I must say that whenever I stand before you in this place, I do so with a great sense of responsibility, a great sense of joy, knowing that you are a people who want to hear the Word of God. And this is especially, this is a special blessing, given the fact that we now live in a culture, even in an evangelical culture, that will not tolerate sound doctrine. So this is a very rare place and let me say that I'm so happy that you are willing to hear sound doctrine.

So once again, we're going to hear some sound doctrine out of First Corinthians six, okay? Sowill you take your Bibles and turn there? I've entitled my discourse to you "Conflict and Courtrooms," and that will become abundantly clear as we see what the Spirit of God has to say through his inspired apostle Paul to this early church and ultimately to each of us. Let me read the text beginning in verse one, First Corinthians six.

"Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints?

Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts?

Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?

So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church?

I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren,

but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers?

Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?

On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren.

​

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,

nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

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."

My, can't you imagine the mood of the people when they heard that read to them for the first time? As you may recall in our study of First Corinthians, worldliness was a very serious problem in the church there in Corinth, and it's a serious problem in all churches, even to this day; it’s a problem here in this church. One of my greatest burdens for you is over this very issue of worldliness that causes you to forfeit blessing in your life, that causes us to be a church that's just not all that interested in prayer and evangelism. But that's another subject. But this was what was going on in that church. Rather than following Christ in thought and in word and in deed, they were acting more like unbelievers.

Now it's easy for us to sit here and smugly say, "Boy, I'm glad I'm not that way." Really? Let me ask you, how do you deal with conflict? With patient love and humility and forgiveness, with a desire a passion for reconciliation? Or do you deal with it with exaggerations and distortions and anger, dishonesty, pride, demanding your own way, justifying all that you think and do, and pouting and whining when people don't agree with you, and then seeking through slander to enlist other; people to join your little group, and then eventually, when you don't get your way, you just break fellowship. Folks, if that's how you conduct yourself, that's a result of worldliness, assuming you truly know Christ. When you are in conflict with someone is your first concern how your attitude reflects the Savior? Is your first concern, winning your case or settling it in a way that brings about reconciliation? Beloved, one of the greatest tests of worldliness is how you deal with interpersonal conflict in your marriage, and your family and the church, at work, wherever.

Now, most of the new believers you will recall, and well, I should put it this way, all of the people in Corinth were new believers, right? The church hadn't been around that long, and so they were struggling with worldliness. Remember, in chapter three and verse one, he called them "men of flesh." He called them babes in Christ. He went on to talk about how they were unable to grasp the deeper truths of the word of God and apply it to their lives. He said in verse three of chapter three, you are still "fleshly, for since there is, "catch this, "jealousy and strife." By the way, they always will go together. Wherever you see strife, you know there's jealousy. "For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?" So as a result, the church was plagued with divisiveness. Factions had developed along the lines of their favorite preacher, favorite leader in the church. And so there was jealousy and strife. There was personal status seeking.

You will recall in chapter four, Paul exposed their pride, and certainly pride is always at the heart of greed and criticism and conflict. We also know, as we studied before, they were tolerating gross immorality in the church. Remember, some guy was was involved with his stepmother, and the church was tolerating this. And today, we're going to see that some of the more affluent and powerful members of the church were taking advantage of some of the weak and less influential people in the church, and they were taking them to public court.

Later, we're going to learn that some of them were were so worldly, they were getting drunk at their love feasts, and they didn't want to have anything to do with the poor people that were amongst them. And then some, we're going to see, were trying to show off by seeking the more sensational, spiritual gifts. And there was just a general lack of orderliness in the church. It was chaotic. So Paul was very concerned about all of this. In fact, later on in Second Corinthians, 12 and verse 20, here's what he says to them, "For I am afraid that perhaps when I come, I may find you to be not what I wish." He went on to say that perhaps there "will be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances; I'm afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and not repented of the impurity, immorality and sensuality which they have practiced."

But here in chapter six, the issue is conflict resolution, or I should say, the lack thereof. We're going to look at it real simply under two categories. We're going to look at conflict resolution man's way and conflict resolution God's way. Let me give you some historical background here. It's very important to understand this text.

