May turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 6 for our study this evening. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. We're going to look at a familiar portion of Scripture, specifically verses 9 to 11. I just want to make six observations on Paul's words here to the Corinthians. This is sort of a side note, but it's filled with doctrine.
It's filled with instruction. Basically, the issue that Paul is dealing with is that the unrighteous are not fit to hear your matters in terms of civil litigation, civil affairs, criminal matters, because they are not inheritors of the kingdom of God. And that causes him to state this in verses 9 to 11. But I'll just read beginning in verse 1 so we can appreciate the larger context.
Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints. Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels?
How much more things that pertain to this life? If, then, you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? I say this to your shame. Is it so that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren?
But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers. Now, therefore, it is already another failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?
No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Foods for the stomach, and the stomach for foods. But God will destroy both it and them.
Now the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God both raised up the Lord, and will also raise us up by His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot?
Certainly not. Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For the two, he says, shall become one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with them.
Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body. But he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
For you were bought at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. Amen. Well, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Father, we thank you for this portion of Scripture. And, God, I pray that we would take time to reflect now upon our own place before you, before our holy God. that our foundation, our hope, our realization of acceptance with You is solely upon the basis of Jesus' blood and righteousness. How we thank You, Father, for our perfect Savior, how we thank You for His perfect salvation, and how we pray now that You would cause us to appreciate afresh this wonderful gospel of free and sovereign grace. And, Father, for those who do not know You, we pray.
She would bring conviction for sin and cause them to look unto Christ and to know the forgiveness that is held forth in Him. We ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Well, as I said, there is a specific context here and there is a lot of things going on. So instead of being a strictly expository message, we're just going to make several observations on those key passages around that statement in verses 9 to 11. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.
He then goes on to highlight the various infractions, the various transgressions of God's holy law. And then he says, in such were some of you. And then he highlights the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ. As I said, six observations on this particular portion.
The Kingdom of God Is Real
The first is simply this. The existence of the kingdom of God is a reality. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? I suspect that everyone here believes in the existence of the kingdom of God.
Everyone here would affirm that there is a kingdom to be gained and a kingdom to be lost. There is a kingdom wherein God dwells and rules in righteousness, a kingdom that is entered into by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. The reason, however, I want to highlight this is because we live in a generation that oftentimes either A, denies the existence of the kingdom of God, or B, lives as if there is no such thing. They act like there is no thing, nothing rather, beyond the grave.
Men are materialistic. That means they only function in terms of the things around them. Men are physical. Men are sensual.
Men are carnal. Men only concern themselves very often with what we can touch, feel, sense, taste, and all those sorts of things. And it is our duty or our responsibility or our blessed privilege to try and remind men that there is eternity following the great, as the man of God Moses said in Psalm 90, if perhaps of strength, you live 70 or 80 or 90 years, then you fly away. What is it that men are going to fly into?
A Christless eternity? Rejecting the Lord God Almighty? We need to understand that eternity is a reality. Remember that thief on the cross.
He says, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. He knew there was more to life than just what he saw physically around him. And I think the Christian church would do well to think in terms like these. And as you witness, or as you talk to your neighbors, I'm not mandating that you go to 15 people and set before them these particular truths, but in the context of friendship, when you're seeking to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and you see an open door, you see an avenue, this is a great way to break the ice, if you will, to direct men to consider the fact that there is eternity.
That this is but a drop in the bucket, that we've not begun to see what there is in terms of reality. Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? And as Christians, we ought to take verse 9. We ought to think about that.
You know, very often as I read the scripture, I'm struck with my lack of compassion. I read men like the psalmist who says, rivers of water run down from my eyes because men do not keep your law. I read in the book of Jonah when God says, should I not pity Nineveh, that great city with 120,000 people that don't know their right from their left and much livestock? I mean, God even mentions the livestock and says, should I not pity that particular city?
When we get to the book of Romans, for instance, just another great example of this sort of compassion. You can turn to Romans chapter nine, Romans chapter nine, verse one, Paul says,
Compassion for the Unconverted
I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. That's an amazing statement there.
