Hi, this is Henry Proclaim with Dr. John Fawnville. You know, it's super easy to feel that you're all alone in the Christian journey, and just as easy to feel alone in the call for sexual purity. Does Scripture have hope and answers for us? Absolutely.
We're not alone, and the gospel has hope for us. We're in a series called Do You Not Know and Here's the Kingdom of God and Sexual Purity. Be sure to check out the links in the description today. John Fawnville has been hard at work in the background on a new book called Hope and Holiness: How the Gospel Enables and Empowers Sexual Purity. It comes out this fall and is based on the current series.
We hope you will take the time to pre-order and invest in your Spiritual Growth library.
Okay, if you have your Bibles, you can turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, we're going to continue looking. And what Paul, what we've entitled, Do You Not Know? From 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Specifically verses 9 through 20.
Today we're going to start looking at verses 9 to 11.
So let's just read verses 9 to 11 together. And this is what Paul says. He says, Do you not know, verse 9, do you not know? Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? He says, Do not be ye 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 will inherit The kingdom of God.
So twice he says there's a group of people who will not inherit The kingdom of God. And then he says this in verse 11, he says, and such. We're some of you.
So some of you were sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, men who practiced homosexuality, thieves, greedy drunkards, revilers, swindlers. Such were some of you. But now you were washed. He says, you were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit.
of our God. Verse 11 is not only one of the most important verses in the book of 1 Corinthians, it's one of the most important verses in the whole Bible. Let me just make two comments before we look at verses 9 and 10, and then we'll just go straight through the text. The first comment is this. Is it's hard to preach a text like verses 9 and 10 because you're acutely aware that you're also a fallen sinner.
The temptation for people listening to you is to think that somehow you're a self-righteous person talking about wicked people. Trust me, there's no self-righteousness this morning. I fairly admit, there's a lot of problems in my life. I'm not perfect. But I've been washed and sanctified and justified.
Second. This passage is difficult in one respect because most people have no idea what the kingdom of God is or how to define it.
So, I have to take some time this morning to define for you what is the kingdom of God and discuss that, or else you won't understand Paul's point to get you to live a sexually pure life. And then, second, there are sins listed in this vice list. that are highly controversial in our culture today. And guess what? They were equally as controversial in Paul's day as well.
And because of the controversial nature of some of the stuff we have to talk about this morning. Loads of questions are going to come up in your mind that I can't answer in 45 minutes.
So if you have questions, be kind. Yeah. and you can send them to me and we'll try to work through them if we can. But what you need to understand this morning is this: verses 9 and 10 is pure law. And next week, verse 11, it's pure gospel.
And it's healthy for the church to sit under both and feel the weight and intensity of both.
So this week. you're going to feel the intensity and weight of God's law. And so, what we're going to do instead of just trying to give qualification after qualification and try to answer every question about every issue that comes up and the issues that Paul addresses. What we're going to attempt to do is just simply to say exactly what Paul says and nothing else and let it sit on us. Because it's healthy for that to happen.
That is the caveat.
Now let's look at the text. Look at verses 9 through 10. Paul says this. He says, Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Now, there's a tremendous amount of context behind this question, so let me just give you some context. There are two issues at stake in chapters 5 and 6 of 1 Corinthians, and here are the two issues. First, there is a crisis of authority. The Corinthian believers were rebelling against the Apostle Paul in arrogant pride and self-will. And so Paul is addressing that issue in the church.
They're not listening to him. And Paul calls that arrogance and self-pride and self-will and self-gratification, which we'll see momentarily. Second. The second issue at stake in these two chapters is the centrality of the gospel and its ethical implications for the church, being the church.
So here in brief is the context of what Paul is addressing. The Corinthians had a serious problem with pride and self-will and refusing to listen to Paul's teaching. And then second, they were so arrogantly opposed to the gospel and sound teaching. That Paul says they were tolerating sexual immorality that's not even tolerated in the Corinthian culture surrounding them. That's chapter 5, verses 1 and 2.
And so Paul in chapter 4 verses 18 through 21, he threatens to come to them and he says to find out the power or the so-called authority of those who are being arrogant towards the apostle. And so he threatens the whole church in chapter 4, verse 21. He says, I'm going to come with a rod. which is church discipline. Should you not follow my gospel instruction and its implications for your lives as a church?