The Greeks, you will recall, were a very proud, a very sophisticated people. I mean, Corinth, for example, would be tantamount to Boston. You know this is where all of the elite people, all of the very well-educated people were and they were in love with wisdom, "philosophia." They were highly partisan in their politics, and there were a number of philosophic schools that all vied for the affection of the people, and the support of the people. And new believers would then bring all of the sectarianism into the church. "I'm of Paul," "I'm of Apollos," well, "I'm of Cephas," well, "I'm of Christ," and here we go. All this disunity. But this kind of bickering was a way of life for them. In fact, the Greeks were a very litigious people in. Around AD 100 Dio Chrysostom speaks of, quote, "innumerable lawyers perverting justice." Sound familiar? You see all these ads on television constantly, don't you, for the ambulance chasers and so forth.

Now there were various stages of arbitration and litigation during this era of history. The first stage was what they would call private arbitration between disputing parties. And so what would happen is, if you were having a dispute with your neighbor, then they would be assigned, each party would be assigned, a private citizen as an arbitrator, along with one neutral third person, and if they failed to settle the dispute, they would go into a second stage and the case would be heard by a court of 40 who were assigned a public arbitrator or who assigned public arbitrators to each party. And in fact, every citizen had to serve as an arbitrator during the 16th year of life. Can you imagine that? 16 years old, you've got to be an arbitrator. By the way we look at that and think, my goodness, but you've got to realize the average life expectancy then was about 35. Some lived to be 40, some more.

Well, if none of that worked, then you would go to public arbitration. This is where it got really nasty. There you would have a jury court composed of several 100, and sometimes as many as several 1000 people, depending upon the case. In fact, every citizen over 30 years old was required to serve as a juror. So as you can see everyone in that culture was constantly involved in litigation. And you know how it works. However, the culture functions that's typically what filters into the church, and that's what was going on. And these small claims courts, as you might think of them, were all public, everyone could see. In fact, this was one of the leading forms of entertainment.

By the way, we might shake our heads at that and think, you got to be kidding me, that was entertainment? You know, I was looking the other day, there are 52 TV court shows on television today. Judge Judy, Judge Joe Brown, divorce court, Day Court, The Blame Game. I mean, it goes on. I've seen a little bit of these things. I mean, you lose brain cells watching that stuff, but it's going on today, too.

Now, can you imagine being in church here, and I don't know one of you over here has a fight with somebody over here, and before you know it, you're down at Opry Mills Mall, out in front of everybody, bickering and trying to settle this dispute. I mean, it'd just be insane, and that's what was going on. Totally adversarial, no love, no thought of reconciliation. Now I might also add that for criminal law, for criminal proceedings, the Roman courts were fairly reliable and administering justice. In fact, in in Romans, chapter 13, about the first seven verses or so, the apostle Paul speaks about how we are to submit to our governing authorities and and unless they require us to disobey God's word, and we're to do that even if they're unfair, even if they are incompetent, which many of them are, and immoral and unreasonable.

But the civil courts in the Greco Roman world, where the smaller claims were judged, were notoriously biased. The judges and the juries were influenced by the rich and the powerful, and they would routinely take advantage of the poor and the unimportant, who, by the way, wouldseldom take their claims to the court because they figured they probably wouldn't prevail anyway. So to prevail in a suit in those days, you had to have the right connections. They had their version of what we would call "a good old boy network." You needed direct or indirect influence, and obviously, for a believer, now think about this - for a believer in a church to become publicly adversarial with another believer, violates everything that is sacred to Christian doctrine, to Christian love. It enflames even further disunity in the church. It ruins your testimony.

