Since Christ has freed those who believe from the Old
Testament Law and modern culture accepts things that were once considered taboo,
many believe we need to accept certain practices such as homosexuality. As we
saw in the previous post, Christ died to free us from sin and we need to
recognize that fact and live accordingly.
Romans 6:16 warns, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield
yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of
sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”
To continue in sin implies we are not sincere about being
Christians. John 14:23-24 tells us, “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man
love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come
unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings:
and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.” The fact that a person chooses to live a
life of sin indicates that they really don’t care about Christ, or his
sacrifice for their sin.
I Corinthians 6:9-10 emphasizes this point. “Know
ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not
deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” Paul is quite specific when he says that
people who live these lifestyles are not saved and will not go to heaven. Please understand that they are not going to
hell because they do these things, but as John 3:18-19 tells us, because they
do not believe in Christ, preferring their sin.
“He that believeth on him is not
condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is
come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their
deeds were evil.” As John 3:36 tells
us, “He that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the
wrath of God abideth on him.”
The list of behaviors Paul says indicate a person is not
truly a Christian lists a number of things that are widely overlooked in our
day. Let’s look at the list in more
detail.
Fornication is a general term for sex between people who are
not married, including premarital sex, prostitution, rape, homosexuality, etc.
Idolatry is simply worshipping gods other than God himself.
Adultery is specific form of fornication involving sex with
a person who is married to someone else.
Effeminate refers to those who pass themselves off as
members of the opposite sex, i.e. homosexual or transgender practices.
Abusers of themselves with mankind refers to Sado-masochistic
practices.
Thieves are people who steal.
Coveteous people are ones who crave and try to get what
others have.
Drunkards are those who misuse drugs or alcohol.
Revilers are those who run people down.
Extortioners are those who
take what belongs to others either by force or by deceit, and includes
blackmail, scams, misappropriation, filing
false claims, etc.
Fortunately, God changes our attitude when we become a
Christian as II Corinthians 5:17-18 tells us.
“Therefore if any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things
are become new. And all things are of
God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ…” As a result, I Corinthians 6:11 states, “And such were some of you: but ye are
washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord
Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” When you become a Christian, such
practices and behaviors cause guilt and emotional distress because they go
against that new spirit or attitude God gives.
If they don’t bother a person,
he needs to check to see if he is saved.
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