their lifestyles. They desperately 00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:03.039 want this. And they try so hard. And they do 00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:07.599 entire conferences about this stuff. And podcasts 00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:09.940 and books. I mean, it's all over the place now. 00:26:10.220 --> 00:26:14.000 Just be warned. It's out there. But here's the 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:17.339 thing. Homosexuality is labeled as sin in every 00:26:17.339 --> 00:26:20.039 single place that it's mentioned in the Bible. 00:26:20.140 --> 00:26:23.059 Both Old and New Testament. Whether it's Genesis 00:26:23.059 --> 00:26:26.819 19, Leviticus 18 and 20, or 1 Timothy 1 or Jude 00:26:26.819 --> 00:26:30.680 7, Old and New Testament, it's labeled as sin. 00:26:31.619 --> 00:26:35.180 Perhaps most clearly in Romans 1, where Paul 00:26:35.180 --> 00:26:38.759 takes the time to speak to both male and female 00:26:38.759 --> 00:26:42.980 versions of homosexuality, explicitly, and using 00:26:42.980 --> 00:26:44.920 some of the strongest language you'll find in 00:26:44.920 --> 00:26:46.980 the New Testament. I'll put the phrases on the 00:26:46.980 --> 00:26:51.650 screen. Tell me if this is ambiguous. He calls 00:26:51.650 --> 00:26:56.049 homosexuality degrading passions, unnatural function, 00:26:56.470 --> 00:27:01.490 indecent acts, a depraved mind, the lusts of 00:27:01.490 --> 00:27:04.349 their hearts given over to impurity so that their 00:27:04.349 --> 00:27:08.529 bodies would be dishonored. And in Jude 7, the 00:27:08.529 --> 00:27:11.430 homosexuality from Sodom and Gomorrah is called 00:27:11.430 --> 00:27:15.910 going after strange flesh and indulging in gross 00:27:15.910 --> 00:27:21.630 immorality. Is that unclear? Now, Romans 1 is 00:27:21.630 --> 00:27:23.670 hard for progressives to argue against because 00:27:23.670 --> 00:27:27.549 it's so fierce, but they will try, and the giant 00:27:27.549 --> 00:27:30.430 reach that they use is this. This is one of the 00:27:30.430 --> 00:27:34.509 main premises that they will put forward. Well, 00:27:34.670 --> 00:27:37.829 homosexuality in general is not what's being 00:27:37.829 --> 00:27:41.029 condemned here. Given the culture of the day, 00:27:41.089 --> 00:27:44.569 what Paul is condemning is abusive homosexual 00:27:44.569 --> 00:27:49.960 relationships. They refer to what we call pederasty, 00:27:50.119 --> 00:27:53.200 where wealthy adult men would keep adolescent 00:27:53.200 --> 00:27:57.000 boys in their households purely for sex. And 00:27:57.000 --> 00:27:59.099 yes, that did take place in the Greco -Roman 00:27:59.099 --> 00:28:02.099 culture of that day. But the problem with their 00:28:02.099 --> 00:28:04.619 argument is this. There is absolutely no hint 00:28:04.619 --> 00:28:07.579 of any of that in the actual text that Paul wrote. 00:28:09.119 --> 00:28:13.319 This is what we call eisegesis. Exegesis is extracting 00:28:13.319 --> 00:28:16.220 meaning from the words of Scripture. Eisegesis 00:28:16.220 --> 00:28:18.799 is putting your own spin on the words that are 00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:21.420 there, inserting meaning that doesn't exist. 00:28:21.460 --> 00:28:24.319 There is no hint anywhere in these verses about 00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:28.500 pederasty. It's a made -up concept. It's what 00:28:28.500 --> 00:28:31.980 we call an argument from silence, where the interpreter 00:28:31.980 --> 00:28:34.740 gets to fill in the gaps in whatever way he wants 00:28:34.740 --> 00:28:38.470 in order to get to his desired conclusion. I 00:28:38.470 --> 00:28:40.410 just add that meaning in because it gets me to 00:28:40.410 --> 00:28:44.990 where I want to go. Now, an even more common 00:28:44.990 --> 00:28:47.869 argument that's raised in favor of homosexuality 00:28:47.869 --> 00:28:50.329 being okay, and that's what they'll say, okay 00:28:50.329 --> 00:28:54.089 in God's eyes, is even more simplistic and easily 00:28:54.089 --> 00:28:57.549 dismissed. Here's what it is. Well, Jesus never 00:28:57.549 --> 00:29:02.769 addressed the issue of homosexuality. First of 00:29:02.769 --> 00:29:06.849 all, Basic hermeneutic principle, you can't separate 00:29:06.849 --> 00:29:10.049 Jesus' words in the four gospels from Jesus' 00:29:10.329 --> 00:29:13.349 words spoken through the apostles. It's all the 00:29:13.349 --> 00:29:16.650 voice of God. There are not degrees of inspiration 00:29:16.650 --> 00:29:19.009 where the red letters that Jesus spoke in the 00:29:19.009 --> 00:29:22.029 gospels are more important than the black letters 00:29:22.029 --> 00:29:24.410 written by the apostles. It's all God's word. 00:29:24.750 --> 00:29:28.109 So don't ever let people do that. It's all God 00:29:28.109 --> 00:29:31.509 breathed equally. Second, there are many things 00:29:31.509 --> 00:29:34.539 that Jesus never addressed. In his time on the 00:29:34.539 --> 00:29:37.440 earth, he never talked about rape, never talked 00:29:37.440 --> 00:29:39.960 about kidnapping, never talked about abortion. 