The Permeating Influence of Sin

Transcript

GR 1312
11-27-05
The Permeating Influence of Sin
I Corinthians 5:6-13
Gil Rugh

We've been studying I Corinthians together on Sunday mornings, and we're going to continue that study today in chapter 5, I Corinthians 5 in your Bibles. What Paul is addressing in the church at Corinth are matters that the Spirit of God has directed him to record in a letter to that church so that the church in all generations might benefit from what God had to say to the church at Corinth. And it's applicable not only to that church, but to every church down through history. And foundational to the issues that Paul has to deal with in the church at Corinth is the reminder of who we are as the people of God. We are those who have been saved by God's grace, transformed and made new so that the church is to be made up of those who have experienced God's redeeming, transforming grace. And are manifesting the new life that God has given us in Christ. And that is to be a life characterized by holiness, by purity, by truth.

Turn to II Corinthians 5, the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians. Note what Paul writes beginning in II Corinthians 5:14, for the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that One died for all, therefore all died. He develops this analogy in Romans 6. There he shows that when we believe in Christ we are identified with Christ in His death, in His burial and in His resurrection to newness of life. So that when we came to place our faith in Christ, we were identified with Christ in His death, in His burial, in His resurrection. The wages for sin is death, but the death of Christ is credited to my account when I believe in Him. Now note this, verse 15, He died for all so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. We sometimes say, Christ died so that we would not have to go to hell, and that is true. He has delivered us from the penalty of our sin, which involves eternal condemnation in hell. And now we are His people destined for the glory of His presence in heaven. But that's not the only reason Christ died for us. He died for all, verse 15, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. And in Romans 6 those who died with Christ are raised with Christ to newness of life. Verse 17, therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a new creature. The old things passed away, behold new things have come. It is a struggle for the Corinthians to live the new life that they have in Christ, to live for Him who died for them.

Turn over to the book of Titus, just before Hebrews. Titus was the young man left on the island of Crete by the Apostle Paul to finish setting in order the things in the churches and the various cities on the island of Crete. In Titus 2:11, for the grace of God has appeared, God's grace in providing His Son, Jesus Christ to be the Savior, bringing salvation to all men. Now note this, instructing us, training us. A word relating to our English word pedagogue, child training. Training us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the now age. You'll note, God's grace has appeared, it has brought us salvation. And that grace that brought us salvation is now training and developing us to live godly lives, lives that deny ungodliness and worldly desires, to live sensibly, righteously and godly in this present age. Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us. Note this, to redeem us from every lawless deed, to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. Foundational matters that the church at Corinth has lost sight of.

Go to I Peter 1:13, therefore prepare your minds for action, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Remember Paul wrote to Titus, looking for the blessed hope, even the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. Here we are to have our hope fixed on His coming and to live accordingly. Verse 14, as obedient children do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy in all your behavior. Because it is written, you shall be holy for I am holy. What an awesome standard. God has brought us into His family as His children and now it is required that we manifest His character, which is holiness in all of our conduct.

And then keep going to the back of your Bible to I John 3:1, see how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God. And we are. For this reason the world does not know us because it does not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears we will be like Him because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself just as He is pure. The people of God are to be a holy people, a pure people because they are the people of God. They have died to the old life, they have been raised to newness of life in Christ. Old things have passed away, new things have come.

Come back to I Corinthians 1:2. Paul is writing to the church of God which is at Corinth. Now note this, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling. Remember Peter wrote, you shall be holy for I am holy, God says. Paul says he is writing to those who have been sanctified, saints by calling. The Greek word for holy is the same basic word that we have translated sanctified in a different form, and saints. Those who are sanctified are those who have been set apart from sin to God, they are holy, they are the saints, the holy ones. When Paul says they are saints by calling he is literally saying, they are holy ones by calling. So Paul is writing to the church of God at Corinth, those who are set apart as God's holy ones.

Look at chapter 3 verse 16, speaking of the church. Do you not know that you are a temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you, the Spirit of God dwells in the church, the local church at Corinth, this local church, other local churches? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy. And that is what you are. You are the holy ones, the saints, you are the temple of God, the Spirit of God dwells in you as His people. And that temple of course is holy and that's what you are.

