Such Were Some of You

Good morning,
 
We remember a movie from the 1960's, where this young couple needed a family car.  The husband came home with his new purchase; an older Cadillac, which was a retired hearse.  The young wife would have nothing to do with it, would not ride in it, and wanted it out of the driveway and returned to the dealer.  He kept insisting it was not what it use to be.  He said:  "If you haul coal in the trunk of a Thunderbird, that doesn't make it a coal truck."  What you use to be is not what you are today either.
 
"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" (I Cor. 6:11).
 
Just before our verse for today, the scripture contain a long list of vile sins and vices into which men have fallen, and the Apostle adds:
"And such were some of you." God's Church is not made up of "good people" who have never fallen into sin. It is rather made up of sinners, saved by grace, through the infinite payment made for sin by Christ on Calvary's cross, and brought out of that life style.
 
"And such were some of you." Had the Apostle included the more "refined" sins, such as pride, self-righteousness, etc., he would have had to say: "And such were all of you."
 
Now, here is our key thought for today:   "And such were some of you." Thank God, he goes on to say of those who had been thus stained with sin: "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."
 
How beautiful these three phrases: "But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified"! The word "but" appearing before each phrase indicates that each should be considered separately. Such vile creatures were some of you, "but ye are washed," cleansed from the sins that contaminated you. "But ye are sanctified." Having been cleansed you are now set apart as sacred for His glory. "But ye are justified." When God justifies us, who can condemn?
 
"Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth?"  
If one has truly been cleansed and set apart for His glory, one must no longer condemn himself, and see himself as a good-for-nothing, rotten, vile sinner.
 
"Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him,...."  Hebrews 7:25a

Henry