And so, what happens in chapters 5 and 6 is this: chapters 5 and 6 serve as a test. As to whether or not these Corinthian believers will remain prideful and arrogant and self-willed and refuse to listen to that person that is teaching them. Or Will they repent and follow Paul's instruction in the area of unjust lawsuits? and sexual immorality in the church. That's the context.
This is a heavy this is a heavy context And so the issues of chapters five and six are this. In chapter five, there is an issue of tolerating sexual immorality. which a man was living in an ancestral relationship with his stepmother. And Paul says in chapter 5, He says to them, It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, chapter 5, verse 1, and of a kind that is not even tolerated even among pagans.
Now, the Corinth city of Corinth, as we're going to see this week and next week, was literally obsessed. with sexual immorality. It made Las Vegas look Pretty sterile. But what happened was this, is that they were tolerating in the church. Sexual immorality in chapter 6 verses 1 through 11 they were also arrogantly suing one another in pagan courts and acting unjust towards one another Unjust acts of self-will and unkindness in the church.
And then in chapter 6, verses 12 through 20, the problem there was that there were some Corinthian believers from their pagan background visiting sacred temple court prostitutes at the Acrocorinth in Corinth. And so, yeah, you have toleration of prostitution, you have toleration of unjust lawsuits that were killing people in the church, and you have toleration of. Sexual incest. These are serious issues. And Paul says you are arrogantly tolerating it in your midst.
Instead of understanding the gospel and its implications for your life.
So that's the context. And so, what Paul does is, in the answer to these problems in verses 9 to 20, what we're going to find out is he asks four questions. Four questions. And the four questions that he asked the Corinthian church, the four questions are intended to correct the sexual immorality and the unjust lawsuits that he's addressing. in chapters five and six.
Each set of questions begins with this phrase, do you not know? There was something that the Corinthian believers did not know. And second, all of these questions are based on the gospel philosophy, which we saw two weeks ago: be who you are. Being who you are. The problem with the Corinthian believers was that they really didn't know the gospel and they did not know its ethical implications for living their daily life as believers.
This was their problem. And so Paul asks these four series of questions to direct the Corinthians back to the gospel and back to the gospel's implications. Which alone has the power to change and transform immoral behavior into obedience and sexual purity in the church. That is what we have here.
So, here is the first point. From Paul's first question. Point number one is this. Paul asked the Corinthians, Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? That's point number one.
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? So here's what Paul is doing to correct their sexual immorality. He's rebuking them by asking them whether they understand the basic facts of the kingdom of God.
Now, I asked people this past week as I was preparing for this message, different Christians, just as I was out and about. Has anybody ever taught you about the kingdom of God and what it does in terms of creating sexual purity to your life? Every person I answered, guess what their answer was? It was no. None of them had ever thought about the doctrine of the kingdom of God as what leads to sexual purity.
And that is exactly what the Apostle Paul is doing here.
So, when people tell you doctrine doesn't matter, they don't have a clue what they're talking about because Paul takes doctrine and says that's what leads to purity. And so he says, he's rebuking them. Do you not understand the basic facts of the kingdom of God? He is reminding the Corinthians of one of the first principles of the gospel. Which is this?
Everyone who indulges in unrighteousness does not inherit the kingdom of God. That is what he's teaching here. That is the basic principle he is establishing. Paul is saying, Are you Christians and profess to know Christ and to be citizens of the kingdom, and yet you ignore the first and most basic principle? of the kingdom of God.
Do you not know, Corinthians, that the unrighteous do not inherit the kingdom of God? And so, what Paul is doing is instructing these believers once again. As to what is the kingdom of God and what is his ethical implications. applied to their daily life for sexual purity.
Now, the kingdom of God is a huge theme in Scripture, and we don't have time to look at the whole, we could spend a whole series of sermons just on that, but. Let me just give you some background about that. For example, The kingdom of God is the binding theme of the whole Bible. It is the binding theme of the whole Bible. It was the dominant theme in Jesus' teaching and Paul's, and like Jesus, the kingdom of God was part of Paul's gospel.
