The Unrighteous Crowd Below the Golden Cityby davidwooten
6:101 Corinthians 6:10
Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
The unrighteous will not inherit God's kingdom, and that bar plainly names thieves, the covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners. This exclusion is literal and to be fulfilled, not an empty threat, and it directly contradicts any claim of universal salvation where the wicked live as they please and still enter bliss. Yet exclusion is not final for those who turn, for those once living in these sins can be washed, sanctified, and justified through the Lord Jesus and the Spirit of God and raised to the highest level. Covetousness is idolatry and stands as grave before God as open drunkenness, showing itself in selfish withholding, unjust dealing, and resolve to be rich regardless of God's claims. The warning therefore calls for total abstinence from intoxicating drink, tobacco, and narcotics, with victory over craving possible through Christ's power for those who fully cooperate with Him and keep body and mind for God's service.
Those Shut from Kingdom
The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God, and the list includes thieves, the covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners, with the solemn caution not to be deceived about it. Doing wrong and defrauding brethren brings believers under this exclusion, especially taking a matter against a brother to law before the unjust instead of before the saints, when they should rather take wrong and suffer to be defrauded. Those who for years lean on the arm of human law and make unbelievers their stay and support do what even an honorable worldling would never do. Such ones should have been relieved of responsibilities in connection with God's work, because their course hinders the advancement of the cause and the carrying of the warning message to greater numbers, blinds eyes, and leads many astray.
The warning is spoken to those claiming to be Christians and professing righteousness, not to those making no such profession. Turning from purity and holiness to heathen practices and corrupt practices leaves them as subjects of the enemy and not temples of God. No concession to the enemy is to be made, no principle of truth received from God changed, and no converse held with those in league with evil angels, for peace was never purchased by compromise. The verse is given to help break from the thralldom of sin and perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord by pointing to Christ's power to keep from evil, which makes strong those who comply with the conditions, calling for control of the lower passions and appetites because body and spirit belong to God.
Covetous men are classed with idolaters, adulterers, thieves, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners, and none of them shall inherit the kingdom. Being fully resolved to be rich regardless of God's claims puts a person in this excluded class, and no one can afford to remain in it but must be converted to a disposition and habits of life without covetousness, content with what is possessed. Allowing a covetous disposition to take possession cherishes and develops traits recorded in heaven's record books as idolatry. These attributes are ever opposed to Christian beneficence, are the fruit of selfishness, and reveal themselves in neglect of duty and failure to use entrusted gifts to advance God's work. Unjust dealing must therefore be put away, and worldly custom cannot excuse it.
Covetousness is idolatry and is especially offensive to God, and must not be treated as a minor fault. Sin must be measured by God's standard, not by human opinion, for wrongs people regard as small may be grave in His sight. Though drunkenness is openly condemned while covetousness may go unrebuked, God regards both as grave sins excluding from heaven. Pride and selfishness are likewise especially offensive because they oppose unselfish love. Those who by pen or voice acted a part in diverting money raised for the Southern Field from the field for which it was raised were controlled in heart, mind, and soul by covetousness, which is idolatry that bars idolaters from heaven, and God holds them responsible for it.
Dishonest business practices exclude from God's kingdom, such as charging exorbitant sums for services. One persisting in such conduct is unfit for Christ's kingdom because the same practices would continue there. Ambition to excel at the expense of others also breaks God's law and shows failure to love God and neighbor. Gluttons and those indulging perverted appetite are included among those who will not inherit the kingdom. A wrong course of eating or drinking that destroys health and sweetness of life, gratifying taste at the cost of fevered system, loss of appetite, loss of sleep, suffering, acute disease and death, is self-murder. Such will never enter the pearly gates of the golden city nor be exalted to the right hand of Jesus, whose life of constant self-denial and sacrifice is the opposite of their course, but a place is appointed for them among the unworthy, with no part in the better life, the immortal inheritance.
