Sermon Transcript
Thanks for choosing to worship with us today. I just want to add my invitation this Tuesday night to our seven year anniversary and our prayer and praise night. I want to let you know this because I've heard this from a lot of people and I've watched this in my own life. When you go to make a decision to come to a prayer night, everything will go wrong in your life on that Tuesday, I promise you. You may get sick.
One of your kids may get sick. Come anyways and celebrate with us. There will be distractions. There will be other opportunities. I promise you.
Just believe me as your pastor, something is going to get in the way of you coming. Come anyway. Even if you're like, well, I didn't sign up for the dinner. Come anyway. Well, we want you here and it's going to be a great time to celebrate all that God has done and all he's going to be doing in our church.
Let's go before him right now. Let's pray. Let's ask the Lord to prepare our hearts to hear his living and active word. Let's pray together. Jesus, we give you all the glory, honor and praise for who you are.
Lord, we thank you for your living and active word that every time it's proclaimed, you are the one that's speaking to us. And so, Lord, we pray that our hearts would be prepared to receive everything you have for us. Lord, if there's an area you want to encourage or correct or change, Lord, we want to give you permission because we know there's nothing wrong with your words. It's just our hearts. So, Lord, anything in our heart that's wrong, we confess before you right now so we can clearly hear your word.
And, Lord, do a work in us individually and among us as a church. And for what you're going to do in advance, we give you all the glory, honor and praise. We love you, Jesus. We bless your name and all God's people who are ready to receive his word and put it into practice very loudly said with me. Amen.
Amen. I want to invite you to open up your bibles to one corinthians, chapter five, first corinthians, chapter five. And as we're in this series about growing stronger as a disciple of Christ, we've been studying the book of one corinthians. And what Paul has been doing is pointing out to them, hey, listen, you've been set apart. You've been blessed.
God is doing a work in your midst. But listen, you're living carnally. You're living selfishly. And here's what God wants to do. God wants to do a work in and through you.
So here's some things that you need to change. Here's some things that need to happen. He told them how to be servants and stewards of all that God has given them. And then last week, we took a look at what our good heavenly father does, what a loving heavenly father does, and what a loving spiritual leader does. And a loving spiritual leader loves us enough to bring discipline.
And what we're going to read about in chapter five is how does that work itself out in the church? I mean, how do we honor God in the local church? How do we honor God's holiness in the church? And what do we do with sin when it's in the church? How do we handle that?
I want to tell you, I've gone to church since I was a kid. I have never heard a sermon preached in its entirety on first corinthians chapter five. And you'll know why when we get done today. Chances are you haven't either. So I'm asking you to open your heart and prepare your heart for what God wants to say as we go through.
And really what Paul's talking about to the church is that the purpose of the church is for the glory of God. Did you know that? That the purpose of the church is for God to have his way with us. And the reason is because God wants to do a work in and through us, which is why God gives us specific instructions. It's for his glory.
How many of you know, it doesn't matter what the name says on the side of the building. That's not why God's glorified. How many doesn't know? It's not because of the pastor. That's not why God's glorified.
It's because when God is glorified through his word in a church, that's what God blesses. And so he writes to us, first corinthians five, penned by Paul through the power of the Holy Spirit to help us understand what do we do with ongoing sin in the church and how do we hold the glory of God high? How do we honor God in the church? And all four of these points that come out of one corinthians five are for his glory. That's why Paul wrote this to them.
So you open up your bibles to one corinthians chapter five. We'll just start to read through and you'll see these four points just come right out of the text. It says this. It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, an immorality of such a kind as does not even exist among the gentiles. That someone has his father's wife.
You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead. So what's he writing to them about? He's writing to them about a sin that's so blatant in the church that the people outside the church, those who don't even call themselves christians, don't even sin like that. And what's the sin? The sin is this.
A man has his father's wife. The reason this probably is not his biological mother is because it's not referred to as his mom. It's referred to as his father's wife. Chances are this father was married to a woman and she was. Either he either divorced her or she was divorced or she died or something happened.
And he's now been remarried, and now he's remarried and the son is having sexual relations with his stepmom. That's what's going on. And Paul is writing to them saying, this doesn't even happen outside the church. And just to give you a picture of Corinth, so you understand. Corinth.
Corinth. Corinth was the most sexually immoral city of the entire first century world. I mean, it was like the Las Vegas or Hollywood of the day. I mean, to corinthianize meant to have fornication. I mean, that's what it meant.
And so Paul's writing this church, saying, even in the most immoral city in the world, they don't even act like this. It was against roman law to take your mother in that kind of relationship. I mean, even the pagans didn't act like this. And yet it's going on in your church and you're not mourning it. And here's what Paul's saying is, point number one, that for his glory, all sin should be mourned and grieved, not celebrated.
All sin should be mourned and grieved, not celebrated. Now, here Paul's talking about a specific kind of sin. He's talking about sexual sin. And notice this. When it says in the Bible he has his father's wife, it means he's been having sexual relationship with her, and it's continuing on and nobody's saying anything about it.
I mean, everybody knows about it. I mean, Paul's gotten word about it. He doesn't even live in Corinth. Right? Everybody knows this is going on.
But it's not just the sexual sin that Paul is talking about. The indictment here is not on the specific sin. The indictment here is on the church's lack of response to the ongoing sin that's happening in the church. That's the indictment. Because what happens oftentimes in church is like, we think sexual sin is like, up here, but like, gossiping is not a big deal.
Lying is not a big deal. Cheating is not a big deal. No, they're all a big deal. This just happens to be the one that's going on. And Paul just finished chapter four saying, hey, as a loving spiritual father, do you want me to come at you with a rod and discipline you, or do you want me to come in a spirit of love and gentleness?
Like, how do you want me to come? Because I am going to come to you. And here's what I've been hearing about you. There's this immorality in the church, and there's this kind of immorality doesn't even happen among pagan people, and it's happening there and you're allowing it to go on, and everybody knows about it. Nobody's doing anything about it.