00:29:40.440 --> 00:29:42.940 Would we then conclude that somehow it's okay 00:29:42.940 --> 00:29:46.720 in God's sight? Any of those things? Again, it's 00:29:46.720 --> 00:29:50.539 a childish argument from silence, and it doesn't 00:29:50.539 --> 00:29:53.259 hold up. And by the way, in both Matthew and 00:29:53.259 --> 00:29:57.000 Mark, we do have Jesus' explicit statement about 00:29:57.000 --> 00:30:00.539 God's design for marriage and procreation, and 00:30:00.539 --> 00:30:05.869 it's not same -sex. Not a surprise, right? Jesus, 00:30:05.950 --> 00:30:09.869 who comes out of a Jewish tradition, right, affirms 00:30:09.869 --> 00:30:13.190 the creation account in Genesis. He confirms 00:30:13.190 --> 00:30:16.730 that God designed man to be male and female and 00:30:16.730 --> 00:30:19.309 to procreate and fill the earth. That is the 00:30:19.309 --> 00:30:22.789 essential framework for interpreting the Creator's 00:30:22.789 --> 00:30:26.269 intention for our sexual lives. Let me say that 00:30:26.269 --> 00:30:29.420 again. That is the essential framework for interpreting 00:30:29.420 --> 00:30:32.599 the Creator's intention for our sexual lives. 00:30:32.720 --> 00:30:36.160 The union of a man and a woman within the covenant 00:30:36.160 --> 00:30:38.180 of marriage. That's the only way that God says, 00:30:38.319 --> 00:30:42.539 yes, I bless that. And He does. He blesses our 00:30:42.539 --> 00:30:45.740 sexual life within the boundaries that He's given 00:30:45.740 --> 00:30:50.839 us. Isn't that great? But you guys seem to be 00:30:50.839 --> 00:30:53.440 doubting that. Like, what's wrong with you guys? 00:30:55.309 --> 00:30:58.329 Now, that was an even moment. We missed it. Anyway, 00:30:58.490 --> 00:31:04.509 no, we're going to try it again. But going back 00:31:04.509 --> 00:31:08.410 to Romans 1, I think this is why Paul so heavily 00:31:08.410 --> 00:31:11.109 focuses on the issue of homosexuality there, 00:31:11.230 --> 00:31:14.950 because it brazenly distorts God's design in 00:31:14.950 --> 00:31:18.170 the beginning. It's a prime example of what's 00:31:18.170 --> 00:31:21.410 at the root of all sin, worship of created things 00:31:21.410 --> 00:31:24.390 rather than the creator. Paul says there it's 00:31:24.390 --> 00:31:28.430 contrary to nature. Natural relations are exchanged 00:31:28.430 --> 00:31:32.450 for that which is unnatural. And honestly, look, 00:31:32.509 --> 00:31:36.269 just from a common sense perspective, this is 00:31:36.269 --> 00:31:38.329 sometimes the things that I'll say to you. Just 00:31:38.329 --> 00:31:41.509 for a second, let's lay aside the common sense. 00:31:41.710 --> 00:31:44.789 Look at male anatomy. Look at female anatomy. 00:31:45.250 --> 00:31:49.450 Does not logic and nature show you the proper 00:31:49.450 --> 00:31:52.309 design and function? Do they not fit together? 00:31:54.259 --> 00:31:57.319 It's obvious, isn't it? Now, the objection to 00:31:57.319 --> 00:31:59.299 the nature argument that comes from the progressive 00:31:59.299 --> 00:32:01.460 left is, and yes, they have a response to this. 00:32:01.599 --> 00:32:03.920 They'll say this. Well, there are some animals 00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:07.480 in nature who act in homosexual ways. Therefore, 00:32:07.680 --> 00:32:10.859 it can't be called unnatural. But understand 00:32:10.859 --> 00:32:14.539 this. You would expect in nature that some things 00:32:14.539 --> 00:32:17.519 are disordered. You know why? Because the creation 00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:21.250 was affected by the fall. Just as there are disordered 00:32:21.250 --> 00:32:24.690 relationships among human beings, there are disordered 00:32:24.690 --> 00:32:27.470 relationships in the animal kingdom as well. 00:32:27.690 --> 00:32:30.690 But God told us what he intended from the beginning 00:32:30.690 --> 00:32:35.130 before the fall, and homosexuality is a departure 00:32:35.130 --> 00:32:37.710 from the purpose that he built into us. We know 00:32:37.710 --> 00:32:41.970 that before the fall. So these are not good arguments, 00:32:42.069 --> 00:32:44.130 man. But listen, if you're not careful, they 00:32:44.130 --> 00:32:49.259 will persuade the uneducated, right? The immature. 