Moreover, it undermines the appropriate authority of the church to deal with these matters. And I might even add one more, because every church, including our church, is going to have conflict from time to time, but when you have this kind of conflict, it's a total distraction to everything that is important in the church. It prevents the church from worshiping Christ, from evangelizing the lost, from stimulating one another to love and good deeds and so on. Intentional one- anothering is suddenly shut down because you're dealing with disputing parties. But can you imagine the disruption in a church if you've got somebody over here suing somebody over here, and it's all a public thing. Poor Apollos, he was the pastor at this time. What a mess he had. So Paul makes a very interesting contrast here about how you resolve conflict, God's way versus man's way. He starts with man's way, number one, conflict resolution man's way.

Let me unpack the text a little bit for you here, beginning in verse one, "Does any one of you, when he has a case..." The term "case" can mean a grievance, in the original language, or it was little a legal term for a lawsuit. "Does any of you, when he has a lawsuit against his neighbor, dare to go to law..." present tense, ongoing reality. This was common. This is what was going on amongst them. "Do you dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints?" The unrighteous here refers to unbelievers, those who lack spiritual discernment. They do not have the gifts; they do not have the resources in Christ. They do not have the mind of Christ like a believer would. So he's incredulous. He's deeply grieved over this. How dare you do such a thing, or as we might put it, you have got to be kidding me.

Now, Paul himself appealed to secular courts, so he wasn't against them, per se, and in fact, without secular courts. I mean, can you imagine what our society would be like? It would be chaos. There would be lawlessness. We need to be thankful even for our Supreme Court justices. At least, there's some hope for fair treatment, but most judges and jurors even today are unrighteous. They do not possess the mind of Christ. They have no spiritual discernment. How else are you going to have, for example, Supreme Court justices affirming abortion or homosexuality or some of these other wicked things that are consistent with our culture today. In First Corinthians, chapter two, we read about the person, this unrighteous person, the type of people that are judges today, says, "but a natural man," that is an unsaved man, "does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, they are foolishness to him; he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised." Means they lack spiritual discernment. "But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that He will instruct Him? And he answers it here, he says, "..but we have the mind of Christ." The point is, the unrighteous don't have that.

But you must understand, Paul's concern here is not that the people wouldn't get a fair hearing, although that was always a huge risk, his concern was really two-fold. First of all, he was concerned that the whole process was adversarial. It was not motivated out of love, out of grace; it was hostile, it was not loving. And secondly, the whole thing really undermined the authority of the church to settle disputes among believers and bring about reconciliation that honors Christ and puts the gospel on display. You know, at the very nature of man's court system, we see that one side is pitted against the other right? In fact, when people look for a lawyer, they look for "Mr. Go to jail." They want to make sure that they have a lawyer that will make their opponent look as bad and as guilty and as awful as they possibly can. So there's no chance for lasting love and reconciliation in that kind of a process. In fact, after judges’ rule in these TV courts, you know, they typically want to interview the plaintiff and the defendant and the winner is always smug and the loser is filled with even more anger and revenge than they had when they first went in there. There is no reconciliation. There's just more antagonism.

But when mature believers have a difference and they come together with the mind of Christ, and they're truly seeking the Spirit and trying to follow the Lord, then there is an opportunity here for genuine reconciliation. There's no character assassination, no revenge, no demanding personal gain or any of that. The deliberations are motivated out of love, or they should be. There needs to be a spirit of forgiveness, a passion for unity among the brethren. In fact, Paul said in Ephesians four, beginning in verse one, "Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you," I beg you, people, "walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another and love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."Dear friends, there will be no unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace if church members don't try to settle their own disputes together, or at least within the confines of the church, and instead go out and sue each other.