Luke says in Acts chapter 28 that Paul, as he was teaching in Rome, lived there two whole years at his own expense, welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God. He proclaimed the kingdom of God. and he taught about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.
Now listen, given the central importance of the kingdom of God in Scripture, that raises significant questions here to understand what Paul's saying.
So here are the questions we're going to look at today regarding this first point that Paul is making. What is the kingdom of God? How does the kingdom of God relate to the gospel? Who are the people excluded from the kingdom of God? Who are the people who inherit the kingdom of God?
And what does the kingdom of God have to do with your daily life of sexual purity? Paul answers every one of those questions in these two verses.
So first, First If the unrighteous do not inherit the kingdom of God, that's the first and most basic principle of the gospel Paul's teaching. If they don't, here's the big question: what is the kingdom of God? What is it? Here's the easiest definition I've ever gotten from Graham Goldsworthy, and it's very helpful. And this is what he defines the kingdom of God as.
The kingdom of God is God's people. In God's place. Under God's rule and blessing. That is the kingdom of God. I'll say it again: the kingdom of God is God's people in God's place under God's rule and blessing.
To live under the rule of God, His kingship. He's the king. He's ruling. He has a law. You live under it.
To live under that is to experience his blessing.
Now, the kingdom of God is first seen in scripture in the Garden of Eden. That was God's place. God's people, Adam and Eve, in God's place, the garden, living under God's king's rule. And do a sing. They were giving willing obedience to the word of God and to his rule, and therefore they enjoyed his covenantal blessings.
God said, Eat of any tree, just don't eat of that one. If you do, you'll have all these blessings. If not, you'll be cursed. What happened?
Well, here's what happened: they disobeyed and rebelled. They were rebellious subjects in God's kingdom, and therefore they forsook God's blessings and came under his covenantal curses. In the day you eat of this, you shall what? Shortly die. And so they forsook the blessings because they were no longer in God's place.
They were kicked east of Eden. They were kicked out of the garden. They were no longer in God's place. They were no longer God's people. And they were no longer under his rule.
And they forfeited his blessings and received covenant curses. Is that clear?
So the consequences for their disobedience, the scriptures teach, were cosmic in scope. They were devastating not only Adam and Eve, but the whole of mankind and all of creation itself. was subjected to corruption. total, complete, radically depraved. Corruption.
But here's what happens in the scripture because the story doesn't end there. Thank goodness the Bible doesn't end at Genesis 3 verse 14. Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, in a surprising act of grace, God the king makes a promise to restore his kingdom once again. And then from Genesis 3:15 onwards, you know what the rest of the Bible is? The Bible is simply an unfolding story about how God the king is faithful to his initial promise, Genesis 3:15, to restore his kingdom.
To bring God's people back into his place so that they can live under his rule and blessing. That's the whole Bible. That is how the whole Bible works out. And through successive stages, marked by conditional and unconditional covenants. God is this great promise-keeping and performing king unilaterally is acting to restore a people who will be his willing subjects to be ruled and blessed in his kingdom.
So that is the kingdom of God. Second, how does this kingdom of God relate to the gospel? How does it relate to the gospel? Presently, this is what Von Roberts calls it. It's very helpful.
He takes this from Graham Goldsworthy, but he calls it the proclaimed kingdom. You and I live right now in the proclaimed kingdom. During our days God's kingdom is spreading as the Holy Spirit works through the proclamation of the gospel to bring people into the church to receive once again God's rule and blessing. Graham Goldsworthy says it like this: He says, This is how the kingdom of God comes. How does it come?
Jesus exercises his kingly power through the scepter of his preached gospel. Through the gospel of the kingdom, the Holy Spirit is gathering a people who will be the willing subjects, citizens of God's rule and blessing. Paul teaches this in the book of 1 Corinthians. Just give you two quick examples. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 16.
Paul describes the church as God's temple. God's temple is the dwelling place of God. It's God's place where He dwells. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, God comes to dwell corporately in the church, his temple. Second, in the passage we're looking at in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19, Paul says that your own body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Not only does the Holy Spirit come to dwell corporately in the church, He comes to dwell personally in every believer in the church. And you now are God, the Holy Spirit's dwelling place. We'll come back to that later at the end of 1 Corinthians chapter 6.
