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Pastor Mike preaches Such Were Some Of You! - [1 Corinthians 6:9-11].
Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.
In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.
Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.
There are a lot of deceivers in this world, and those who commit fraud and deception. I read about an interesting one this week, Thomas Parkin. His mother died in 2003, and he gave the funeral director the wrong Social Security number and date of birth, so her death wasn�t registered, so he could receive all kinds of benefits, like $115 ,000 worth of rent subsidies.
He forged the paperwork, and he also thought this might have been a good idea, to dress up like his 77-year-old mother, with a blonde wig, heavy makeup, nail polish, and go in to the DMV to renew the driver�s license.
He was caught when there was a mortgage fraud investigation, and he showed up once to the attorney�s office dressed as himself, and once as his deceased mother. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison, and he said at the very end, �I held my mother when she was dying and breathed in her last breath, so I am my mother.
I mean, everywhere you go, there seems to be crazy cases like this. Jerry Joseph was a 16-year-old high school basketball player living in Texas, and he was a great player, 6 foot 5. The only problem is, he was really 22 years old, and had already been to high school in Fort Lauderdale, and the deception was uncovered when coaches from Fort Lauderdale recognized him at a basketball tournament in Arkansas.
And then kind of a sad one, a 25-year-old woman faked her terminal cancer to keep her boyfriend from breaking up with her, and then they finally got married. She showed up for the wedding, shaved head, faking chemotherapy.
Everybody donated things to her because they thought it was the end, and wedding bands were donated, flowers donated, dress donated, honeymoon to Aruba donated. The story ends where it said, �She raised some eyebrows at the reception, however, with her energetic dancing and partying.
Deception everywhere you go, but there's a worse deception than those. It's the deception of all deceptions, and that is self-deception. Two in particular today. Number one, thinking that unrighteous people go to heaven when they die.
That's a deception. And the second deception is thinking that you start off with Jesus in the Christian life, and you live your Christian life without him by works alone. Deception one, false converts, fake faith, and deception two, that Christians fall back into the law for motivation to obey.
I mean, I'm kind of not surprised with these deceptions because this world oozes with sin. It's sin cursed. I mean, it used to be Las Vegas was sin city, and maybe Atlantic City, but now every city's sin city.
West Boylston's sin city. Lin-Lin, the city of sin. You don't come out the way you went in. You ask for water, they give you gin, right? I know these slogans. By the way, I was having lunch the other day, and I knew I was coming back and get excited to come back, and I'm around all these kind of fake California people.
They're all happy and tanned and thin, but they just, they could care less. And I saw this kind of old salt of a guy walk into the little place we were having a sandwich, and I thought, now that's my kind of guy.
Just salty, just, just tell you what he thinks. And lo and behold, he had a shirt on, it said, Rehoboth. Well, I love California. I'm back home. So we don't stab people in the back here, we stab them in the front, amen?
I mean, the drums got louder and your response got louder. The visitors are thinking, what did we get into today? Now, we've been in the book of Ecclesiastes, but there's a couple sermons I'd like to preach, and we'll get back into Ecclesiastes soon enough.
I'd like you to take your Bibles and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 as we address these two problems, a fake faith and a real faith that thinks they're sanctified by works alone. We're going to be in 1 Corinthians 6 today, but I think chapter 1 is a good introduction for us in this Christ-centered book, the book of Corinthians.
It is very relevant. It is very outrageous. It is very timely. It is very realistic. It talks about the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it talks about the reality of sin as sin. Part of the problem with Corinth is it was a port city, and it was a place for land trade and sea trade.
So you can just imagine what goes on in a city by the sea and everything that goes along with it. Paul was at this city for 18 months, think 18 months, Acts 18, and he taught them, and he wanted them to live Christians' lives even though it was hard to live in such a city.
I mean, the word Corinthian, we even have that in the English dictionaries now, to Corinthianize, to just live with promiscuity and with licentiousness and with debauchery. How do Christians live in a world that's full of sin?
How do we? And I think we get some good instruction here in this book. This is kind of a different book, isn't it, Corinthians? From Ephesians, it starts off with, here's who Jesus is, now live in light of who he is.
Romans, here's who Jesus is, in his mercies, live in light of who he is. Colossians, they kind of set themselves up. First few chapters, last few chapters, kind of a bifurcation of truth and then living.
