09 Are You Saved If You Still Struggle with Sin?

Krisan Marotta: Welcome to Wednesday in the Word. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. Today is the ninth episode in a companion series to my book, Start Strong: A New Believer's Guide to Christianity. We'll be studying 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 9 through 14 today, which is one of the See for Yourself passages from chapter 9 of my book. Now you don't need the book to listen, but if you do have it, read chapter 9 before continuing. If you're listening or reading with a friend, a group, or a book club, you might want to download the free discussion questions I have for every chapter. They're a lot of fun and they're thought-provoking. There's also a companion workbook to help you apply what you're learning, and you can find all those resources, the book and the workbook, at startstrongbook.org. So you've confessed your faith in Christ, but you still struggle with sin. Maybe one particular sin that you just can't seem to stop. Is that a problem? In this episode, we'll unpack Paul's sobering warning that not all those who claim to believe will inherit the kingdom, and we'll discover the crucial difference between stumbling and settling, and why that difference matters. If you've ever wondered, am I really saved if I still struggle like this? Then this episode is for you. The passage we're looking at today is part of an argument that began back in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Paul has been explaining some of the ways in which the Corinthians were not living like they believed the gospel. In fact, some of their choices are big red flags. They claim to believe the gospel, but then they refuse to use a Christian worldview to evaluate their choices, their life, and their circumstances. Back in chapter 5, he starts this section by confronting them with their casual acceptance of a case of what was shocking and blatant immorality in the church. Then he scolds them for taking each other to secular courts. Paul calls them back to a distinctly Christian way of handling conflict, seeking wisdom from fellow believers, valuing their brothers and sisters in Christ more than winning, and sometimes choosing to be wronged rather than damage the witness to the gospel. Now, that is a really brief sketch of the arguments that Paul has made so far. I do have a series on 1 Corinthians where I go into them in more detail, but I'm not going to go over that here. For our purposes today, I'm just trying to set the stage of where we are in the book. In the section we're looking at, Paul's going to counter two arguments that the Corinthians used to justify their choices. And those are all things are lawful, and food is for the stomach. We'll get into that. Let me read the passage first. This is 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 9 through 14. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God. All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything. Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. This little section in Corinthians confronts us with one of the fundamental questions of Christian theology, which determines how we think of ourselves and what it means to be a believer. In verse 9, we have an explicit statement by an apostle that these kinds of people will not inherit the kingdom of God. And that raises the question: okay, what is true of Christians? What should I think of myself if I find myself wrestling with some of the qualities in the list he gives? Is my salvation in doubt if there's a trace of any of these in my life? Well, how do we sort that out? Traditionally, there are two ways people answer this question. First, some try to diffuse the warning by saying, Well, this list he gives, it doesn't apply to Christians anymore. Their idea is that Paul is describing what we used to be before we were saved. And now Jesus has forgiven us. So end of story. Nothing on this list describes us anymore. Well, there's something right in that point of view. There's something right in that instinct. Christians really are forgiven, and being a sinner does not disqualify us from being a believer, and Christians are changed. But that argument doesn't really fit the context because Paul doesn't say, don't worry about it. He says, don't be deceived. That tells us that he thinks self-deception is a real danger, even for people who are sitting in church every Sunday, people who know the vocabulary and assume they're fine. This is not the kind of warning you give if the list is irrelevant. He's talking to people who claim to be genuine believers and he's warning them, don't be deceived about what kind of life is headed for the kingdom of God and what kind of life is not. The second way people respond to this section is by tightening the screws the other direction. They say, well, if you're a genuine believer, you won't find these sins in your life. And again, there's something right in that instinct, but also something very wrong, because genuine believers continue to sin. The New Testament repeatedly talks about our struggles with sin and calls us to repent and stand firm in the faith. So the Christian life is not described as a sinless, easy, perfect life. It's described as a war. Christian experience, church history, reality just indicate that many sincere believers will continue to struggle with the things on this list. So how do we sort that out? The key, I think, is that Paul is not talking about someone who ever commits a sin on the list. He's talking about a person whose life is defined by the items on the list, someone whose lifestyle and choices are characterized by them and who is content to remain there. I think that's why his warning includes the phrase, do not be deceived. The deception is not, I have never sinned in my life or I will never struggle again with these things. The deception is more subtle. The deception is the things we tell ourselves like, oh, this choice doesn't matter. God doesn't care what I do here. I can follow Christ while continuing to pursue this kind of a life. My sin doesn't say anything about where I'm headed. And Paul is saying, don't kid yourself. A life that is given over to unrighteousness is not a life on the road to eternal life. Now, let me bring in another passage from a different letter from Paul that I think helps explain this. I think this passage teaches some ideas that help us understand Paul in Corinthians. And this is in Titus, this is chapter 3, verses 3 through 7. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Now, Paul makes some definitive statements here about what God is doing for his people. He's talking about believers. He says, We used to be foolish, we used to be disobedient, deceived, enslaved to sin, but we are that no longer. We were these things once, but we're not anymore. Before we were guilty and without hope. We had no right to make any claim to God or expect to receive eternal life. But because of what Jesus has done for us, we have been justified. That is, we have been made right with God. We now stand to inherit eternal life. Because of the blood of Christ, I now hope to receive forgiveness and mercy and a place in the kingdom of God. Well, what does Paul say caused that change? Nothing I did. It wasn't out of, as he says, it's not because of works done by us in righteousness. We didn't do anything, but God in his mercy poured out his Holy Spirit upon us. Let me read Titus 3, 5 through 6 again. He saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. Now notice how he describes us. He describes us as more than people who have been forgiven. We have been forgiven, but we have also been washed. We have been washed and renewed. Paul describes those who stand to inherit eternal life as having gone through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. Before we were guilty, but we were also foolish, rebellious, disobedient people. We rejected God and we were set against his ways. Then God rescued us from that, and we are no longer foolish, disobedient, rebellious people. We no longer reject God. We no longer have that unwilling, stubborn resistance to the truth and the gospel, because now the Holy Spirit washed all that hardness and resistance to God from our hearts, and we have been reborn so that we are no longer hostile to God. We no longer rebel against him. And in fact, we want to obey him even if we do it imperfectly. So Paul is describing people who are still sinners, but with a fundamental attitude, bottom line, heart change. The direction of our lives has changed. The key idea is that those who stand to inherit eternal life are not just forgiven. We have been forgiven, but we have also been changed. We are still sinners, but we are no longer hostile toward God. We struggle, but now we will long for the things of God. We repent and we seek his grace. And this change is not our own doing, it is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Now, again, just to be clear, this is not to suggest that believers are sinless and perfect. If you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you know that I do not agree with the theology of victorious Christian living or higher life theology or any philosophy that says we believers have all the tools we need to be righteous now. I think experience and scripture teach that everyone still seriously struggles with sin and temptation, but now when we sin, we eventually repent, we regret our sin, we mourn over it, and we seek God's grace and forgiveness. Ultimately, over time, we admit we were wrong because our fundamental attitude toward God and sin has changed. Why is that? Why do we repent? Because we have been washed by the Holy Spirit so that we don't view sin the same way anymore. We don't enjoy it the way we used to. We don't justify it the way we used to, and we're not enslaved to it the way we once were. Eventually we will repent and admit we were wrong because the Holy Spirit convicts us of what is true. That is to throw in the theological terms, we have been justified, and that leads to being sanctified. You can't separate those two ideas. Being justified is being forgiven, being made right with God, and that leads to being sanctified or a changed life. And in this section of Corinthians, Paul is rebuking the Corinthians for their choices and their values. He treats them as believers who are still sinning, but he's worried because they seem to have settled into that sin and enjoy it instead of repenting of it, and that's raising red flags. But notice he doesn't say to them, because you failed in this area, you're you're out. You're no longer believers, you've lost it. So it's not a one-strike and you're out policy. The issue with the Corinthians that Paul is challenging them on is will you respond? It's not a question of have you earned your salvation by being sinless or perfect. The question is, where is your heart? What is the direction of your life? Are you open to the things of God? Are you willing to be taught by Him and corrected or not? And he's saying to them, if you have genuine saving faith, ultimately you will see change in your life. How you respond to these issues, these items on the list matters a great deal because it reveals whether or not the Holy Spirit is at work in your life. If there is no change, if there's no repentance, if there's no new direction in your life, then it's likely there's no Holy Spirit at work in your life, and you're deceiving yourself. That's Paul's perspective in Titus, and it informs our section in Corinthians. Let's look at that again. We'll go back to chapter 6, verses 9 through 11. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, and you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Now, inherit the kingdom of God in 6.9 is just a way of saying, believers, when Jesus returns, there are those who will stand with him and be ushered into eternal life in his kingdom, and there are those who will be cast out. And Paul is saying this is the dividing line. Which side are you on? Whether or not you inherit a place in the kingdom of God is determined by whether or not you have been justified. And if you have been justified, you have been sanctified, which means your life should change. So the question of which side of that line you're on is the most important question of our lives. Our attitude towards sin reveals a lot about where we stand eternally. Paul is challenging them to consider their attitudes. Do you cling to this immoral lifestyle or are you seeking the things of God? Do you grieve over your sinful attitudes and long to be freed from them, or do you pursue them with stubborn abandon? Are you learning from the scriptures and wiser believers, or do you not even care what God thinks? In the two cases Paul addressed before this, their attitude toward the man living an openly immoral lifestyle and whose judgment they count on to settle disputes between them, we saw in both those cases the underlying issue is believers view the world differently from the way a person who rejects God views the world. And that difference changes the way a believer acts and thinks and responds. And Paul is challenging them. Think about that. What's the most important thing to you? Are you more worried about the things of God or the things of this world? Is there in fact a difference between you and non-believers? And in both of the cases leading up to this section, the Corinthians were acting as if there was no real important difference between them and the rest of the world. They were acting as if they can accept the world's view of sexuality and wealth and property and reject God's viewpoint. And Paul's saying, if you've been washed and renewed by the Spirit, you can't do that anymore. Let me walk through it a little more slowly. In 6.9, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? So he starts, do you not know? Have you forgotten? Don't be deceived. Those who do not belong to God and those who do not set their lives on a different course are not going to inherit the kingdom of God. There is a line, and you want to be careful which side you're on. Don't take this casually. Don't weak it sin. This is a matter of eternal life and death. And then he gives the list. Paul's saying, let me remind you that anyone who would rather have the things on this list than an inheritance in the kingdom of God is not going to get an inheritance in the kingdom of God. And I think this helps us put Paul's statement in perspective. Because who among us has not been convicted by at least one of the items on this list? The very first item is sexual immorality. And who among us can say that they lived a totally pure and chaste life in both action and thought? If we're going to be ruthlessly honest with ourselves, all of us fail the items on this list. When it comes to idolatry, coveting, sexuality, I don't think any of us can say, oh yeah, I have only done that which I ought to have done. So when Paul says clearly and unmistakably that these people will not inherit the kingdom of God, that's a pretty terrifying statement. But when we put it back into the context of the argument he's making, you can see his line of thought. The person who lives his life in pursuit of the items on the list before pursuing the kingdom of God is not going to be in the kingdom of God. He's not describing someone who randomly struggles with thoughts of theft or coveting. He's describing the person who rebels against God with premeditated willful disobedience, pursuing things like theft and coveting with passion and abandon because he doesn't care what God thinks. Think of it this way: suppose a hiker is walking down a rocky trail and he trips. He stumbles and falls, but then he gets back up, brushes himself off, and keeps moving in the same direction. That's very different from the person who steps off the trail, climbs down into a ditch, pitches his tent, and decides, this is where I'm going to live now. In other words, Paul is not describing momentary failure. He's describing settled unrighteousness, a posture that makes peace with sin, excuses it, defends it, and refuses to turn away from it. Repentance is the hiker getting back up and rejoining the path, even if he's limping. Settled unrighteousness is the hiker making peace with the ditch, staying there, and calling it home. So Paul is not talking about the stumble, he's talking about the decision to live in the ditch. The person Paul has in mind is the person who doesn't care what God says is true and is going to live his life the way he wants to. That person may be outside the church and clearly doesn't care what God thinks, or that person may claim to be inside the church, be a member of the community of believers, but his life choices tell a different story. And Paul's whole point here is you can't take a cavalier attitude towards sin. Your attitude towards sin and your choices and your lifestyle matters. When you become a believer, there is a choice to be made, and you can't live your life as if it doesn't matter because sin matters. Now we find the word homosexuals in this list, and this word has become the subject of much debate in our modern climate. You're probably aware that in modern American culture, homosexuality is now openly embraced and practiced and accepted. In my lifetime, we've gone from a place where the entire topic of sexuality was not even discussed in public at all to a place where everything is openly discussed. All sexual behavior is seen as acceptable as long as there is consent and virtually nothing is out of bounds. Today, if you think God put rules and boundaries on sexuality, you are branded as a bigot. Now, in the