Now we come to chapter 5 there is a problem. The church has one of its members living in open immorality, and the church has accepted it, doing nothing about it. The church at Corinth has some very real problems, and one of their problems is a spiritual arrogance. Paul has been dealing with this in the opening chapters, spoken repeatedly of their arrogance. It is going to come up again, verse 6, your boasting is not good. It will come out again through this letter. The second letter Paul has to spend the last part of the letter defending himself against those who thought they were his spiritual superiors. And here a church parading around that they had learned how to use the wisdom of the world with the wisdom of God and were effective and successful. They were spiritual giants with great insight. And while they are parading around with an air of spiritual superiority and pride and arrogance, they ought to be mourning.

Verse 2, you have become arrogant and have not mourned. They should be grieved over the sin that is present in their midst. And not just wringing their hands, but they should be doing something about it. They may not be able to have that sinning Christian stop his sin, but they are responsible to remove him from the fellowship of the believers. And according to verse 5, turn him over to Satan, the realm of Satan, outside the church where he will experience the discipline of God and be dealt with in the plan of God even by Satan's attacking him so that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Serious matter. The discipline of this believer by removing him from the fellowship of the church at Corinth is for his good, so that God might work to prepare him for an eternal salvation.

Paul continues this theme the whole chapter, all 13 verses are about sin in the church at Corinth. He started out in verse 1, there is immorality among you, and he'll end in verse 13, remove the wicked man from among you. And through the entire chapter he is talking about their responsibility in explaining it. For every time the church has to deal with sin in its midst, there are people who are reluctant to do so. There are some people who think they are spiritual enough to know that it's not necessary, and the church at Corinth evidently was proud of their position and their understanding of grace and their tolerance. So verse 6 says, your boasting is not good. There is an emphasis here on the not good. The order in Greek is, not good your boasting. This is something to be ashamed of, not proud of. Your boasting is not good. Doesn't mean they're boasting about the man who is committing such a sin, a sin that not even unbelievers generally practice, but their general spiritual attitude of arrogance and superiority is not good. They ought to have such a sensitivity of sin that they are grieved, that they are humbled, that they mourn that such sin would be practiced among the people of God.

Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Basic principle, a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. Leaven is used in different ways in scripture, always though, illustrating the principle of something that permeates and spreads. It's used of sin in a negative sense, it's used of good like the kingdom that Christ will establish in Matthew 13 where He refers to it as leaven. It will ultimately permeate the whole world. Here the context is sin and the illustration is sin, the corrupting influence of sin in a life and in the church of God. So the principle is established. He introduces it by, do you not know? Ten times, remember, in the letter to the Corinthians Paul asks this question, do you not know? And as we've seen it already in chapter 3 that he doesn't imply something they don't know. He's not asking, is this something you've not learned yet? We've noted it's like when you ask your children, don't you know better? They better not say no, because that's not a question you're looking for an answer. That's a rhetorical question, you're telling them, there is no excuse for their conduct. There would not be any excuse for not knowing this. Do you not know a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Well of course you know that.

We talked about years ago in the church there was a group of ladies that had sourdough bread going around. And I remember they called it a starter, I think, and Marilyn got a starter to make sourdough bread. And that was the leaven that you needed to get your lump going. And then you go on vacation for a long time and when you got back you needed to call someone, I need a new starter. I don't have any idea how this all............. Except I know a little leaven leavens the whole lump, and that's what happened. It permeates. That's the point that is being illustrated here—the permeating influence of leaven. It's used here of immoral and sinful conduct.

Turn over to Galatians 5, just after the letters to the Corinthians. He uses it in Galatians 5 of bad doctrine and how if bad doctrine is not dealt with in the church, that will spread. So both moral conduct that is improper and doctrine that is not proper, if not dealt with by the church will spread and corrupt the church. In Galatians 5, the whole book of Galatians, Paul is dealing with the issue of the Judaizers, those who wanted to take the Mosaic Law and wed it to the gospel of Jesus Christ so that you had to believe in Christ and also keep the law to be saved. And for those who were already saved they not only had to walk by grace through faith for sanctification, they had to also keep the law. And so in Galatians 5:9, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. This bad doctrine, if it is not dealt with, will continue to permeate and corrupt the churches at Galatia. So bad doctrine influences the church that way, the same way bad conduct does back in
I Corinthians.