Corinthians is a little bit different. He knows there's problems there, so he deals with these moral problems. Then they have a bunch of questions, and they ask him a lot of questions. And so our section today is a moral problem, a moral issue, when it comes to living in this world.
But look at 1 Corinthians 1, verses 1 through 9. I wanted to read these verses because I think they're the forgotten verses of 1 Corinthians. We get straight into things about, well, what about lawsuits?
And we, what about women and service? And what about head coverings? And what about spiritual gifts? And all these kind of things that we should address. But I think we forget the first nine verses. And if you don't know these verses, it's hard to interpret the book.
As I read verses 1 through 9, just think to yourselves, especially you young children, how many times do I say, Lord Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus or something close? This is a Christ-centered book because the only possible solution to live a righteous life in a sin-sick world or city is the Lord Jesus.
Paul called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus and our brother, Sothis. To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified or set apart in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in Him, in all speech, in all knowledge, even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. I mean, how many times does he talk about the Lord Jesus Christ? Paul would never forget that time at Damascus Road where he was slain as it were, where he was intercepted by the Lord Jesus Christ and everything for Paul.
Understanding, yes, God is the triune God, but the Father sending the Son and that Son interrupted him on the Damascus Road, and now everything was about the Lord Jesus and building His church. He says in chapter 1 verse 30, and because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, that is righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
No wonder Paul said in chapter 2 verse 2, when I get to some place like you Corinth, I know I'm going to preach about the Lord Jesus. I've determined, I've set out in my mind before I even get there to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
And so we come to our passage today, 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 9 through 11. This city had all kinds of sexual sin, it had all kinds of sin. It had sin that was just normal sin because of Adam's fall, because of original sin, and then it had kind of an exacerbated sin because Satan knows how to do things, and so if he weds idolatry and worship of false gods and sex, that is the way you worship is through debauched sex, everything just becomes this hybrid of just disgusting grossness.
And so how do you live a Christian life, a pure life in the midst of just sexual immorality everywhere? Temple prostitutes everywhere. You look up at the hill, I've been to Corinth, and you see there's a hill above the little canal there, and on Friday nights the prostitutes would come down for worship.
He even says in chapter 5, there's sexual sin in the church that shouldn't even be talked about. It's actually reported in chapter 5 verse 1, there's sexual immorality among you, a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife, and you are arrogant, ought you not to rather mourn?
Let him who has done this be removed from among you. Verse 9, I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with a sexually immoral people, not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, greedy or swindlers or idolaters, since then you would need to go outside the world, but I'm writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother.
If he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard or swindler, not to even eat with such a one. And so Paul in chapter 6 now is going to address sexual sin and other sin that we can think about properly.
Two deceptions if I want to put it negatively. Deception 1, unrighteous people go to heaven. Deception number 2, you move past Jesus. Yeah, he saves you, but now your Christian life, we don't need Jesus.
Two deceptions. The first deception, if you understand it well and can identify it, it will help you with evangelism. It will help you if you know somebody who calls himself a Christian but doesn't live like it.
It'll help you if you're here today and you think, you know what? I call myself a Christian, but I've got this hidden lifestyle. And the second deception, if you understand it rightly, it'll help you obey.
It'll help you be motivated out of gratitude to serve and love the Lord Jesus. Deception number 1, righteous people inherit the kingdom of God. Verses 9 and 10. That's a deception. That's not true. Or do you not know, 1 Corinthians 6, 9, that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, some of the same words of chapter 5, will inherit the kingdom of God.
Did you know, congregation, that's a command? Don't be deceived. The word comes from where we get the word planet. And it looks like planets kind of go astray and they kind of do weird things. Don't go astray.
Don't be deceived. There's no necessity for you to be deceived because you can't understand things properly. And the thing about Corinth is, they thought they knew everything. They were know-it-alls.
When I grew up, we watched cartoons, like every young boy should watch real cartoons, like Johnny Quest. And I think I used to watch, is it Bullwinkle? Rocky and Bullwinkle? And they had a guy there named Mr. Know-it-all.
And was that the right cartoon? He just knew everything. That was Corinth. They just thought they knew all the time. I know, I know. Maybe some of your children are like that. I know, I know, I know. It sounds like a Bill Withers song.
I know, I know, I know, I know. I mean, God is righteous. Heaven is righteous. God is holy. Heaven is holy. And there's a thing going around the world back in Corinth and here today that the only thing you really have to do to get to heaven is to die.
