Such were some of you

1 Corinthians 6 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? ² Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? ³ Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life? ⁴ So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church? ⁵ I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren, ⁶ but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers?

⁷ Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? ⁸ On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren.

⁹ Or 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 effeminate, nor homosexuals, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

The Body Is the Lord’s

¹² All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. ¹³ Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. ¹⁴ Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. ¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! ¹⁶ Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “The two shall become one flesh.” ¹⁷ But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. ¹⁸ Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? ²⁰ For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

Paul ends today’s text saying:  Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.  Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?  For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.  James 4:4-8 says:  Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.   James 1:14-15 says:  Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.   The problem that we have is not with temptation. Temptation is not sin. Jesus Himself was tempted, but did not sin. Hebrews 4:15 says:  We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.  The problem we have is when we entertain our temptations; when we believe that it’s okay to entertain immorality, or be entertained by it. Paul says we should flee immorality. Once we have entertained our lust, we can be certain that it will give birth to sin. Regarding the things that tempt us; regarding our lust, it is easier to stop at zero than it is to stop at a little or one. Even if we find that we are not able to flee from immorality, there is another way out. We can, submit to God. We can draw near to God and He will draw near to us. If we resist the devil he will flee.   In Psalm 37:4-6, the psalmist says:   Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.  He will bring forth your righteousness as the light.  If we will draw near to and delight in the Lord, immorality will no longer be our desire. God will give us the desires of our heart. He will bring forth righteousness in us.

The world and those who justify immorality, say that God is controlling and restrictive. That He wants to limit our pleasure. In truth all of God’s commandments are for our good; for our protection, so that we would have what is truly best for us. In the text it says: 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 effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.  In Revelation 21:8, the Lord says:  “The cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”  God wants what is best for each one of us. He wants us to inherit the kingdom of God. He wants us to live and not die. It is the world, with its tolerance, embracing and promoting of immorality that wants to limit and restrict us. In John 10:10 Jesus says: The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.   

Here’s the thing it does not matter what sin or immorality we have entertained, embraced or participated in. Hebrews 12:1-2 says:  Let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  We can choose to draw near to God, to delight in Him. In His presence we can resist the devil and he will flee. In today’s text it says:  Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?...  Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.  It does not matter what we were. It only matters whose we will be.  The one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him…  your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?  For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit; that You give us a way out of temptation and sin. Through the cross, You have redeemed us from sin and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we have the ability to resist the devil so that he will flee and we can draw near and delight in You.   Amen.