So come back to I Corinthians 5. You see the example, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. You know it's amazing how sin works, isn't it? It's like your children's behavior. For them to do the wrong thing, you don't have to do anything but take the restraints off, just let them have their own way. And what happens? It just becomes the natural thing for them to do the wrong thing. Like weeds in your yard. Just don't do anything, they grow. If you say, I'm just not going to do anything, that way I'll have good grass. No, that takes attention and effort and work. So it's a constant work, takes constant effort, constant attention for the church to remain pure, morally, doctrinally. Because of the corrupting influence of the world, the devil and then the flesh that would assert itself.

So verse 6, a little leaven leavens the whole lump, so, verse 7, clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. You know I'm amazed to read some of Paul's letter and what he assumes. Here he talks about the leaven, unleavened, the sacrifice of Christ as our Passover. He is presupposing that the church at Corinth understands the issues of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread as they were established in Exodus 12. Now we wouldn't be surprised at this if he were writing to a Jewish audience or a group of converted Jews, like the letter to the Hebrews, or Peter who writes to the saved Jews of the dispersion, Jews who have trusted Christ who are scattered to different parts of the world. But here Paul is writing to a Gentle church in the Greek city of Corinth. These believers in the church would have come out of complete paganism. They wouldn't have been like Jewish converts who had been raised being taught the Old Testament. So now that they are saved they can relate the Old Testament truth to the work of Christ. Here are those who came out of total paganism, and Paul refers to Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, he doesn't even go into an explanation. He assumes they know it. Now you remember, they didn't have the privilege of carrying their Bibles around, going home and saying, I better check Exodus 12. I didn't remember all of that. They didn't have their own copies. They've been believers for half a dozen years or so. Paul spent 18 months teaching them the Word of God day and night, and you better believe he packed it in, because here he is referring to the Old Testament, touching on the Old Testament as an illustration and an example. And he doesn't even elaborate on it.

Exodus 12 records the first Passover and the institution of that feast, and also the establishing of what is called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is the week that follows Passover, and there was to be no leaven found in the houses of any Israelites. And in Exodus 12:39, one of the reasons is that was to be a reminder of how quickly they had to leave Egypt in the middle of the night. There was no time for the bread to become leavened and rise. It also becomes a picture of sin.

So in I Corinthians 5:7, clean out the old leaven that you may be a new lump. Now note this, just as you are in fact unleavened. He commands them to clean out the old leaven which is focusing on get rid of the sinning man. You do this because you are unleavened, the church is unleavened, the church in Christ has been purified. Not telling people to reform and clean up their lives, this is not our approach to the world. This is dealing with the church that has experienced the transforming, cleansing power of Jesus Christ, the people who are the holy ones, the saints, the sanctified. They are to get rid of any sin in their midst because they have been cleansed. Now this is important because we don't go around telling unbelievers to clean up their lives, because they are not unleavened. This is not instruction to any other group but the church that is unleavened by the work of Christ. You are unleavened.

Why? For Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. There is the provision. In Exodus 12, remember, the Passover was instituted, the Jews were to sacrifice the lamb and then put the blood on the doorposts of their house. When the destroying angel came by he would pass over the house that had the blood on the lintel, the doorjamb, doorpost. That Passover feast in Israel's subsequent history was to be followed by a week called the Feast of Unleavened Bread, where Israel observed that feast and had no leaven or leavened products in their houses. So Paul says, in effect, Christ our Passover has been sacrificed, so we are to be living as though we were in that Feast of Unleavened Bread with no sin present in our midst. Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. The only place where Christ is specifically identified as the Passover. We know all of the sacrifices are types and pictures in the Old Testament of the work of Christ and His salvation.