You've been to funerals like that. Where you think, okay, I just died. That's all you need to do to get to heaven. Paul is commanding people who live in a sin-saturated, sin-suffocating world, don't be tricked.
It's one thing to get tricked by a repairman or a car person who's trying to do something to you. It's another thing when there are eternal verities on the line. And there must be a danger for us to be deceived or else he wouldn't say it.
Oh, I know some of these people. They're kind. They're nice. They're giving. They're loving. They're like my grandmother. How can they not go to heaven? You possibly could be deceived because preachers sometimes preach this truth.
This lie, really, that unrighteous people go to heaven. Bishops do. Pastors do. Even popes do. So you better be careful who you listen to. Compounding the problem, my heart is deceitful. Right? What does the Bible say?
The heart is desperately wicked, deceitful above all what? All else. If you want to find the most deceitful person in all the world, just look at yourself. You found him or her. Right? It's kind of like the thing when people say, well, I don't go to church because there's a lot of hypocrites.
Well, sometimes I say, one more won't hurt. But now I got a new strategy. Here's my strategy. You've never been any place in the entire world that wasn't full of hypocrites. Including when you're home by yourself.
Right? And what Paul wants us to do, what you must do, is you cannot go on feelings. You cannot go on friendships. You cannot go on what the media says. What does the Bible say? Right? What does the Bible say?
And it says, don't be deceived. There's a danger here. Souls are of an infinite value. Heaven is real. Hell is real. Don't be led astray. One man said, men are very much inclined to flatter themselves that they may live in sin, yet die in Christ and go to heaven.
Everybody's doing these things. What two consenting adults do behind closed doors shouldn't matter to anyone. Gospel Coalition is talking about that these days. It's not really sin. It's some kind of disease.
Some kind of dysphoria. Some kind of illness. Some kind of syndrome. It's not a high-handed sin against a thrice holy God. It's just, I've got a problem. We are to be captive to God's Word. The Bible is the final authority.
I'm not the authority. News outlets aren't the authority. And he gives a list of sins that were common in Corinth. It's not an exhaustive list of sins. We call these lists vice lists or sin lists. And these aren't, if you do this one time, you're that.
These are words of lifestyle. These are words of characterization. Somebody takes a drink of wine at a wedding, we don't go, you're a drunk. But if you see somebody laying on the side of the curb and they've got some, what do they have, Mad Dog 2020?
Or do you guys go to Trader Joe's, Two Buck Chuck? Whatever they've got. It's just vomit all over and wine all over and the bottles and everything else. And you look at them and you go, they're a drunk.
They're a drunkard. Because it's a characterization. It's a lifestyle. It's habituated. It defines them. And it's exactly unlike God. God is holy. And if you don't act like God, you're ungodly, agodly.
God's law is clear about all these sins. How do we know our sin and misery? Heidelberg says, from the law of God. And positively, we're to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And love our neighbor as ourself.
And has set us these things. And he gives a list of ten, ESV has nine, but ten things that when you see people like this, you say to yourself, I think I should probably evangelize. If you're like this, you should believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
When the world says these are to be celebrated and applauded and that they're wonderful, you ought to say, no, no, the Bible says. And he starts off the list of things that, of course, Christians also should avoid.
Fornicators is at the top of the list. Sex outside of marriage. I have a friend and he was told in a Bible study at college that fornicators will not hear the kingdom of God from this passage. He didn't know what fornicator meant, so he went to the university library and looked up the dictionary.
It's all pretty serious stuff and said sex before marriage. Number two, idolaters. I think we understand that there's to be no gods before God. We can't worship the creature instead of God. We can't worship the real God with wrong images or images.
But the placement here is interesting, isn't it? Fornicators, then adulterers, in the middle it's idolaters. Why is idolatry put in between fornication and adultery? Because they all went together back in those days, especially at Corinth.
Because part of the worship of this false god included sexual license. By the way, their gods, they were sexually immoral, so you ought to be too. Number three, adulterers. Where one married person has sex outside of the marriage bond.
Think Exodus 20, you shall not commit adultery. Sexual sin with a person who's married. Then there's two more. The ESV gives one, it says those who practice or men who practice homosexuality, but they're really two words.
I have no idea why the ESV only translated one. I don't think there's anything nefarious behind the scenes. Although I do think that is the case when it comes to the NIV, where they translate these words male prostitutes and homosexual offenders.
