The apostle Paul wrote first and second Corinthians to the church in Corinth. Corinth was a port city, located on the coast of Greece, 48 miles South West of Athens. The economy of Corinth was fueled by commerce from the sea as well as tourism. On any given day the city would be filled with sailors from many nations with a majority of the people paying a visit to the temple of Aphrodite who was the goddess of sex. The way to worship Aphrodite was by way of one of 1000 temple prostitutes.
To simplify, Corinth was sin city. And here, in the midst of it all, was the Church of Corinth; Planted by Paul at the end of his 2nd missionary journey. In the midst of sin, debauchery and fornication was the church, the bride of Christ.
So, who populates a church founded in the middle of sin city? Converts, that’s who, people, who once worshiped at the temple of Aphrodite; people who were once a part of that culture of sin. The church in Corinth is full of those who have been converted from the effects of a culture that would tempt anyone.
This is what the Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthian’s church in 1st Corinthians 6, verses 9 to 11.
9 Don’t you know that those who do wrong will have no share in the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, who are idol worshipers, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, 10 thieves, greedy people, drunkards, abusers, and swindlers—none of these will have a share in the Kingdom of God.
1 Cor 6:9-10 (NLT)
Paul just described the culture of Corinth. Sounds pretty sick doesn’t it? Sadly, this description is also accurate to the world that we are living in today.
Sexual sin is widely accepted. Homosexuality is tolerated, condoned and accepted by the government of Canada; adultery is far more common than many would like to admit.
We don’t worship idols of stone, but there is the worship of people, possessions and ourselves that has replaced those idols.
All that the apostle Paul is describing is the culture of Corinth, and people participating in that culture will not have a share in the kingdom of God.
But our focus today is on the hope that is found in verse 11.
There was a time when some of you were just like that, but now your sins have been washed away, and you have been set apart for God. You have been made right with God because of what the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God have done for you.
1 Cor 6:11 (NLT)
In the New American Standard Bible verse 11 reads this way.
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.
1 Cor 6:11 (NASB)
There are 3 very powerful words in this verse. Washed, Sanctified & Justified. In these 3 words we can;
• Find our identity and purpose as Christians.
• Understand what a miracle salvation is.
• Build a foundation for our lives.
• Put our hope and our trust in the care of God.
But you were washed.
Greek ajpolouÈw apolouô: to wash away, washed
You and I have a deep need to be clean. Our impulse is to try to wash our hands of sin, we wipe the effects off our exterior so that it looks like we never did anything wrong.
King David tried this approach to cover up his adulterous affair with the beautiful Bathsheba. He did every thing in his power to hide his sin from man and present himself as clean.
But what David found to be impossible, and what you will find to be impossible is that you cannot clean your conscience by simply washing your hands.
Shakespeare illustrated this point in his play, Macbeth. In the play, the character Macbeth kills his cousin Duncan in secret, and the people pronounce Macbeth King. But there is blood on his hands that only he and his wife, Lady Macbeth know about.
She tells him how to get rid of the blood, “A little water clears us of this deed.” And he washes his hands and presents himself as clean and innocent before the people.
But there is a heavy conscience that hangs over the Macbeth family. This guilt is hanging over them and well the rest of the country elevates them to high position, the truth of their sin weighs them down.
Lady Macbeth begins to go insane. She has dream after dream about the blood of King Duncan on her hands. She sees the blood and she screams at it, and she washes them, and washes them and scrubs them and hopes beyond hope that somehow she can reconcile this sin with water and soap.
But you know, and I know, that soap and water cannot clean the stain of sin. It doesn’t matter how hard you scrub, it doesn’t matter what words you say, it doesn’t matter the people you impress or the position that they put you in, that stain remains and it weighs your conscience down with a burden that is too heavy for even the strongest of men to bare.
Jesus said, "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Matt 11:28 (NRSV)
The heavy burden, that’s called sin. The rest is a clean conscience.