If we understand the implications of 1 Corinthians 6 9, do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? It ought to promote in us something of a brokenness, something of a compassion, something of a pitying attitude for those who are dead in their trespasses and sins. Those who are hellbound, those who have rejected Christ, are in the process of rejecting Christ and will ultimately be rejected by Christ and enter into the kingdom of hell rather than the kingdom of God. Paul says, I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren.
The word that he uses here is the word anathema. It means to be devoted to destruction. He uses that term specifically in Galatians 1. Remember what he says, if we or an angel out of heaven or any other person Preaches another gospel to you.
Let him be anathema. Let him be damned to hell. Let him be a curse. Paul here is actually saying what he's saying.
He says, I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen, according to the flesh. who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises of whom are the fathers, and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is overall the eternally blessed God. Amen. Compassion, the souls of men. Pity for the souls of men.
Certainly, 1 Corinthians 6-9 ought to at least be an argument in our prayer arsenal or in our hearts or in our minds as to why we ought to have pity, why we ought to have compassion, when we consider the people that we know and love are heading to a Christless eternity. This is what the Apostle says. Now, in saying this, I realize that there are pastors or preachers out there that seek to manipulate people and seek to bind people's consciences. You've got to lead 100 people to the Lord in 2012, or you've got to knock on 15 doors before the end of the month.
That's, I hope, not the way you're receiving this. I think it is a legitimate observation, though, that we all need a better dose or a greater dose of compassion. If you've got a corner on this, if you're doing well, then please pray for me and Pastor Porter that we would have more compassion, that we would be more like, and I'm speaking for Pastor Porter here, he's nodding, I can request prayer in this particular regard. I mean, think about it.
Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? That's what's at stake. Our unconverted friends and family and loved ones, It's not that they're just not having their happiest life now. It's not that they're just not being fulfilled now.
It's not just that they're having the way of the unfaithful is hard now. They're heading to a Christless eternity. They're heading to hell, conscious torment in the lake of fire, God We ought to pray to God that he takes those things and makes them real in our heart. The things of eternity are so distant from the thoughts of materialistic man.
But the thoughts of eternity or the things of eternity are oftentimes very far from the thoughts of Christian man. We need to see, as it was said of Edwards as he preached, he saw the glory of heaven with one eye and the terrors of hell with the other eye. And having witnessed those realities, he preached in such a manner. Paul the Apostle in another place says, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.
Understanding the gravity of a holy God and His revulsion against sin and sinners, Paul says, we therefore persuade men to be reconciled unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And then a third observation with reference to this observation, reference to the unbeliever out there, our response with reference to this observation. Let's ask the question,
Self-Examination Before God
do you think about the kingdom of God? Are you entering the kingdom of God? Do you understand the concept of the kingdom and access therein too? Do you understand why it is you are entering?
Or do you understand why it is you aren't entering? And does that promote fear in your hearts? In other words, examine yourself. If you were to die tonight, where would you end up?
Would you end up in a Christless eternity or would you end up in the kingdom of God with our blessed and beloved Lord? These are all weighty questions we ought to examine ourselves with from time to time. So
The Reality of Self-Deception
the second main observation is the reality of self-deception. Notice what he says in verse nine. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.
And then he highlights those various infractions of God's holy law. I think there's an observation or principle here that self-deception is a reality. Do not be deceived. We considered this this morning in our study in the London Baptist Confession, chapter 18, of the assurance of grace and salvation.
The framers of our confession start off their subject this way. They said, although temporary believers and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of being in the favor of God and state of salvation, which hope of theirs shall perish. And then it goes on to say positively, yet, such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus and love him in sincerity, endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him, may in this life be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed. The framer is understood correctly.
Self-deception is a reality. There's temporary believers. There are those who, for a time, make a profession. There are those who, for a time, say they're Christ's.
There are those who, for a time, give at least the appearance of being in Him. We looked at two examples this morning in our study. We looked at the prophet Micah. Micah condemns the leaders of his age.
Micah condemns the political leaders. He condemns the prophets. He says that as a result of their wickedness, as a result of their ungodliness, the city of Zion was filled with bloodshed. There was a perversion of justice.