00:32:50.079 --> 00:32:52.759 So be careful. They're out there, and they're 00:32:52.759 --> 00:32:55.559 growing in size. Now, let's turn our attention 00:32:55.559 --> 00:32:59.240 to these specific two words, because this is 00:32:59.240 --> 00:33:02.539 a part of the propaganda campaign as well. Two 00:33:02.539 --> 00:33:05.880 words, the effeminate, malakoi. Malakos means 00:33:05.880 --> 00:33:09.859 soft. Malakoi, the soft ones. And homosexuals 00:33:09.859 --> 00:33:13.849 are senokoitai. In their continuing effort to 00:33:13.849 --> 00:33:16.369 prove their case, the progressives have tried 00:33:16.369 --> 00:33:18.809 everything to try to redefine these two words. 00:33:18.970 --> 00:33:22.529 They do not like 1 Corinthians 6, 9. And so they 00:33:22.529 --> 00:33:24.430 try to redefine the terms. Once again, they want 00:33:24.430 --> 00:33:27.289 so badly to say that these terms are included 00:33:27.289 --> 00:33:31.069 in a vice list, right? Only because Paul has 00:33:31.069 --> 00:33:33.109 something in mind other than what they have, 00:33:33.289 --> 00:33:36.450 which they claim is a loving, monogamous, homosexual 00:33:36.450 --> 00:33:39.890 relationship. They insist that he's referring 00:33:39.890 --> 00:33:42.619 to relationships between powerful men of that 00:33:42.619 --> 00:33:46.880 time, and effeminate call boys. That's what they 00:33:46.880 --> 00:33:48.779 would say. So it's about sexual exploitation, 00:33:49.119 --> 00:33:52.460 slavery, and rape, not about their loving relationships. 00:33:53.440 --> 00:33:57.240 And yes, malakoi does mean soft, literally. It's 00:33:57.240 --> 00:33:59.559 generally thought of as referring to the person 00:33:59.559 --> 00:34:02.819 who takes the passive or the female sexual role 00:34:02.819 --> 00:34:07.380 in a gay relationship. And the second word, arsenokoitai, 00:34:07.420 --> 00:34:10.139 is the person who takes the active or male role. 00:34:10.889 --> 00:34:13.010 Which, by the way, is quite ironic that even 00:34:13.010 --> 00:34:15.090 progressive Christians speak in terms of male 00:34:15.090 --> 00:34:18.449 role and female role. It's ironic, but I digress. 00:34:19.809 --> 00:34:22.230 There are two big obstacles to their argument 00:34:22.230 --> 00:34:25.010 on this. First, again, there is zero indication 00:34:25.010 --> 00:34:28.809 in the actual text here that Paul is limiting 00:34:28.809 --> 00:34:32.789 his condemnation to a particular type of same 00:34:32.789 --> 00:34:36.449 -sex relationship. It's not there. It's an argument 00:34:36.449 --> 00:34:38.730 from silence. Now, if he'd wanted to do that, 00:34:38.769 --> 00:34:41.929 limited to a certain type of relationship, there 00:34:41.929 --> 00:34:44.150 is a common Greek word he could have used here 00:34:44.150 --> 00:34:48.449 that literally means pederasty. Literally means 00:34:48.449 --> 00:34:50.989 that. But he doesn't choose that word. Instead, 00:34:51.130 --> 00:34:54.690 what he does, and this has fascinated Greek scholars 00:34:54.690 --> 00:34:59.449 for centuries, he creates his own unique word 00:34:59.449 --> 00:35:04.710 to describe this particular sin. Okay, you see 00:35:04.710 --> 00:35:06.670 the word, I know you may not be able to read 00:35:06.670 --> 00:35:08.489 Greek, but you see it there, the pronunciation 00:35:08.489 --> 00:35:12.170 there. He takes one of the Greek words that refers 00:35:12.170 --> 00:35:17.449 to a man, arson, and adds a word that refers 00:35:17.449 --> 00:35:22.929 to a bed, koite. Now in Hebrews 13, koite is 00:35:22.929 --> 00:35:26.170 used to describe the marriage bed. In Romans 00:35:26.170 --> 00:35:29.329 9 and 13, the same word is used to describe a 00:35:29.329 --> 00:35:32.539 place of sexual activity. So the implication 00:35:32.539 --> 00:35:35.380 is very clear. It's describing a man who lies 00:35:35.380 --> 00:35:37.699 in bed with another man for the purpose of sex. 00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:43.000 That's it. Nothing about abuse or older man and 00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:46.239 younger boy. None of