Now, what was going on in the first century is the same thing that often happens in the 21st century church. And here's what happens. People say stuff like this, well, I'm free. I'm free to do whatever I want, right? I mean, do you realize the Bible says that it's for freedom, that Christ Jesus set you free?
Do not submit any longer to a yoke of slavery. It means this. If you've been set free from your sin, it doesn't mean you continue to live in it, because then you're not free. As a matter of fact, in Romans 616, it says, you are slaves to the one that you obey. You're either slaves to your sin and leading to disobedience, or you're slaves to the righteousness of Christ.
You can't be set free in the gospel and then continue to live a sinful life. And saying, well, that's okay. That's not freedom. But I know what some are saying. Well, haven't you ever read the sermon on the mount, Pastor Jeff?
I mean, Matthew seven one says, do not judge lest you be judged. We're never to judge anybody. Wrong. I mean, we just got done reading in one corinthians, we're called to judge people. We're not called to judge their motives.
Don't judge people's motives. Don't judge people's appearances, what you think they think. But we are called to judge behavior. I mean, even in the sermon on the mount, jesus says, don't throw your pearls before swine. How can you decide who the swine are?
Well, you're making a judgment, right? There's nothing wrong with judging behavior. There's something wrong with judging motive. And Paul is saying, listen, he's going to tell us in a minute, I've already judged this person even though I'm not there, right? So here's what the point is of this passage.
Churches too often tolerate the sin of the world. And the sin of the world will affect the church if it's not dealt with. If sin in the church is not dealt with, the glory of God departs the church. That's the problem. And see, when you think about the gospel, here's the good news of the gospel.
The father loved the world so much that he sent his only begotten son that whoever believed in him would not perish but have eternal life. Well, what did he do to send his son? He sent his son Jesus to fulfill the law in every possible way. And then what did he do? As the culmination of his act on earth, he laid out his life on a cross, was crucified and all of his blood was shed, and he took the sin of all humanity and died.
So what happens is, when you think about sin and when you're aware of sin in your life, there's no such thing as a big sin and a little sin. Here's what the deal is. Whatever sin you're talking about, it cost the savior his life. And all sin should be grieved and mourned. All sin should bother us in our own life and in the life of other people.
And I'm not just talking about, well, your sin bothers me. I can't stand you. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about because of your love for the Lord. And because of my love for the Lord.
When I'm in a church where you are sinning and rebelling against God and hurting yourself, it grieves me to see that in your life. So here's a question. When is the last time in your life that you've grieved and mourned over your own sin? I mean, when's the last time in your life where you've experienced the holiness of God in such a way where you felt his great love and his arms wrap around you and say, I love you, and I love you. And I love you.
But you're wrong here. Perhaps you've wept over that. And as you're weeping, knowing I'm totally wrong. You're feeling the grace of God in your life. When was that?
When's the last time you wept over somebody else's sin? And when was the last time that it really hurt you to see somebody that, you know, claims to know Christ, who's not living it out, and it's been hurtful to watch them hurt themselves and other people? I mean, that's what Paul's saying. All sin in the church should be mourned. It should be grieved.
It shouldn't be celebrated. We shouldn't be arrogant about it, because what we do in the first, we do in our church the same way they did back then. Well, everybody sins. Big deal. It's just a sin.
You sin, I sin. Big deal. No, it's a really big deal. That sin that you say is not a big deal costs Jesus Christ his life. It's a big deal.
So we're not called to lower sin. Well, everybody sins. And don't worry about it. We're called to elevate all sin and say God is holy, and we should hold everyone at a very high standard because that's who our God is. He's worthy of being praised.
And so Paul says, for his glory, all sin should be mourned and grieved. It should not be celebrated. Second thing he says is this, for his glory, that elders should courageously remove all willful, blatant, ongoing, unrepentant sinners from the fellowship of the church. You ever heard a message on this before? I never have.
For his glory, elders should courageously remove all willful, blatant, ongoing, unrepentant sinners from the fellowship of the church. Notice what he says at the end of verse two. He just got done telling you, become arrogant. You should have mourned instead so that the one who had done this deed would be what? Would be removed from your midst.
Get him out. That's what should be happening for I on my part, though absent in body, but present in spirit. What does that mean? It means I'm not living in Corinth. But listen, I planted this church.
I have the Holy Spirit in my life. And when I hear of what's wrong, I know it's wrong, even though I'm not there. So I'm absent in the body, I'm present in spirit. And what is he saying? I have already judged him, who has so committed this as though I were present.
I've already made a judgment call that this is wrong. The longer you walk with the Lord, the easier it is to see black and white. It's right and wrong. It's not kinda. And Paul's saying, I've already made a judgment call on this.
Having sexual relations with somebody that's married to your dad, it's wrong. I don't need to be there. I don't need to interview him. I don't need to find out about his background. I don't need to find out what his situation is.
It's wrong. It's 100% of the time wrong. I've already made judgment, even though I'm not living in Corinth. And notice what he says next. In the name of our Lord Jesus, in verse four, which means, for the reputation of Jesus Christ and his church, when you are assembled as a church, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, which I'll show you where that comes from in a minute.
I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. How about that? Now, when was the last time you heard a sermon on that? I have decided among you that when you gather next time, kick this guy out and deliver him over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. I've never heard a message on this.
Right. But it's in the Bible, so it has got to have some merit, right? I believe all of the Bible is true. So Paul's trying to tell us something. What is he telling?
He's saying that elders should courageously and lovingly remove all willful, ongoing, blatant, unrepentant sinners from the fellowship. Right? But you say, wait, wait, wait, wait. It's my right to be here. No, it's not your right to be here.
