DECEPTION
For a video of this sermon, go to thecreekmonroe.com
Intro: Who is going to Heaven. Have you ever wondered about that. Is my friend going or my children or my wife. My parents, grandparents. Have you ever wondered if you will be in Heaven. What might the population of Heaven look like? What are the demographics. I think many will be surprised.
. I have always thought that people in Heaven would be a whole lot like me. You know handsome, polite , humble, loving.
. How about you, do you ever wonder?
. Jesus told us that many may think that they are going but they may be surprised.
. He tells us this over in Mathew 7. He is coming to the end of the greatest sermon ever preached. The Sermon On The Mount and in verses 21-23 Jesus tells us this.
. 21“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.
22On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’
23But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’
. What Jesus is saying here is that an eternity in Heaven is more than lip service.
. In writing to the church in Corinth, Paul is telling them much the same. He reminds them of who will and who will not enter into Heaven.
. Paul pretty much answers the question of Who is going to Heaven.
Lets look at 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
9Don’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,
10or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.
11Some 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.
. Let me remind you of what kind of city Corinth was.
. Corinth was a coastal city, a major seaport in the New Testament world. It sat at the mouth of the Aegean Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the Ionian Sea.
. Ships from all over the world would pass right by Corinth. The city was filled with sailors from all over the world. If you think we live in a diverse society, you should have visited Corinth in Paul's time.
.It was also a popular tourist spot being a coastal city. We do love to go to the beach don't we?
. 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
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.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.
.But God was able to use Paul to establish a strong & growing church there that was making inroads into the very pagan society of Corinth.
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. The problem was that the pagan beliefs were being intertwined within the church . There was some deception going on and he needed to stop it. He needed to remind them just who would inherit the Kingdom of God
.Look at the verse 9 with me again.
9Don’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,
. The First thing we see here is Paul telling them.
. Don't Be Deceived
. Don't fool your yourselves. The NIV and KJ say don't be deceived.
. These Pagan beliefs that have been brought into the church will deceive people and make them think they are saved just because they come to church. Just because they are part of the congregation.
. We are just as guilty as the Corinthians I am afraid. We think everyone is going to Heaven. WE are deceiving ourselves.
. 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. There was a preacher who 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. Don't fool yourselves. 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.
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.
. 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.
. Our daughters and granddaughters can get an abortion without their parents ever knowing in many parts of the country.
. It seems that the biggest hits of TV are shows that feature and highlight pre-marital sex and extra marital sex. I have never watched the shows like satisfaction or sex in the city or real house wives of somewhere.
. We watch these things and allow our children to watch them giving tacit approval. No wonder they get confused and deceived.
.Yet, Paul says to us, "The sexually immoral will not inherit the kingdom of God."
.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.
. 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?
. Then in verse 10 he gives us more examples of people who will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
.Look at verse 10 with me.
10or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.
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.
. 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.
. "...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.
. "...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?
. "...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.
. Paul is saying to us and the Corinthian church, "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."
. Then he shifts gears and tells us how to not be decieved.
. Look at verse 11 with me.
. 11Some 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.
. Here we see that some were:
. Not Deceived
. He says some of you were like that. All ten of those things were present in the lives of the people there in the church.
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.
. The ones who had been cleansed, made Holy, made right with God through Jesus Christ were the ones who were not being deceived. They knew that the old had been washed away and they were a new creation in Christ Jesus.
. They were no longer sexually immoral people who lived a life of wickedness and depravity.
.Paul is telling them and us, If we have been washed made Holy through the blood of Jesus Christ, that we will not be deceived. We will know that we are not to live a life of sexual immorality and depravity.
.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.
. Don't be deceived into thinking that we all go to Heaven.
. I want to close with the final words from Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount. Matt 7: 24-27.
. This is just after Jesus tells them just because you know my name doesn't mean that I know you in a saving way.
24“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.
25Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.
26But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand.
27When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”
. Only those who have been changed, been transformed into a new creation will be in Heaven.
. Are you a new creation today?
. Invitation
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources: The Holy Bible, NLT
Melvin Newland, Who's Going To Heaven; Sermon Central (parts of sermon)