Not that homosexuality is bad, but deviant homosexuality is bad. That's what I think NIV was trying to get to. Here, the ESV says those who practice homosexuality. NAS, it says nor effeminate nor homosexuals.
And basically those are the passive, effeminate and active participants of homosexual relationships. Effeminate just means soft. It means submitting to unnatural lust. Jameson Fawcett Brown commentator called it a self-polluter.
Called them self-polluters. And it's passivity, submission in homosexual sexuality. Or sex rather, behavior. The other one is the more not passive but active. Translated in ESV with one word. But here the second word in the NAS is homosexual.
King James translates this word abusers of themselves with mankind. New King James version translates it as sodomites. This is the initiator. This is the active one. This harkens back to Leviticus 18 .22.
You shall not sleep with a male as with a woman, for it is an abomination. And if you're not careful when it comes to fornicators, idolaters, adulterers and homosexuals, you could be deceived. Just a pastoral note here.
Dear congregation, when you're sending off your children to college and now they're older. You're preparing them for the world and off to trade school. You better think through something and here's what you better think through.
Did you know some Christians can be mean and awful? And some sinners found in this list can be kind and nice. Did you know that? You can have a grandma that's not a believer and she could be the best grandma ever.
I had a couple of them. I mean talking about the right kind of grandma and loving and giving and self-sacrificial. That doesn't make her a Christian though. And if you don't teach your children there's common grace and there's what the Bible teaches.
Then they're going to go off and they're going to go to college and go. You know what? All the Christians are either nerds, fundamentalist, crazy, charismatic. Whatever they're going to say that's different.
The Christians are weird and they're not bringing me into their group. But the homosexuals, they're kind and nice and loving. Therefore, this might not be so true. I've always thought that homosexuality was wrong and now they're the nice ones.
Your children better have a category for that. Or they're going to get drawn in. Of course, you can be because of common grace as an unbeliever. Kind and nice and giving. But that doesn't make you godly.
Don't be deceived. Some people say, God just whispers about sexual sin. Really? And now he goes on. He moves from sexual sins to sins about things. And sins about abuse. Sins about slander. All on this list.
We want to run from all these. Thieves. Thieves. That's interesting. Nor thieves, nor greedy. Back in those days, it was easy to steal. Back in those days, there's no banks. Back in those days, when you go to the gymnasium and the baths, where do you set your stuff?
Easy to steal. They go wash themselves. They go exercise. You steal. Thieves everywhere in Corinth. Taking advantage of people. That's where we get the word kleptomaniac. These kleptos, they're running around stealing everything.
And it's probably from this inordinate desire that comes next. Greedy. Thieves nor greedy. Wanting and wanting and wanting, yet you can't have. I want it so bad, I'll do anything. These people don't inherit the kingdom of God.
So whether it's fornicators and adulterers and heterosexual sex, homosexual sex, are these that are all on the list. Gehazi's greed in 2 Kings. We're to run from and think that's gross. We're to think of Judas' betrayal of Jesus for money is awful.
We're to run from it. We're to be warned. Greedy or covetousness. We remember Exodus 20. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything else that is your neighbor's.
Defrauding people for just gain. Desiring, wanting to have more. It's like Adam in the garden. If I could just have one more tree, I'd probably be happy. He gives other things on the list, does he not?
Nor drunkards. The Bible says don't get drunk with wine. The Bible says wine is a gift from the Lord. Which one is true? Both. He's not condemning drinking alcohol. He knows how to do that in Scripture.
But here he's condemning drunkenness. It is a sin to be drunk. And those who are drunk, as a habit, as a lifestyle, the text clearly says they will not inherit the King of God. You can destroy your own body that way and probably those around you.
And you can destroy other people in another way. And that's with words. Nor revilers. What's that old poem? Sticks and stones may break my bones. But what? Really? Ever been hurt by words? Obviously we know the sting of words in here.
Revilers. Destroying people with your mouth, with your tongue. You think of James 3. It's funny, you can praise God one minute with your mouth and then you cut down other image bearers. Does God like slander?
Does He love gossip? Does He love talking about other people? Pulling them down? This is a sin that you need to be rescued from, like fornification. And then He ends with swindlers. This is kind of a way to steal from people, but kind of like around the block stealing, not just taking their wallet.
You extort them. You're a con man. You call them up and you try to extract money by misrepresenting yourself. This is not a comprehensive list. This is a list of lifestyle, of character. And I just read it again.