Bribery was rampant. Prophets and priests plied their trade simply for pay. They engaged in the prophetic and priestly ministry only to get a paycheck. We mentioned, or we noted, that that doesn't sound too far removed from the things that we face today.
Political leaders, prophetic ministers of God engaged in just seeking a paycheck, bloodshed, perversion of justice. I mean, you only need to open your eyes for a few minutes to see these things played out before our eyes. But yet, in the midst of all that, The prophet indicts, the prophet condemns, the prophet highlights where they had fallen short. And here's what they had the gall to say.
It says, now hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel who abhor justice and pervert all equity, who build up Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity. Her heads judge for a bride, her priests teach for pay, and her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the Lord and say, is not the Lord among us? No harm can come upon us.
That's some chutzpah, the Jews would say. That's gall. The prophet says the civil leaders are corrupt. The prophets are corrupt.
The city's filled with bloodshed. There's a perversion of justice, perversion of equity. I mean, it's a mess. And this is what they say.
Yet they lean on the Lord and say, is not the Lord among us? No harm can come upon us. Self-deception, isn't it? Do not be deceived, Paul said.
Don't fool yourself. Don't play games. These matters are too grave, these matters are too weighty, these matters are too great.
False Hope and Works-Based Assurance
The New Testament example in Matthew 7, 21 to 23, many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not cast out demons in your name? Didn't we do mighty things in your name? You see, their hope of acceptance with God was not grounded upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus, but rather it was grounded upon their works, upon their performance, upon their doing.
They were deceived. This is a characteristic of unbelievers. This is a characteristic of the heathen. It is a characteristic of many.
I dare say, if you ask a hundred people, a large majority of those people will think that they are heaven-bound. And then when you ask the question, why are you heaven-bound, the myriad of answers will probably blow your mind. The only answer that anyone can ever give for being accepted into the Kingdom of God Most High is the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ alone. There's not two ways, there's not three ways, there's not four ways.
There is one way to heaven, and it is through Christ. So, the existence of the kingdom of God, the reality of self-deception.
God's Ethical Standard in His Moral Law
Thirdly, the presence of an ethical standard established by God. The presence of an ethical standard established by God. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.
Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites. Now, we define homosexual and sodomite the exact same way. Without getting too detailed, Paul is not crazy. Paul is using two technical terms to describe the two companions in a homosexual relationship.
He knew exactly what he was talking about. He's not repeating himself. He is identifying the male and the female companion or the roles within a homosexual relationship. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
It is not man's call. It is not up to man. He cannot say, well, you know, as long as I don't do this or that, then God will let me into heaven. God sets the standard.
God has provided the framework. God has provided specifically his moral law, codified at Sinai, summarized there for us in ten abiding words. Paul says in Romans 3 that all the world will become guilty before God. What does that mean?
They're liable to just punishment as a result of having broken his holy law. The Ten Commandments reflect his character, reflect his will, reflect his abiding perfections and attributes, and man violates that. There is an ethical standard. The church should preach this ethical standard.
We have considered this before, the necessity of preaching the law so that sinners will see their sin and thus flee to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not just a matter of being a little bit hindered, a little bit hampered, a little bit difficult. No, you need to see yourself as a lawbreaker before God Most High, because that's when healing comes. There is an ethical standard established.
He is the moral governor of the universe. He has legislated, he has given us his truth, and he tells us here very clearly, don't be deceived. None of these sorts of people who practice these things, who continue in these things, who are impenitent in these things, will enter the kingdom of God. You will not inherit it when you continually engage in wickedness.
We see that in the book of Galatians as well, a similar passage, similar construction. He says the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like, of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. There is an ethical standard.
All Men Are Guilty Before God
Fourthly, another observation that we can pull out of this passage, is the fact that all men are guilty before God. Now, I realize we prioritize, don't we? I remember before I was converted, perhaps your experience was similar. Somebody were to say to you, boy, you're a real sinner.
Well, hopefully they wouldn't say it like that. Somebody witnessing to you said, well, you know, you're a sinner. Or do you think you're a good person? What do you normally do?
I've never murdered anyone. I've never committed adultery. We have our sort of two benchmark sins, don't we? As long as we haven't done that, then we're going to enter the kingdom of God.