No liar can inherit the kingdom. Knowing falsehood, misconstruing warnings, making testimonies of none effect, and fabricating falsehood after falsehood as truth to beguile souls and exalt a man does not pay but brings ruin and loss of soul when the course is weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and stands the investigation of the judgment. Evil natures cannot inherit the kingdom, so those remaining untruthful, impure, or unrighteous cannot enter it. Sin must be destroyed, and if it is not destroyed, it will destroy the sinner.
False Hope Exposed
The exclusion of drunkards and other vile offenders from immortal bliss is literal and certain to be fulfilled, not an empty threat meant only to frighten into obedience. Murderers, thieves, and adulterers are not made ready after death to enter that bliss. The claim that Amnon, drunken, incestuous and unrepentant at death, was carried at once to the abodes of bliss to be purified and fitted for companionship with sinless angels is directly contradicted by the plain positive statement that drunkards are shut out from inheriting the kingdom. The broader teaching of ultimate universal purity and peace is Satan's own doctrine from Eden, Ye shall not surely die, a pleasing fable gratifying the carnal heart, rocking multitudes to sleep in carnal security, and causing wickedness to abound.
God makes a difference between righteousness and sin for entrance into heaven, and those persisting in theft, greed, drunkenness, reviling, and extortion will have no place in the kingdom. Heaven is not the home of all regardless of character and regardless of belief or unbelief in God and the Bible. To represent the basest men as in heaven and highly exalted there, and to say that no matter how wicked a person is he may live as he pleases and heaven is still his home, contradicts and denies this truth. To eulogize intemperate self-murderers whose wrong course of eating or drinking destroys health and sweetness of life, and to send them directly to heaven, is false. Their course of constant self-indulgence in gratifying taste at the cost of fevered system, loss of appetite and sleep, suffering, acute disease and death is the opposite of a life of constant self-denial and sacrifice, and gluttons indulging perverted appetite will never enter the pearly gates of the golden city nor be exalted to the right hand of Jesus, but have an appointed place among the unworthy with no part in the better life, the immortal inheritance.
A drunkard cannot be written in heaven's books. The warning stands that drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God. Yet temptation can be resisted and victory gained through Christ's power.
Washed and Temperate Life
Exclusion is not the final state for those who turn, for some once lived as thieves, the covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners but were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. That change comes through repentance and through being changed by truth through the Holy Spirit, and the God who raised the Lord will raise believers by His power to the highest level if they accept transformation. Denying Jesus Christ as righteousness produces unrighteousness, shown in lack of devotion and piety and in lack of sanctification of the outer and entire man. To keep the change the love of God must be constantly cultivated.
Genuine sanctification is not merely professing and teaching the word while claiming to be sinless, rich and increased in goods, beyond falling and beyond temptation, but living in conformity to God's will. Those truly sanctified feel their own weakness and imperfection, go to Jesus in whom all fullness dwells for light and grace and strength, and depend entirely upon God. They seek to become more like Christ and to live by the principles of His holy law, keep the purity and loveliness of Christ's character as their standard, day by day put on new beauties and reflect more of the divine image, and have assurance of one day beholding the glory of the kingdom. Restored first love shows itself not only in ardent love to God but in love to all men formed in His image, not shut up but diffused as the practical working out of God's will in lively living and sanctified love, with deep personal interest in winning back erring souls entrapped in Satan's snares.
The whole sixth chapter with this exclusion is a lesson gospel ministers and medical missionaries must study. It wakes watchmen to give the warning message for this time. Ministers and medical missionaries need to be healed of the maladies of sin and unbelief, to refuse the teachings of the prince of darkness, and to have Satan cast out of the heart. All who come rightly to the Lord humbling their poor, defective hearts before Him will receive help.
