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Do Not Be Deceived

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“Do Not Be Deceived”

1 Corinthians 6:9–10

PREFACE

  • Parishioner's Pick series — last one. Apology for any not covered; links coming.
  • Started series with grace. Today: sin & judgment — not my favorite.
  • Optimist, don't love confrontation — this text may expose a blind spot in my own preaching.
  • Name the topic up front: homosexuality & other sexual sins — debated, attitudes shifted in some circles.
  • Door open — before AND after.

PRAYER

Read text: 1 Cor 6:9–10 (NIV)

I. THE BLIND SPOT

  • Illustration: teaching kids to drive — blind spot isn't in your eyeline; you have to turn your head.
  • Danger isn't the traffic you see — it's what you're not looking for.
  • Corinth = a church that thought all was well.
  • Ex: ch. 5 — bragging about tolerating sexual sin instead of calling to repentance.
  • “Do not be deceived” = Paul reaching over: turn your head.

II. HOW DECEPTION ACTUALLY WORKS

“Deceived” = common NT word, esp. re: false teachers. Paired here with "do you not know" — not new info, unexamined knowledge.

1. Slow cultural absorption

  • Romans 12:2 (NIV) — “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
  • TV, music, algorithm feeds — arrives as “normal,” not "worldview."
  • “Everybody's doing it” — persuasion that doesn't feel like an argument.
  • Room gets dark gradually, not by a switch.

Bad company

  • 1 Cor 15:33 — “Bad company ruins good morals.”
  • Parents' warning growing up — friends shape us as much as culture does.

2. Immediate gratification

  • Ties to “inherit” — future, not immediate.
  • List items all deliver NOW; cost is deferred/abstract.
  • Illustration: phones, streaming vs. Blockbuster vs. waiting for network TV.
  • If we can't tolerate a slow webpage, how do we live for an unseen inheritance?

3. Redefining the word

  • Isaiah 5:20 (NIV) — “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”
  • Greed → ambition. Slander → bluntness/“telling it like it is.” Swindling → innovation. Drunkenness → social drinking. Sexual sin → accepted alternative.
  • Relabeled sin stops registering as sin.

4. Settling for good (not best)

  • v.12 — “I have the right to do anything” — but not everything is beneficial.
  • Quietest deception: never breaks a rule, just settles for acceptable over excellent.
  • “I will not be mastered by anything.”

→ Paul's warning isn't about one sin — it's about the process of no longer noticing sin at all.

III. THE LIST ITSELF

  • 10 items (9 in some translations) — one breath, equal weight, no hierarchy.
  • Porneia (“sexually immoral”) = broadest term — incest (ch.5), prostitution (ch.6), premarital/extramarital (ch.7). Umbrella category.
  • Adultery / same-sex reference = specific instances closing loopholes, not exceptions.

Where This Touches Some of You Directly

  • State conviction plainly: one man, one woman, for life. Not arrived at lightly.
  • Note: read/listened widely across views — conviction tested, not avoided.
  • Personal invitation: my door is open, for real conversation not argument.
  • “I hold my conviction. I also hold you.”

Our Blind Spots

  • Maybe sexual sin ISN'T our blind spot. Maybe greed/slander are.
  • “Slanderers” = revilers (ESV) — harsh, abusive language. (Akin, 2023)
  • Relabeled: “commanding,” "bluntness," “telling it like it is.”
  • Greed: never applies the word to ourselves — always “someone richer.”
  • Swindling: padded expense reports, misleading negotiations, “that's just business.”
  • Stakes: living blind to your own sin, never checking — this person will not inherit the kingdom.

IV. THE TURN (verse 11)

  • I love grace — and so does Paul. This is where he always goes too.
  • Quote v.11 in full (NIV) — read slowly.
  • Balance: all-sin preaching → burden/guilt. All-grace preaching → complacency, drifting, blind spots ignored.
  • “Such were some of you.” Past tense. Not outsiders — the church's own history.
  • Washed / sanctified / justified — all passive voice. Done TO them, not achieved.
  • “Do not be deceived” cuts BOTH directions:
    • Don't think this costs nothing.
    • Don't think you're too far gone — the door isn't closed.
  • “Let's not write off the deceived — gospel is truth AND light.”
  • Paul as serious about v.11 as v.9–10 — preach the whole verse, not half.

V. NOT YOUR OWN (vv.12–20 preview)

  • Grace answers: what happens to my body now?
  • Body = temple of the Holy Spirit.
  • Shifts the question: not “can I,” but "how do I glorify God" — finances, body, language, relationships.
  • “Bought with a price” — the cross, named plainly.
  • Same passive logic as v.11, landing on the body itself.

CLOSING

  • “Take a careful look before you crash.”
  • Corinth let culture form them more than the Word did — easy for any of us.
  • “Do not be deceived” = not to scare you, but to turn your head.
  • You're not driving alone — the Spirit keeps turning our heads toward what we'd rather not see.

PRAYER

"God, reveal our blind spots. Show me where I have been deceived — I don't want to miss out on that inheritance."

Amen.