Therefore, verse 8, let us celebrate the feast, the Feast of Unleavened Bread that follows Passover. Christ our Passover has been sacrificed, therefore, let us celebrate the feast, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, not with old leaven or with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. And not just immorality that should be dealt with, but any kind of other overt sin must be dealt with and removed. Malice wickedness, all a picture here of leaven. If they're not dealt with, they will spread, they will corrupt the church. We have the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, the genuineness The word sincerity originally was something held up to the sun. You could hold a piece of pottery up to see if it had any cracks or flaws in it. We still do that with certain things. You go antiquing or something, you want to hold something up to the light to see if there are any cracks in it. So something that is genuine, that is what it should be. Truth. That's what should characterize the church at Corinth. Purity, tranparentness, genuineness, the truth, the gospel being fleshed out in their conduct. Shouldn't be sin there, that would be like Israel having leaven. And any Israelite who had leaven in his house during the Feast of Unleavened Bread was to be cut off from the fellowship of Israel. And so here in the church. There is not to be any toleration of sin.

Now I remind you, nothing is new. The church in Corinth in chapter 3 was called carnal, fleshly. Generally the church is characterized by sinful practice that ought to be corrected. But here these people who are not being what they should be as the church are now being rebuked for not putting out of their fellowship a particular sinning Christian. We think this is a good example, let him who is without sin cast the first stone, judge not that you be not judged. But the fact that the church is not perfect does not change the fact they are required to exercise discipline on this kind of overt, sinful action. That doesn't mean we think we are perfect and there is nobody in this church who lives his life perfectly without ever having a lustful thought, a greedy thought, an angry thought for the week or whatever. Doesn't change the fact, overt acts of sin are to be dealt with. If a person will not abandon their sin, they are to be excluded from the fellowship of believers. I mention this because you never have a case of discipline in the church where someone is going to be put out of the fellowship where there aren't people who think they are more spiritual than God who have reasons why I don't think we should be doing this. And besides, if you put this person out, how are they going to grow? How are they going to hear the truth? How are they going to change? We need to welcome them and let them hear the truth. And as long as they'll listen to the truth we ought.............. God has not called me to come up with Plan B, God has not called me to solve His problems. He has called me to be a servant and allow Him to do His business in and through me. Right? So the church at Corinth, you're being fleshly. Change. And you need to put out the man who is living in immorality and be a pure church.

Now there has to be some explanation here. In verse 9 he's going to clarify what he's writing. But I want you to note here, and he's going to come back to it so I will repeat this. The church is not called to change the world, reform the world. Only those who have benefited from the sacrifice of God's Passover Lamb. Remember when John the Baptist introduced Christ to the nation, John 1:29, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He has been God's sacrifice. Those who have placed their faith in Him have experienced His cleansing power. Those are the ones we are speaking to live a pure, holy, godly life. I am not trying to tell my neighbor, my co-worker, my unsaved friend that he ought to clean up his life. You know what? He stops being immoral, he'll just now be a person who is not immoral who is going to hell. So nowhere does the Bible speak about trying to clean up our society here, we're talking about those who are, in verse 7, unleavened by the work of Christ. Because Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. They must live holy and godly lives, and no one else can, because they have not experienced the power of God's salvation in their lives. So moral reformation is not a message of scripture.

Look at verse 9. Paul had written a previous letter. We call the letter we are studying I Corinthians, but it's not I Corinthians. It's at least II Corinthians. We don't know whether Paul wrote more than one previous letter, but he says in verse 9, I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people. There was a previous letter. We call this I Corinthians because it's the first letter we have preserved for us as part of our scriptures. But the problem of immorality evidently was ongoing at Corinth because Paul wrote a previous letter telling them not to be involved with immoral people. So this problem of immorality had been going on in the church, not maybe this particular case, but immorality had been a problem in the church. Corinth was an immoral city. People didn't frown on immorality. We sometimes see Christians wringing their hands about our country and saying, what is happening, as though something new had happened. Maybe there are ways that sin manifests itself more openly at different times. You understand Corinth, sin was rather accepted, in fact it was part of some of the religious practice of the people of the city. In fact they say there was something like 1000 prostitutes that descended on the city every night as part of the pagan worship. I mean, this just was life in Corinth. People get saved and this is going on all around. Pretty soon the church at Corinth, understanding grace and with their spiritual high view of themselves, has learned to be an accepting church and a tolerant church and immorality is a problem in their midst. Paul wrote them a letter and told them, you must not associate with immoral people.

