Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20070325.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
1 Corinthians: Discipling Believers With Very Sinful Backgrounds
III. Overcoming Moral Disorders In The Local Church
C. Clarifying Sins As Evil And God's Victory Over Them
(1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Things once thought evil are often redefined as something else:

(1) Premarital sex was once a sin, but Mary Stange in, "A dance for chastity" in the 3/19/07 USA TODAY critiques religious premarital abstinence as being based on the " . . . assumption that sex is dirty . . . "

(2) Idolatry was once a sin, but Jim Shaw, a former 33rd degree Mason, cited "The Kentucky Monitor" Fellowcraft Degree, p. 95 in his work, The Deadly Deception, p. 128 to note that Freemasonry seeks to promote "a one-world religion at whose shrine..." Hindus, Muslims, Jews and Christians among other religious parties "...may kneel..."

(3) Adultery was once an evil, but former House Speaker Newt Gingrich makes it seem to be less evil than lying: admitting he had an adulterous affair at the same time he critiqued Bill Clinton for lying about his trysts with Ms. Lewinsky, Ginrich defended his critique as it was wrong for the President to perjure himself! (Lore Amann-Chetcuti, "Please-Spare Us The Embarrassment," Hartford Courant, 3/19/07)

(4) Homosexuality was once sin, but when General Peter Pace of the Joint Chiefs of Staff called "homosexual action immoral'," it "caused a storm last week," (Dan Ephron, "A New Battle Over Gays in the Military," Newsweek, 3/26/07 as cited on MSNBC.com, 3/18/07).

(5) It was once a sin to covet, but in a letter to USA TODAY (Ibid.), Silvana Clark of Nashville related of her Hurricane Katrina relief work: "People from the community would visit the center daily to check out the latest shipment of clothes and blankets. They'd gather as much as possible, then sell the items in their apartment parking lot."

(6) Alcoholism was once a sin, but the Yellow Pages refers to it as a disease in listing "Treatment Centers" under "Alcoholism . . . "!

(7) Swindling once was sin, but now it seems to be less so. The Academy Awards organizers, in line with Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" film on global warming, claimed all of their celebrity presenters were "carbon-neutral,'" implying they did not use power gained from the use of carbon fuels. However, Ben Elgin's article, "Another Inconvenient Truth," in Business Week (3/26/07 p. 96-102) reports one presenter, Vail Resorts Inc., got most of its power from coal! Elgin feels a pitch was made at the Oscars to attract lucrative celebrity money that would not actually help companies shift from using carbon fuels!

So, how are we to respond to such qualifications of sin'?!"

