And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.Some of you were such, but you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.And such were some of you: but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.
8 sermons cite this verse
… nor slanderers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. And then here's the great sentence, and that is what some of you were. And that is what some of you were. Not that is what some of you are. That is what some of you were. But the grace of God has brought you out of that, not to make us smug, not to isolate us, but to say, Dear Lord Jesus, How I long that the same grace that has rescued me might rescue my friends. The church is a company of saved sinners. Penultimately, there are many, many people who are spiritually sick and dying for want of the Word of God that will heal them and save them. Oh, I know that you run into those who are self-righteous and apparently have no interest in things, but that is not the case in every instance. And one of the lies of the devil is to tell us, you know, people are basically all right. You don't need to go to them with that stuff about Jesus and his blood being shed for sinners. They're nice people. In fact, some of them are frankly nicer than you. And you think about it, and you say, you know, I'm right. …
… It's the key to understanding the passage. Paul said, and such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God. Paul said, Corinthians, some of you used to be drunkards and adulterers and fornicators and homosexuals, but you found God's forgiveness. You were washed by the blood and mercy of Jesus Christ. And because of that, you're going to be in heaven. I want to say this again clearly. No sin is outside of the grace of God. The blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But to receive that forgiveness, we first must have to admit that what we're doing is wrong. One other passage, 1 Timothy chapter 1 verses 9 and 10. realizing the fact that the law is not made for a righteous man but for those who are lawless and rebellious for the ungodly and sinners for the unholy and profane for those who kill their fathers or mothers for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching I want you to notice that the word of God places homosexuality in the same category as those who kill their parents for murderers, for liars, for drunkards, for thieves. The point is, all of these things are contrary to the teaching of God's Word. Yes, the New Testament has quite a bit to say about homosexuality. …
… They won't. And such were some of you. Such was me. But you were. what? Washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. You were sexually immoral people. But you're not that anymore. You're not. You were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified. It's already done. You are pure. In Christ, in the eyes of God, you are already pure. And you never could have done that. There was no amount of washing or working or weeping that you could do to make yourself pure before God. But God sent his son to die for your impurity. And he sent his spirit to raise your cold, lifeless, lust-filled life from the dead. and now you are forgiven, washed, and pure. By grace alone, through faith alone, you are pure. You're pure. Can you believe that? I had a really hard time believing that for a long time. you are pure. And yet notice, he still calls those he has made pure in Christ to pursue purity in Christ. …
… It might be what you were, but that's not who you are. Because you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. And so what should your obsession now be? The field is the world. the field is the world. If you're not thinking, this is too good to keep to myself, it's got to go to the ends of the world. You're not thinking like Jesus, who wants the whole world to become a part of his kingdom. Guys, our job is not to be weed whackers, but world reachers. For so long, the church has just been obsessed with whacking weeds. Our job is to sow seeds and reach the world. He said the field is the world. God wants the whole world to come to know him. And we get to be a part of it every time we gather generously in Jesus' name, allowing this to happen. Because you hear me gather and I go, hey, everyone say hi to people in Paulson and White Vision Billings, as far as I can remember them, right? …
… So there had to have been something that was there. And Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 11. He starts talking about before that, he says that some of you had been sexually immoral. Some of you had worshipped false gods. Some of you had been thieves. You had been greedy, drunks, abusive, and swindlers. And then he says, that is what some of you used to be. But you were washed clean. Again, there's that metaphor of baptism. You were washed clean. You were made holy to God. and you were made right with God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God. So there's water in the spirit again, you find in 1 Corinthians 6, 11. So he says, you used to be this, but you're not that anymore. Now you're something else. So you'd think like that's done, okay? You were baptized, you gave your life to Christ. There's no more temptation. Then he devotes the next five chapters to encouraging them to not give in to temptation. …
… God. Then verse 11, such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." This is what conversion does. transforms you, transforms you. And so, verse 18 of that same chapter, Paul says, flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body, and that can include even venereal disease. Don't you know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you're not your own. You've been bought with a price. or glorify God in your body. And back in verse 15, He said, don't join your body, the temple of the Spirit of God, to a harlot or a prostitute. If you're living in any kind of perverted love, you're either outside the kingdom, or You are disobedient, sinful, and headed for divine chastening if you are a true believer. …
… See verse 11, part I skipped. and that is what some of you were that you were washed you were sanctified you were justified in the name of the lord jesus christ and by the spirit of our god you see when you accept christ you see at least three things that happens in the moment you accept him first of all he washes you that means he takes away your shame and your guilt there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from emmanuel's veins and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty state Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are as dark as scarlet, I can make them white as snow. He washes you, then he sanctifies you, which just means he sets you apart. He makes you holy. He makes you, in other words, pure. Maybe you're somebody, maybe a teenager, a young adult, an older adult, who's given themselves away sexually and now you feel permanently defiled. I'm telling you that is a lie from Satan. …
… He says, adulterers, idol worshipers, homosexual prostitutes, greedy, thieves, drunkards. And then he says, such were many of you, but you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God. What Paul is saying is the Corinthian Christians are not, were not, bourgeois, straight arrow, moral people. These were people who had done everything. They had been everywhere. And when they became Christians, the Corinthian church was unique in Paul's ministry. Because when Corinthianizers become Christians, when this kind of person becomes a Christian, you get one of the oddest things, and that is churches that are more brilliant than the other churches and more troubled. And that's exactly what you have in Corinth. And if you want to understand that, all you have to do is look at chapter 13. In verses 1 to 3, which you have printed there, you've got a picture of the Corinthian church. These are people, for example, see, these are people who, they didn't come to Corinth to live, they came to do. They were gifted people. They were people with aspirations. …