Right? Is that anybody else's experience? Congratulate yourself because you were such a wonderful moral specimen, because you never actually murdered someone or committed adultery. Oh, how the sinner lowers the bar, doesn't he?
How we lower the bar to try and justify ourselves. Well, it's an interesting thing when you look at Paul's vice lists. He doesn't prioritize in the same manner that we do. He throws things into his lists that I believe some of us would never throw there.
Of course we're not deceived. Fornicators, they're not going to enter the kingdom of God. No way. It's wicked.
Sexual Congress, apart from the covenantal parameters that God has established, is wicked. Idolaters, they will never enter the kingdom of God. violates the first and the second commandments. You shall have no other gods before me. The definition of who it is we are to worship.
You shall not make for yourself an idol. The second commandment tells us how we are to worship Yahweh. Adulterers. Again, Congress apart from covenant.
It's wicked. It's the breaking of a covenant. We all agree with that, don't we? These people aren't going to inherit the kingdom of God.
Of course, the homosexuals and sodomites, they're not going to. I mean, this is a perversion. Paul says it's unnatural. Paul says this is just a wretched practice.
Leviticus 18 says it's an abomination. Verse 10 says thieves. Yeah, no thief ought to enter into the kingdom of God. I wonder if at times when we consider this priority structure, we've always reflected on our business dealing.
We've always reflected on our honesty. We've always reflected on our ability to conduct ourselves with a clear conscience before the God of the universe in matters concerning property. But even so, let's just suppose for a moment. Covetous.
That's it. We're done. Every one of us. You may not have been a homosexual.
You may not have been an idolater. Who in this room or who in this world can ever say, I have never coveted? I want to meet that man. Well, there is.
There's only one. He's enthroned at the right hand of God most high. He is the champion. He is the victor.
He is the redeemer of God's elect. Because he didn't violate these rules, because he didn't violate these laws, he alone was able to satisfy the just requirements of God. And through his active obedience of the law, we receive his righteousness. Through his substitutionary death at Calvary, that passive obedience, we receive pardon of our iniquity. to work our way through thieves, covetous drunkards.
Not many people today in this world can say I've never done this. Revilers. Remember your priority structure. Listen to how Barnes describes or defines reviler.
So let's just say you jump through the hoop successfully of all these other big sins here. What's reviling? A reproachful man, a man, of course, harsh and bitter words. A man whose characteristic it was to abuse others, to vilify their character.
It means to attack or assassinate someone's character. So if we jump down a little bit in terms of application, gossip, slander, backbiting, wounding people's reputation with our unjust approach to them. How many times have you and I violated Proverbs 18, the two rules for interpersonal relationships that pretty much no one obeys? The first to plead his cause seems right until his neighbor comes and examines him.
How many times in the life of Christ's church and among his people do we hear half a story and we condemn? Proverbs says that's wrong, man. He who answers a matter before he hears it It's falling to him. So you see, reviling is a broad category.
Covetousness is a broad category. He goes on to say, to vilify their character, to wound their feelings. It is needless to say how much this is contrary to the spirit of Christianity and to the example of the master who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. I mean, back in that section in Galatians as well, again, the big sins, the ones that we call the big sins,
The Breadth of the Vice Lists
he throws in there selfish ambitions, dissensions, envy. I mean, these are things that find us all out. So that's the point. That's the observation.
That's what we're looking at. The fact that all men are guilty before God. The vice list in Romans, chapter one, where the apostle is describing the heathen. Go there for just a moment.
Again, he starts off with the sin of homosexuality. He doesn't neglect that. He doesn't negate that. But he doesn't stop there.
That's why the Westboro Baptist, and I put it in quotation marks, church is out to lunch. Campaigning actively against homosexuals. Campaigning actively against. Instead of preaching the gospel to them.
So, after highlighting the fact that even the women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature, verse 28, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife. Deceit, evil-mindedness, they are whispers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things. I mean, proud? Who on this earth isn't proud?
Just show of hands here. Who here isn't proud? Come on, you see this? See the point?