It's Jesus Christ's right to be here. And to the extent that you're repentant, you're welcome. To the extent that you're exploring things, you're welcome. To the extent you want to respond to Jesus, you're welcome. Now, let me be clear on something.
The reason I'm saying willful, ongoing, blatant, unrepentant is to make crystal clear what I'm saying here instead of just saying unrepentant. If we kicked out all sinners in our church, we'd be empty. We don't have a church, and you don't have a pastor, and we have no elders, and we don't have a worship team because everybody's gone. Right? That's not what he's saying.
And what he's also not saying is if you've struggled with a sin over a period of time, that you have to leave, too. Because I know from my own life, and I know from knowing many of you, there are times and seasons we go through things where we are confessing the same thing. And I'm confessing it again. And I'm. Man, I'm confessing it again.
I can't believe I did this again. And we're going along. I'm like, dude, I can't believe I haven't done that for, like, four years. What am I doing? That's not what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about the person who willfully, meaning, I'm choosing this sin, and it's blatant, which means I know I'm choosing it. You know, I'm choosing it blatant. And it's ongoing. It never ceases. And on top of that, I'm unrepentant, which means this.
I don't care. I don't care. You can't judge me, you know? I mean, that's blatant, ongoing, willful, unrepentant sin. Who are you to tell me about that?
That's who Paul's saying, hey, I've asked you to deliver one over to Satan. Now, let's be clear what we mean by that. What does it mean to deliver one over to Satan? Okay. Satan is the prince of the power of the air.
That's his world, right? He's been given some authority under the authority of Christ to rule and reign in the world. It's being put out of fellowship with other christians is what it means. And we talked about when you get excommunicated, one of the roles of the devil in punishing so called professing believers who aren't walking with God is what, weakness, sickness, and even, what, death? We went over that a couple weeks ago.
Right. And what's the idea of turning someone over to Satan so as they get weaker or as they get sick, maybe they would be brought to a place of repentance so that, what, God would restore them to fellowship? But if not, even if they get put out of the fellowship, and even if they continue to be rebellious to God, even if God takes them out of the way, what does it say? It says this so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Believers, once they're saved, they're saved.
They're saved. I mean, we're talking about disciplining believers, not unbelievers. You can't discipline an unbeliever. They don't even believe in the first place. They're just living their life.
This is for a believer, that even if you discipline a believer and they're kicked out of the fellowship, and they're no longer surrounded by other christians, and they get weaker, they get sick or they even die, it doesn't mean that they're not necessarily going to heaven. If they've trusted Christ, they'll go to heaven. But you know what? They're going to have no rewards. They're going to have nothing to show for it.
Right? This is what Paul's talking about. Now think about this. In the first century, how many churches were in Corinth? There's this many.
You get put out of the fellowship. In the first century, you're put out of the fellowship. And you can't just go down the street and say, well, I've decided I'm no longer Baptist. Now I'm going to be Methodist. You can't do that.
You can't say, I'm gonna go join this church. You can't join another parachurch ministry. Cause there are none. You get put out of fellowship with other believers. There are no other believers to associate with.
You're in Satan's domain. Right? That's what Paul was saying. This is what should happen. And all Paul is doing here is repeating the exact words of what Jesus said should happen in the church.
When it comes to church discipline, if you turn your Bible to Matthew, chapter 18, you'll see that the purpose of all this is for the restoration of the sinning believer. That's the purpose of this all the time. The heart behind discipline. Okay? Now hear me on this is love.
The purpose of discipline is to keep people in the family, not to kick them out of the family. Right? The reason I discipline my children is not to kick them out. The reason I discipline my children is to get them in order to keep them in. Right.
The purpose of discipline is to keep people in the family to see restoration take place. And when Jesus is talking to his disciples, here's what he says should be the process of restoration. In Matthew, chapter 18 and verse 15, he says, if your brother sins, go show him his fault in private. If he listens to you, you've won your brother. So when you're aware of sin and when I talked about this last week, I said, we're not going around.
Like, I'm gonna see what I'm gonna get to know this person. Cause I'm gonna find out what their sin is and I'm gonna point it out in their life. That's not what it is. It means in our sphere of influence, when we're aware of sin in somebody else's life, or we're aware that they've sinned against us, what we're to do is go see them. How?
In private. It means we don't text all of our friends or call a prayer meeting, say, can't believe what Joe's doing. You know, blah, blah, blah. You pray for him. Cause I'm getting ready to go meet with him.
No, you do it in private. You love them enough. Cause you wanna see them respond, and you go show them their sin in private. And if they listen, you've won your brother back. We're all called to do that as the body of Christ.
Did you know that? Cause so often we want somebody else to do it for us. Hey, I'm aware of this sin over here. Hey, pastor, why don't you go talk to them? Because you're aware of it, so you go talk to them, right?
I mean, the church is not to be a tattletale, to go tell the pastor what everybody's doing wrong so the pastor can go judge everybody. No, no, no. If you're aware of sending somebody else, you go talk to them and you go talk to them privately, right? Then once you've given enough time, and perhaps there's no response, it says in verse 16, but if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you. So that by the fact of the mouth of two or three witnesses, every fact may be confirmed.
In other words, if time's gone by and the person hasn't shown signs of repentance, if you really love them and other people are aware of this, take a couple people with you and say, man, we love you, and we want you to know that the way you're acting is sinful towards God, and it's hurting you, and it's hurting those around you. And we love you enough to tell you this, would you please change your way? Would you please repent? Would you please allow the Holy Spirit to have his way with you? And oftentimes at that point, people repent.
My experience would be that if three people that I really respect are telling me something about my life that isn't right, I'm all ears. I want to hear it right. Jesus goes on and says, if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. That's the leadership of the church. In other words, you go through those two steps first before you ever come talk to a pastor or elder.