Do you not know? You should know. Verse 9. That the unrighteous will not inherit the King of God. Don't be deceived because you easily could be. Dear congregation, neither the sexually immoral, idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, active or passive, nor thieves, nor greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the King of God.
It's easy to be deceived. We're not to be deceived. If you know somebody like this, I don't think you go up to them and say, You're not a Christian. I think as you begin to talk with them, and love them, and share with them, I say things like this.
Based on your own testimony, how could you call yourself a Christian? Because of 1 Corinthians chapter 6. I've had people in my study right over there. And somebody came to me. I think I've told you the story.
They have an anxiety problem. We talk about their anxiety problem. I said, well, you know, how does it manifest itself at home? Well, my girlfriend that is at home, she does this, that, and the other.
How long have you been living with your girlfriend? 10 years. Do you sleep with her? Yes. And I said, based on your own testimony, you have a bigger problem than anxiety. When you die, you're going to go straight to hell, based on your own testimony.
We don't do people any favors by saying, You know what? All you have to do is sign the card, walk the aisle, say you're a Christian, grow up in the church, and you're in. We are not after perfectionism, obviously.
But the unrighteous, the text says, will not go to heaven, so don't be deceived. Maybe you're on this list. Dominating sin. You're not a new creation in Christ Jesus at all. And so you think, Lord, would you grant me repentance?
Would you grant me saving faith? Or maybe you look at this list and you think, You know what? I do what the world does. And I say, you know what? Some of these things are bad. Some of these things are actually good these days.
And I celebrate with the people who celebrate, call evil good, and good evil. The first deception is, unrighteous people go to heaven when they die. The second deception is that only the law motivates people.
You get Jesus to get into heaven, and now you're on your own. Hope it works out for you. Let's read verse 11. And maybe some of the best juxtaposition of kind of just gross stuff, and then, oh, wonderful.
Verse 11, 1 Corinthians 6. And such were some of you. Remember when you were dominated by all those? Remember you used to be those? This church, I'm sure, is dominated by ex-fornicators, ex-idolaters, ex-adulterers, ex-homosexuals, ex-revilers, drunkards, etc., etc., right?
That's who we used to be. That's who we were. You say, well, I know. Such were some of you. But what's the text say? That you were washed, sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Don't miss the Trinitarian aspect of salvation here. We've got Jesus Christ, we've got the Spirit, and we've got God, God the Father. People say, well, Trinity is just some kind of speculation. You can't really figure it out.
It was essential for Paul. For anyone to go from this list of vices to now be a new Christian in Christ, it takes God, and God is one, and God is three, and the one God, three persons, God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, it'll take them to rescue people.
He uses a big contrast here. But, the text says, and in the ESV, but such were some of you. You used to be like that. John Calvin said the design of the apostle, however, is to humble them by calling to the remembrance their former condition and to stir them up to acknowledge the grace of God toward them.
For the greater the misery is acknowledged to be, from which we have escaped through the Lord's kindness, so much the more does the magnitude of His grace shine forth. If we're not really that bad, and now we're just a little bit better, you don't need grace, TED Talks will do.
But if we're really, really bad, and we're wicked, and we're enslaved to sin, and we can't extricate ourselves from our own selves and sin, we need a deliverer, we need a Savior, it's going to take the act of a triune God to do it.
Such were some of you. And look at these three, what we'll call, divine passives. Washed, Sanctified, and Justified. Let's look at these, because this all comes from the work of the sent Son. The Father sends the Son to redeem, to reconcile, and because of the great work of the Son, these things happen.
These things happen to you, dear Christian. All in a point of time. The first one is washed. Now I might say M-I-K, I might say the word spelled M-I-L-K, as in milk. I know that's one of the things I hate about my Nebraska background, but I don't really hate wash so much.
Because there's a time to wash things. You wash, you just kind of wash it a little bit, but deep down, washing is a washing. Christian, you were, before you were saved, dirty, just like me. Polluted. Your spiritual condition, and mine too, was like you go out to an outhouse at the state fair, and you open up that door.
You hear where I'm coming from? And you're washed. Just to be washed. Not just on the outside, but on the inside. A cleansing. When God washes, it's thorough. It's complete. It's perfect washing. Every spot.
If you go to the carnival, they have all kinds of games. Yesterday I looked online, how to beat certain carnival games. Which one's not to play? The bottles, all with the lids off, and you throw the ring around, and it's like impossible to win.