Worse yet, what was going on in Corinth is church people were tolerating this. It's kind of like, well, that's just what we do in our culture, even as they tolerated the man living with his stepmother in the preceding chapter. So what about conflict resolution God's way? Notice what Paul says, and this is fascinating, how he builds his case. He says, "Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?" The term judge in the original language, "krinō", it's a term that means "to judge," or you could translate it "to rule" or " to govern." Don't you know that saints are going to rule or govern the world? It's a fascinating statement. I won't spend much time on that, but we know that, according to First Timothy two and verse 12, Paul speaks of the earthly kingdom reign of Jesus and his saints, as being something that is going to be in the future. It's not something that is existing now, per se, the way it will, as the Old Testaments prophesied. And there he says, If we endure, we will also reign with him. Something that will happen in the future. We will reign with him. It's an amazing thought. In Revelation two and verse 26 we read that Jesus will, quote, "give authority over the nations." He will give that to us. Jesus promised in chapter three and verse 21, "the One who conquers I will grant him to sit with me on My throne." Revelation five, beginning in verse nine through verse 10, he says that those who have been purchased with Jesus’ blood and form the nucleus of God's Kingdom will reign over the earth, he says, "and you have made them a kingdom and priest who are God, and they shall reign on the earth." You can go to Revelation 21 and all the way through the fifth verse of chapter 22 you will see a description of the future millennial reign of Christ that will lead to the eternal kingdom when we you will be able to see the full presence of God's glory manifested in the New Jerusalem, where the Father and the Son will be on the throne, and God's people will reign forever and ever.

So when he asks, "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?" He's referring to these great concepts. He's basically saying, folks do not underestimate the superior spiritual discernment of believers to settle these kinds of disputes. "If the world," he goes on to say, "is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts?" It's a great argument.

Verse three, "Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?" And here again, it's a fascinating study. Let me just touch on it briefly. We know, according to Second Peter two and verse four, and Jude six, that the Lord Himself is going to judge fallen angels. But what's interesting, and we can't be dogmatic here, but what is really interesting is because we are united to Christ, and because one day we will be like him, and because believers are promised that they will sit with Christ on his throne, Revelation 3:21, and because we have authority to judge, Revelation 20 and verse four, it is very possible that we as believers may also judge evil angels with Christ; and somehow that may be what he's referring to here, because he says, "Do you not know that we will judge angels?" But regardless of that, what he's ultimately saying is this: given the judicial authority of believers, in the age to cometo both judge and rule over the nations and over angels - given all of that, surely, you're able to settle your own disputes in the church. That's the point. We have the word of God. We have the indwelling Spirit of God. We have been granted all things pertaining to life and godliness, so surely the church can handle petty disputes among the brethren. Furthermore, why would we bring a dispute before people we will one day judge? Makes no sense.

Verse four, "So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church?" In other words, to put it, to paraphrase it differently, saying, really, you are going to ask men who know nothing of Christ, know nothing of the word and the will of God, who do not have the Spirit of God dwelling within them, you're going to ask them to settle your disputes? You know, folks, the most moral, educated and experienced, unbelieving judge in the world is utterly incapable of settling a case in a way that pleases God and puts the glory of Christ on display, because that's really what is at stake. I love what John MacArthur said, quote, "The poorest equipped believer who seeks the counsel of God's Word and Spirit is much more competent to settle disagreements between fellow believers than is the most highly trained and experienced unbelieving judge who is devoid of divine truth. Because we are in Christ," he goes on to say, "Christians rank above the world and even above angels. And by settling our own disputes, we give a testimony of our resources and of our unity, harmony and humility before the world. When we go to public court, our testimony is the opposite."

So again, verse four. "So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church? I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren?" By the way, he is using sarcasm here, he is mocking their their philosophia - we are the great wise people here in Corinth, we have all of the philosophy. Oh, well, if you're so wise here in the church, don't you have at least one wise guy that can help do this? That's what he's saying.

Verse six, "But brother goes to law with brother and that before unbelievers?" In other words, he's saying, Folks, your lives are basically to be a picture of reconciliation, and you're going to war over trivial matters amongst each other? Really? You know that's man's way of resolving conflict. How do you harmonize that kind of behavior with for example, First John three, and beginning in verse 10, John says, "By this, the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious." In other words, here's a distinction, you want to see a test of genuine saving faith, here's one of them, "...anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another."