But if it's willful, ongoing, blatant, unrepentant sin, and we get to step three, now you're coming and talking to the church. Notice what it says next. If he refused to listen to even the church, let him be to you as a gentile and a tax collector. Well, what does that mean? A gentile and a tax collector were ones that weren't part of the covenant community.
And what did they need to hear? Hey, repent and believe in Jesus. It means they're no longer part of your fellowship anymore. It means they're gone right now, what I found in our generation is when you get to step three, right, and you're sitting down with our elders, and we've gone through a long process, and we're pointing out sin in your life, this has almost been true 100% of the time. Those people leave.
They just kind of leave at that point. Whoa, we just feel like we want to go to a church closer to home now. Hey, we just don't like the worship here anymore. We're out. Don't even worry about it.
I mean, most people will not stick around to get to stage four when we're standing up in front of the congregation telling people, hey, we've let so and so go. They're no longer part of our ministry. Not only that, but they're rebellious towards God, so don't hang out with them anymore. We haven't had to do that yet, because usually you get to step three and people start bugging out on their own. Right now, here's what Jesus says.
These are Jesus words. They're three of the most misinterpreted passages in the entire New Testament. Read the next three verses. Jesus, in the context of church discipline, says, truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Again, I say to you that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by my father, who is in heaven.
In other words, when leadership makes a decision of discipline and does it in the way that Jesus asked, he is confirming that he's present there with that discipline. Notice verse 20. For where two or three have gathered together in my name, I am there in their midst. What's he saying? Where elders have made a decision, where two or three have confirmed that this person needs to get let go of the fellowship, Jesus says, that's right where I'm standing, and I'm standing there with you.
And what you bound on earth abound in heaven. And what you've released, I'm releasing with you. Cause I'm there. I'm the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what that means.
What it doesn't mean is where two or three people gather there. Jesus is. I mean, he's everywhere. He's there where one person gathers. This is an indictment of church discipline.
And Paul is saying the exact same thing, that for willful, ongoing, unrepentant, blatant sinners, they need to be let go. Why? For the purpose of restoration, right? And if sin is not dealt with, right. The consequences of it is greater than the discipline.
And sometimes in church, we think, well, that discipline's really hard. I can't believe a church would do that. You know what? So few churches do that because they care more about who comes to their church than they do about the glory of God in the church, right? Not here.
I care more about Jesus than I do about anything else. Right? So what we do is we make sure that we're honoring God and that the glory of Jesus Christ is put on stage and put on display for him to have his way in our body, which means this. Anybody who's unrepentant can come. I mean, we have people that have sinned every kind of sin imaginable.
I'm sure if we made a list, we'd have everything covered here, right? I mean, you're welcome here as a sinner. It's the only people we can attract. Right? That's not what I'm saying.
I'm saying for willful, ongoing, blatant, unrepentant sin, where you say, you can't tell me what to do. That's not welcomed here because it hurts you and it hurts everybody else in the body of Christ. That's what he's saying. Now you may ask the question, well, how do you know if somebody's repentant or not? I mean, what do you do?
I mean, let me give you some telltale signs. You can write these down when you bring sin before somebody. Here's how you can tell if they're unrepentant. Here's how you can tell if they're unrepentant. I mean, let me just read you a verse from God's word before I highlight these for you.
You can write this verse down. In two corinthians 710, it says, for the sorrow that is according to the will of God, produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation. But the sorrow of the world produces death. Another way of saying that is godly sorrow produces repentance. It leaves no regret.
But worldly sorrow leads to death. Worldly sorrow is. Yeah, you kind of caught me. I guess I was wrong on this. Here's what unrepentant people.
I mean, here's four stages. You'll see this every single time that you're talking to someone unrepentant. You'll see this in your children. If you're bringing discipline to your children, here's what you'll see. The first is this.
Image management or saving face. So, I mean, you go to discipline somebody, you tell them that they're wrong, and the first thing they're going to start thinking about is, what are other people going to think about me? And what would other people think if they knew you were talking to me that way? And I can't have that on my record. And I don't want people to know that I sin that way.
And I care about what everybody else thinks. They go into image management and face saving. Two, they'll do this. They will always explain away the sin. You tell them, here's how you sin.
And they'll say, well, you know, you're kind of, you know, a little harsh on that. I mean, here's really what happened. Let me tell you about the background. I mean, I didn't really steal from the office. I didn't really, you know, cheat, per se.
It just depends on what your definition of is is. Right? I mean, right? That's what it is. It's explaining away the sin, right?
Three, this. They want to modify the discipline. You bring the discipline. You say, here's how I'm going to discipline. And they will jockey with the discipline.
Hey, you're not spending the night at your friend's house this weekend because of the way you treated your mom. Okay, dad, I agree. I know. I probably shouldn't have said that, but how about we go ahead and let me spend the night this weekend and maybe next week I won't have a snack. You know, I mean, whatever it is, they modify the discipline.
And number four, if you maintain the discipline and you're like, no, we're going to see this thing through. They will blame Christ, criticize or slander you for bringing the discipline. Who do you think you are? You're not perfect. I don't see your.
Where's your holy halo? I mean, who are you to talk to me like this? I mean, you're not perfect. And they will tell other people about how badly you treated them and how wrong it was 100% of the time, okay? When you're around people, I'm just telling you this, it's as right as rain.
Take it to the bank. When you're around people that consistently blame, slander, or criticize other people, stay the heck away from them because they're steeped in sin. Are you listening to me? You get around people that blame, criticize, and slander other people. Stay away from them.
They're steeped in sin. You have somebody that used to go to church with you that blames, slanders, and criticizes the church they left. Stay away from them. They're unrepentant people. It's just a fact.
Okay? You say, well, how do I know if somebody's repentant? Glad you asked. Here's what you'll see in repentant people every single time. Number one, they are broken, grieved, and sorry for their sins.
Sometimes they'll even cry about it. They're like, I was totally wrong. It was me. I know it was me. I just know you see God in their life.