How are you today? Are there stains of sin that you cannot remove? Have you washed yourself so that you are fooling everyone with your conscience violated?
Then come to Jesus, give him your burden, ask for forgiveness and you will be clean. Washed clean, scrubbed clean, spotless white clean, with a renewed mind and a new heart. You will be clean.
And those Christians sitting there at Church in Corinth were clean. Their sinful past washed away. It no longer could haunt them, torment them, hold them back, Paul says, it’s a new day, you are clean, maybe you used to be a drunk, maybe you used to be a greedy, adulterous, thief, but today you are clean, 100% clean.
And what’s more, Paul says, is that you were a sinner, but now you are sanctified.
Greek Word: aJgiaÈzw hagiazô to make holy, consecrate, sanctify:
I looked up the word “Sanctified” on dictionary.com and it gave these definitions;
1. to make holy; set apart as sacred; consecrate.
2. to purify or free from sin: Sanctify your hearts.
3. to entitle to reverence or respect.
4. to make productive of or conducive to spiritual blessing.
Maybe if we thought of sanctification as a light it might be helpful.
Before you were washed clean of your sins your life was filled with darkness. Then, at the moment of salvation, you were given a light which set you apart from the darkness. The light showed that you were a new person, once you were dark, but now you shine.
You have the light in you and on you, but here is the thing about Sanctification. You are the one responsible for that light. You need to make sure that you are growing that light stronger and stronger, much like the one who adds more wood and more fuel to a fire.
You are sanctified, you shine, but you are responsible for the amount of light that you are going to put forward.
Are you going to shine just enough to light your own way, or are you going to heap the logs and the fuel on the fire so that your influence spreads to tens and hundreds and thousands of people with the light of God.
Lets talk about how someone who is sanctified looks. Here how to identify someone who is sanctified.
1. Sanctification walks the talk.
It’s one thing to say that you know what light is. You can explain how the eyes perceive different light rays, you can theorize why some light is comforting and other light is blinding. You can show how one person’s bright is another persons dim and you can talk all you want about light.
But are you going to turn on the light? Will you shine? Will you prove your theories and your beliefs by the way that you live?
1 John 3:18-19 (TLB)
Little children, let us stop just saying we love people; let us really love them, and show it by our actions. 19 Then we will know for sure, by our actions, that we are on God’s side, and our consciences will be clear, even when we stand before the Lord.
When you start walking out the words of Jesus, when you start living out the will of God, you shine. Not only do you shine, but you live with a clear conscience, because you don’t have to wonder if all of your theories and revelations and ideas are right. You shine because you have lived out the truth and your actions will prove that you are sanctified.
It is not enough to know how to make light, it is not enough to know the laws of light. You have to shine. Sanctification walks the talk.
2. Sanctification is Every Day
Matt 5:14-16 (NIV)
14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
God didn’t call you to be a flickering light in the night; sometimes helpful, other times a disappointment.
What good would a light house be if its light only shone when it was comfortable? What benefit would there be if the light only shone in season’s of joy and laughter. What usefulness would a light house have if it’s light relied upon the emotions of the operator.
It wouldn’t be any good at all. At times It would show light and sailors would begin to rely upon its help. But then, when the storm came and the sailors looked to the lighthouse for guidance they would be deceived and disappointed because the light only shone during seasons of peace. And as there shipped crashed into the jagged shoreline they would say, “It would have been better for us if we had never met that lighthouse. Then we wouldn’t have relied on it in vain in our hour of need.
And so Sanctification is Every Day. You add fuel to your fire every day. You shine every day. You don’t get to turn the lights off; you don’t get to be a flicker in the night.
No, God called you to shine like the stars in the heaven. Constant, Burning, giving direction, and showing the wonder of God the creator.
Live out the Christian Faith every day of your life, let the people around you rely on you; don’t let them down when you get down. You can be a steady, reliable light because you are standing on the steady sure foundation that has been since the beginning of time, his name is Jesus Christ.