Drunkenness and intemperance weaken the intellect and moral powers, numb and dull the senses, stupefy and defile the user, enfeeble the intellect, benumb sensibilities, and confuse reason and the sense of responsibility. They keep eternal things and the claims of God and heaven from being realized and appreciated, making people disregard God. The warning makes plain beforehand the misery, crime, and disease caused by creating an appetite for liquor, and the taste for tobacco leads on to desire for stronger stimulants such as liquor, creating an unnatural appetite for hurtful and exciting stimulants that strengthens until intemperance becomes alarming. The evil does not stop with the drinker, for he is accountable for all the harm his wrong and dissipated course brings upon family and community, transmitting irritable tempers, polluted and corrupted blood, enfeebled intellects, weak morals, disease, licentiousness, imbecility, and suffering to children from father to son and from generation to generation, repeating the fall and enlarging the accumulated woe under which the race groans.
This warning supports rejecting intoxicating drinks and pursuing temperance reform grounded in God's Word. It calls for breaking away from the thralldom of sin and perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord by pointing to Christ's power to keep from evil, which makes strong those who comply with the laid-down conditions. It calls for controlling the lower passions and appetites because body and spirit belong to God. Victory over craving for alcohol, stimulating drinks, narcotics, and tobacco is possible through Christ's power for those who choose to resist and work with Him, and those who overcome may inherit the kingdom and share Christ's glory. That cure is never by moderate use within bounds, for continued indulgence makes the habit second nature and destroys self-control, and self-indulgence is both a moral sin and a physical disease.
The cure requires total abstinence by pledge, full cooperation by the sufferer, aroused moral powers, and looking to Jesus in trust for His grace to overcome the unnatural craving. It requires keeping the body in healthful condition to do His will and keeping the intellect clear and active to think candidly and control all the powers, with every faculty employed in God's service, because the person is not his own but God's property bought with infinite price. The verse is a direct warning to be spoken to the intemperate man and the tobacco user to press reform in view of Christ's nearness. It presses them to stop wasting money on what only harms the body, to use that money for good, and to take up useful duties in preparing themselves and others instead of remaining idle, while affirming that temptation can be resisted and victory gained through Christ's power and that a drunkard cannot be written in heaven's books.
The unrighteous will not inherit God's kingdom, and that bar plainly names thieves, the covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners. This exclusion is literal and to be fulfilled, not an empty threat, and it directly contradicts any claim of universal salvation where the wicked live as they please and still enter bliss. Yet exclusion is not final for those who turn, for those once living in these sins can be washed, sanctified, and justified through the Lord Jesus and the Spirit of God and raised to the highest level. Covetousness is idolatry and stands as grave before God as open drunkenness, showing itself in selfish withholding, unjust dealing, and resolve to be rich regardless of God's claims. The warning therefore calls for total abstinence from intoxicating drink, tobacco, and narcotics, with victory over craving possible through Christ's power for those who fully cooperate with Him and keep body and mind for God's service.
Those Shut from Kingdom
The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God, and the list includes thieves, the covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners, with the solemn caution not to be deceived about it. Doing wrong and defrauding brethren brings believers under this exclusion, especially taking a matter against a brother to law before the unjust instead of before the saints, when they should rather take wrong and suffer to be defrauded. Those who for years lean on the arm of human law and make unbelievers their stay and support do what even an honorable worldling would never do. Such ones should have been relieved of responsibilities in connection with God's work, because their course hinders the advancement of the cause and the carrying of the warning message to greater numbers, blinds eyes, and leads many astray.
The warning is spoken to those claiming to be Christians and professing righteousness, not to those making no such profession. Turning from purity and holiness to heathen practices and corrupt practices leaves them as subjects of the enemy and not temples of God. No concession to the enemy is to be made, no principle of truth received from God changed, and no converse held with those in league with evil angels, for peace was never purchased by compromise. The verse is given to help break from the thralldom of sin and perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord by pointing to Christ's power to keep from evil, which makes strong those who comply with the conditions, calling for control of the lower passions and appetites because body and spirit belong to God.