Number two, they'll accept any discipline you give them. Whatever you say, pastor. Whatever I need to do to make this thing right, whatever I have to do, I'll do whatever it takes. I was wrong. I'm the one that did this wrong, right?
Number three, they'll be thankful for the person that pointed it out. Man, I love that you love God enough to show this to me in my life. Thank you. And number four, that person will always grow stronger with Jesus. That sin in their life will never set them back or keep them from everything God has.
It'll actually build them a stronger foundation for moving forward. Let me just give you an example. Infidelity would be an example that I see a lot. And when you're with somebody who's broken over their infidelity, here's what it looks like. The person who has had an affair outside the marriage, here's what they'll do.
They will cry. They will weep. They will be like, it's totally me. It was all me. I did what was wrong.
It's all me. And if the church says, hey, listen, here's the discipline. Here's what needs to happen. You need to move out for a while. You need to earn trust back.
Whatever you say I need to do, I'll. Do you want me to join a small group? I'll join a small group. You want me to do this? I'll do whatever it takes to make sure I honor Jesus.
In this. And thank you for loving me enough and not kicking me out. And thank you for walking alongside of me. And I want to get this thing right. That's what you'll notice every time with repentant people, right?
Unrepentant people. Here's what they'll say. Well, you don't understand. It wasn't just my fault, you know. I mean, there's some things going on in marriage.
Let me inform you about this. And you know that discipline's really harsh. I mean, a month out of the house, it seems really like a challenge. I mean, who are you to tell me what I mean? When you're broken over your sin, you don't care who knows.
You don't care who hears. You don't care about anything. All you care about is getting right with Jesus Christ. There's a lot of people that don't come to Christ because they care more about what other people will think. Because if they came to Christ, what they'll say is, well, my parents always thought I was a Christian, or, I've been singing on the worship team, and people will think, like, what were you doing up there?
Because I can't. I can't respond to the gospel, because then they'll be like, what have you been doing? All broken people? Like, I don't care who knows anything. I'm just running to Jesus as fast as I can because I'm going to get this thing right, because I want what Jesus wants right?
Godly sorrow produces repentance that leads to salvation, but worldly sorrow leads to death. I mean, Luke 19, you see these stories kind of back to back. You remember the stories. There was a young man that came to Jesus called the rich. Young ruler, had a lot of money.
He's like, jesus, what do I got to do to get into heaven? He said, well, what does the law say? He said, well, here's what it says. It says this, this, and this. He goes, I've done all that.
I'm doing it right. I'm justified. He's like, yeah, but one thing you lack. Go sell everything you have and give to the poor, and then come follow me. And what happened to that guy?
He went away sad. Why are you telling me what I have to do? I mean, I was doing everything. You should like me just the way I am, right? Fast forward through a couple stories, and what do we get to?
We get to a little white collar criminal named Zacchaeus, the wee little man, right? He climbs up in the sycamore tree, and Jesus says to him. Zacchaeus, come down. For I'm going to your house today. And what Zacchaeus do, Lord, here and now, I give away half my possessions to the poor.
And if I've cheated anybody, I'll pay them back four times as much. As long as I have a relationship with you, I don't care what anybody else says about me anymore. I just want to get it right. That's repentance. See the difference?
See, repentance is a brokenness before God that says, I want what Jesus wants, and I don't care what anybody else sees, and I don't care what anybody else even cares about me, because it's not about my pride and it's not about image management. It's only about the glory of Christ in my life. Right? And that's what he's saying. That's what Paul's writing to these corinthians about.
Like, what are you doing? You got this unrepentant sinner that doesn't care anything about Jesus, and you're letting him just go on and live his life, and you're not helping him and you're not helping the church. Let me give you the third thing he says. For his glory, here's what we should do. Believers should cleanse themselves from even the smallest amounts of immorality by focusing on the Lord.
Believers should cleanse themselves from even the smallest amounts of immorality by focusing on the Lord. Paul tells them in verse six, your boasting is not good. Your arrogance is not good. Your puffed up nature is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?
Leaven was what made the bread rise, right? Do you not know? A little leaven leavens the whole dough. Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as, in fact, just as you are, in fact, unleavened. For Christ, our passover also has been sacrificed.
What's he saying? He's like Jesus, our Passover lamb. Remember back in Egypt when you were in bondage in slavery? And the night that God led them out of the land of Egypt into the promised land? What did they do?
He told them, hey, when you celebrate the Passover, here's what you're going to do. You're going to paint blood on the doorpost. But when you bake the bread, don't put leaven in it. It doesn't have time to rise. You don't have time to hang on to your old sin stained life.
It's time to have a peace, pure new life. I'm setting you free from what you were through the blood of Christ, to go a new direction, right? That's the imagery he's giving here. When you come to Christ, Jesus Christ is setting you free from everything you used to be, to become everything God wants you to be. And you can't hold on to that.
Leaven in the Bible, oftentimes refers to evil. He's like, don't you realize a little leaven leavens the whole lump? In other words, just a little bit of sin hurts everybody. A little sin in your life hurts you. A little sin in your life hurts everybody else in the church.
Don't you realize that? I mean, it would be the modern day equivalent of saying this. Don't you realize one bad apple ruins the whole bunch? I mean, don't you see that? So the question is, hey, when in your life have you cleansed yourself from the sin that God is showing you?
Because as we spend time in his word and as we spend time hearing his word, we realize that there's things in our life that don't measure up to the holiness of God. And sin is like cancer. Untreated, it will spread, it will linger, and it will infect not just you, but everyone around you. And that's what Paul's writing to them. He's like, this is serious stuff.
This sin is going to hurt you. This sin is going to hurt everyone else around you. It's going to keep the glory of God from being a part of your church. So would you please deal with this? Would you lovingly and courageously deal with this?