We're guilty. Guilty, vile, helpless, we. Spotless Lamb of God was he. Full atonement, can it be?
Hallelujah. What a Savior. That's the point I want us to appreciate, because it's in that context, it's with that backdrop, that the glory of the Savior shines. Paul says, proud boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents.
Kids, you realize that a vice list that includes murder also includes disobedience to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful. This is a comprehensive list, and yet it only scratches the surface of the depravity and wickedness of man. The fact is, all men are guilty before God.
Sin Is Not Genetic
Notice, fifthly, by way of an observation. Paul says, and such were some of you. Such were some of you. What's the observation?
The truth that sin is not genetic. The sin is not that sin is not hardwired into us. We're hearing that today. It's just the way he is.
He pursues this particular course of life or this particular act of wickedness, because that's how God made him. Yes, certainly, our nature and our nurture work hand in hand. Things we're exposed to as a young person oftentimes has an effect upon us and can direct that sinful bent in a particular direction or not. But to suggest that sin is genetic is to say there's no hope.
To suggest that sin is hardwired into you, there's no hope. to suggest that it's mental illness. I mean, look at that man living among the tombs, who would break those shackles, who was naked, who was cutting himself with stones, who was crying out and weeping and wailing all night long. Men were afraid of him. What would be our response today?
That man is nuts. Lock him up, put him in a straitjacket, put him in a padded cell, put a crash helmet on him so that when he bangs his head into the wall, he doesn't do any major damage. One of the men preaching at this conference, the Sola Scriptura conference, preached on Sola Scriptura, the foundation of Scripture alone. This man, prior to his conversion, was a psychologist, worked in a major hospital in New York.
He said he has seen the effect of psychotropic drugs on individuals, people that are branded mentally ill and then shot up with drugs, basically reducing them to the place of a zombie. Wandering the halls, lifeless, senseless. I suspect we do that with the man who dwelt among the tombs. Just shoot him full of psychotropic drugs so that we don't have to mess with it.
Jesus goes to the man. The man falls before Jesus. Jesus heals him. Jesus then sits with the man who is clothed and sitting in his right mind.
It wasn't genetic. It wasn't hardwired in. It was sin that Christ forgave. You see, we do no sinner any good by neglecting to preach against sin.
Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost, not that which was genetically altered. He came for sinners. And that brings us to the sixth and the final observation.
A Real Savior for Real Sinners
the blessing that Jesus is a real Savior for real sinners. Notice how he ends. Such were some of you. Before we continue, just consider that statement.
If I were to ask you which New Testament church most manifested what we might call some inconsistent Christian living, for lack of a better phrase. The Corinthians, wasn't it? I mean, look at the things that Paul has to deal with in Corinth over and over again. He has to deal with things that are just absolutely incredible, which praise God, not praise God for their sin, but praise God for the letters to the Corinthians.
Their sinfulness, their departure from biblical norms and truth caused the apostle to write specific things addressing these things. So, such were some of you. They had been fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners. They had been that.
But the powerful grace of God delivered them. Such were some of you, He says, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Doesn't that statement stand in stark contrast? Doesn't that statement shine when we consider the previous verses?
Doesn't that statement cheer and encourage your heart when you see yourself in that vice list, when you hear that blessed statement? And such were some of you. But you were washed. You were sanctified.
You were justified. You were called out of darkness into marvelous light. You're no longer practitioners of these things. The Corinthians still stumbled.
They were not perfect in terms of sanctification. They still had issues, to be sure. But definitively, there was a breach made with sin. That, my dear brothers and sisters, is a way, or I hope, is a means of encouragement to each and every one of us.
Such were some of you. You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." Remember, many years ago, this was before ever coming here, I preached on Jeremiah 3 at a different church. Jeremiah chapter 3. It's one of those gems of Scripture.
You could say that about every chapter, so I kind of struggle with Pastor Wellen this morning, you know, it's my favorite book, but all books, you know, are a favorite. You know what he meant, right? There's certain passages that we're drawn to. There's certain chapters that thrill our hearts.