Now some at the church at Corinth took this to mean then I ought to cut off any fellowship, any association with unbelievers who are immoral. Paul says in verse 10, 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'd have to go out of the world. You'd have to exit to heaven, if you're going to cut off all contact with sinful people. The whole world lies in the evil one, I John 5 says. I mean, when Paul says don't be involved with immoral people, don't get mixed up with sin or sinful people, he's not talking about unregenerate people. Now he doesn't mean you should become like unregenerate people, that's obviously clear. But he doesn't mean you have to disassociate. If there is a person practicing immorality who is part of this church, they have to be put out of the church and my fellowship and association with them is cut off. But I'll go have lunch with an unbeliever who is not part of the church and that's not a problem. And my purpose of lunch is not to try to get him to quit being immoral or a drunk or anything else, as Paul will note in a moment. I would desire to share the gospel with him so he can be freed from the power of sin, but I'm not there to try to tell him to clean up his life.

I didn't mean you should not associate with immoral people of this world or with the covetous, or swindlers, or idolaters. I mean, I'm talking about immorality because that's the specific case at hand, but this applies to all kinds of sinful activity. It's unacceptable in the church, but it's the way the world is. And I don't try to cut off association with the unbelievers in the world. But Jesus was noted as a friend of sinners. He said, I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. So naturally we have contact with them, and I can fellowship with them, associate with them. So in other words means to mix up something with someone. Now again, I can't run and do the things they do, but I don't have to disassociate myself from the unbeliever, I'm not supposed to.

Look at verse 11, I actually wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person or covetous or idolater or reviler or drunkard or swindler, not even to eat with such a one. So, you know we sometimes think we have to get our holy huddle, we'd like to have a little bit of Christian monasticism. People say, I just hate going to work, they are so sinful, they are so depraved. I feel defiled when I am with them. Well, get over it. Nothing from the outside defiles you. Remember Jesus said, it's not what goes into the man that defiles a man, it's not that which comes from the outside that defiles a man, it's from within. Working next to that unbeliever that is so uncouth and foul mouthed doesn't defile you. So be of good cheer, you're there to be a light to him. We're not to cut ourselves off from the world, get our comfort zone just to be with people like us.

Turn over to Philippians 2. The church at Corinth had things backwards, they thought they ought to cut themselves off from the world, but tolerate the world in the church. The church is in the world, the world is not to be in the church. Philippians 2:12, the end of the verse, he tells the believers to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. He doesn't say work for your salvation, the salvation that you now have in Christ is to be worked out with fear and trembling. For it is God who is now working in you, He's at work in you. Verse 14, do all things without grumbling or disputing, so that you will prove yourself to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life. So believers are to be there in the world as a light. We're in the midst of a perverse and crooked generation. Nothing has changed. I'm not out there hoping I don't have to get too near or have too much contact with unbelieving people who I find defiling. We become somewhat Pharisaical and say, I thank you, Lord, that I am not a sinner like other men. Lord, I'm so holy, I'm so righteous, I find it hard to be around these crummy sinners. Like Paul wrote to Titus in chapter 3, don't forget where you came from, don't forget what you were apart from the amazing grace of God. We're not looking at ourselves and being unaccepting of the world, we are here to be a light to the world, to bring them the gospel which will change their lives. We're not called to reform their life, I don't want to get together with an unbelieving friend and tell him why he ought to stop this particular sin or that particular sin. I want to tell him about the gospel of Jesus Christ which will set him free, make him new, cleanse him, make him whiter than snow, provide the Spirit of God to empower him to live a life that is pleasing to God.

