MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER
CENTRAL CHRISTIAN, BROWNSVILLE, TX
A. "Who’s going to be in heaven?" Have you ever wondered about that? Have you ever wondered whether or not you’ll be in heaven? Just what kind of people do you suppose are going to be there?
Now, of course, I’ve always thought that the people in heaven would be a whole lot like me, handsome & polite & humble. But how about you? What kind of people do you suppose will be there? Maybe what the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 6, will help us answer that question. Listen as I read vs’s 9 & 10.
"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."
B. Now you need to understand what kind of city Corinth was. It was a major seaport in the N.T. world, overflowing with sailors from many nations, & that should tell you a lot about Corinth.
It was also a popular tourist spot because its main attraction was the Temple of Aphrodite, goddess of sex. And the way to worship Aphrodite was by participating in sex with one of the more than 1,000 temple prostitutes.
As a result, Corinth was probably one of the most pagan, most decadent cities of the 1st Century world, & sin ran rampant in its streets. Yet God was able to use Paul to establish a strong & growing church there that was making inroads into the very pagan society of Corinth.
PROP. So when Paul wrote the words of vs. 9, "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived..." what do you suppose caused him to do it? Were the people there concerned about who was going to be in heaven, too?
I. MAYBE WE’RE LIVING IN A MODERN-DAY CORINTH
A. It may very well be that Paul was facing a situation not much different than what we’re facing when it comes to considering heaven & hell.
Today we seem to have the hope or feeling that when someone dies, death will somehow make a transformation of that person. Even though he or she was a scalawag in life, we seek to comfort ourselves by acting as if we think that person will end up in heaven with God for all eternity.
In fact, I’ve never attended a funeral where the preacher said anything like, "This man was one of the most immoral & dishonest persons who ever walked the streets of our town, & he’ll spend eternity burning in hell." I’ve never experienced a funeral like that.
But I have attended funerals that bothered me because I feared that the deceased had gone to hell. But most of the people there obviously didn’t think that. They seemed to think that at death their friend or relative just suddenly had been transported to heaven.
ILL. A preacher I know was called very early one Sunday morning by a member of his church, asking him to go & tell his sister that her husband had just been killed in an auto accident.
The man who had died & his wife were not members of his church, but her brother couldn’t get hold of their minister, so he asked his own preacher to go & break the news to her. So at around 2:00 in the morning this preacher went to tell her of her husband’s death. It was not until the next day that the preacher learned that the accident had occurred while the man was rushing home from having spent most of the night with his current mistress.
Well, the preacher went to the funeral, & heard the man’s minister preach him right into heaven. He lifted him up as a pillar in the community, a man of integrity & honesty & with great faith. He said he was just sure that this man was now walking side by side with Jesus on the streets of gold.
Can that be true? Will death just instantly work its transforming power, & all of us, regardless of how we have lived here, end up in heaven?
I think not, because Paul says, "Don’t be deceived. The wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God." Then he goes on to become very specific, listing 10 sins that will disqualify one from heaven. Maybe people today need to pay attention to what Paul is saying.
B. The first 5 sins Paul mentions seem to be closely related, & they all deal with sexual immorality & perversion. Of course, that should be no surprise when we think about what kind of town Corinth was. But I’m afraid that our nation is now rapidly becoming a modern-day Corinth.
1. Are you as alarmed as I am at the change in morals that has taken place in our country? A few years ago a student in school caught with a condom would possibly have been expelled. But today, schools pass them out & teach children to practice safe sex because society says that your child will undoubtedly experiment with many sexual partners.
Yet, Paul says to us, "The sexually immoral will not inherit the kingdom of God."
2. "...nor idolaters." The word "idolatry" of course, means the dethroning of God & worshiping something else. But the idolatry Paul is talking about here is the worship of Aphrodite, the goddess of sexual immorality. And you’re worshiping her when immorality is your lifestyle.
3. Next, Paul mentions "adultery." The word "adultery" means sexual activity outside of marriage, of being unfaithful to your spouse. And the marriage relationship is one of the major areas Satan is attacking today.
We live in a society where men & women are thrown together at work. They travel together on business assignments. There are numerous opportunities for unfaithfulness. That’s one reason why about half of all marriages aren’t making it. Satan is attacking the institution of marriage & the home.
4. Paul also mentions "male prostitutes & homosexual offenders." We are constantly hearing about gay rights, & lesbians & homosexuals. We’re told that homosexuality must be recognized as an acceptable lifestyle, for after all, the assumption is that whatever happens in your bedroom is your business. It doesn’t affect who you are anywhere else.
I suggest to you that will never be true. Who we are in our family relationships, in our homes, even in our bedroom, becomes who we are in the outside world. And that will always affect how we interact with others.
SUM. The Bible just simply says that no one who practices these sexual sins - immorality, idolatry, adultery, male prostitutes, or homosexuality is going to be in heaven. That’s pretty straight forward, isn’t it?
C. Then Paul becomes a little more general & mentions some other sins.
1. He mentions thieves. "No thief will see or inherit the kingdom of God."
Have you ever stolen anything? Now be honest. Have you ever stolen anything? Well, maybe not, but most of us have been tempted, haven’t we? "After all, the company makes so much money they won’t miss this." So we’re all tempted at times to take things that really don’t belong to us.
2. Then he mentions "the greedy." That word originates from the grappling hook sailors used to hook another ship with & pull it close. So greediness has the idea of grabbing or holding on, not releasing.
3. "...nor drunkards." That word needs no explanation. Just look at the carnage on the highways, the destruction of homes & families that goes on & on as humankind abuses itself with the use of alcohol & other drugs.