So obviously this type of silliness in the church violates all of that. So Paul concludes, back to First Corinthians six, verse seven, actually, "Then it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another." In other words, before God, you've already lost your case because you have proven yourself to be selfish, to being self-centered, unforgiving, distrusting of God's own people, his church, his plan, his purposes in conflict resolution. "Why not rather be wrong?" He says, "Why not rather be defrauded?" Which literally means cheated out of money. You see, folks, there's bigger issues at stake here, then whatever your dispute is, whatever that settlement might be. Beloved, we have no spiritual right to ever demand legal justice against another brother or sister in Christ, in a secular court. We need to try to work it out amongst ourselves. If we can't do that, then we find somebody that we love and trust and we would agree upon, and let's talk it through, let's try to find resolution here, and let's agree to abide by whatever the verdict is. And if you can't do that, then you know, you come to the elders, and many times we have dealt with these types of things. And if you're clearly in the right and your brother just simply refuses to act justly, they refuse to repent, they refuse to be reconciled, then, depending upon the severity of the issue, we move towards church discipline.

Now, many times the relationship is severed, they leave the church or whatever. There's very little you can do with that; you want to do the most you can to try to reconcile. Remember Romans, 12, beginning in verse 18, Paul says, "If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men." In other words, do everything you can on your part. Then he says, "Never take your own revenge beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine. I will repay,' says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. And if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For In so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good."

You know, I have to tell you, having been in ministry for many years now, I really feel sorry for a sinning brother or sister who refuses to reconcile, because I have seen what God can do in that person's life and the life and their family. I've seen how they forfeit business. I've seen businesses fail. I've seen marriages come apart. I've seen kids grow up to be wicked. I've seen all kinds of things. But you know where there is Christ-like humility, even if you lose your case, you win, because Christ blesses in ways so far beyond what you would have won in your settlement, whatever that might have been. Galatians six, such a reminder of how we should conduct ourselves, beginning in verse seven, Paul says, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life." So he goes on to say, "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith."

Beloved, that's conflict resolution God's way, not man's way. Man's way always animates the unbridled, vicious rhetoric of unbelievers outside the church, who already think we're a bunch of idiots and a bunch of hypocrites, and then the acrimony between the two believers just exacerbates more division in the church, and people start choosing sides, and it's a mess. Jesus said in Matthew five and verse 40, "'If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also.'" Kind of puts it all in perspective, doesn't it? Just that statement, end of discussion. Jesus went on to say, "'Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy," but I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.'" So in other words, folks, we need to relinquish our rights because there are higher purposes. There are higher issues here, more important issues for the cause of Christ and the sake of the kingdom. That's what's at stake.

So Paul says, "Why not rather be defrauded?" Verse eight. "On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren." Yes, but pastor, you don't know what a liar and what a cheat this person is. Okay. Galatians 6:1, remember what it says "Brethren, if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual," catch this, "restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness." "Restore" in the original language, "katartizō."  It was a term that was used to mend a net or to fix something that was broken. It was even a surgical term used to describe setting a broken bone so that it could heal properly. "You, who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself so that you too will not be tempted." Well, yeah, but what if the person refuses to reconcile? What if they just blow up, and there's just nothing you can do. Well, if you've done all that you can, if it's an issue of church discipline, then we have to bring that to the elders, and you move down those stages - those four stages - but basically you just have to let God deal with them. You try to reconcile, but it doesn't always...the other person won't always do that. Remember Second Thessalonians, chapter three and verse 14, Paul addresses this again. He says, "If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame. Yet do not regard him as an enemy butadmonish him as a brother. Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all." Titus, chapter three and verse 10 and 11. Paul addresses this again. He says, "reject a factious man." Literally have nothing to do with that kind of person after a first and second warning; you do everything you can, to reconcile, to confront, to deal with it, and if they won't deal with it - they're going to be factious and divisive, or even teach heresy, or whatever it might be - you have nothing to do with them. And he says, "...knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self condemned." In other words, folks, at that point, you let the Spirit of God deal with them. You love them, you pray for them, but you certainly don't make make it your crusade to bring them to a place of repentance. You're not the Holy Spirit, neither am I. So you love them, you pray for them, and you be quick to forgive. You be quick to reconcile. If that person finally comes to a place where they seek that, and I've seen that happen many times, sometimes it's years later. This is how we resolve conflicts God's way.