So don't do that. They gave you other ones, and they said, here's one that you can possibly win. You've got the gun, and there's a red star, and you've got to get the red star completely demolished, right?
You know what I'm talking about? Kids are like, I know Call of Duty 18, but I don't know this. But just imagine with me, there's a star, and if you get every bit of the red out of the star, you win the Kewpie doll.
How do you get it out? Well, you have to just make a circle around the star with your bullets, and it'll drop out, because if you try to shoot the star, it's not going to make it. You're going to have a little remnant left.
From me to you for free. Not one little blemish, not one of those sins that you ever committed or will commit, will you have to pay for. You're washed. You're clean. Think about the Old Testament with all the washings and ceremonies and cleansing and baths and rituals, all pointing to the ultimate cleanliness.
And here we had to do it over and over and over. This is the one time you're washed. I sometimes watch that Alone series, and they're out alone for a hundred days, no shower, and they just look totally gross.
But for us, it's not external only, it's internal. Because sin has polluted us. It's defiled us. It's marked us. It's marred us. And now, because of the Lord Jesus, Christian, I can say based on the Word of God, you are completely washed from all moral guilt forever.
So see what he's doing? I just took a shower. Why do I want to go back to the pig pen? I've been cleansed from fornication. Why do I want to go back there? I've said many times, it's from the Proverbs, it's the dog that goes back to its own what?
We see how bad it is, how gross it is. Why do we run back? Self, don't run back. God has cleansed you. Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Everywhere you go in Scripture, it talks about this cleansing, this purging that the Lord Jesus does. Hear Hebrews 1, after making purification for sins, your sins, Christian, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
It's done. It's finished. Ezekiel 36, I'll sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness. And from all your idols I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart. I will put a new spirit within you.
I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to be careful to obey My rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave your fathers and you shall be My people and I will be your God.
And I will deliver you from all your uncleanness. Revelation 1, And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth, to Him who loves us and as one old manuscript said, and has washed us of our sins.
And of course that washing happens even as Christians and even as believers. I think of David after Bathsheba and he said, Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean. Did you know that if the blood of bulls and goats and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God to purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
This is talking about regeneration. This is talking about Titus chapter 3. He saved us not because of works we've done in righteousness but according to His mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.
Why go back to the filth? Not only that, there's another divine passive, God allowing doing this. This is something that's done to us. We respond with faith, that's certainly true. Fruit of faith is repentance, that's certainly true.
But this is all God's work. He's the Savior. He seeks sinners. He saves sinners. He will not give His glory to another. This is all God. God, thank you for washing me. God, thank you for sanctifying me.
That's the second divine passive. Sanctification. Now sometimes sanctification came in when you finally get to heaven. We call that glorification. Most of the time when we talk about sanctification it's talking about God's work in our life as we are saying no to sin and yes to righteousness.
It's called progressive sanctification where we'd like to live a holy life in light of who God is and the Spirit dwelling in us. You've got a final sanctification. You've got an ongoing sanctification that God does to us and we respond.
And then you've got an initial sanctification and that's what this is. It's called definitive sanctification. It's just set apart. You come over for Thanksgiving and you don't get the paper plates. You get the china and that china is set over here in some special area that we bring out for special occasions.
It's set apart. I have a lot of bikes in my life and they seem to just multiply. You just go to the garage and there's more and more bikes. And we would get in a lot of fights in our marriage about how many bikes I have except Kim has more surfboards than I have bikes.
So whenever she says, can I buy another surfboard? Yes, you may. Because I know what Agape isn't. I'm just kidding. I have one particular bike. It's carbon fiber. It's from Germany. Top of the line. I always wanted it.
And it doesn't actually live in the garage. It lives inside. I prefer it up in the bedroom by my bed but there are limits. So it's in my office at home right by my desk. It's a special bike. It's a set apart bike.
It's a sack of... And in the middle of all the sleazy, slutty, awful, reviling, slandering, greediness and everything that God took us from, He said, no, you know what? You're mine now. You're a holy utensil for me.
You're going to be not used for the world anymore. You're going to be set apart for me. You're special for me. I set aside for me. That's definitive sanctification. I read that, matter of fact, in 1 Corinthians 1 -2 to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus.