So, this means that through the gospel, God's people, the church, Are brought, listen, into God's place, the church. Which Paul calls the temple of God to live under the kingship of Christ. And through that, we receive the blessings of the gospel. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. And so through the gospel, the Holy Spirit, Paul says at the end of verse 11, is through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God, he is gathering a new people to live under his rule and blessing.
And that's how the gospel relates to the kingdom of God today. Third, what does the kingdom of God have to do with our daily life of sexual purity? And here's the point. What does all that doctrine have to do with my daily life and struggling with sexual purity? Here it is.
The kingdom of God has two aspects. In our current day, and Paul teaches them both in 1 Corinthians: it is already come, but it's not yet consummated. And Paul here in verses 9 and 10 is talking about the perfection, the consummation of God's kingdom. But back in chapter 4, he's talking about He says in chapter 4, verse 20: For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk, but in power.
So there's a sense in which the kingdom of God has already come now.
So, what is the kingdom of God already, but not yet? Have to do with the practicality of sexual purity. Here's the point. Because we are already citizens of God's kingdom, Wash, sanctified, justified. We are expected and enabled by the Holy Spirit to live in a new way that is characterized by righteousness, not unrighteousness.
Simply put, Paul is saying this: the law sends us to the gospel. For our justification. And the gospel sends us to the law to frame our way of living. The gospel is given to free us and to empower us and to recreate us into saints and citizens of the kingdom of God so that we live in willing, joyful, grateful obedience to that king and his moral standards in his kingdom. And God's moral standards in his kingdom are expressed, his righteousness is expressed through his law.
He's simply saying to the Corinthians, Because you have been made a citizen of the kingdom of God, act like it. That's what he's teaching. Be who you are. Stop suing one another, stop being unjust towards one another, stop living in sexual immorality. Be who you are.
But the reason they were not being who they were is because they failed to know the basic facts of the kingdom of God and how the gospel related to the implications of their daily life. And so Paul is teaching about the kingdom of God. And so this brings up the fourth question: who are the people excluded from the kingdom of God? Who are they? Paul tells us in verses 9 and 10, look at verses 9 and 10.
He gives an illustrative, not an exhaustive list. Of the unrighteous, that is the unjustified. Those people who are not right with God, therefore, are excluded from the kingdom of God.
Now, each vice that we look at is simply. An illustration of a violation of one of the Ten Commandments. This is what it looks like. They illustrate behaviors of people who are outside of the kingdom of God and who live in open rebellion against the king. and his kingdom.
What these vices do is that they illustrate the culture of Corinth. They illustrate the culture of America. They illustrate the fallen culture of Corinth, in which the Corinthian church and our church is living. And from which the Corinthian church and people in our church have been saved from. And this is what Paul's doing.
He is issuing a chilling warning that there are certain behaviors that cannot be a part of faithful Christian living as a citizen of the kingdom of God. There are certain behaviors, Paul says, that God's law demarcates that cannot reflect the ethical standards of righteousness in the kingdom of God.
So let's look at this list, and we'll just go through it fairly quickly because it's pretty self-explanatory. We'll just talk through it. In fact, he's already given the list back in chapter 5, verses 10, 10, and 11. He just adds three more vices to the list in chapter 6 to give further illustrations. But nonetheless, let's go through the list.
Here's the list. First, heading the list is sexual immorality. The sexually immoral, it's like an umbrella term. is the violation of the seventh commandment. And the reason this Vice heads Paul's list is because it is the problem he's addressing in this particular context.
Not because this sin is worse than any other sin, because he lists a lot of different sins. It's just because this happens to be the sin he's addressing. What is sexual immorality? Let me define it for you. Sexual immorality is any form of sexual behavior outside the bounds of monogamous, lifelong, heterosexual marriage bond.
Sexual immorality is a term that incorporates premarital, extramarital, and unnatural sexual practice. Just a big umbrella term that incorporates it all. And Paul is saying that the sexual ethic of God's kingdom is clear. What is the sexual ethic of God's kingdom? What does his law require for the citizens of the kingdom of God?