Now, what Paul does next is very convicting. He gives a representative list of moral sins that characterize the ungodly people of the world, the unrighteous, the unjustified, who will never enter into the kingdom. Why? Why does he do this? What he wants to do, and this is really fascinating, he wants to provide a contrast between believers and unbelievers. He doesn't want that line being blurred here. He wants them to see the distinction, in order to show the believers how unacceptable it is for a Christian to act like a non-Christian in this kind of a situation. And as we will see, he wants to remind them of the forgiveness and the cleansing that we have received in the courtroom of heaven.

So he says in verse nine, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous," in other words, those who practice evil, those who have never been justified by the grace of God, "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?" In other words, their lifestyle proves that they are not within the spiritual sphere of salvation. Jesus does not reign over their life as their king. They have no part of the spiritual kingdom, and he gives a representative list here. He says, "Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revelers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God."

Let me help you. I want to make sure you understand these terms, because most people in our culture blow them off. Even in a lot of churches, they treat these things as if they're not an issue, they're a huge issue. Fornicators. What's that? Well, that's people who practice sexual immorality in general. It's particularly speaking of unmarried people. This is sex out of marriage. This is sleeping around. This is living together. This is being addicted to pornography, basically everything that characterizes the sexual practices of our culture. All of this is an abomination to God.

Idolaters. What's that? Well, that's worshiping false gods, or it can be worshiping the true God falsely. Redefining him, attributing to him that which he is not, or that which is not true. You see this all the time on religious television. The Jesus they talk about is not the Jesus of the Bible, for the most part.

Adulterers, well, that's married men or women who are being sexually involved with someone outside of their marriage, someone other than their spouse. What about effeminate? He also uses homosexuals. It's important to understand the "effeminate" is a technical term and a concept used to describe the passive partner of a homosexual union. The homosexual is the active partner. The effeminate would also include transgender people, transvestites, transsexuals and so forth.

May I remind you, and I spoke on this not too long ago, Deuteronomy, 22 verse five, "A woman shall not wear man's clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman's clothing. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God." And there, by the way, in the Hebrew, when it translates a man's clothing, it speaks literally, of the "apparatus" of a man. In other words, anything that blurs the distinction between maleness and femaleness is an abomination to God; anything that violates the sanctity of that distinction of the sexes that God established in his creation; the distinction between a man and a woman, that's an abominatio, and sexual intimacy is only allowed, we know biblically, in the bonds of matrimony and only between one man and one woman. You want sound doctrine, folks, this is sound doctrine, all right? This is the truth. Any other kind of union God calls an abomination. It's a base inversion of God's created order, and it's a violation of his moral order. But of course, Satan does everything he can to distort everything that is pure and wholesome and right, especially in the realm of sexuality. And he does this to destroy the family and to make a mockery of God.

Now, in our culture, Satan seduces human beings to do all kinds of things, including now to redefine gender. I told you before, there are now anywhere from three to 112 different genders. Facebook now offers 50 different gender identity options for new users. I checked it out. Let me give you a few of the names. Now, mind you, this is Greek to me, but this is what they're thinking. Here's some of them. There's the agender, the androgynus, by gender, CIS, which, by the way, is capital C, I, S. Then there is cis gender female, cis gender male, gender fluid, gender queer, transgender, female or male, transsexual, female or male, nonbinary, pan gender, two Spirit, and it goes on. Folks, this is what happens when God gives a culture over to a worthless mind, a depraved mind. It's insane. By the way, these people need the Savior. They need Christ, and we need to tell them who Christ is. We need to give them the gospel; they're bound up in their sin. The sin of homosexuality was such an abomination to God that he destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of it, Genesis 19. Why is it so bad, people say. Well, God makes it clear it's so bad because it perverts God's design that marriage reflect Christ's relationship to his church, and it distorts the gospel picture that God intended marriage to portray. That's why it's so bad. The souls of men are at stake. Here you will recall the event in Sodom, in Genesis 19, when the two angels that were appearing as men were dispatched to save Lot and the judgment of God that was poured out upon that city. And there was a savage mob of enflamed homosexuals ruled by their moral passions, and they tried to assault these men sexually, and even after being blinded, they continued to grope to try to find the doorway of Lot's house.