A point in time. Hebrews 10. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. So if you've been taken by God and rescued from all this sleaze and everything else and set apart for special things for the service of the Lord Jesus and worshiping Him and serving His people in the local church, why would we want to go back?
Those weren't the good old days. And then the third divine passive is justification. Justification. We've been washed, point in time. Set apart for God, point in time. And now justified, point in time.
Think about all the sins you committed before you were a Christian. I can think of mine. But there's so many I couldn't think about because I know I didn't love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength all the time, 24 -7.
I've got more sins of omission than I do commission. We always think about the things we did, but we're supposed to be loving God, loving neighbor, loving enemies. Every one of those sins paid for. That's pretty amazing.
Properly paid for. Jesus assuaging the wrath of God that those sins deserved. If there's a law, love God, there's a positive side that if you do it, something good will happen. And a negative side, if you disobey it, there'll be a penalty.
So Jesus comes onto the scene that is by the virgin birth and the virgin conception and He is assuming human nature so that when it comes to the law, He doesn't need to keep the law for Himself. He's righteous inherently, but He keeps the law for us because there's a positive side of keeping the law.
Earning righteousness. We think about active obedience where He's obeying for us. That's the positive side. And then there's the penalty side where we commit sin and so Jesus pays the penalty. Substitution.
Penalty substitution. And justification is simply a courtroom word. It's not a family word, like adoption, although adoption is wonderful. It's a courtroom word. And it means not guilty, credited righteous, because of Jesus perfectly obeying, because of Jesus perfectly dying.
Justification. It's a declarative act. It's a forensic act. It's pronouncing someone, reckoning someone. And we know it's true because Jesus was raised from the dead. And do you notice what He says after these divine passives?
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. All about the name of Jesus and His character and His person and who He is and His authority and His power and His love. All that there, done by the agency of the Holy Spirit.
Such were some of you. Now I said there were two deceptions. The first one was unrighteous people go to heaven. The second was Christians just basically should obey God without thinking about Jesus. Look down at verse 18.
You know where He's going with all this? These people don't inherit the kingdom of God. You used to be like that. You're washed, sanctified and justified. By the way, you can remember those three words.
Washed, sanctified and justified. WSJ. Every time you read WallStreetJournal .com WSJ. Redeem it. Washed, sanctified, justified. And then He starts talking about sexual sin. Hey, foods for the body and the body for food.
Verse 13. The body is not made for sexual immorality. Verse 13. Our bodies are part of Christ. Don't make them members of the prostitute. Verse 15. And now we come up to verse 18. Flee from sexual immorality.
Every other sin a person commits is outside the body but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you? Whom you have from God?
You are not your own so you are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body. Here's what Paul is doing. Can you see it? I'd like to live a life commensurate with my calling. I'd like to live a holy life now.
Here sexually or even some of the other things I used to do. I don't want to do it anymore. I want to live a holy life. What's the motivation for holy living? The law only exposes you to what you do wrong.
It doesn't motivate you. What motivates you is the love of God found in Christ Jesus. A God who would wash you. A God who would sanctify you. And a God who would justify you. And pay for all your sins.
And punish his son like that. Wouldn't you want to say, reporting for duty, I'll obey you? This is called guilt, grace and what? Gratitude. See what he's doing? And I've said this before when I preach this passage.
When someone calls you and says, I'm stuck in some kind of sin. What should I do? We tend to give them all law. There's law here. Flee from sexual immorality like Joseph. Glorify God with your body. But it's not all law.
People call you and say, I'm watching pornography. I'm not to be. We say things like, exercise. Get a community, you know, accountability group. Make sure you have X stop on your thing. Make sure you tell your wife, don't go alone.
All these things. Fine. And I'm not saying they aren't wrong. But only them, it's wrong. Because that's how Paul motivates Christians who are in a filthy world. Who probably are still tempted to do filthy things.
He says, you're washed, you're sanctified, you're justified. If you watch pornography, may today be the last day. And when you're tempted to watch it again, say to yourself, Christian. I've been washed, why go back?
I've been sanctified, why go back? I've been justified. It was free to me, salvation, but it cost him a lot. Why would I do that? The pig comes out of the sty and the mud puddles. And you wash it off and it just goes right back.
It is true that Christians struggle with sin. It is true that Jesus died for the sins of Christians too. It is true that David writes psalms and then, many psalms and then sins with Bathsheba. Christian sin, that's true.