And when you're part of a church body where this is going on, where people are exited not because they're bad people, and they're not exited because they're not welcome, but they're exited because they're hurting. The name and the reputation of Jesus, it sends a message that, what are we about here? The name and the reputation of Jesus. And that's what we're about here, right? How does God get glory?
And you know what? It can't just be from me saying, you repent, you should repent, you should repent. What does it come from? It comes from focusing on the Lord. Christ is our Passover lamb.
He's already died for all your sins. Notice what he says. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast not with old leaven, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness. Malice is like a bent towards evil or an evil disposition. And wickedness is acting it out, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
I mean, walk in the light as he's in the light. Be authentic. Be real. Be who you are in Christ. Allow the spirit of God to touch you.
And where he shows you things in your life that are misaligned, confess them before him. Why? Because Jesus Christ already shed his blood for you, right? I mean, there's some of you here that have never trusted Jesus Christ. I know that you've never confessed him as Lord, right?
He's not your savior. He's never come in and dwelt with you. And one of the reasons that you don't give your life to Christ is because you're concerned about what are my friends going to think or what are others going to think about me? When God has sent his son, he loves you unconditionally, no matter who you are, and he wants to give you his life. But what?
Your reputation is more important to you than a life with Christ. And some of you here have come to Christ, and you generally have a relationship with Christ, and God points out things in your life or has been pointing some things out in your life, but you refuse to listen. Because you know why? Because if I'm a Christian, I should know better. Because if I'm a Christian, I shouldn't be sinning like this.
Because I'm a Christian. If I let people know that this is what I was struggling, that's faith saving. Cause if you really care about God, it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks. When they see brokenness before the holiness of God, who cares? Do you want Jesus or do you want to save face?
And as we focus on the Lord and knowing that every sin in your life, you have to realize that God put his son up on a tree who died on a cross for that specific sin and said, I already knew what was going to happen when I died. That's exactly why I shed my blood just for that thing. Why is it you refuse to come to me and receive my shed blood in that area of your life that needs health and forgiveness? That's what I came for. That's what I'm in the business of doing.
And that's what Paul's telling him about. I mean, it's really interesting, because in the Old Testament, God's the same way. They just had different tools of dealing with it. Remember we talked through the, the book of Joshua this spring, and God was doing incredible things in the land of Israel, right? I mean, he was taking them in, crossing the Jordan river, pushing it back.
They get to Jericho gives them this plan to march around the city. All the walls come tumbling down. God is in the house. He's doing the work. And then the very next battle in Joshua, chapter seven, they go fight AI.
You remember this? And when they go fight AI, it says that they didn't inquire of the Lord and they got trounced. And Joshua is on his face before the Lord, like, why did you even bring us here? This is so bad. Now you're going to look bad.
God, what's the problem? And what does God tell him? Hey, there's sin in the camp. And because there's sin in the camp, I can't go with you anymore. I want to go with you, but I will not go with you.
When you harbor sin, find out where the sin is and deal with it. Then I'll go with you. Remember what happened? They started casting lots and a lot fell on Achan and his family. Remember what they did?
They killed Achan and his family. They stoned him, put a pile of stones over him and said, God, we dealt with the sin, and God's like, cool. Now I'll go with you. And then they go and defeat AI. Why?
Because you can't continue to walk with God while continually, habitually having sin in your life. God's not going with you. That's what he's saying now in the New Testament. Praise the Lord. We don't use stones anymore.
What do we use? We use the pleasant, precious blood of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, who shed it so that any repentant sinner can come before him and receive all the mercy and grace he or she would ever want or ever find or ever need. Isn't that good news? It means we don't have to go fix ourselves. Means we don't need to go make it right.
It means we don't have to go walk around and talk to 20 different people and say, I was wrong. I was wrong, you know, but I'm working on it. It means I come right boldly before Jesus and say, this is where I've been unrepentant. I'm giving my entire life to you. And when you do, you receive mercy and grace in lavish proportions.
Isn't that great news? I mean, that's exactly what Jesus is saying. And isn't it interesting that in a church like Corinth, where Paul starts out the book by showing how blessed they are? And in one corinthians one five, he says that in everything, you were enriched in him, in all speech, and in all knowledge. In other words, you have all these gifts.
You have the presence of God with you. Eight great things are being done in the church that in a church like that, there can be grievous sin like this. I mean, none of us are immune from sin. Did you know that? I mean, there's no sin fence that we put on our church.
We got to keep those unrepentant people out of here. I mean, how do you know who they are? By what behavior? Unrepentant, willful, ongoing, blatant behavior. That's the only way you know.
And then we're called to deal with it. If you're aware of that in somebody else's life, you go have a conversation with them. One on one. Doesn't change. Take some people with you because you love them and you want to see them restored, then you can come talk to the leadership in the church, and we'll weep and pray over that and hope and pray that they respond to that, too.
Why? Because we love you and Jesus loves you, and he wants to restore you no matter what your situation is. See, here's a question I have for you when it comes to sin, because I find that in my own life, I can be pretty objective about other people's sin. But I can. I can explain mine away a lot better.
Anybody give me an amen on that? So I think about passages like this. In one Peter 315, it says, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence. How about this?
Think about your week. This week, were you always prepared to give a defense for the reason that you have the hope of Christ in you? I mean, at every moment this week, was there any time this week that if somebody would have come and seen your life, watch what you said, watch what you did. Was there any time that you may not have been ready to give a defense for the hope that's within you? Is there any time you may not have been living with the hope that you have within you?
I mean, the Bible says we should always be ready. The Bible says, be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect. Anybody in here missed the mark just a little bit this week. I mean, there's a call and a high call to say, we want to live for you at all times, Lord. And when Jesus is the center of our focus, he shows us in our hearts those areas that aren't aligned, not because he hates us.