There's certain things, perhaps, when we're in a particular place in our lives, either we're down or we're tried or we're suffering or, you know, having some difficulty, that a passage of Scripture just really speaks to us. Jeremiah 3 is one of those. Jeremiah 3, in the space of the chapter going in a little bit to chapter 4, God says five times. five times to Israel. Yet return to me, says yet return to me, says the Lord.
Yet return to me, says the Lord. Yet return to me, says the Lord. Yet return to me, says the Lord. Five times in that chapter.
So before we got into chapter three, I wanted to paint the context of chapter two. Because you can't appreciate those five yet return to me, says the Lord, until you see where they are. Read Jeremiah 2 sometime. Make that a priority in your quiet time sometime this week.
Read Jeremiah 2 and chapter 3. Maybe it'll speak to you. Maybe you're in a place like I was those years ago that really, really was a boon to my own heart. But what it does is that it shows how sinful Judah was at the time.
It shows how wicked they were at the time. Now you're all probably saying, what wickedness was he doing at that particular time? I think that text could find us all out at any time. But Jeremiah 2 is crucial to understanding Jeremiah 3.
The backdrop of our depravity highlights the graciousness of God in such a vivid and beautiful and amazing way that I think, by the time you get to that fifth, yet return to me, says the Lord. You're worshiping, you're praising, you're adoring. You're saying, what manner of God is like this? You're like the prophet Micah.
Who is it, God, like you? Pardoning iniquity. That's how this functions. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived. All these vices, all these sins, all these transgressions. You may not be guilty of each and every one, but you're guilty of something. And it's out of that mass, or it's out of that destruction, or it's out of that wretchedness, that such were some of you.
But you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified.
Salvation by Sovereign Grace Alone
God didn't come to you because you deserved it. God didn't come to you because you were righteous. God didn't come to you because you merited. God didn't come to you because you could gain acceptance with Him.
God came to you out of the sovereignty of His own good pleasure. He reached out, He lifts you up, He washes, He sanctifies, He justifies. Brethren, I think for us, we need to consider passages like these and what Christ has done in saving us. If that doesn't cause you to praise, if that doesn't cause you to worship, if it doesn't cause you to celebrate, if it doesn't promote thankfulness, then arguably you might still be in that state. of depravity.
How can we consider a God who stoops down in such condescension to lift such vile sinners out of the dust heap and convey upon them every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ? What Paul says is the believer's portion, the believer's lot. He says, Of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that as it is written, He who glories, let him glory in the Lord. Consider what you were, consider what by God's grace you have become, and let that fuel praise, worship, adoration, thankfulness, and prayer to our good God.
Gardner Springs says, One reason why our religious emotions are so languid and cheerless, why our hearts are so often hung upon the willows and under the mere twilight of spiritual joy, is that we keep it such a distance from the cross and the realities of eternity are kept at such a distance and forgotten. Stay close to the cross. Live what one man calls a cross centered life. You read 1 Corinthians, you'll see how Paul combats every issue.
How does he do it? You know, you've got a sexual immorality problem, 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Go check into sexualaddicts.com. Go to the next meeting.
He plants the cross in their bedroom. When people are eating meat and violating their brother's consciences, what does he say? He plants the cross at their dinner table. When there's sectarianism among the people of God in Corinth, I'm a Paul, I'm a Cephas, I'm a Vipaulus.
What's he say? Well, each one have your own favorite preacher. Each one have a bookmark for your favorite preacher. No, he plants the cross in their midst.
Every problem that the Corinthians faced, Paul brings it back to the cross. And that's what we need to do. That's how we need to live. We need to appreciate what God in Christ has done on our behalf.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for such a gracious Savior that He saves us from all manner of sin. And we pray now that You would go with us, that You would cause Your face to shine upon Your people in this congregation.
We pray for those traveling. We pray for those, God, who are away from us. We think of Joanne and ask that You would just continue to bless her and strengthen her. spiritually dark and difficult place. We pray that you would just give her a large heart and an able mind to be able to minister effectively to the people in need there.
We just pray, Father, that you would be glorified in the midst of this assembly. And for those, Father, in our midst that, again, are suffering, are tried, are having difficulties, we pray that you would come to their aid and, indeed, bless and encourage them. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.