Covetous men are classed with idolaters, adulterers, thieves, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners, and none of them shall inherit the kingdom. Being fully resolved to be rich regardless of God's claims puts a person in this excluded class, and no one can afford to remain in it but must be converted to a disposition and habits of life without covetousness, content with what is possessed. Allowing a covetous disposition to take possession cherishes and develops traits recorded in heaven's record books as idolatry. These attributes are ever opposed to Christian beneficence, are the fruit of selfishness, and reveal themselves in neglect of duty and failure to use entrusted gifts to advance God's work. Unjust dealing must therefore be put away, and worldly custom cannot excuse it.
Covetousness is idolatry and is especially offensive to God, and must not be treated as a minor fault. Sin must be measured by God's standard, not by human opinion, for wrongs people regard as small may be grave in His sight. Though drunkenness is openly condemned while covetousness may go unrebuked, God regards both as grave sins excluding from heaven. Pride and selfishness are likewise especially offensive because they oppose unselfish love. Those who by pen or voice acted a part in diverting money raised for the Southern Field from the field for which it was raised were controlled in heart, mind, and soul by covetousness, which is idolatry that bars idolaters from heaven, and God holds them responsible for it.
Dishonest business practices exclude from God's kingdom, such as charging exorbitant sums for services. One persisting in such conduct is unfit for Christ's kingdom because the same practices would continue there. Ambition to excel at the expense of others also breaks God's law and shows failure to love God and neighbor. Gluttons and those indulging perverted appetite are included among those who will not inherit the kingdom. A wrong course of eating or drinking that destroys health and sweetness of life, gratifying taste at the cost of fevered system, loss of appetite, loss of sleep, suffering, acute disease and death, is self-murder. Such will never enter the pearly gates of the golden city nor be exalted to the right hand of Jesus, whose life of constant self-denial and sacrifice is the opposite of their course, but a place is appointed for them among the unworthy, with no part in the better life, the immortal inheritance.
No liar can inherit the kingdom. Knowing falsehood, misconstruing warnings, making testimonies of none effect, and fabricating falsehood after falsehood as truth to beguile souls and exalt a man does not pay but brings ruin and loss of soul when the course is weighed in the balances of the sanctuary and stands the investigation of the judgment. Evil natures cannot inherit the kingdom, so those remaining untruthful, impure, or unrighteous cannot enter it. Sin must be destroyed, and if it is not destroyed, it will destroy the sinner.
False Hope Exposed
The exclusion of drunkards and other vile offenders from immortal bliss is literal and certain to be fulfilled, not an empty threat meant only to frighten into obedience. Murderers, thieves, and adulterers are not made ready after death to enter that bliss. The claim that Amnon, drunken, incestuous and unrepentant at death, was carried at once to the abodes of bliss to be purified and fitted for companionship with sinless angels is directly contradicted by the plain positive statement that drunkards are shut out from inheriting the kingdom. The broader teaching of ultimate universal purity and peace is Satan's own doctrine from Eden, Ye shall not surely die, a pleasing fable gratifying the carnal heart, rocking multitudes to sleep in carnal security, and causing wickedness to abound.
God makes a difference between righteousness and sin for entrance into heaven, and those persisting in theft, greed, drunkenness, reviling, and extortion will have no place in the kingdom. Heaven is not the home of all regardless of character and regardless of belief or unbelief in God and the Bible. To represent the basest men as in heaven and highly exalted there, and to say that no matter how wicked a person is he may live as he pleases and heaven is still his home, contradicts and denies this truth. To eulogize intemperate self-murderers whose wrong course of eating or drinking destroys health and sweetness of life, and to send them directly to heaven, is false. Their course of constant self-indulgence in gratifying taste at the cost of fevered system, loss of appetite and sleep, suffering, acute disease and death is the opposite of a life of constant self-denial and sacrifice, and gluttons indulging perverted appetite will never enter the pearly gates of the golden city nor be exalted to the right hand of Jesus, but have an appointed place among the unworthy with no part in the better life, the immortal inheritance.