that. None of that. And 00:35:46.239 --> 00:35:48.300 I think the reason Paul puts both of these terms, 00:35:48.420 --> 00:35:51.800 malakoi and arsenokoitai, in the vice list, get 00:35:51.800 --> 00:35:56.039 this, is because he's condemning both sides of 00:35:56.039 --> 00:35:58.360 the homosexual relationship, the active and the 00:35:58.360 --> 00:36:01.659 passive role, both of them. One doesn't get a 00:36:01.659 --> 00:36:04.679 pass just because he's trying to mimic the female 00:36:04.679 --> 00:36:11.539 role. He too is condemned. Now, just as a follow 00:36:11.539 --> 00:36:12.980 -up objection, they'll go, but yeah, but the 00:36:12.980 --> 00:36:15.519 word homosexual is a modern word. It's a bad 00:36:15.519 --> 00:36:18.099 translation. Well, it's true. Did you know the 00:36:18.099 --> 00:36:20.699 word homosexual was first put in print, I think, 00:36:20.699 --> 00:36:24.260 in the year like 1892? It's not a first century 00:36:24.260 --> 00:36:26.940 word. I think the first time it shows up in a 00:36:26.940 --> 00:36:30.659 Bible, a modern translation, is 1956. But it 00:36:30.659 --> 00:36:34.199 is the appropriate word for modern day translations. 00:36:34.260 --> 00:36:36.920 Unless you want Paul to write men lying with 00:36:36.920 --> 00:36:39.739 men in bed for the purpose of sexual, he just 00:36:39.739 --> 00:36:43.280 says homosexuals, which is perfectly reasonable. 00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.239 Perfectly reasonable. The second and more devastating 00:36:49.239 --> 00:36:51.920 argument against the progressive position is 00:36:51.920 --> 00:36:56.269 the source. of this word that Paul creates, the 00:36:56.269 --> 00:36:59.789 source. If you were able to read Greek and you 00:36:59.789 --> 00:37:03.329 took the Greek Septuagint, which is the Greek 00:37:03.329 --> 00:37:06.389 translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, and 00:37:06.389 --> 00:37:10.289 you looked at Leviticus 18 .22, you would see 00:37:10.289 --> 00:37:13.329 this in the text. In fact, here it is in English. 00:37:14.250 --> 00:37:17.429 You shall not lie with a male as one lies with 00:37:17.429 --> 00:37:21.010 a female. It is an abomination. What is the Greek 00:37:21.010 --> 00:37:25.900 word for male there? arsenos, and the Greek word 00:37:25.900 --> 00:37:30.880 for lies, koiton. Put them together and you have 00:37:30.880 --> 00:37:35.039 the word that Paul created. And these are the 00:37:35.039 --> 00:37:37.019 same two words that are found again in Leviticus 00:37:37.019 --> 00:37:40.500 20, where that act is described as detestable 00:37:40.500 --> 00:37:44.019 in God's eyes. And here's the point, and I'll 00:37:44.019 --> 00:37:47.960 finish with this. As Paul is writing here in 00:37:47.960 --> 00:37:51.000 1 Corinthians 6, he quite literally has the Torah 00:37:51.000 --> 00:37:54.840 in mind. As he writes, he's employing the Greek 00:37:54.840 --> 00:37:57.699 version of the two Hebrew words that make the 00:37:57.699 --> 00:38:01.659 very same statement from God about homosexuality 00:38:01.659 --> 00:38:07.840 that God made to Moses. The same statement about 00:38:07.840 --> 00:38:11.000 what homosexuality is in God's eyes from Moses 00:38:11.000 --> 00:38:14.280 until the days of Paul. Nothing has changed over 00:38:14.280 --> 00:38:16.440 time about God's view on this issue. No matter 00:38:16.440 --> 00:38:18.719 how much some of these people say, well, it's 00:38:18.719 --> 00:38:23.539 2026, man. Get with it. Nothing has changed in 00:38:23.539 --> 00:38:25.760 the way God sees this issue, and it's not going 00:38:25.760 --> 00:38:33.099 to change. Okay, deep breath. If you have questions 00:38:33.099 --> 00:38:35.019 about any of that, please find me after the service. 00:38:35.119 --> 00:38:38.059 Again, we're not trying to be mean here. We're 00:38:38.059 --> 00:38:41.159 not trying to hurt anybody's feelings or to lift 00:38:41.159 --> 00:38:43.900 this one thing up. It's just that you guys are 00:38:43.900 --> 00:38:47.179 being bombarded these days. with all kinds of 00:38:47.179 --> 00:38:49.539 really bad information. And I want to warn you 00:38:49.539 --> 00:38:53.059 because my heart is for you. Okay? Let's get 00:38:53.059 --> 00:38:54.739 to our key verse. Actually, the key verse is 00:38:54.739 --> 00:38:57.400 verse 11. You want to end on a high note? Good. 00:38:58.400 --> 00:39:01.159 Look at this amazing declaration in verse 11. 