Come back to I Corinthians 5. I wrote you not to associate with any so-called brother. Paul doesn't get into the debate here, is he truly a believer or is he not. If he is called a brother, he claims to be a believer, he's been part of the church at Corinth. On the basis of claiming to be a believer in Jesus Christ, then you deal with him accordingly. If he is an immoral person, covetous, idolater, reviler is a person who is always speaking against, brings the division that we talked about in the first four chapters. Characteristic in the church, a person who is a slanderer. A drunkard. Sadly I read one recent commentary, very fine commentary in many ways, but when he got to the word drunkard this man had an interesting note. Paul and the people of Paul's day didn't have the understanding of alcoholism that we would today, so he wouldn't expect the church to deal with alcoholics this way anymore. I mean, mindless that now we're going to take the psychologizing of sin that is characteristic of our day and read it back into scripture and so undo what the scripture says. Thank God we have God's Word on alcoholism, it's being a drunk, it's the characteristic of an unregenerate person, just like immorality is. Swindler, not even to eat with such a one. So what about the people of the world who are doing these things? I associate with them. I don't do what they do, but I'm comfortable associating with them. But a believer in this church who would be a drunk, that's a different story. No. When I have my unbelieving friends over, neighbors over, or co-workers over for dinner, sure. Would I have a believer who is involved in these kinds of sins over for dinner? No. Oh it's a double standard. No. We're talking about two different kinds of people, two different worlds. We're talking about the church of God which is made up of the holy ones by God's calling, saints, sanctified in Christ Jesus and we're talking about the world. Which is the world? Who needs contact with us? Who needs to hear the truth of the gospel from us? Who needs to have both the testimony of our lives and the testimony of our mouths bearing witness to Jesus Christ so that they might hear and be saved? The church gets it turned around. We find reasons why we don't want to be too judgmental, I mean, they're in sin but all of us are and I'm not comfortable with telling them they're not welcome here at the church. I mean if they want to come, let's be glad at least they come, at least they are hearing the Word of God, at least it gives the Spirit of God a chance to use the Word in their lives. Maybe they're not believers. If we put them out of the church, maybe their testimony is false, we put them out of the church they'll quit hearing the gospel. And even if they are believers and they're in sin, the Spirit will convict them. You know, all these things don't matter. Only what matters is what God says is required in His church. I'm not called to write I Corinthians 5b, there is only one I Corinthians 5. It says God wrote it.

For what have I to do with judging outsiders. Now we have the insiders and the outsiders, those outside, those inside. Two rhetorical questions get the two answers. The questions are in verse 12, the answers are in verse 13. What have I to do with judging outsiders and when he says I, himself, he includes other believers, because he has included himself with them in their responsibility to judge in the first part of this chapter. In effect he's saying we believers have nothing to do with judging the unbeliever. That's not our responsibility, that's not something God has entrusted to us. Now that doesn't mean we don't speak to sin, we don't tell them that they are sinners and the wages of sin is death. The judging he is talking about is exercising discipline on them and separating ourselves from them. Because this judgment requires removing the wicked man from among yourselves, at the end of verse 13. That doesn't mean I don't want to exercise judgment. Your telling someone that they're a sinner, well you're not to judge. Well God has judged and I do tell unbelievers that they are sinners, they are under the judgment and condemnation of God. But I am not called to exercise judgment in the sense of carrying it out and disassociating myself from them in that sense.

Do you not judge those who are within? We have nothing to do with judging the unbelieving world, and we have everything to do with judging within the church. Those who are outside God judges. I tell them about God's coming judgment, I tell them about the penalty for sin, I don't try to get them to adjust their lifestyle to fit the lifestyle of a believer. I used to go to the city mission often when I was in Philadelphia and to preach there, and you're preaching to the drunks. They all know it, they didn't even get offended when I called them drunks. They knew the ruin that alcohol had brought to their life and their drunken lifestyle. They would share heart-wrenching stories. I never tried to talk them into giving up alcohol because you know, think of how much better your life would be if you didn't get drunk tomorrow. You might be able to be restored to your family, you might be able to hold a job and life will be.......... So then there would be those who aren't drunks who are going to hell. No. I might talk to them about they've experienced something of the ravages of sin in their lives and know the pain that it brings. But there is far greater pain coming and far more serious and greater consequences for sin, even than what you've experienced. Because they didn't need to give up drinking, they needed to give up their rebellion against God and bow in faith before His Son, Jesus Christ, and be saved. And that will take care of drunkenness, immorality, covetousness, reviling and all other sin, because it's the power of Christ that sets us free from the power of sin. Is it not?