church, there's been a lot of debate about what the Bible says about homosexuality, and a lot of people wish the Bible didn't say anything at all about it, but it does. The Bible is very clear that homosexuality is one of the many ways we can rebel against God and his creation and what he intended for sexuality. But remember, it is just one of the things on the list. Sin is sin. Sin and rebellion is rebellion. It's just one sin among many others that includes things like covetous, greed, and idolatry. He has a broad list here because his point is what are you about? What kind of person are you? Are you a person who realizes you are guilty before a holy God? Do you recognize he calls you to live a different way of life? Do you want life in his kingdom or not? The question is not, do you struggle with sin? Because we all struggle with sin. We all have desires we shouldn't about all kinds of things. The question is, are we willing to see ourselves the way God sees us, repent and follow him? And remember, we are all in the same boat together. We all need a savior, we all need to repent, and we all need the grace of God. It's just some of us have found it, and some of us have not yet found it. And that's the very next point he makes. Look at 6.11 again. And such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, and you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God. We were foolish and rebellious, but God washed us. Paul's argument seems to depend, at least I think it depends, on the fact that we don't change perfectly all at once. We are not just sinners whose sins have been forgiven or whose transgressions have been overlooked. We are also people who have been fundamentally changed and want to live a different kind of life now. We want to follow and listen to God and obey Him. And He's calling the Corinthians to consider where they stand precisely because if they have been washed, sanctified, and justified, they should begin to see changes. But they are not perfectly changed, as evidenced by the fact that they're still struggling. They are not innocently confused about the issues, they're not wrestling with how, when, or whether, or if they should confront this man from chapter five. They aren't wrestling with it at all. They're boasting about the situation. They think it's cool, and they're sophisticated and open-minded and progressive to be so tolerant. And that's the thought that he continues into the next verses. What led you to conclude that it's okay to tolerate sin? Let's read 12 through 14 again. All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything. Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy both and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Now, how do we make sense of this? Most scholars believe, and I think they're right, that Paul is quoting the Corinthians here. He's quoting back to them the argument that they are making to justify and explain their behavior. They say, Well, all things are lawful for me. That's an implication of the gospel, and they're using that to justify their behavior. They're also saying food is meant for the stomach and stomach for the food, and God will do away with both as an excuse to justify and defend their actions. So why do we take this attitude that we're taking? Well, here are two arguments. All things are lawful for me, and food is meant for the stomach, and the stomach is for food. All right, let's look how Paul responds to that argument. First, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything. So the Corinthians are running with this idea that we believers are no longer under the law. We've been rescued from guilt by the blood of Christ, and doesn't matter how well or how poorly we keep the law, so we can do what we want. And this may be a familiar misunderstanding of the gospel to you. Paul dealt with the same idea in Romans 6 and 7, and we see a similar kind of argument here. Well, all things are lawful for me. We know that the blood of Jesus covers sins, and having been saved by grace through faith, you're not going to suggest that God's going to reject me now because I commit a particular sin, are you, Paul? So all things are lawful. All those distinctions and rules and regulations, they don't apply to us anymore. We are free in Christ to live the way we want to live. So we're entitled to explore our sexual immorality or what our greed or covetousness or whatever, because we get it. We accept Jesus. We're justified and forgiven. So what's wrong, Paul? Well, Paul responds, there is a sense in which all things are lawful, but there's a deeper sense in which all things are not profitable. He's not saying, oh yeah, I'm free to do anything I want, but just, well, some things are better than others. I mean, sleeping around, I might get some kind of disease, and that's a less desirable outcome and a use of my freedom. He's not saying that. He's saying more than some things are less beneficial. He's saying, true, my justification and forgiveness are not on the line. But living my life in rebellion to God is to my peril. Because while it's true that because of the cross, God can forgive any sin I might commit, if I live my life in rebellion to him, that calls into question the genuineness of my faith. The question is not whether I have committed a sin, the question is what is my heart set on? Because part of being justified is being sanctified. Part of being saved is being washed by the Holy Spirit so that you no longer want to sin. But if you want to continue sinning, that calls into question whether or not you've actually been saved. He has this phrase, but I will not be dominated by anything. Ultimately, I am either serving God as my master or I am enslaved to an idol. And again, Paul is speaking to this question of where is your heart? What's the direction of your life? This idea that I'm no longer under the law is no excuse to