00:39:01.420 --> 00:39:06.300 Such were some of you. Such were some of you. 00:39:07.639 --> 00:39:11.539 Paul's saying, look, friends, I know that some 00:39:11.539 --> 00:39:15.539 of you have a sinful, ugly, wicked past. And 00:39:15.539 --> 00:39:17.659 some of us could stand up and testify in church 00:39:17.659 --> 00:39:21.519 this morning. Yeah, me too. A sinful, ugly, wicked 00:39:21.519 --> 00:39:24.659 past. You were fornicators, he says. You were 00:39:24.659 --> 00:39:27.760 idolaters. You were homosexuals. You were drunkards 00:39:27.760 --> 00:39:32.679 and swindlers. But praise God, not anymore. What 00:39:32.679 --> 00:39:34.360 a statement, right? One of the most beautiful 00:39:34.360 --> 00:39:37.000 statements in the New Testament. That's who you 00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:40.929 used to be. That's that old man, right? prior 00:39:40.929 --> 00:39:44.010 to being born again, a fleshly, self -worshiping 00:39:44.010 --> 00:39:46.050 man. You lived in pursuit of nothing but your 00:39:46.050 --> 00:39:49.110 own desires. But then come these three glorious 00:39:49.110 --> 00:39:52.730 uses of the word but, this adversative word but. 00:39:53.349 --> 00:39:55.369 Each one is designed, by the way, to emphasize 00:39:55.369 --> 00:39:58.510 the monergistic work of God in transforming us. 00:39:58.670 --> 00:40:02.030 But you were washed. But you were sanctified. 00:40:02.559 --> 00:40:05.659 But you were justified in the name of the Lord 00:40:05.659 --> 00:40:07.599 Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God. When 00:40:07.599 --> 00:40:10.159 I say monergistic, I simply mean that these are 00:40:10.159 --> 00:40:14.659 things that we cannot do for ourselves. They're 00:40:14.659 --> 00:40:19.139 things that only God can do for us. He washes 00:40:19.139 --> 00:40:22.840 us. He sanctifies us. He justifies. He's the 00:40:22.840 --> 00:40:25.579 active cause of these works in us. We are the 00:40:25.579 --> 00:40:28.500 passive recipients of them. And praise God for 00:40:28.500 --> 00:40:32.059 that, right? Let's look deeper. The first one 00:40:32.059 --> 00:40:34.079 is often misunderstood, so let me walk you through 00:40:34.079 --> 00:40:36.940 this. Many Bible readers make a mistake here. 00:40:37.960 --> 00:40:41.239 Many. It turns out it's a wrong way of interpreting 00:40:41.239 --> 00:40:44.219 this word. We have a tendency, whenever we see 00:40:44.219 --> 00:40:47.800 water in the Bible or washing, we think of the 00:40:47.800 --> 00:40:51.099 ordinance of baptism. And sometimes that's right, 00:40:51.179 --> 00:40:54.619 but oftentimes it's not right. The context of 00:40:54.619 --> 00:40:56.420 the passage is always going to determine the 00:40:56.420 --> 00:40:58.260 right meaning. I'll give you a great example. 00:40:58.360 --> 00:41:01.739 John 3, 5. We know this great conversation that 00:41:01.739 --> 00:41:04.420 Jesus has with Nicodemus, right? And he says 00:41:04.420 --> 00:41:07.699 to this famous rabbi, he says this. There we 00:41:07.699 --> 00:41:11.159 go. He says, unless one is born of water in the 00:41:11.159 --> 00:41:14.340 spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. And 00:41:14.340 --> 00:41:16.440 immediately our mind jumps to the ordinance of 00:41:16.440 --> 00:41:20.559 baptism because he spoke of water. But the context 00:41:20.559 --> 00:41:22.719 there has nothing to do with an ordinance of 00:41:22.719 --> 00:41:25.000 the church. In fact, at this point that this 00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:26.860 happens, the church hasn't been established. 00:41:27.530 --> 00:41:29.570 and neither has the ordinance of baptism for 00:41:29.570 --> 00:41:32.409 the church. It doesn't make sense that he would 00:41:32.409 --> 00:41:34.329 be speaking that way. What he's talking about 00:41:34.329 --> 00:41:37.030 here is being born again. That is the context. 00:41:37.369 --> 00:41:40.269 He's speaking of the work of the Spirit doing 00:41:40.269 --> 00:41:44.590 spiritual things in us, bringing us to life through 00:41:44.590 --> 00:41:48.590 a regeneration of our hearts, breathing life 00:41:48.590 --> 00:41:51.269 into our hearts. This is the point of what he's 00:41:51.269 --> 00:41:53.469 saying. By the way, this lines up with all the 00:41:53.469 --> 00:41:55.719 prophetic statements about what's coming. When 00:41:55.719 --> 00:42:01.199 Messiah arrives. God says through Ezekiel, I 00:42:01.199 --> 00:42:04.219 will sprinkle clean water on you. I will put 00:42:04.219 --> 00:42:07.719 my spirit within you. This is a fulfillment of 00:42:07.719 --> 00:42:11.260 that. So the water in this conversation is a 00:42:11.260 --> 00:42:15.300 spiritual cleansing and renewal. The penalty 00:42:15.300 --> 00:42:18.099 of our sins metaphorically being washed away. 00:42:19.480 --> 00:42:21.699 And that lines up with the New Testament as well. 00:42:21.780 --> 00:42:24.960 Titus 3 .5, we're told this. This is how we're 00:42:24.960 --> 00:42:27.940 saved, it says in Titus 3. Not on the basis of 00:42:27.940 --> 00:42:32.219 works, but by the washing of regeneration and 00:42:32.219 --> 00:42:35.260 renewal by the Holy Spirit. That is not baptism. 