1 Corinthians 6:9-11 – Don’t Fool Yourselves
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NLT)
9 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.11 Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Examine the scriptures:
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NLT)
9 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God?
Not everyone will inherit the Kingdom of God.
Matthew 7:13-14 (NLT)
13 “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. 14 But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.
John 3:16-21 (NLT)
16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”
- Not everyone will spend eternity in heaven.
Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.
These verses describe the true nature of the lost.
These behaviors certainly do not display the true nature of the saved.
Believers can and do commit these sins, but these verses do not describe the character of someone who has been born into God’s family.
1 John 3:7-10 (NLT)
7 Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. 8 But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. 10 So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.
Key phrase: Don’t fool yourselves.
- Don’t fool yourselves.
2 Corinthians 13:5 (NLT)
Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you (is in you,); if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith.
Galatians 5:19-23 (NLT)
19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
True believers who do sin, resent that sin and seek to gain victory over it.
11 Some of you were once like that.
Romans 3:23
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
- Everyone has sinned.
But you were cleansed; you were made holy;
Titus 3:5 (NLT)
he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.
Colossians 1:13 (NLT)
For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son,
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
1 Corinthians 1:30 (NLT)
God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.
- Christians have been rescued by God from the kingdom of darkness and have been transferred into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
John 3:16 (NLT)
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Romans 3:22-25
22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.
Romans 10:9-13 (NLT)
9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. 11 As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” 12 Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. 13 For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Acts 2:21 (NLT)
21 But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
will be saved.’
Romans 8:33 (NLT)
Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself.
- We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ.
- Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