So God will judge the outsider. We bring them the gospel, we tell them of sin and its consequences, but I'm not trying to disassociate myself from the unbeliever. God has not called me to. He has called me to live a holy life when I'm with the unbeliever, so I can't go and be a drunkard with him, I cannot go and be immoral with him. But it does not surprise me that he does these things. And I'll have lunch with him tomorrow, even though he does those things. But a believer who does those things I cannot be with.

Turn to II Thessalonians 3. These are serious matters and repeated a number of times in the Bible. II Thessalonians 3:6, now we command you, brethren, talking to believers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember we looked in Matthew 18, where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in their midst, in the context of exercising the necessary discipline. That you keep away from every brother, not every person, every brother, fellow Christian who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you have received from us, which we now have recorded in the Word of God. Verse 14, if anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him. That's the same word that we read, not to associate with him in I Corinthians 5. So that he will be put to shame. Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. I mean this is a fellow believer. We have cut off fellowship so how can I admonish him? For example, would we get together for lunch or go play golf together, socialize together? No. Would I get together with him and talk about his sin and the need for him to turn from his sin? Yes, I would. If he said I'd like to have lunch with you and talk about my sin, I'd say, I'd be happy to get together to talk about that. If he said, let's have lunch for old times' sake, I'd say, if we're going to have lunch, we're going to have to talk about your sin. Well can't we just have lunch and enjoy our company? No, we can't. So I don't treat him as an enemy, I love him, I continue to pray for him, I will look for opportunities to talk with him, but the line is drawn because the conduct is unacceptable. It is for his good, that God might do in his life what is necessary to cleanse him from this sin. It's necessary for the purity of the church, because if the church doesn't deal with it, the corruption will spread. I mean, it becomes acceptable and it spreads and now whether it is bad doctrine or bad morals, pretty soon they become the norm. What at one time was a disciplinable sin is now just acceptable because there are enough people doing it. And pretty soon the church loses its distinction from the world, and so instead of being God's holy people in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, it's hard to tell the difference between the church and the world. The church is just another organization in the world with religious teachings attached to it. Whereas we are to be unique and distinct, lights in the midst of darkness.


Holiness and purity in the midst of ungodly and impure people. That's the testimony of the church, that's who we are. Because we are better than others? No, because we are redeemed by God's grace. People that is wrong to take such a position. It's what we must do, we are the people of God. Now we need to be careful that does not lead us to arrogance. The Corinthians church had a problem with arrogance. We don't discipline sinning Christians because we are better. It's because they are practicing overt sin that will not be acceptable in my life or your life or anybody else's life in this body. And we don't do it because some of us have arrived at a level of Christian perfection that enables us to stand above others. But where overt sin is clear, some of the sins its overt action. We don't discipline people for the lust of their heart, but Jesus said that's a serious sin. But we don't check with people, did you lust at all this week. Oh when? Hmm, looks like a pattern to me. Were you greedy this week? Were you covetous this week? We can only deal with the manifestation of sin, God will have to deal with the heart. Paul dealt with that in chapter 4 when he said, God will judge the motives of the heart, what's in the secret things of my heart. But we are called to deal with overt sin in our midst, and to live as God's people. What an honor, what a high and holy calling—to be holy because He is holy.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, that we are not called to clean up our lives, to try to make ourselves acceptable to you, to try to make ourselves more pure, more holy, more righteous. But we are commanded to recognize the hopelessness of our sinful condition. And we are corrupted by sin, we are in rebellion against you, we are hopeless, but you have provided your Son to be the Savior so that through faith in Him we can experience cleansing and freedom and new life. That you have called the church together to be your people, to manifest the beauty of your holy character in all of its conduct and behavior. Lord, you know each one of us as we are gathered here. You know our secret sins, you know our open sins. I pray that we will be a church committed to truth and committed to obedience to the truth. May each of us individually look at our lives and take seriously the issue of sin as it would defile us personally and would defile the body that belongs to you. Thank you for a Savior who loved us and died for us, who can cleanse the vilest sinner and make him new. We praise you in Christ's name, amen.