00:42:36.059 --> 00:42:39.539 That is a work of the Holy Spirit in us when 00:42:39.539 --> 00:42:42.360 we're born again. So this is what Paul means 00:42:42.360 --> 00:42:44.699 in our text for this morning. Such were some 00:42:44.699 --> 00:42:48.280 of you, but then you were washed. You were these 00:42:48.280 --> 00:42:51.489 awful things, these ten... representative sins, 00:42:51.670 --> 00:42:54.230 but then you were washed. God took your spiritually 00:42:54.230 --> 00:42:57.969 dead heart of stone and brought it to life, granting 00:42:57.969 --> 00:43:00.869 you new life in Christ. You were cleansed, purified, 00:43:00.909 --> 00:43:05.329 and renewed by his washing. And once that happens, 00:43:05.510 --> 00:43:08.030 once a man repents of sin and puts his trust 00:43:08.030 --> 00:43:11.309 in Christ, then yes, he should be baptized as 00:43:11.309 --> 00:43:14.550 soon as possible. And that baptism serves as 00:43:14.550 --> 00:43:18.210 a sign of the spiritual reality that's already 00:43:18.210 --> 00:43:20.539 taken place. Through the work of the Spirit. 00:43:22.280 --> 00:43:24.500 And when we call it a sign, we're not demeaning 00:43:24.500 --> 00:43:27.159 the power of baptism. We're not denying that 00:43:27.159 --> 00:43:29.360 it's a means of strengthening grace in our lives. 00:43:29.679 --> 00:43:32.500 What we deny is that the physical water itself 00:43:32.500 --> 00:43:36.760 or the act of baptism itself can accomplish the 00:43:36.760 --> 00:43:39.679 work of spiritual washing. Only God can do that. 00:43:41.159 --> 00:43:43.400 Because if we could do that, we'd grab everybody 00:43:43.400 --> 00:43:46.900 off the street and start dunking them. Get in 00:43:46.900 --> 00:43:51.159 the water, man. and you'll be saved. Nobody thinks 00:43:51.159 --> 00:43:54.599 that way, because only God can do this work. 00:43:54.760 --> 00:43:57.260 He washes us when we put our trust in Christ. 00:43:57.559 --> 00:43:59.380 Okay, then the Spirit does the second thing you 00:43:59.380 --> 00:44:02.280 see here in verse 11, but you were sanctified. 00:44:02.500 --> 00:44:05.300 Now, when we hear sanctified, our minds go straight 00:44:05.300 --> 00:44:08.860 to sanctification in the sense of our progressive 00:44:08.860 --> 00:44:12.719 growing and maturity in Christlikeness. But here, 00:44:13.970 --> 00:44:16.690 Because sanctified is put second in the list 00:44:16.690 --> 00:44:18.989 of these three things. And before justification, 00:44:19.489 --> 00:44:21.650 Paul's talking about something different here. 00:44:21.849 --> 00:44:24.989 What he has in mind is what we call positional 00:44:24.989 --> 00:44:28.409 sanctification. Here's what that means. When 00:44:28.409 --> 00:44:31.210 we trusted in Christ and we were washed, we also 00:44:31.210 --> 00:44:35.849 received a new status as sanctified. We were 00:44:35.849 --> 00:44:38.210 set apart. That's what that word means. Set apart 00:44:38.210 --> 00:44:42.349 as holy unto God. That is the positional truth. 00:44:42.880 --> 00:44:45.500 about any one of us who's born again. And we 00:44:45.500 --> 00:44:47.679 know this based on the original Greek usage. 00:44:47.880 --> 00:44:51.219 The word sanctified here is the aorist passive 00:44:51.219 --> 00:44:55.559 form of a word hagiazo. And the root of hagiazo 00:44:55.559 --> 00:45:00.840 is hagios, which means holy. So catch this. At 00:45:00.840 --> 00:45:03.599 the moment of conversion, we all become holy 00:45:03.599 --> 00:45:07.940 ones, which is another word for saints. Forget 00:45:07.940 --> 00:45:09.980 what the Catholic Church says. We've got to take 00:45:09.980 --> 00:45:12.119 a vote and say that guy is a saint and you're 00:45:12.119 --> 00:45:18.539 not. He's amazing. You're just average. No, we're 00:45:18.539 --> 00:45:22.960 all saints, holy ones. It's right there in the 00:45:22.960 --> 00:45:25.460 text. And