There are two. Abstinent singleness. or heterosexual marriage. Period.
Now, after sexually immoral, Paul lists idolatry.
So look at idolaters. Idolaters refers to anybody who places their trust in anyone or anything other than the one true God who has revealed himself in the scriptures and personally through Jesus Christ. It's idolatry. This is a violation of the first commandment.
Now it's interesting that idolatry follows sexually moral people. And this vice list because Idolatry and sexual immorality Were the problems in the Corinthian church. For example, in chapter five, Paul devotes the whole chapter to sexual immorality. Chapter 6, Paul devotes almost a whole chapter to sexual immorality. And then in chapter 7, Paul follows up with a third chapter on sexual practice.
So he devotes three whole chapters to this problem. And then in chapter 8, verses 1 through 11, he addresses the whole problem of idolatry in violating the First Commandment. There's a second reason idolatry follows sexual immorality because in Jewish thinking idolatry and sexual immorality were closely joined together. They always went together. For example, If you look at the Old Testament, Infidelity to a spouse was used as a metaphor for infidelity or adultery toward God.
The Old Testament prophets frequently symbolize God's relationship to Israel as a husband and wife relationship.
So if you read the book of Hosea, for example, Hosea represents Israel's sins, especially idolatry as adultery. Just read Hosea chapter 4, the whole chapter. And you'll see how the prophets address this issue.
Now, certainly, sexual immorality is one of the most visible idols of our sex-obsessed culture, is it not? The idol of sex is so big in our culture, it's almost unmentionable, and it also was in the time of the Apostle Paul in Corinth. And so that's why he puts them together. Second, third, look what he lists. He lists adulterers.
Adulterers, you know what adultery is. It doesn't take any elaboration. Adultery is simply married persons who violate their vows and engage in extramarital sexual practice. It's a violation of the seventh commandment.
Now following heterosexual sin, now Paul addresses homosexual sin. It is very controversial on our culture. I'm going to be very careful about what I say here, but I'm going to say exactly what Paul says and nothing else. Look how the ESV translates. Men who practice sexual immorality.
This is a violation, like adultery, like any other sexual immoral practice. It is a violation of the seventh commandment.
Now the ESV's translation, men who practice homosexuality, is actually two separate Greek words.
Now the reason the ESV translators translate These two Greek words in one descriptive phrase is for ease of public discourse on this subject. Because if you study these words in context of how the Apostle Paul used them, they are exceedingly graphic. Even though the ESV translate these for ease of public discourse in expositing Paul's meaning, greater precision is needed.
So let me give you some precision without elaboration, okay? First, the Holy Spirit, through this inspired word, uses the Greek word malachoi, which literally means soft ones. And the Malakoi soft ones were men effeminate males who play the sexual role of females. And so with this term, Paul is graphically referring to the passive partner in homosexual sexual practice in Corinth. It's exceedingly graphic.
Second, Paul uses the word arsinekoitai. This word literally means male butters. And it can be translated: males who take other males to bed.
Now with this term Paul is referring specifically to men in Corinth. who are active partners in homosexual sexual Practice.
So you have a passive and you have an active graphic partner described by the Apostle Paul, which Paul calls unrighteousness. These pairings of these terms needed just a little bit of clarification, not elaboration. Let me just clarify this. Paul is speaking about Same sex sexual practice, not. Same sex, not natural, but unnatural love.
What was this culture like? Listen to what he says. 14 out of the first 15 Roman emperors practiced a natural vice. At the time of Paul's writing, Nero, who was the emperor here, had taken a boy called Sporus and had him castrated and married him with a full marriage ceremony, took him home in a procession to his palace and lived with him as his wife. This is the culture that Paul is talking about that the Corinthians have been saved out of.
He says, at the time of Paul's writing, in the early church's existence, the world was lost. To shame. Nothing's changed. Nothing has changed. The kingdom of God and his ethics are totally and squarely at odds and positioned against the cultural norms of fallen culture.
And so we in the church say, welcome to the kingdom of God.
Now, following these sexual sins, Paul also lists, look what he lists next, he lists thieves. Thieves refers to robbery and it actually belongs to chapter 6 verses 1 to 11. or they are being unjust and suing each other in courts. Theft is a violation of the eighth commandment. And when Barclay, again, he notes that theft was widespread in the ancient world.