justify selfish, thoughtless, immoral behavior or a lifestyle of settled sin. Because part of faith and part of belief is making the choice to live in obedience to God. Part of saving faith is the desire to be holy and the longing to be righteous as God is righteous. So that's his first argument. Being justified is not an excuse for selfish immoral behavior because how you live your life is crucially important. And if you have faith, your life will change. The second point he makes then is this idea that food is meant for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will destroy both and the other. The Corinthians are making the argument: well, God made me with a stomach and he made food. Clearly, he designed my body to eat. Food and the stomach were made for each other, but in the end, all that physical stuff is going to be done away with. I've been designed to eat, and in the end, the body isn't really going to matter because God's going to give us new ones, so I should eat whatever I want. Likewise, I think their argument goes, my body was designed for sexuality. The body is for sex, sex is for the body. So when I get hungry, I eat. Why not when I have sexual desires? I fulfill them in whatever way I want. Doesn't that make sense? Because after all, the body has been designed for that, right? And Paul says, you've applied the analogy wrong. It's true, the stomach was made for food, but the body was not made for immorality. That's not the purpose of having a body the way you might say digestion is the purpose of a stomach. God did not give you a body to use it for immorality. Why did he give you a body? So that you might serve and obey him and worship him in that body. Immorality is not compatible with honoring and praising God. Of course, God cares what you do with your body. He made you a physical being and your physical body will be resurrected. The body's not going to be thrown away. Jesus had a body and was raised, and we will be raised with him. The body is part of God's design for who we are. We're not just disembodied spirits. We are people with a physical body, and our physical bodies are intended to be the medium by which we live out our faithfulness to God. How do I live my life as a spiritual person? Well, I only have one way to do that, and it's in my current body. I have to use the body I have been given to live out my faith and express my obedience to God and reveal what I believe. So, yes, God made the body to need food and desire sexual fulfillment, but it is also the place where we live out our faith and our commitment to God. He died to rescue our body from death and to bring us into the resurrection. So I have a body that has been made for certain purposes, and all of those purposes fall under the umbrella of how I follow God. It makes a great deal of difference how we live in our body because our choices and the way we live reveal our inner faith and commitments and values. Paul argues this, as does James and Peter, that becoming a believer matters. Genuine saving faith changes your life, your values, your attitudes, your actions, and responses. If none of those things ever change, then it's questionable whether or not you have genuine saving faith. Now, nowhere in this argument in Corinthians has Paul discussed the person who agrees with God, who wants to do the right thing, but still struggles with the right thing to do, because that's not the issue that the Corinthian church was struggling with. Their issue was, am I going to humbly submit to the things of God and let him change me, or am I going to run headlong after the things of this world? And Paul says, if you're running headlong after the things of this world, that's a problem. Now remember, it's not our job to decide who's in and who's out. It's not my job to look at my fellow neighbor and say, hmm, I don't think you're making it. None of us really know what's in each other's hearts. But it is our job to take seriously how we live, to look at our own lives, our own attitudes and actions, and not be cavalier towards sin, but to seek to follow God and obey Him. But neither are we to self-righteously judge our fellow believers, nor are we to excuse blatant immorality. We know Paul thinks it matters how you live your life. Paul never teaches that your behavior after coming to faith is irrelevant. And the theme underlying this argument is that your choices matter. Paul's looking at the church in Corinth and saying, look, some of the choices you're making are calling your faith into question. Your actions aren't consistent with your claim to faith. And you need to take that seriously and figure out where you stand. Why? Because the desire to be holy, the desire to follow God, is part of the gift of saving faith. And when we desire to follow him, it changes our lives. Thank you for listening to Wednesday in the Word, the podcast that explains not only what a passage means, but also shows you how to figure it out. You'll find the blog version of this episode, including all links and resources, at Wednesdayintheword.com slash Start Strong Podcast 9. You can find all the episodes in this series and many others on WednesdayInTheWord.com. There is no charge, no spam, and no ads. Just free, trustworthy resources to help you grow in your understanding of scripture. If this podcast has blessed you, please consider leaving a positive rating or review wherever you listen. But most importantly, tell a friend what you learned and where you learned it. And if you're reading along in this my book Start Strong, read chapter 10 before the next episode, and please leave me a positive rating or review on Amazon or Goodreads. I would be most grateful. Our theme music is graciously provided by Reggie Coates. You can hear more of Reggie's music on heartfeltmusic.org. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I'll see you next week at Wednesday in the World.