By the way, this is indicative of what Paul says in Romans one and verse 27 that homosexual men, quote, "burn in their desire for one another." In the Greek, it's in the passive voice, and the burn means that to set on fire, they are set on fire. They are inflamed. They're consumed with passion, which explains the bizarre behaviors that they're involved in and the and the numerous physical injuries and diseases that's a part of that whole community. Exodus Global Alliance, which is a Christian group that works with homosexuals to bring them to Christ. In fact, their website says, "Proclaiming that faith in Christ and a transformed life is possible for the homosexual, through the transforming power of Jesus Christ. Anyway, I was reading some of their, and I've read a lot of other research on this, but according to their research studies, the modal range for homosexual sex partners is 100 to 500. They say that 83% of the homosexual men surveyed said they had 50 partners in their lifetime. 43% estimate they had between 500 and more, and 28% had more than 1000 partners. And 79% say that half of their partners are total strangers. And you're going to tell me that somebody is born that way? Folks, these thesepeople, they need Christ. They are slaves to their sin. And some of you were once there. If it wasn't that, it was something else, myself included. That's why, later on, he's going to say, "and such were some of you, but you were washed." And because this kind of lust and behavior is so despicable, so perverse, that he destroyed the entire city of Sodom, and cities of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone. The term sodomy is rooted in that great incident of that day, refers to homosexual behavior practiced by the Sodomites.

Jude later writes, and I've given this to you, I think, on the screen, Jude later writes of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them that they, quote, "indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh." Peter said that Sodom and Gomorrah were characterized by the sexual conduct of the wicked, and they were, quote, "condemned to extinction." In fact, Scripture refers back to Sodom and Gomorrah over 20 times as an illustration of, and a warning, concerning what will happen to those who refuse to submit to God's law and the gospel?

So God calls it an abomination. It's treated morally equal to adultery, incest and bestiality in the Old Testament, Leviticus 18:22, "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female. It is an abomination." Easy to understand. God has spoken. Verse 29, "For whoever does any of these abominations, those persons who do so shall be cut off from among their people to be put to death." Chapter 20, verse 13, "If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood guiltiness is upon them."

By the way, the people in Paul's day were familiar with all of this stuff. The Roman Emperor Nero that reigned around the time Paul wrote this letter, had a young boy named Sporius, s, p, o, r, i, s, in English, Sporits, who was a sex slave and he had him castrated and made him his quote "wife," along by the way, with his natural wife. After Nero died, Nero's successor, Otho, o t h o, took that same boy in for himself in the same manner. We know that Socrates was a sodomite, Plato as well. In fact, Plato's Symposium on love is a discourse that exalts homosexuality. 14 of the first 15 Roman emperors were homosexuals. So it gives you a sense of the depravity that is there.

Well, Paul goes on, back to First Corinthians six that he adds that, "...nor thieves, nor the covetous," in other words, those who are habitually greedy, they desire what other peoples have, and they actually steal it; they're never satisfied with their income, never satisfied with their possessions, they're always wanting more - they're not going to enter the kingdom. "Nor drunkards," those who imbibe alcohol to the excess and that characterizes their life; "nor revilers," that's referring to slanderers or those who falsely accuse other people, "nor swindlers," this is another way of speaking of scam artists. You know all these phone calls we get all the time. You know that's the only comfort I get when I know that these people, I don't know, somehow, there's a part of me that says, you know you're not going to enter the kingdom, you know, because of this. Actually, that's a horrible way to think of that, but you get the idea. Extortioners, embezzlers, people that sell defective merchandise, phony services, those kind of people. None of these will inherit the kingdom of God.