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "In light of changing views on what is sin, or how to address or treat' alleged social ills,' how would GOD want us to respond?!"
  1. In 1 Corinthians 6:1, 9a, Paul exposed the EVILS of lost judges who do not go to heaven (See our last message in this series).
  2. In that critique, he clarified people of EVIL ORIENTATIONS who typically committed EVILS are SINNERS who SIN typical of those who go to HELL, 1 Cor inthians 6:9b-10 (The citations of the words in these verses in the Greek New Testament are cited from the U. B. S. Greek New Testament, 1966 ed., p. 589):
    1. Paul listed people who do evil deeds in 1 Corinthians 6:9b-10:
      1. The KJV word "fornicators" ("sexually immoral" NIV, ESV) is pornoi, meaning men who are prostitutes, "but generally" meaning fornicators, cf. Arndt & Ging., A Grk.-Engl. Lex. of the N. T., p. 699-700; Moulton & Milligan, Conc. to the Greek Test., p. 529.
      2. The KJV word "idolaters" (NIV, ESV) is eidololatrai, a "pre-Christian Jewish term" primarily used by early Christians to refer to people who worship pagan idols, Ibid., Arndt & Ging., p. 220; Theol. Dict. of the N. T., vol. II, p. 379-380.
      3. The KJV word for "adulterers" (NIV & ESV) is moichoi, meaning people who are adulterers, Ibid., vol. IV, p. 729-735.
      4. The KJV word "effeminate" ("male prostitutes" NIV; "men who practice homosexuality" ESV) is malakoi, depicting "catamites", people who function in the passive homosexual role, Zondervan's Analyt. Grk. Lex., 1972, p. 256; Ibid., Arndt & Ging., p. 489-490.
      5. The KJV's "abusers of themselves with mankind" ("homosexual offenders" NIV; "men who practice homosexuality" ESV) is arsenokoitai, or pederasts, people of the aggressive homosexual role, Ibid., p. 109; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to 1 Cor. 6:9.
      6. The KJV word "thieves" (NIV, ESV) is kleptai, meaning people who are thieves, Ibid., Arndt. & Ging., p. 435.
      7. The KJV word "covetous" ("greedy" NIV, ESV) is pleonektai, or people who are covetous or greedy persons, Ibid., p. 673.
      8. The KJV word "drunkards" (NIV, ESV) is methusoi, and it means "drunkards," or all people who are substance abusers, Ibid., p. 500.
      9. The KJV (ESV) word "revilers" ("slanderers" NIV) is loidoroi that refers to verbally abusive people, Ibid., p. 480.
      10. The KJV's "extortioners" ("swindlers" NIV, ESV) is harpages, meaning people who extort, swindle, Moulton & Geden, The Voc. of the Gr eek N. T., p. 79; Ibid., Analyt. Greek Lex., 1972, p. 52;
    2. Then, Paul noted that his Corinthian Christian readers had once been identified as such people (ayte, 2nd person plural imperfect of eimi, "to be", Ibid., p. 189 with 118, "to be, exist", and is literally translated in 1 Corinthians 6:11a as "And such some of you were being . . ."), but they since had been washed and sanctified and justified!
    3. So, Paul held that people with the orientations involved who do the deeds of fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, catamites, pederasts, thieves, covetous, substance abusers, verbal abusers and swindlers are sinners who stand in need of Christ's salvation from sin!
  3. Paul revealed great victory for such sinners in Christ, 1 Cor. 6:11:
    1. Though some of the Corinthian Christians had been such sinners who had done such sinful things typical of the lost who go to hell (1 Cor. 6:9a, 9b-10), Paul claimed they had washed themselves clean from such sins, 1 Corinthians 6:11 ("washed" KJV, NIV, ESV is from the middle voiced verbal form, apelousasthe, an action done by these sinners for their own benefit! [Ibid., Arndt & Ging., p. 95]
    2. Theologically, Paul added that they had been separated from their sin (the meaning of "sanctified" KJV, NIV, ESV in translating haygiasthayte) by being pronounced righteous by God (the meaning of "justified" KJV, NIV, ESV in translating edikaiothayte) when they had believed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, 1 Cor. 6:11 with 15:1-11!
Application: (1) If anyone is guilty of the sinful orientations or acts described above, or of any other sinful orientation or act defined as such in Scripture, that one will find full cleansing and forgiveness in being pronounced righteous by God if the party trusts in Christ for salvation, 1 Corinthians 9:11; John 3:16! (2) Then, as believers who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9), we may live in victory OVER sin by dependence on the Holy Spirit, Romans 6:1-2!

Lesson: (1) As Scripture teaches it to be so in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, the parties and their acts of premarital sex, adultery and homosexuality in both the catamite and pederast roles, along with idolaters, thieves, the covetous, substance abusers, verbal abusers and swindlers ALWAYS are respectively SINNERS in ORIENTATION who perform their respective SINFUL ACTS. (2) Yet, FULL cleansing, sanctification and justification with victory over such SINS are available for ALL by Christ's salvation!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

One of America's leading evangelicals, Dr. Albert Mohler, Jr., President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, last Friday, March 16, 2007, made some remarks in his blog that has stirred a huge nationwide reaction from Christians. He claimed that researchers are close to discovering "a gay' gene" in sheep, and if it is found, Christians must be prepared to respond if one is also found in human beings! (cf. Christian Newswire, Huntington, Connecticut, March 19, 2007 as cited by www.SBMinistries.org, 3/19/07)

Though he tried to deny this in additional remarks, this statement by Dr. Mohler, Jr. leaves the door open to conclude that if a "gay" gene is found in humans, homosexual orientation and their acts are natural and not sin, a surrender to error opposite what 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 reveals! Yet, testimony from secular and Christian sources support the Bible's revelation that there is no such "gene" (as follows):

(1) Over a decade ago, Charles Socarides, President of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, critiqued the work of a research team headed by Dean Hammer of the National Cancer Institute that tried to link homosexual orientation in men to a specific genetic region of the X chromosome. Socarides held psychoanalysts treat homosexuality well, and that such " . . . change would be unthinkable if there were any truth at all to the biological and hereditary causation of homosexuality." (Bob Davies, "A Genetic Cause?" Moody Monthly, May, 1994)

(2) Stephen Bennett reported on his web site (www. SBMinistries.org) on may 21, 2004 that a man named, "Tom" had once paid $200 per hour in psychiatrist fees to try to be cured from his homosexuality, and all the psychiatrists would tell him was to "accept" his orientation. However, "Tom" was relieved to hear from Stephen that he could escape his bondage to homosexuality by faith in Christ! "Tom" was thrilled to be able to find a way out of his sin, and accepted Christ as his Savior, and found liberation and forgiveness from sin!



What the Bible calls SIN is ALWAYS SIN, BUT ALL PRACTITIONERS of such sin CAN be DELIVERED from it in the SALVATION of our LORD JESUS CHRIST! May we call SIN "SIN" and SINNERS " SINNERS" while ALSO proclaiming and living the truth of DELIVERANCE from such sin in CHRIST!