A drunkard cannot be written in heaven's books. The warning stands that drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God. Yet temptation can be resisted and victory gained through Christ's power.
Washed and Temperate Life
Exclusion is not the final state for those who turn, for some once lived as thieves, the covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners but were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. That change comes through repentance and through being changed by truth through the Holy Spirit, and the God who raised the Lord will raise believers by His power to the highest level if they accept transformation. Denying Jesus Christ as righteousness produces unrighteousness, shown in lack of devotion and piety and in lack of sanctification of the outer and entire man. To keep the change the love of God must be constantly cultivated.
Genuine sanctification is not merely professing and teaching the word while claiming to be sinless, rich and increased in goods, beyond falling and beyond temptation, but living in conformity to God's will. Those truly sanctified feel their own weakness and imperfection, go to Jesus in whom all fullness dwells for light and grace and strength, and depend entirely upon God. They seek to become more like Christ and to live by the principles of His holy law, keep the purity and loveliness of Christ's character as their standard, day by day put on new beauties and reflect more of the divine image, and have assurance of one day beholding the glory of the kingdom. Restored first love shows itself not only in ardent love to God but in love to all men formed in His image, not shut up but diffused as the practical working out of God's will in lively living and sanctified love, with deep personal interest in winning back erring souls entrapped in Satan's snares.
The whole sixth chapter with this exclusion is a lesson gospel ministers and medical missionaries must study. It wakes watchmen to give the warning message for this time. Ministers and medical missionaries need to be healed of the maladies of sin and unbelief, to refuse the teachings of the prince of darkness, and to have Satan cast out of the heart. All who come rightly to the Lord humbling their poor, defective hearts before Him will receive help.
Drunkenness and intemperance weaken the intellect and moral powers, numb and dull the senses, stupefy and defile the user, enfeeble the intellect, benumb sensibilities, and confuse reason and the sense of responsibility. They keep eternal things and the claims of God and heaven from being realized and appreciated, making people disregard God. The warning makes plain beforehand the misery, crime, and disease caused by creating an appetite for liquor, and the taste for tobacco leads on to desire for stronger stimulants such as liquor, creating an unnatural appetite for hurtful and exciting stimulants that strengthens until intemperance becomes alarming. The evil does not stop with the drinker, for he is accountable for all the harm his wrong and dissipated course brings upon family and community, transmitting irritable tempers, polluted and corrupted blood, enfeebled intellects, weak morals, disease, licentiousness, imbecility, and suffering to children from father to son and from generation to generation, repeating the fall and enlarging the accumulated woe under which the race groans.
This warning supports rejecting intoxicating drinks and pursuing temperance reform grounded in God's Word. It calls for breaking away from the thralldom of sin and perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord by pointing to Christ's power to keep from evil, which makes strong those who comply with the laid-down conditions. It calls for controlling the lower passions and appetites because body and spirit belong to God. Victory over craving for alcohol, stimulating drinks, narcotics, and tobacco is possible through Christ's power for those who choose to resist and work with Him, and those who overcome may inherit the kingdom and share Christ's glory. That cure is never by moderate use within bounds, for continued indulgence makes the habit second nature and destroys self-control, and self-indulgence is both a moral sin and a physical disease.
The cure requires total abstinence by pledge, full cooperation by the sufferer, aroused moral powers, and looking to Jesus in trust for His grace to overcome the unnatural craving. It requires keeping the body in healthful condition to do His will and keeping the intellect clear and active to think candidly and control all the powers, with every faculty employed in God's service, because the person is not his own but God's property bought with infinite price. The verse is a direct warning to be spoken to the intemperate man and the tobacco user to press reform in view of Christ's nearness. It presses them to stop wasting money on what only harms the body, to use that money for good, and to take up useful duties in preparing themselves and others instead of remaining idle, while affirming that temptation can be resisted and victory gained through Christ's power and that a drunkard cannot be written in heaven's books.