now we're set apart for service to 00:45:25.460 --> 00:45:28.460 God's kingdom. And then finally here in verse 00:45:28.460 --> 00:45:32.480 11, we see such were some of you, but now you've 00:45:32.480 --> 00:45:34.920 been justified. This is God's legal declaration 00:45:34.920 --> 00:45:38.840 rooted in the ransom payment that Jesus made 00:45:38.840 --> 00:45:42.059 on the cross. that says we are now acquitted 00:45:42.059 --> 00:45:45.619 before the Lord. We are now innocent in God's 00:45:45.619 --> 00:45:47.980 eyes. And here's the key. This is often, we get 00:45:47.980 --> 00:45:50.519 attacked for this. Not just because God says 00:45:50.519 --> 00:45:53.699 so, but because the perfect righteousness of 00:45:53.699 --> 00:45:56.460 Christ has been credited to our spiritual accounts. 00:45:57.980 --> 00:46:00.559 There's an actual transaction. Without the cross, 00:46:00.840 --> 00:46:04.880 we can't be declared righteous. There's a transaction 00:46:04.880 --> 00:46:06.880 that takes place there. We're declared justified 00:46:06.880 --> 00:46:10.219 based on what Jesus accomplished for us through 00:46:10.219 --> 00:46:13.659 his atoning death. And when that happens, when 00:46:13.659 --> 00:46:15.760 we're declared righteous, listen to this now, 00:46:15.800 --> 00:46:18.880 this is so great, our past is fully severed. 00:46:19.260 --> 00:46:22.760 We now have a new identity in this one who gave 00:46:22.760 --> 00:46:25.679 himself up for us. And if I can borrow Paul's 00:46:25.679 --> 00:46:28.320 language from Ephesians 2 .10, having been saved 00:46:28.320 --> 00:46:30.800 by God's grace through faith, we are now called 00:46:30.800 --> 00:46:36.400 his masterpiece. created in Christ Jesus. He 00:46:36.400 --> 00:46:39.239 has made you his workmanship, his masterpiece, 00:46:39.360 --> 00:46:43.739 by doing these things for you. Man, it's so beautiful. 00:46:43.940 --> 00:46:47.579 So catch the movement. Once we were lost, cut 00:46:47.579 --> 00:46:50.360 off from eternal life, but now we've been brought 00:46:50.360 --> 00:46:53.760 to life. Now we've been set apart as holy. Now 00:46:53.760 --> 00:46:56.280 we've been declared righteous because of what 00:46:56.280 --> 00:46:59.239 Christ has done and because we are in union with 00:46:59.239 --> 00:47:04.360 him. And what a comfort we find here. Guys, what 00:47:04.360 --> 00:47:06.940 this tells us, remember those 10 things? Nobody 00:47:06.940 --> 00:47:10.500 is too far gone to be saved. There is nowhere 00:47:10.500 --> 00:47:13.659 God can't go, no person too sinful that he can't 00:47:13.659 --> 00:47:16.679 save. There are people that might be involved 00:47:16.679 --> 00:47:18.880 in all 10 of those things. God can still save 00:47:18.880 --> 00:47:23.539 them if it's his will. And if I could, just one 00:47:23.539 --> 00:47:26.300 last word of clarification. This is for some 00:47:26.300 --> 00:47:27.900 of you because I know I've talked to some of 00:47:27.900 --> 00:47:30.059 you about this. You've come into conflict with 00:47:30.059 --> 00:47:33.360 either Roman Catholic or Orthodox polemics on 00:47:33.360 --> 00:47:37.119 social media. You will often hear them attack 00:47:37.119 --> 00:47:40.320 Protestants by saying, well, nobody can know 00:47:40.320 --> 00:47:43.900 for certain that they're saved. That is a teaching 00:47:43.900 --> 00:47:47.340 in both branches of Christendom. You can't know 00:47:47.340 --> 00:47:50.840 for certain because in their doctrine, salvation 00:47:50.840 --> 00:47:54.619 is a lifelong process of good works. and participation 00:47:54.619 --> 00:47:57.380 in the sacraments, and who knows if you're going 00:47:57.380 --> 00:48:00.320 to make it faithful to the end. All you can really 00:48:00.320 --> 00:48:03.599 do is try to persevere in the faith, and in the 00:48:03.599 --> 00:48:07.619 end, hope it's enough. That's what gets taught 00:48:07.619 --> 00:48:10.760 in the Catholic and Orthodox churches, but that 00:48:10.760 --> 00:48:14.840 is a betrayal of this passage. You have to know 00:48:14.840 --> 00:48:17.460 this, and it's a betrayal of so many other passages. 00:48:17.619 --> 00:48:21.280 It is a position rooted in ignorance of the Greek 00:48:21.280 --> 00:48:24.699 text. Know this. All three of the action verbs 00:48:24.699 --> 00:48:28.460 you see in verse 11, they're action verbs. Washed, 00:48:28.539 --> 00:48:31.579 sanctified, justified. They are written by Paul 00:48:31.579 --> 00:48:34.079 in a form we call the aorist indicative. What 00:48:34.079 --> 00:48:37.300 that means is they are actions completed by God 00:48:37.300 --> 00:48:40.760 in the past. They're done. They're accomplished. 