“The Skeleton in the Closet”
September 30, 2007
“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders, nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 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.”
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
We live in a society run by lawyers. Everything we do is affected by lawyers. Go to the hospital and the prices are so high because of the malpractice insurance. Get in the car to drive home and your car insurance is so high because of the litigation problem with the insurance companies. Our country, according to some, is in such a mess because it is run by lawyers who have gotten into politicks. It isn’t that I am against lawyers – but my attitude toward most of them is like the guy who asked what the difference was between a bucket of pond scum and a lawyer. The answer: The bucket. Someone asked me if I knew how to save a drowning lawyer. I said “no”. He said “good”. But I found out anyway. You just take your boot off his head.
I’m really not against lawyers. I’ve know some excellent ones. We need good lawyers to protect us from the not so good ones. But I mentioned lawyers because we can read a Scripture that says very clearly that “the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God” and then lists some things that are wicked and again says they will not inherit the kingdom of God – and our tendency is to rationalize – especially if we are on the list.
On the list is the sexually immoral. What does that mean? Well, the Scripture gives us some direction. Adultery is immoral. Prostitution is immoral. Homosexuality is immoral. Stealing is immoral. Greed is immoral. Lying is immoral. Drunkenness is immoral. Gossiping is immoral. Cheating is immoral. The Scripture says, two times, that these people will not inherit the kingdom of God. That’s pretty clear to me. But you will hear people rationalize and excuse and make these Scriptures say something else – or not say what they clearly say. People do that at the peril of their soul. Another Scripture says,
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. People reap what they sow.” Galatians 6:7
Let me be as clear as I can be: Those who are doing these things are wicked and will not inherit eternal life. On the other hand, we have all fallen into one of these categories at some time or another. Paul writes:
“And that is what some of you were.” (verse 11)
Have you ever stolen something? Have you ever lied? Have you ever slandered someone? Ever had a drinking problem?
You say, “Well, yeah! But I wasn’t a prostitute or a homosexual. I never committed adultery. I was never sexually immoral!”
Well, some of us here may have done some of those “BIG” sins. But, guess what? No sin is acceptable. Even a little white lie will keep you out of heaven – if it is not repented of. Even a little white lie caused Jesus to be nailed to the cross. The bible says, “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)
It also says:
“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” James 2:1
So – if you broke one of the nice “acceptable” sins – you are as guilty as the sexual pervert, the child molester and the rapist in God’s eyes. The root in all is rebellion.
So the point here is that we have all been in the camp of the wicked. We have all fallen short of God’s requirements. We have all been listed with the transgressors. Like that lawyer – we have all been lower than pond scum. We deserved the sentence of death. We were guilty. After listing some of these wicked things, Paul says, “And that is what some of you WERE.” (1 Cor. 6:11)
There are two things you need to notice about this Scripture. First, we all have sinned and fallen short of the will of God. There are no perfect people here. It may seem like it. But every single one of us has a skeleton or two in the closet.
Secondly, we need it to be in the past tense. He said, “That’s what some of you WERE.” Not now. Not any longer. We all have skeletons in the closet. Or have had skeletons in the closet. But they need to be taken care of by our Savior. We may have been liars – but no more. We may have been drunks – but no more. We may have been sexually immoral – but no more. If we want to come into the kingdom of God – we need to stop doing those things and become new creatures in Christ. The Bible says,
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17
Do you know that Jesus is not repulsed by what you have done or what you have become? An alcoholic; a drug dealer; a prostitute; gay, transvestite, or whatever you can think of. It does not turn Jesus away. He knows anyway. I think He knew when He was carrying that cross up the hill. He loves you anyway. Be careful who you share your secret sins with. They may not be able to handle it. But Jesus can. Jesus can look beyond the filthiness of your sin. Jesus can look beyond the discussing perversion you may have gotten involved it. Your heavenly Father can still see the princess or prince underneath. But He does not want you to stay that way. He loves you too much to allow you to live that way. The result of sinful living is death. Everything God tells us not to do or to do is for our good. Like a good parent sets rules to prevent their child from getting hurt by something – God does the same with us. So as a part of the process of entering into the kingdom of God – we are to turn away from those sins. We are to submit to the will of our Heavenly loving Father in obedient love. We ONCE used to do those things – but no longer. We are new creatures in Christ. The old has pass into the past. The new day has come – and we are to be new and act differently.