4. "...nor slanderers." A slanderer is someone who seeks to hurt or destroy another person with words. Now maybe you’ve escaped all the other sins, but have you ever used words to tear down someone else? Words! They can really hurt people, can’t they?
5. "...nor swindlers." Swindlers take advantage of others. They see those who are vulnerable & offer them something that seems too good to be true, & it is. Then they take from them the last little bit that they have.
SUM. So Paul says, "I don’t want you to be deceived. I want you to realize that these people will not inherit the Kingdom of God. They will not be in heaven." That pretty well answers the question, "Who will not be in heaven?" doesn’t it? Or, does it?
D. Notice verse 11. It may be one of the most amazing verses in all the Bible. It says, "And that is what some of you were." Did you hear it? "All ten of these things, that’s what some of you were."
Remember, he is writing to the church in Corinth. If you went to church there, you might sit down next to a former homosexual or lesbian or thief or adulterer or a greedy person or a slanderer, an immoral person, an idolater. They were all there. That’s what they used to be. But now they’ve changed. It’s past tense. They were these things, but now they’re not.
Notice what happened to them. Paul said, "You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ & by the spirit of our God." A dynamic change has taken place in their lives. They used to be one thing & now they’re something else. How did it happen?
1. It says, "You were washed." He’s not talking about taking a bath. He’s talking about an internal cleansing. They were once impure & immoral. But now their sins have been forgiven & they’re pure & moral inside. A washing, a spiritual cleansing has taken place.
2. "You were sanctified." They changed & became different people. They used to be immoral but now they aren’t. They used to be dishonest but now they’re not. They have been sanctified by God & their behavior, their reaction to one another, the words they speak, everything is entirely different.
3. Finally, he says, "You were justified." And the word "justified" simply means they were just as if they had never sinned at all.
SUM. So who will be in heaven? Those who have been washed. Those who have been sanctified. Those who have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you realize His power? He has the power to change you & transform you into an entirely different person. Jesus can do that, if you’ll let Him.
II. SOME IMPORTANT LESSONS WE NEED TO LEARN
Now finally, here are some important lessons we need to learn from this passage of Scripture.
A. Number one is that there are moral dimensions to our Christian commitment. Once we become a Christian, once we’ve been washed & cleansed, once we’ve been sanctified & justified - we become different. We have changed.
I need to say that again. There are too many people out there who, if interviewed, would say, "Yes, I’m a Christian," but they’re on their way to an X-rated movie. Or they’re on their way to a bar. They’ve never changed. They’re still the same person they were before they came to Christ.
If you’re a Christian, there will be a change in your life. You will be a different person.
ILL. I’ve mentioned before that the VVCC in Dallas has adopted a sister church in the Ukraine, & each year people from Valley View travel over there to share with them. Well, Pete O’Brien, who plays ball for the Seattle Mariners, was one of those who went on the trip. By the way, in an article in USA Today about Pete O’Brien, he said that when he leaves baseball he intends to enter the Christian ministry. Whether it is with young people or whatever, he plans to serve Jesus.
Well, while traveling in the Ukraine he said, "You know, before I became a Christian I engaged in all the things of the world. My wife & I lived together before we were married & really didn’t think there was much wrong with that. We knew it was probably wrong but we really didn’t care.
"My mouth was like a garbage pit. I could cuss with the very best. I had all kinds of bad habits. I chewed & I smoked & I drank. But, when I became a Christian all of that changed. There is hardly a day when my wife & I don’t kneel & pray & thank God for forgiving us for the things we did that were wrong before we became Christians."
B. The second lesson we need to learn is that there is power available to bring about our transformation. The Holy Spirit in your life can change you. He can change your sexual preference. He can change your desires. He can give you power to overcome temptation.
ILL. Sometime ago there was another supposedly great discovery that proclaimed that homosexuality can be traced back to your genetic makeup, your DNA, & all that. Well, maybe.
But I know this, there is power to change. And if God says it’s wrong God will give you the power to change direction & overcome temptation, & God will give you the power to become a different kind of person. There is power there to help you so that you can finally say, "This is what I used to be. This is what I was, but now I am different."
C. Finally, the church needs to be open to all. It can’t be just people like me who are welcome. It has to be anyone & everyone who comes searching honestly & sincerely for the salvation that is offered.
ILL. When Charles Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, was a young man he admittedly was very sectarian & very judgmental. He thought he & the people who agreed with him were the only ones going to heaven. Everybody else was probably going to hell.
Then one night years later Wesley dreamed that he was standing at the gates of hell, & he decided to find out who was in there. So he cupped his hands & yelled, "Are there any Presbyterians in there?" Back came the answer, "Yes!"
"Well, are there any Baptists in there?" Back came the answer, "Yes!"
"Are there any Episcopalians in there?" "Yes!" came the answer.
It took a lot of nerve for him to do it, but finally he asked, "Well, are there any Methodists in there?" "Yes!" came the answer.
Suddenly, in his dream, he found himself before the gates of heaven. So he decided to try the same procedure there.
"Are there any Presbyterians in heaven?" "No!" came the answer.
"Any Baptists in there?" "No!" came the answer.
"Any Episcopalians in there?" "No!"
It was just a dream, but once again he got up his nerve to ask, "Are there any Methodists in there?" "No!" came the answer.
"Well then, pray tell who is in there?" asked Wesley. Back came the answer, "Christians, we’re only Christians here. Just Christians."
CONCL. Who will be in heaven? Just Christians - not in any denominational or sectarian sense. Just blood-bought, washed, sanctified, justified Christians. That’s who’ll be there.
No matter what your previous life style may have been, God is here this morning to free you from all that & to give you a new beginning in Jesus Christ. His power is available if you’ll accept Jesus as your Lord & Savior. We give you the opportunity to do that as we offer this invitation & as we stand & as we sing.