00:48:41.599 --> 00:48:44.480 And they can't be undone by human beings unless 00:48:44.480 --> 00:48:46.980 you foolishly think, I'm strong enough to undo 00:48:46.980 --> 00:48:52.099 the will of God. Uh -uh. That's why in our English 00:48:52.099 --> 00:48:54.579 translations, verse 11 is written in past tense. 00:48:54.860 --> 00:48:59.599 But you were washed. It's done. Upon conversion, 00:48:59.840 --> 00:49:02.340 you were washed. You don't have to keep trying 00:49:02.340 --> 00:49:05.400 to earn it. Oh, my, if I just do some more things, 00:49:05.539 --> 00:49:08.579 maybe in the end I'll be washed. You were washed. 00:49:08.719 --> 00:49:12.519 You were positionally sanctified. You were justified. 00:49:12.559 --> 00:49:15.300 You were legally declared. It can't be changed. 00:49:16.900 --> 00:49:19.239 Thank you, Lord, for your sovereign power to 00:49:19.239 --> 00:49:22.250 save us, right? to do what we never could have 00:49:22.250 --> 00:49:26.670 done for ourselves. Brothers and sisters, let 00:49:26.670 --> 00:49:28.070 me finish. I'm just going to bring your mind 00:49:28.070 --> 00:49:30.849 back to the two things we read earlier in the 00:49:30.849 --> 00:49:33.329 service, and then I promise we'll be done. Thanks 00:49:33.329 --> 00:49:35.769 for your patience. First, this description of 00:49:35.769 --> 00:49:38.250 the true believer found in the Westminster Confession. 00:49:39.210 --> 00:49:43.090 Chapter 13. We are those who are, look, effectually 00:49:43.090 --> 00:49:48.300 called and regenerated, having a new heart. and 00:49:48.300 --> 00:49:51.860 a new spirit created in us. In other words, washed 00:49:51.860 --> 00:49:55.340 by God. At the end of the chapter, we're told 00:49:55.340 --> 00:49:59.739 that we are saints who grow in grace, perfecting 00:49:59.739 --> 00:50:02.699 holiness in the fear of God. In other words, 00:50:02.800 --> 00:50:06.260 we are sanctified as holy ones. And finally, 00:50:06.320 --> 00:50:09.460 we're called the justified there. The justified 00:50:09.460 --> 00:50:12.300 who, by the word and the indwelling spirit, are 00:50:12.300 --> 00:50:15.039 more and more made alive and strengthened in 00:50:15.039 --> 00:50:18.170 God's grace. Isn't that beautiful? Confessions 00:50:18.170 --> 00:50:21.170 are important. And then let's look a final time 00:50:21.170 --> 00:50:24.570 at our call to worship passage in 1 John 3. See 00:50:24.570 --> 00:50:27.230 how great a love the Father has bestowed on us 00:50:27.230 --> 00:50:30.170 that we would be called children of God, and 00:50:30.170 --> 00:50:32.869 such we are. Not, and we hope to be someday. 00:50:33.309 --> 00:50:38.110 Such we are, present tense. We're washed, sanctified, 00:50:38.130 --> 00:50:42.170 justified right now, children of God. And listen, 00:50:42.309 --> 00:50:45.389 therefore it's inconceivable. Because of that 00:50:45.389 --> 00:50:48.969 truth that we would begin to act like the unrighteous 00:50:48.969 --> 00:50:54.349 in lifestyle, right? Because of who we are, starting 00:50:54.349 --> 00:50:56.730 today, make it your prayer that God's spirit 00:50:56.730 --> 00:50:59.489 would cause you to start living according to 00:50:59.489 --> 00:51:03.630 who he declares you are. Make that your prayer. 00:51:04.710 --> 00:51:07.860 It goes on, for this reason. The world does not 00:51:07.860 --> 00:51:10.159 know us because it did not know him. Beloved, 00:51:10.159 --> 00:51:13.820 now we are children of God. Now we are children 00:51:13.820 --> 00:51:17.219 of God. And it has not appeared as yet what we 00:51:17.219 --> 00:51:20.559 will be. Guys, what a glorious future we have 00:51:20.559 --> 00:51:24.059 if we're found in Christ, someday perfected and 00:51:24.059 --> 00:51:28.219 free from sin forevermore. And lastly, we know 00:51:28.219 --> 00:51:32.849 that when he appears, we will be like him. because 00:51:32.849 --> 00:51:35.369 we will see him just as he is. And everyone who 00:51:35.369 --> 00:51:38.710 has this hope fixed on him does what? Purifies 00:51:38.710 --> 00:51:43.710 himself as he is pure. May that be our final 00:51:43.710 --> 00:51:45.570 prayer this morning, that every one of us would 00:51:45.570 --> 00:51:49.050 strive to purify our lives in growing measure 00:51:49.050 --> 00:51:55.010 as we await his return. Wow, amen? Let's bow 00:51:55.010 --> 00:51:55.349 our heads.