Houses were easily broken into in the ancient world. And if you study Roman law, the commentators say that the strictness of the punishment of Roman law illustrates how bad the problem had become. and Greco-Roman culture. Look at the next one. It's greedy.
Greedy, this vice speaks of the state of desiring to have more than is one's due. It's covetousness, it's a violation of the eighth commandment. Greed and thievery go hand in hand, and it works like this. Greedy people are covetous people and desire that which belongs to others. And thieves are those who act on their desires of greed and take.
So covetousness and greed is the origin of theft. Not only does greed apply to rich and poor people alike. But a cree a greedy person Is selfish. They always demand more and more. They treat other people as objects for self-gratification.
Now that fits nicely in the context of sexual immorality because greed applies not just to money, but it also applies to sexuality, a selfish desire that is never satisfied.
So you're always trying to treat other people as objects for your own self-gratification. That's greed. And it violates It violates the eighth commandment. Look at the next one, drunkards.
Now drunkards is self-evident. What is drunkards? It doesn't need much explanation. Drunkards is excessive, uncontrolled drinking. Drunkenness has no place in the kingdom of God.
No place. In Ephesians 5, verse 18, Paul joins it with unrestrained license, profligacy, riotous living, out-of-control behavior. The point Paul's making is that drunkards throw off every kind of restraint of modesty and shame, and indulge, he says in chapter 5, and things too shameful to even speak of. Drunkards do things in their drunken state that they would never do if they're in their right mind. And Paul says that's absolutely forbidden in the kingdom of God.
That is not the righteous standard for the kingdom of God. And astonishingly, If you go to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Drunkenness, by way of selfish indulgence and indifference to others in the church. marked the Corinthian church at the Lord's Supper.
Now, can you imagine if Paramount Church all showed up drunk for the Lord's Supper? The Apostle Paul would be saying, okay, time out. Yeah. We have a serious problem here.
So it's no wonder that Paul issues these sobering warnings of judgment in chapter 11 against drunkards at the abuse of the Lord's table. Look what he lists next, revilers. Revilers are people who are characterized by verbally abusive speech. Revilers are people who verbally abuse others with their speech. These are people who are characterized as backbiters, slanderers, gossips.
They twist people's words, they condemn others, they join in conversations about the failures of other people to kill them. There are people who are characterized by lying and falsehood. These are revilers.
Now Take note here. You need to take note that God does not consider the sins of the tongue lightly. He puts it in the same list with sexual immorality and condemns it and says, These people will not inherit the kingdom of God. How that would make such a difference in the church? If believers would consider their prayer requests and concerns as gossip and keep it to themselves and go to the source.
Sinful speech betrays the sin of one's heart. Matthew 12, 34, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, Jesus says. Look what Paul lists next. He lists swindlers. Swindlers speak of people who take advantage of others to promote their own financial gain.
They gain finance by extortion, false advertising, deceit. For example, here's a modern-day example: Bernie Madoff. Bertie Madoff would make Paul Swindler's list. He was the swindler of swindlers in American history. He stole from people by deception.
and extortion. This is a violation of the eighth commandment.
Now, these are the vice lists.
Now, all of these sins define in righteousness that exclude men from the kingdom of God. Paul is not referring to momentary lapses. Paul is not referring to momentary failures. He is warning people against who live in open rebellion, continual open rebellion against God and have no inward delight to keep God's law whatsoever. And so look, as we reflect, as we reflect upon these vice lists, they all share a common characteristic.
And here it is, and this is the problem Paul was addressing that I told you about. This is the common characteristic: selfish indulgence, self-will, arrogance, pride. Rather than through faith in the gospel and submission to God's law, Living according to the ethics of God's kingdom. That's what all of these vices have in common.
So, as we reflect upon this, let's remember three things as we finish this up this morning. Here's the three things that I think we need to remember. First, Paul is saying judgment is certain. Judgment is certain. What is judgment in this passage?
This is what it is: it is exclusion from the kingdom of God. Nothing can be worse than to be excluded from the blessing of God and to live under his covenant curse. This warning that Paul gives is real. It's not a trivial matter. We shouldn't treat it as something light.
