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. (I Corinthians 6:9-11)
Well, God is very clear who will and who will not inherit the kingdom of God! Each of us needs to do a self examination and allow God's Holy Spirit to ...convict [us] of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: (John 16:8) For those of us who have accepted salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, 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. But for anyone who has not accepted Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior, they are still in their unrighteous condition; and do not be deceived, they will not inherit the kingdom of God.
What exactly do these names mean? Fornicators are a man and a woman who have sex together but are not married. Idolaters are people who excessively admire or adore another. Adulterers are a man and a woman who have sex together but are married to other people. Homosexuals are people who are sexually attracted to a person of their same gender. Sodomites are people who practice anal sex, either with another person or with animals. Thieves are people who steal from another person. Covetous is a person having or showing a great desire to possess something that belongs to someone else. Drunkards are people who are habitually drunk. Revilers are people who are verbally abusive towards others with abusive language. Extortioners are a blackmailer, a criminal who extorts money from someone by threatening to expose embarrassing information about them.
Remember Paul is writing this letter to the church in Corinth, and all of these immoral behaviors where a normal practice in their culture, ...as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. (Jude 1:7) ...and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds) [Genesis 13-14, 18-19]— then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. (II Peter 2:7-10)
The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were set forth as an example, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; God does not play about sexual immorality! And just as He destroyed those cities, He will destroy any of us who practices these same immoral behaviors if we don't repent. Sexual immorality goes against the very purpose of God creating us in His Own image. So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; (Genesis 1:27-28) God made male and female, and His first commandment to them was to be fruitful and multiply. The only natural way that this commandment can be fulfilled is a sexual relationship between a man and a woman; and the only sexual relationship that God approves of is between a man and a woman who are married. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24)
The world we live in today, even many religious groups are trying to make right wrong and wrong right. Often times people will say, "that was in the old testament. We live under the new testament." Well Jesus Christ, ...He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. (Hebrews 9:15) And when the Pharisees came, ...testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?” And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:3-6) Jesus' response confirmed that He believed what God said about the roles of a man and a woman, what is a marriage, and only this type of union is to be consummated by a sexual relationship.
With all that being said, Paul goes on to explain something very important about our Christian liberty under the New Covenant. 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. (I Corinthians 6:12-13) Basically Paul is saying, we can do whatever we want. BUT what benefit is there in doing whatever we want, when all things are not helpful? As King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived said, I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, this also was vanity. I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives. Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind. (Ecclesiastes 2:1,3,17) Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)
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 Him. (I Corinthians 6:13-17) Again, in Corinth, the temple of Aphrodite had over one thousand temple prostitutes. Sexual immorality was a religious practice in their culture.
Remember, Paul started out this particular part of the letter saying, It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife! (I Corinthians 5:1) He's writing to the church, believers in Christ Jesus, not unbelievers. This goes to show that just because we are saved doesn't mean we're perfect. We are to come to Jesus just as we are, and allow His Holy Spirit to change us from the inside out. “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” (Matthew 7:20-23)
So how do we overcome immorality in our lives, especially sexual immorality? Flee [to run away, as from trouble or danger] 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. (I Corinthians 6:18-20) I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. (Romans 12:1) because it is written, “Be holy, for I [the Lord, Who sanctify you] am holy.” (I Peter 1:16; Leviticus)
God sent His Son to sacrifice His body for us. The least we can do is sacrifice our bodies for Him! This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of [the world] walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:17-24, 30) AMEN!
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