Unrighteous

There is a second term we want to look at — the term unrighteous. In First Corinthians 6:9‑10 the Bible says, “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.”

Who are the unrighteous? They are people who are not right in God’s eyes. The term unrighteous means not right, not having the quality of rightness in your life. If you considered the Ten Commandments carefully, there is no way you can honestly say you are right with God. There is no way that you can say you have kept all the commandments all your life. In fact, the Bible tells us that everyone on earth has broken the 9^th commandment because they were born a liar. In Psalm 58:3 the Bible says, “The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.” We were liars from the time we were born. We have to teach our kids to tell the truth. We don’t have to teach them how to lie. They already do that by nature.

The Bible says we are not right before God. We have broken the Ten Commandments. He also says in the verse we read, (1 Corinthians 6:9‑10), that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. That is pretty tough. Let’s take those verses apart and see what God is talking about.

‘Be not deceived’: Remember we are looking at things from God’s viewpoint. He says don’t be stupid, don’t tell yourself a lie. That is what people are doing in our world today. They think because they go to church and are religious, or because they are a good person or they have been baptised that they are right with God. They have their list of things they have done and think surely since they have done all those things, they will be okay. God will make an exception for them. But God says, be not deceived. Don’t tell yourself a lie.

‘Neither fornicators’: Fornication involves the sin of the mind, sexual lust, thinking wrong thoughts. Have you ever had a bad thought about someone of the opposite sex, or even a bad thought about someone of the same sex?

‘Nor idolaters’: Did you ever make a god to your own image, a god which you thought this is how God ought to be like, instead of letting God be God?

‘Nor adulterers’: Did you ever commit adultery? Since you have been married, have you ever been sexually active with someone besides your spouse? Have you ever even had a wrong lustful thought about someone of the opposite sex? Jesus said that is the same as adultery.

‘Nor effeminate’: There is a tough one in our generation. We talk about Sodom and Gomorrah of the Bible days, but we have Sodom and Gomorrah around us everywhere. Homosexuality is everywhere you turn.

‘Nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God’: These people whom God has listed for us here in these two verses are not going to make it to heaven because they are not right with God. Remember I didn’t write the Bible. We are looking at things from the way God sees it, and God says that people who violate the commands of God are guilty of sin and will not inherit the kingdom of God. We are all in trouble.

Romans 3:10 says, “There is none righteous; no, not one.” Just in case you are thinking you are not in that group so you must be okay, God says, “There is none righteous; no, not one.” Now if you are not righteous, that makes you unrighteous. God said very clearly in First Corinthians 6 that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. Remember we are looking at how God sees things not what we think. One day you and I will stand before God so we had better be prepared for that day. We are going to stand there before God who says, ‘You are not right before me.’ I think we’d better get concerned.