9)
Know ye not that the
unrighteous shall not inherit the
10)
Nor thieves, nor covetous,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall
inherit the
11)
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.
|
"S |
anctification" has not always
carried with it the best connotation. Even now, it speaks
"strangeness" to some. None of this changes the fact that God expects
all who will be received by Him to be sanctified.
The word comes from the Greek word
"hegion"—meaning "to be set
apart." One truly "set apart" lives a life consecrated to the
service of God. In that we accepted His Spirit, we have allowed Him to anoint
us, thereby imparting to us a calling to serve God.
In old testament
times, one chosen to be king was approached by a prophet with a horn of oil.
This oil was then poured over the head of the one being put into office,
symbolizing the anointing of the mind of the individual. Isn't it
amazing that the mind is exactly what God needs to control? Therefore,
if one has accepted the oil, he has accepted the anointing of God—His right to
control our minds.
Even though the operation of the Holy
Ghost is not in speaking with tongues, clapping, or dancing, He allows us to
enjoy Him in these ways. You see, He does His work in our minds.
God cannot save what He cannot control, so if these fleshly minds never come
under control of the Holy Spirit; if they never change, the individual cannot
be saved. One can never think of himself as belonging to himself.
Despite the fact that too many imagine
themselves are being "in bondage" after coming to salvation, the true
life of bondage was lived before salvation. You see, we have never done
as we pleased. From the time of our birth, we were operated upon by a force
other than ourselves. Now that we understand that, why not let the
"other" Who rules us be Jesus?
What does it take for God to get us to
understand that He has saved no one for the benefit of himself,
alone? What He has given us cost Him too great a price for us to try to
"hoard" it, or worse yet, "waste" it.
It will help us in our witnessing if we
can come to the point of understanding that those without the Spirit cannot
think on the same "wavelength" as those with the Spirit. We waste a
lot of time getting frustrated with people we have no business being frustrated
with. We also need to remember that people with whom we speak about salvation
are going to go to their families to see if they agree with what they have been
told regarding how to accept that people will do this is true even if
those same people never listened to one another. We simply have to get
the Holy Ghost and be saved.
Believe it or not we believe that
"denominations" are not important—that is, as long as the people of
that "denomination" are holy and that "denomination" stands
on holiness—that is, baptism in the name of Jesus, the infilling of the
Holy Ghost and the living of a sin-free life.
There is a serious message being
conveyed to us by the Lord, today. It is no small thing that the list of those
not going to heaven is included in this passage for the saints. Saints, as well
as sinners, need to understand that to make it to heaven, not only must one
have the Holy Ghost, but he must also live up to the standard of God. There is
no such thing as initially receiving Him, yet living however one pleases. In
case there are some who may not be certain of what constitutes any given
category, what follows are brief descriptions.
We must understand that God does not
accept "adulterers," that is, those who are married and having sexual
relations with someone other than their husband or wife.
"Fornicators" are those not married, yet having sexual relations. We
have come to accept the "effeminate" to be men who present themselves
like women, yet scriptural, the term refers to those acting like one of a sex other than his own. For example, a woman who acts like a man
as well as a man who acts like a woman. And just to
make things perfectly clear, there are men who were raised without a male
influence and were surrounded by females. Now, this behavior may tend to be
effeminate. This alone, however, does not make him a homosexual. Illicit sexual
activity, though, does.
"Abusers" of themselves with
mankind" are those who feel they "have something" (generally,
sexual on someone and therefore, extort sexual favors by threatening to
"tell." "Thieves" are not always what they seem. Are there
not those who will steal a "good name?"
Those who are "covetous" not
only will do anything to get what someone else has, but they also believe that
"it should have been me." "Drunkards" are not only defined
by excessive imbibing, they can also be drunk with power, knowledge—or even
ignorance. When the latter is the case, they "stagger" over what they
don't know and are unable to stand because there is no foundation beneath them.
"Revilers" are those who
constantly disagree with what is said—no matter who says it, no matter what it
is about. Finally, "extortioners" simply
take advantage of the weaknesses of others—in whatever ways they can.
The preceding definitions were not
flattering at all, yet scripture truly says that some of us were like one, or
all of these before salvation. How pitiful are those who remain this way after
the baptism and infilling. How much more grateful should those of us be who
have been delivered. It takes the God of heaven and earth to change a man from
what is "natural" to him to what is God-like. None of us have
made it to sanctification on our own. It took Jesus, and because of this, He
deserves all glory and praise.
We play our "games," have our
"problems" and persist in our "foolishness," and because
of this we ought to be able to see that the only victory we have is in our
union with Him. Outside of Him, we are just another