His oath, His covenant, and blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When every earthly prop gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
You can shine every day of your life, you’ve got the light of the world inside of you, but it is your responsibility.
3. Sanctification carries Responsibility
Who is responsible for your sanctification, you are! You are the one who is always throwing fuel onto the fire so that you may shine brighter.
• You are the one who invests time in prayer.
• You are the one who constantly spends time in the Bible.
• You are the one who commits to regular Church attendance.
• You are the one who is faithful in the tithes and offerings.
• You are the one who is available and obedient to God at all times.
• You are the one who will determine whether you shine brighter or whether you let that flame dim, flicker or die.
So take ownership for your Life.
Responsibility is a wonderful thing. It means that we can’t pass the buck to someone else; there is no one that you can blame if you don’t grow and if you don’t shine.
If your light is the exact same brightness, the exact same influence as a year ago, you’ve got no one to blame but yourself.
Yes, God is there to help you. He is an “Ever present help in times of trouble.” He promised to “Never leave you or forsake you.” He promised you the gift of salvation and so you are saved. But he didn’t promise you that you could sit on a couch and do nothing.
God is our helper, he’s our healer, he’s our provider, he’s our king and he’s our friend. But you are responsible to fuel the flame. You are responsible to set your life apart as holy by the way live, by the words you say, by the music that you listen to, by the way that you treat others.
STORY
In the nineteenth century, lighthouses on the U.S. coasts were tended by lighthouse keepers and their families. If a man who tended the light took ill or became disabled, often the work was picked up by his wife or children. Such was the case of Hosea Lewis.
Having become, in 1853, the keeper of the light on Lime Rock Island at Newport, Rhode Island, Lewis suffered a stroke four years later, at which time his teenage daughter Ida assumed responsibility for the light. Each day included cleaning the reflectors, trimming the wick, and filling the oil reservoir at sunset and midnight, along with providing for her father’s care.
With long and demanding tasks, Ida was unable to continue her schooling, but daily delivered her siblings to class, whatever the weather, by rowing the 500 yards to the mainland. In the mid-1800s, it was unusual to see a woman maneuvering a boat, but Ida became well-skilled and well-known for handling the heavy craft.
The teenager gained a measure of fame at age sixteen when she rescued four young men after their boat capsized. She rowed to their aid, hearing their screams as they clung to their overturned craft. On March 29, 1869, Ida saved two drowning servicemen from nearby Fort Adams. Public knowledge of Ida’s courage spread as far as Washington, inspiring President Ulysses S. Grant to visit Ida at Newport later that year. Ida rescued another two soldiers in 1881, for which she was awarded the U.S. Lifesaving Service’s highest medal.
In early February of that year the two soldiers were crossing from Newport to Lime Rock Island on foot when the ice gave way. Ida, the lighthouse keeper, came running with a rope. Ignoring peril to herself from weak and rotten ice, she pulled one, then the other to safety. All told, Ida Lewis personally saved something like 25 people in fifty-plus years of keeping the light. Her last reported rescue came at age 63 when she saved a friend who had fallen into the water on her way to visit Ida on the island.
Asked where she found strength and courage for such a feat, Ida answered: ’I don’t know, I ain’t particularly strong. The Lord Almighty gives it to me when I need it, that’s all.’
Ida took up a responsibility that she did not even get to choose for her life. Her obedience and faithfulness to the light saved lives. We hear about the ones that she literally pulled from the water, but imagine the thousands of ships and there crews that safely made it to the harbor because of the light.
Sanctification means to be set apart, holy, consecrated. It means that you walk out your faith daily, it means that your light is always on and it means that you take responsibility for your own growth.
Who is the keeper of your light? You are. Because of your faithfulness and obedience there will be many that you will literally save from spiritual death. But like Ida, because your are faithful to your light, because you take ownership and you keep the light clean and strong there will be a multitude that you might not ever even hear of who see your light and it shows them the way. And the light of God that shines through you influences thousands and its all because you took responsibility.