The urgency of Paul's tone ought to make a deep impression upon us. He is warning this to the church. There are some people in the church who will not inherit the kingdom of God. He's saying, Don't be deceived. Let all who wish to live unrighteous lives be warned.
To reject the rule and kingship of Christ and to live in open rebellion against his kingdom is disastrous. Judgment is certain. The kingdom of God will be excluded from you. Second, We have to guard against the tendency to be deceived by sin. Look what Paul says as we finish.
He says, Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived. Paul's concern is for the Corinthians to stop deceiving themselves. Listen, he's saying Corinthians, if you think... If you really think that gospel liberty is to be equated with lawless license, think again. Righteousness is the fundamental characteristic of the kingdom of God, and those whose lives are characterized by unrighteousness as a settled way of life will not inherit the kingdom of God, regardless of their profession.
David Pallison says, if we knew that we were deceived, we would not be deceived. But we are deceived unless awakened through God's truth and spirit. Paul's seeking to awaken us through his truth and spirit. He's seeking to awaken us. Do not be deceived.
Sin is intrinsically deceitful. Hebrews 3.13, exhort one another day after day, as long as it's called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Sin blinds us while preserving, David Pallison says, while preserving the illusion of seeing. You think you see and you really don't, but you're deceived. Paul says, don't be deceived.
Do not be deceived. Sin is deceiving, and it makes temptation much more difficult. Sin presents itself to us as pleasing, as good, as desirable, and so we can easily be deceived into thinking that, hey, well, I can freely indulge in this sin and not undergo the sentence of judgment that Paul talks about. I'll be okay. But listen, Paul is saying, if you could just summarize it, he's saying this: deception is disastrous.
Do not be deceived. The deceitfulness of sin is seen. John Owen says that it is modest in its first proposals, but when it prevails, it hardens men's hearts and brings them to ruin. Paul says, When you begin to be tempted to give in to illicit sexual desire, heed the warning of the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived.
All who engage seriously. persistently And unrighteousness will not inherit the kingdom of God.
So don't even go down the road. Don't open the door, Paul says. And then, third and finally. I think this point is just self-evident. Righteousness and unrighteousness cannot coexist in the consummation of the kingdom of God.
cannot coexist. If you turn all the way back to Revelation chapter 22, John is giving a picture of what the consummation of the kingdom of God is going to be like. And in Revelation chapter 21, verse 27, he says, Nothing unclean will ever enter it. Nothing. And then he says in chapter 22, verse 15, that everyone who is given into the pressures and temptations of the surrounding pagan culture are excluded from God's kingdom.
He says, outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. The unrighteous cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Why? Because God is altogether righteous. Then the righteous exclude themselves, Paul says, from the kingdom of God by their own chosen behavior, because God's kingdom ethic.
Or character is characterized by righteousness. And Paul says, those who are characterized by this unrighteousness, they're not going to be there, they cannot coexist. And so here we come, full circle. Paul is motivating us not to live in fear, but to pursue obedience and sexual purity.
So, what is he doing? Here's what he's doing. The first and basic fact of the kingdom of God, Paul says, the unrighteous cannot inherit the kingdom of God. The ethics of the kingdom yet to come. Determines the morals by which I live in the kingdom now.
That's what Paul says. The ethics of the kingdom to come determine my ethical standards of righteousness now. And then, as we're going to see next week, in just this amazing change in one verse, verse 11, Paul brings his argument to a conclusion by reaffirming the Corinthian status as citizens of the kingdom of God. And he says to them, Some of you were once greedy.
Some of you were once idolaters.
Some of you were once sexually immoral.
Some of you were once verbally abusive people. But, look what he says.
Now in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you're a citizen of the kingdom of God. You've been washed, sanctified, and justified. Therefore, because of who you are, heeding the warning of God's law. Act like a citizen of the kingdom of God because God has brought you in grace. He'll be a new person in Christ.
Thanks for listening to the Himmler Proclaim podcast with John Fawnville. him we proclaim as a ministry of John Fondill of Fairmount Church in Jacksonville, Florida. You can check out his church at paramountchurch.com. We look forward to next time.