But then I love this. He closes, he says, "Such were some of you," literally in the Greek, "these things were some of you." And the Greek grammar that is kind of technical here, it really expresses the horror of depravity that you were like this, we were like this before our conversion. And he says, "...but you were washed." In fact, he's going to use the word "but." In Greek grammar, this is really important, this is the strongest way to portray a radical contrast. And he does it three times, "but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified n the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." There's the distinction between those who have been born again and those who haven't. You were washed, sanctified and justified.

Also in the grammar here, it indicates that this is something that happened in the past that was totally completed. You were once for all washed. You were once for all sanctified. You were once and for all justified. There's no works in this. But you were washed. In other words, he's saying this is what you used to be. That's the Greek concept here, and again, the grammar here indicates that there's a sense of shock that they're not seeing this. Don't you see this? Don't you see the implication of God's grace in your life? You were washed. You were wiped clean as a result of regeneration. Titus, chapter three and verse five, Jesus saved us, "not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit."

He doesn't stop there. He says, "but you were sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." You were set apart, positionally, forever, from sin unto God by the power of the indwelling Spirit. You were given a new nature, and therefore you have an entirely new capacity to live a holy life. Not only that, but you were justified. I mean, this is the climax of it all, you were declared righteous, when in fact you were guilty. You were put in right standing before a holy God through the imputed righteousness of Christ. You stood before God's holy bar of justice, and you were found guilty, but you had an advocate, the man Christ Jesus. When the evidence came in, you were pardoned. Christ's death on your behalf, removed your guilt. You were clothed with the righteousness of Christ, so now there's no condemnation. And when you left God's courtroom, you did not leave that courtroom innocent. You were still guilty, but you left that courtroom justified, washed and sanctified. Don't you see this? That's his point. But even in light of all that, you're going to take your brother or sister to court? You're going to do that? You're going to behave like those who will never enter the kingdom, those like who you used to be?  

Oh, dear Christian, examine your heart. How do you resolve conflict? Think about your courtroom appearance before a holy God. You were guilty, so was I. You were condemned, but you were washed, sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. So folks, we've got to treat others in that same way. That's the point. If God has reconciled us to himself by his grace, should we not be the same way in how we deal with conflict with others? We've been called to a spirit of reconciliation, even with unbelievers.

Let me close with this thought. Perhaps there's someone in your mind right now, maybe somebody in this room that you're at odds with. You just don't like them. You don't want to have anything to do with them. You like to slander them. You like to malign them. You really think that the Lord is going to honor that? Well, yeah, but they've really treated me badly, and I don't agree with what they've said or done or whatever it is. Maybe it's a spouse, maybe it's a family member. A brother or sister in church, here in the church. Yes, but you don't know how.... I can do this, because I've heard this 347,000 times, alright? You just don't know Pastor. She said this and did this, and he said this and did this, and he's done it over and over and over. Pastor, you just don't know how badly he has mistreated me or she has mistreated me. Well, you know what, I may not know that, but you know what I do know you have treated Christ far worse, and so have I.

Dear Christian, in every conflict, ask yourself, am I handling this in such a way as it put as to put God's grace on display, the same grace that he has granted me? Am I dealing with this situation in a way that puts the transforming power of the gospel on display for the glory of Christ and his kingdom?  That's the real issue. So may we all take this to heart, Amen. God has been so good to us, hasn't he, so let's treat others in that same way for our good and his glory. Let's pray.

Father, thank you for these eternal truths that bring such conviction to each of our hearts. We read even the list of moral sins, and we know that in varying ways, we've all been there, and yet you have washed us, you've sanctified us, you've justified us. Oh, God help us by the power of your Spirit to deal with conflict, that's going to be inevitable, to deal with conflict in a way that puts your grace and the power of the gospel on display, and if there be one here today that knows nothing of what it means to be in fellowship with the living God through faith in Christ, oh God, how I pray that you will bring conviction, that today will be the day that they will humble themselves, that they will confess their sin and in repentant faith, cry out for undeserved mercy that they will receive so rich and so free. Thank you, Father, for all you've done for us, for us in Christ's name that I pray, Amen.