Read 1Corinthians 6:9-11
Several years ago I spoke at the Dream Center, a rescue mission in the heart of Los Angeles. It’s a remarkable ministry to prostitutes, drug addicts, alcoholics, runaways, the homeless, and the hurting in one of worst sections in Los Angeles. The Dream Center houses hundreds of young people who have been dramatically rescued from the claws of the evil one. They have been cleansed by the blood of Christ and totally transformed by the power of the His Holy Spirit.
Before I spoke to well over 1000 at the Center on a Thursday night, I was given a tour of the impressive facility which is located just a few blocks from Watts and five minutes from Hollywood. Tommy Barnett, the mission founder, told me, “This is the dormitory where we house former drug addicts.” There over 100 guys welcomed us and cheered as we arrived. Several gave spontaneous testimonies. One said, “ I was into drugs and the gay lifestyle I was so miserable that I was considering suicide, but people from the Dream Center came to me and invited me here and cared about me. Here I found Jesus and I’m so grateful He has saved me by His grace.” The others cheered enthusiastically and everyone sang an upbeat praise chorus. I was moved.
“This dorm is where we house former prostitutes,” I was told. Every Friday night a van from the Dream Center drives down Hollywood Blvd and spots the harlots applying their trade. One person jumps out of the van and hands the young woman a rose saying, “We are from the Dream Center. We want you to know that God loves you and so do we. If you ever need help we will give you a place to stay and care for you.” In that dormitory was gathered over 50 former prostitutes who had been won to Christ. One young girl through tears testified that her father was a preacher. She had run away at age 14 then came to Hollywood to find stardom but found only misery. She had been picked up by a man who pretended to care but only set her up to be one of his many agents of profit. But she escaped to the Dream Center for help and her life had been completely transformed by Christ. Naturally her parents were delighted.
As I walked thru the ministry’s kitchen I met a huge African-American man who testified that, several months before, he had been homeless living under a bridge. But people from the Dream Center brought him food and invited him to come and live at the Center. He fell to his knees in front of about 15 people and wept as he said, “I’m so thankful to Jesus because now I have salvation and I have a job.”
There is a powerful phrase in I Corinthians 6:11. It simply reads, “that is what some of you were.” The previous two verses read like the list of indicted criminals. “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the Kingdom of God,? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9&10). Wow! That’s not a list of the kind of people you would expect to find in a worship service, but Paul adds: “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.”
Thousands of testimonies of dramatically changed lives are occurring, not only at the Dream Center in Los Angles, but in churches where the gospel is preached all around the world. Alcoholics are getting sobered up, thieves get work, drug pushers repent, materialists become generous, adulterers become faithful, liars tell the truth, hypocrites become authentic. The gospel is still the power of God for salvation. It’s still the source where people are washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus.
God has given us ample evidence to believe His word is true. The evidence of creation, Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, individual conscience, the endurance of the church, the popularity of the Bible, the evidence of answered prayed, and recent archeological discoveries all serve to verify that the Scriptures are reliable. But one of the most impressive apologetics for the truth of God’s Word is that of a transformed life. J. Wallace Hamilton, popular author and preacher of a generation ago, called it the unanswerable answer. When a gross sinner is dramatically changed into a Godly saint it’s irrefutable, visible evidence that God is still at work in the lives of His people.