But because he loves us and he disciplines every one of us that he loves, and he wants to show us in that area here. I'm trying to speak to you and I'm trying to tell you something. Would you please, would you please release that to me and turn from your sin and come to me so that I can have life with you in that area? I mean, that's what he says. And as believers, we should be cleansing ourselves from even the smallest amounts of immorality.
There shouldn't be those things in our life. Well, that's not a big deal. That's not a big deal. The question becomes this. When you got saved, the Holy Spirit came and indwelled your life.
Here's the question. Is the Holy Spirit having as much fun living in you as you are living your life? Is he enjoying your life as much as you are? You know, if we used your life as a model and said, this is how you behave, live, act, would you be happy giving that lifestyle to all christians everywhere saying, yeah, model that. That becomes the question.
And for all of us, when we're going before the Lord saying, search me and try me. And we're not comparing ourselves to other christians, but to Jesus, we find that oftentimes what we come up short. Oftentimes we come up short and God's mercy and grace is released every single time we repent and say, lord, it's yours. You take this, you have this. Just change me and mold me.
Let me give you the final admonition here from one corinthians, chapter five, because this one you're not going to hear very many places or very often. This is the .4 that for his glory, believers should cut off contact with immoral, professing believers.
You probably haven't heard that in a sermon. Believers should cut off contact with immoral professing believers. And if you're asking me where I got that, let's go to verse nine. He said, I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people. Now, what letter?
If you were here at the beginning of our series, you know, there were four letters written to corinthians. In our Bible, we have the second and fourth letter that we call first and second corinthians. So there was an earlier letter Paul wrote that said, don't associate with immoral people. I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world or with the covetous or swindlers or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. He says, listen don't associate with immoral people.
But I'm not talking about nonbelievers, because if you had to do that, you couldn't hang out with anybody, right? That's not what I'm talking about. So, Paul, what are you talking about? He says, here's what I'm talking about. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so called brother if he is an immoral person or covetous or an idolater or reviler or drunkard or swindler.
Not even to eat with such a one. How about that? I mean, I never heard a sermon on that growing up. Do not associate means don't mix it up with. To associate means to mix up.
Okay? When there is somebody that you're aware of who is unrepentant. And we went through all that, you know, people that blame and criticize who are unrepentant, here's what it says. If that person's a believer, here's what the Bible says. Don't associate with them.
Cut them off. Don't text them. Don't do play dates with them. Don't have them over for dinner. Don't try to be the comforter in their life.
They've been turned over by God so that he can get his work done. And even in your compassion for them, you're actually getting in the way of what God's trying to do. When you're aware of so called believers that are not living the way God wants them to live, the best thing you can do for them is to cut off contact with them. And let me tell you this, it's really hard, because here's the question. What if they're your best friend?
What if it's a family member?
The word doesn't change. Now, I had somebody after the first service say, what if it's your spouse? I said, we'll get to that in one corinthians, chapter seven. You're married. Okay?
If you're married, you're married. But here's the deal. God takes this really, really serious. And so often in our churches, we don't disassociate with people because we thought, well, they've been treated unfairly and they've been this. Here's the deal.
If you're aware of immoral people, professing believers that aren't living that way, and you're associating with them, as a biblical believer, you're not living out the word of God. You need to cut it off. Like, that's what the Bible teaches I mean, it's a very sobering word. He says, what kind of people? Covetous, which are greedy people, idolaters.
People that are putting other things ahead of God. A reviler, somebody that's abusive or a bully, a drunkard is obvious. A swindler or somebody who's robbing other people. I mean, people that are immoral, people that are unrepentant, people that are so called believers, that are gossips and slanderers. Cut them out of your life.
Why? Because bad company corrupts good morals. And their bad morals will have more of a negative influence on you than your good morals will of bringing them back. Allow God to bring them back. Allow God to do the work.
Now I get this. This is a heavy word, right? It's a heavy word because some of you are thinking about relationships that you have, that you're trying to massage and do all this stuff. I'm talking about believers here. I'm not talking about people that may or may not be Christians or people that are definitely not christians.
I'm talking about people that are professing believers that are like, I'm not living for that way anymore. Cut them off. That's what it means. Don't associate with them. Don't mix.
Why? Cause God says this. He judges nonbelievers. Notice what he says in verse twelve. For what have I to do with judging outsiders?
Paul says, do you not judge those who are within the church, but those on the outside? God judges. And then he quotes deuteronomy in several passages. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves. Paul's saying, what do I have to do with the world?
I mean, a lot of times people want pastors to stand up and just proclaim how bad the world is. Right? Did you know what they're doing out there? Did you know what they're. Yeah, that's what non believers do.
They're just living their true identity out. Look at all the immoral people in the world. That's what non Christians do. Look at all the lying, the cheating, the gambling. That's what non Christians do.
What do you want me to say? They're living with their identity. I'm talking about believers who say that they're believers who are walking with Christ, that aren't living it out. That's who Paul's talking about. Why?
Because God's judgment is already on the world. Did you know that? I mean, think about this very familiar passage in John chapter three and verse 16. It said, for God so loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him would not perish, but would have eternal life. That by believing in Jesus, we can believe this, that God the father so loved the world that any sinner anywhere, at any time that calls upon the name of the Lord can be saved.
Because in verse 17, it says, for God did not send the son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Jesus intentionality and his purpose of coming was not just to tell the world, you're bad, you're awful, you're evil. He demonstrated that by just living his life perfectly holy. He demonstrated that, but his purpose in coming was not to judge the world. His purpose in coming was that the world might be saved by confessing him as Lord.
But notice what the next verse says. John 318. He who believes in him, he who has put their faith and trust in Jesus, he who has confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and savior is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. In other words, from the time we're born, God's judgment and wrath is already on us, right?
Paul's saying, you don't need to go judge the world. God's already judging the world. You need to judge those in the church that are called by the name of Christ, that aren't living it out. God's judgment's already on the world. Let me say this.