When you come to Christ, covered with the filth of the world, what is the first thing He does? You are a new creation. When a baby is born – what is one of the very first things that happens to them? They are washed, aren’t they? I don’t know if you have ever seen a newborn baby – I mean – NEWborn! But they are ugly and disgusting. Only a mother could see beyond that yuk with eyes of love. The rest of us are a little repulsed! So the nurse comes in and washes the baby up. She washes the blood and bile off. She scrubs the skull cap off. She puts the baby in a clean sheet and hands him to dad. Ah! Much better! What a wonderful clean smell! (a least for a little while)
God wants you to clean up, too. The world dirties us up with habits and attitudes and actions that are not appropriate for us. When I came to the Lord, He hit me with a bunch of stuff right off the bat. I had to stop doing a bunch of stuff. I had habits that needed to be washed away. But He didn’t stop there. After some of those basic habits – He shined His light on my attitudes. They were pretty bad. I worked on cleaning those up – then He shined the light on my thoughts. Owwch! Some of them were pretty dirty! And after all these years of washing me and cleaning me up – He is still at it. He still shines His light on my life and reveals some ugly things – things I had never noticed or had thought I had dealt with a long time ago. He continues to wash me and purify me and make me holy. You wouldn’t think of giving a baby just one bath and then forget it. In the same way – we need to continually submit to God for cleansing. We need to pray for it. Pray for purifying. Pray to be clean. Pray to become Christlike.
In our Scripture it says:
“But you were washed, you were sanctified…” I Cor 6:10
I think that Scripture is talking about two works of grace. In the first work, our sins are washed away. All those filthy sins we committed; all those evil deeds we have done; all the vile and detestable things that corrupted us; when we come to Christ in repentance – they are washed away. All our sins are washed away. The bible says,
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins…”
1 John 1:9a
No matter what we have done in the past – it’s past – when we confess those sins to Jesus. HE is faithful. HE is just. And He will forgive us from our sins. But the Scripture doesn’t end there. It says:
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
Jesus wants to, not only wash our sins away, but to sanctify us. He wants to, not only forgive us – but also to purify us from ALL unrighteousness. That is a second distinct work of grace. I think it is necessary, because when we come to Christ and experience His forgiveness, we have done something about the sin – but not the cause of the sin. The acts of sin need to be forgiven. Our sin needs to be washed away. But after that – we need to do something about the selfish heart that causes the acts of sin. The sinful heart needs to be purified. James said,
“Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” James 5:8
The Christian, even tho his sins have been washed away, is doubled minded and has an impure heart. Something has to be done about that. The solution is purifying. The answer is sanctification. That big word simply means the act of becoming pure. The important thing is that we become pure or holy. That is achieved by the experience of heart cleansing.
All of us has experienced being saved – but not totally surrendered to God. We are going to church, reading our bible, praying – but there is that one area we find ourselves falling into. It is contrary to God’s will – and we know it. We determine never to do it again. We try to control it – but before we know it – we did it again. Why does that happen? It’s because we are double minded and a slave to sin. What’s the remedy? It is sanctification or heart cleansing. What that means is that we have to give God all of our hearts. We have to realize we can’t do it on our own. We need the power of the Holy Spirit. So what do we do?
First, we have to realize our need. Many never are delivered from the bondage of sin because they don’t realize that God can free them from will sin.
Secondly, we need to confess our need to Jesus. It’s not that He needs to know about this thing we are going through – the thing is that we need to see it and confess it – first to ourselves and then to Jesus. It humbles our soul to confess.
Thirdly, we need to ask. The Word says “we have not because we ask not.” God knows what’s in our hearts – but we need to verbalize it to Him. Not so He becomes aware of our need – but because we need that act of confession.
Fourth, we need to believe – and act like it. We need to believe we can have the power of the Holy Spirit – and with His help that we can resist anything the devil throws at us. James says that if we resist the devil – he will RUN from us. We have unbelievable power at our disposal. We can accomplish anything with God’s help.
Let me conclude by saying, we have all sinned. We all have skeletons in our closet. But it needs to be in our past. Don’t continue to sin. Don’t continue to live in rebellion and defeat. Put it in your past. God wants to wash your sins away. More than that – He wants to sanctify you wholly. Don’t be double minded. Don’t try to have the best of both worlds. You will end up losing both. Give yourself totally to God and walk in holiness.
Dear Jesus,
Thank you for knowing everything about me – and still loving me. You know my life and my heart. Please forgive me for sinning. And please purify my heart. I give my self to you – body, soul, and spirit. Create in me a clean heart that I can walk in holiness before you.
In Jesus Name,