That is the effect of Sanctification, not only are you brighter, being made more and more perfect every day until the day that you come get to heaven, but your life touches and shows the way to many who would die without your light.
If you went to church in Corinth you might very well be sitting next to former drunkards, thieves, adulterers. But those titles don’t fit the people sitting there any more. Because not only have they been washed clean of their sins, but they have been going through the process of sanctification, and though once each was found guilty, they have been justified.
But you were Justified
Greek Word: dikaioÈw dikaioô to show to be righteous, declare righteous
The Dictionary defines Justified: to declare innocent or guiltless; absolve; acquit.
In our every day language we would talk about justified in the context of having enough motive to do a deed.
• You might say that the police officer was JUSTIFIED in firing his weapon.
• You could say that your anger was JUSTIFIED against another person.
• An irate driver might think that a certain finger gesture was JUSTIFIED because of the way that he was treated on the road.
But when God talks about JUSTIFICATION, he is talking about the eternal state of your soul.
If Sanctification is your responsibility, then justification is Gods, and that is just the way that it has to be.
Justification is when a guilty person is acquitted of there sins. They go free with no record. No one can ever accuse them again of the sin because they were proven innocent, and now they are declared Just.
But in the courts of heaven:
• You can’t justify the sins that you have committed through good works.
• You can’t justify your error by paying any amount of money.
• You can’t justify your guilt by a smooth tongue.
God alone has the power to justify. God alone has the power to say:
• that man is justified,
• that lady is declared righteous,
• that boy is no longer a sinner
• that girl will have her name written in the lambs book of life
God alone can declare you to be guilty, but justified for your sins.
It is not as if God is pretending that you never sinned. He is not saying, “Hey, you sinned but I love you. I’m just going to look the other way and you and I can be friends again.”
You are justified, but you are justified at a price, your guilt was paid for by way of a ransom.
Romans 5:8-11 (NLT)
8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.
10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.
11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
The reason why you are justified, is because Christ died for your sins. The reason why God calls you righteous is because a sacrifice was made on your behalf, a price was paid that you could never pay on your own, it is an act of love that you can never repay, it is a part of God’s mercy that you will never deserve.
But it doesn’t matter to God that you don’t deserve his forgiveness, it didn’t matter to Jesus that you could never repay him for his sacrifice.
God loves you so much, that he sent his son to die for you, so that God the Father could call you JUSTIFIED. A JUST MAN, a JUST WOMAN, A JUST BOY and a JUST GIRL.
It is the miracle of all miracles, that a sinner like me could have his sins and his guilt paid for by the very one that he sinned against. It is a miracle that I never could earn, but I do have to have faith for this miracle to take place.
Romans 5:1 (NRSV)
1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Paul said to the church in Corinth, “You were sinners of the worst kind with no share in the Kingdom of God, but you have been washed, but you have been sanctified, but you have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
It’s 3 miracles in one.
You make the decision to repent of your sins and to give your life to God, and these 3 things happen at the same time.
1. You are washed. The deep set stain of sin is washed from you and you are clean. No longer is your conscience weighed down with condemnation, you are 100 percent clean.
2. You begin the process of Sanctification. Make no mistake about it; Sanctification can only happen through a miracle of God which begins with the Salvation experience. But then you take ownership for your own development. You walk the talk. You take responsibility. And you consistently add fuel to your fire every day of your life. Not only are you shining brighter and brighter, but many souls are saved because of your faithfulness.
3. You are JUSTIFIED. This is a supernatural work of God made possible by the death of Jesus. Your sin, your punishment and your payment are taken care of by the Ransom that Jesus paid for you. The Righteous died for the Unrighteous so that we might be called the Children of God.
Prayer: Lord do this work in my today. I repent of my sins and I make you the Lord of my Life. Wash me Clean. Sanctify me and Justify in the name of Jesus Christ who died for my sins. Amen.