We talk about that all the time here. But we don't want to sin, we want to have a struggle with sin, that's Romans 7. We want to repent when we sin. And when you're motivated, you need motivation not to sin.
I want to remind you back to the Lord Jesus Christ, you should go. What motivates holy living? Just law? That's why Luther called it nude law, just law by itself. I think people here at the church, I know you, you want a desire, you have a desire to live holy lives.
You want to please the Lord. But it can't just be, go do it. It can't just be, get moving. It can't be, try harder. Spurgeon wrote, when I thought God was hard, I found it easy to sin. But when I found God so kind, so good, so overflowing with compassion, I smote upon my breast to think that I could ever have rebelled against one who loved me so and sought my good.
That's why it's so important for you, dear church, to sit underneath preaching that talks about Jesus, not for pardon, but for power. Not just Jesus for you in justification, but in you, sanctification.
The gospel is what motivates, not bear commands. Of course, we give guidance with the law, but the GPS of the law won't motivate you and get you there. It's going to have to be the Lord Jesus, the engine.
We're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Let us also lay aside every weight and the sin which clangs so closely. That's true. We want to do that. Run with endurance the race that is set before us.
We want to do that. How do you do that? Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
John Owen, while by faith we contemplate the glory of Christ as revealed in the gospel, all grace will thrive and flourish in us toward a perfect conformity unto him. The law just says do. The gospel is short for Jesus Christ, who is sent by the Son.
And the Father and the Son send the Spirit. And he's loved you. Did you know, Hosea says, God loved you freely. Nothing in us, he loved us anyway. He loved us in spite of us. And that should motivate us.
Tim Chester writes, in the context of moral purity and sexual sin, alongside your talk about sex needs to talk about grace. And not grace in the abstract, but grace of God in the death of Christ. Christ dies in our place, bearing our guilt, so that there's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.
There's no condemnation for porn users, adulterers, sexual deviants who are in Christ Jesus. This is not being soft on sin, quite the opposite. It takes sin so seriously that the only remedy is the death of the eternal Son of God.
Look at the cross and see what God thinks of your sin. The death of his own Son is the only act that can atone for what you've done. But in the act is grace and love and forgiveness and adoption. There's no condemnation.
Listen, I wonder if this is true in our church. Churches are full of people desperately trying to self-atone for their lust. Desperately trying to sort themselves out. Desperately trying to prove they're good enough for God.
Our message must be, it is finished. Christ has done it all. And then when you realize someone has loved you like that, then you have the motivation and the power to obey. He draws you with pleasant things.
Does he not? Isaac Watts has it right. When I survey the wondrous cross, love so amazing, love so divine, demands my soul, my life, my what? All. Be careful when it comes to spiritual hucksters who say you can do whatever you want and call yourself a Christian.
And also be careful for those that say, You know what? The only thing you need as a Christian for your holy life is law only. Because the first deception we know is not true because God is righteous and he tells us in his scripture that this habitual lifestyle kind of folk doesn't make it.
And over here we realize that God does give us a law from the hand of Christ who is our mediator. A mediator stands between you and God and an advocate stands with you before God and you have Christ as mediator and advocate and since he so loved you, you respond with gratitude.
The key to motivation in the Christian living is not do more, try harder, how could you? It's we receive the law of God that guides us from the hand of Christ. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for your word given to us by the Spirit of God that we would be forgiven.
It's been so wonderful that we have an advocate with you, Jesus Christ. The righteous is amazing. I pray, Father, for the congregation. If there's someone who is here today who has not understood their sin as damning and harmful and a trespass and a transgression that you would help them to see that sin is against you.
And they'll be payday one day and that you would grant them faith and repentance in the Lord Jesus and that you'd save them. You love to save sinners. You could save Paul. You can save us. You could save them.
Would you grant them saving faith? Would you help us as Christians when we meet people who are so enslaved to sin? We need to ask them a question. How can you call yourself a Christian and do that? And then, Father, for us, we're thankful for the law.
It's good and holy and upright and it guides us. But it comes from your Son to us. Not to condemn us any longer. There's no condemnation. But to tell us how to honor you and what's good for us so you give us the law.
Help us at this church to be thinking about Christ Jesus, just like in 1 Corinthians 1. Christ Jesus, Christ Jesus, Christ Jesus. And may this church, until your Lord comes, be determined to know nothing among the world except Christ Jesus and Him crucified.
Amen.
No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.
Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 10 .15 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.