Let me be crystal clear on this. You may have come to harvest your entire in our entire seven year history and still not be a believer in Jesus Christ, right? Because the question I'm about ready to ask you is not, hey, when did you pray to receive Jesus? Because most people in here have done it like 437 times, right? The question I'm not asking is, you know, when did you feel warm and fuzzy inside?
Because that's happened to a lot of you as well. Here's my question for you. At what point in time, knowing that you were born dead and knowing that you were born without life, at what point in time did the life of Christ become so real in your life that you knew that there was a marked change, that God had come in you and you had been transformed? When did that happen for you? That's the question I'm asking because that's called being born again.
Because if you're born dead, you must be born again. If you're born spiritually dead, you must be made alive by Christ. If you're an enemy, you must be made a friend. God has to do that. And while you may not remember the exact date, time and place, you'll know in your life.
Yeah, I used to feel this. I used to know this. But now I know I'm in the kingdom of his beloved son. I know that. I know that.
I know. When did that happen for you? Because there's some of you here today that has never happened for you. You think by playing religious games or praying religious prayers or doing something religious or whatever that you're a Christian. A Christian is not somebody who does religious things.
A Christian is someone who has come to realize they are dead in their trespasses and sins and have confessed Jesus Christ as their savior to forgive who they are. When did that happen for you? And for some of you, my question is this. You've trusted Christ. You know him.
You know beyond a shadow of a doubt if you were to die today that you would be welcomed into his presence and that he loves you with an unconditional love. But there's been some things the Lord has been pointing out in this message to you. There's been some things the Lord has been pointing out through your study of the word. There's been ways God has been calling you back. There's been things he's been telling you to repent of.
And you have been saying in your heart because of your lack of behavior. I ain't doing that. Who are you to tell me what to do? I know I'm forgiven. I'll just continue to live this way.
And if you like me, then just continue to love me. But I'm not going to change. But the Lord has been showing you some things that you need to change. You know exactly what they are and you just kind of shelfed them and you kind of put them away. And you know you're saved and you know you're going to heaven, but you're unrepentant in that God.
I don't really care in this area. It's not that big of a deal. And hey, why do I have to change it? Why don't they have to? Why don't they have to change the way you're asking me to change it?
Why didn't they have it hard like I have it and this? And how come I have to? Instead of just running to the cross and saying, that's me and God, you can have this, and I'm so tired of fighting this and it's yours and I want you to do what you want to do. So the way I want to end our service today is by giving you an opportunity to respond to this message. Because this message is for us as believers, right?
This message is for us as a church. Like, what are we going to do with this? How can we loving and courageously put the word of God into practice in our midst? And for some of you, it's trusting Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior. For some of you, it's coming to him today and not caring what anybody else thinks.
For some of you, God's been speaking to you today and said, that's you. You've never, ever confessed me. You've never gone public with me. You know you haven't. And you're afraid to because of what other people are going to say, because they're going to say, I thought you did that a long time ago.
And, oh, no wonder. But for some of you that are here today, you know, God's calling you home, and you don't care what anybody says or what anybody looks like or what anybody, when they look at you, you just know you got to get it right with Jesus. And in a minute, I'm gonna ask you to stand to your feet and just say, I don't care who sees. I don't care who watches. Today, I'm getting it right with Jesus.
He's called me home. I'm gonna be his. I'm gonna confess him as my lord and savior. I'm gonna receive his, shed blood into my life for all my sins being forgiven. Then there's a second group after them.
I'm gonna ask you to stand to your feet. And this is this group. It's the group that's saying, I know I'm saved. There's no doubt I'm saved. No doubt I'm saved.
There's this thing in my life that God's been pointing at and prodding at, and I know he's talking to me today, and I know I hear him. And I'm just tired of fighting this thing. And, Jesus, you can have it right now, and I'll ask you to stand to your feet, too. So that's what we're going to do. This is a sobering moment, but God's at work among us.
So I'm just going to tell you, if you're here today and you haven't trusted Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, you haven't confessed him as your personal lord and savior, would you just stand right where you are saying, jesus, I heard you today, and I'm giving my life to you right now. Would you stand right where you're at.
We've had several people in all of our services. Thank you.
This is the Lord that's calling to you. He's the only one that's speaking to your heart. You know who you are. If Jesus is calling you to himself, it's the greatest moment in your life. Because the Bible says there's more rejoicing over one sinner who repents than over 99 that don't need.
And the angels rejoice even over one. If you're standing, here's how you can pray. Jesus, I believe that you love me.
I know I'm a sinner, but I believe today you died for all my sins, that you rose from the grave in power, and that you're willing to forgive me. So right now, in this moment, I confess you as my lord and savior, Jesus. I just pray for everyone who prayed that prayer, that you would fill them afresh with your holy spirit right now who has been deposited inside of them, and they would know that they've been changed for all eternity.
Now, for those of you that are here that would say, I'm a Christian. I know I'm a Christian. I want you to picture the glory of Jesus Christ in all of his majesty standing right here before you, okay, saying, hey, listen, I'm just showing you these things because I want you to respond to me. If there's something that Jesus has pointed out to you, an area, he's calling you to repent, would you just stand to your feet right now in this place, say, that's me.
So I'm just going to invite you just to open up your hand right where you're standing. And here's how we'll pray together. Jesus, you know every heart in this room. You know every person that's holding their hand up or holding their hand out saying, jesus, I need you. And Lord, that act of surrender is them saying, I can't change myself.
I can't change my own heart, but I know you can. Just have your way with me. Lord, fill me afresh with your holy spirit.
Lord, I'm not going to leave this place and try to fix it. I'm going to offer this at your altar and I'm just going to give it to you knowing that you'll do the work. So, Holy Spirit, as we sing and as we pray, move among us in power and change lives, we give you all, all the glory and all the praise in Jesus name. Amen. And amen.
Can we give God some praise for his work among us?