Such Were Some of You… But God Has Washed You!

“Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. 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.” (1 Cor. 6:9–11)

These will not inherit the Kingdom of God

This passage gives a sobering list: wrongdoers, the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, slanderers, and swindlers. Left to ourselves, none of us qualifies for God’s kingdom.

But here is the miracle…

“That is what some of you were”

What an incredible phrase! Were. Past tense. God does not just forgive—He transforms.

God has the power to change people

“But if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Cor. 5:17)

God doesn’t clean up the old life—He gives you a new one.

It begins by declaring and believing in Jesus

“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Rom. 10:9–10)

Therefore

No matter what your past looks like, in Christ you can say: I was that… but now I am washed, sanctified, and justified. Your past no longer defines you—Jesus does.