Preparing for Easter
Notes
Transcript
So far, we have discovered the problem with the church at Corinth was built around division. There were problems of fighting and quarreling within the church. These differences were based on philosophical or intellectual sins. That is, some of them were attached to certain human philosophies and some were attached to certain human leaders making more a philosophical-type sin. SINS OF THE MIND.
However, we come to chapter 5 and discover they are plagued by the fleshly, physical sins as well. SINS OF THE BODY.
When there are sins of the mind, you will find sins of the flesh as well.
When our mind is not where it is supposed to be, our bodies will not be either. You can not change the body without changing the mind. Romans 12:1-2
Paul now stops dealing with division in the church and now deals with immorality in the church.
As we come to chapter 5, we find a situation of sexual immorality that was actually shocking to the pagans.
WHEN THE SIN OF THE CHURCH SHOCKS THE WORLD, “HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM.”
And this is what has happened in Corinth. It was a problem that had already been previously addressed by Paul.
9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
Remember last week, Paul was there spiritual father he would have taught them the Old Testament Principle of how God viewed sexual immorality.
The fact that they had had a low style of life before they became Christians and that their life was so saturated with sexual immorality became a problem because they couldn’t seem to shed that lifestyle once they became believers. And so they were very lax in dealing with this problem. And yet if the church was to be pure, they had to say goodbye to immorality.
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
The word fornication is porneia from which we get pornography and it means immorality. Paul is saying, “RUN FROM IMMORALITY”. Have nothing to do with immorality.
He told Timothy,
22 Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure.
This is foundational to the effectiveness in the ministry of Christ and the church of Christ that there be moral purity.
Immorality was an offense to God from the very beginning of the Old Testament.
Joseph in Potiphar’s house was faced with Potiphar’s wife who had apparently chased Jospeh into the bedroom one day and made passionate advances toward him and Jospeh RAN. He did exactly what any of us should do; he fled fornication. And as he took off,
9 There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?
Joseph recognized that the number one violation involved in immorality is not myself or those involved or the secondary circle around it, but God.
David sinned greatly with Bathsheba, but in seeking a pure heart, he acknowledged this sin and said,
4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, And done this evil in thy sight: That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, And be clear when thou judgest.
Now look at verse 1, and notice the key word fornication
1 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.
Now, again the word fornication is the word porneia. Here it means a case of incest. There was a case of incest going on continually in the Church at Corinth.
Generally speaking this word means any kind of sexual involvement.
The word adultery means sex outside of the marriage, a married individual having sex outside their marriage.
Fornication is a general term that would include adultery, incest, lesbianism, homosexuality, any kind of perversion, beastiality, sexual relations with animals; ANYTHING WOULD BE INCLUDED IN THE TERM PORNEIA.
Pornography is our word today.
In fact, in Corinth and Athens, you have the seat of most of the immorality. They, according to historians, were the two most immoral cities. Even their worship was immoral. They had prostitutes in their temples where the people went to worship. Now, the Greeks view of life was this idea that sex was a biological urge, just as much as taking a drink of water or getting some sleep or exercise or eating. Sex just was there and whatever happened, happened and it was fine. Live it up, no hang-ups.
Interestingly enough though, they gave absolutely no sacredness to it, though they gave absolutely no assent to the fact that it had some kind of a pure context, they also forbid any woman to do it outside of her marriage, while a man could do anything he wanted. That’ll give you some idea who ran things in those days.
Now, God of course, had made Himself abundantly clear about how He felt about any kind of sexual impurity. Any kind of sex activity, any kind of relationship between a man and a woman before marriage, absolutely forbidden by God, in fact, so seriously forbidden by God, look at
13 If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her,
14 And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid:
maid = virgin. It was just assumed that you would be pure. God never assumes impurity. He assumes purity and impurity is a violation of the assumption.
What happens if a guy marries a woman he assumes to be a virgin and he goes in unto her and he finds out that she is not a virgin and as a result of that, because of his feelings of the need for purity and his high moral standards, what is he gonna do.
15 Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel’s virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate:
If there was some evidence, some physical evidence that she was in fact a virgin, then that should should be delivered to the elders of the city in the gate.
16 And the damsel’s father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her;
17 And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.
18 And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him;
19 And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.
One Hundred shekels of silver is a tremendous amount of money.
Now, the idea is to protect the girl from slander, if he couldn’t prove it, the price was astronomical that he had to pay and then, in turn, he had to stay married to her. But what if he went into the situation and he was right, she wasn’t a virgin.
20 But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel:
21 Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father’s house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you.
22 If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.
You think God is very stern about premarital sex. Very stern … stoning. “… because she has wrought folly in Israel, to play the harlot in her father’s house, so you put the evil away from among you. If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband” … here’s adultery … “then both of them shall die, both the man that lay with the woman and the woman, so shalt thou put away evil from Israel. If a damsel who is a virgin be betrothed unto a husband”
23 If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;
24 Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour’s wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you.
… not yet married, but sort of an engagement thing … “and a man find her in the city and lie with her, you shall bring them both out unto the gate of the city and stone them with stones that they die …” Now, you know what the plea of the girl would be? Well, I couldn’t help it, I couldn’t … And so the answer comes here. “… because she cried not, being in the city.” You understand? If she’d have hollered, she was in the city. If she’d have hollered, somebody would have rescued her and the fact that she didn’t holler was consent. “… the man because he humbled his neighbor’s wife …” So they are both to be killed.
25 But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die:
“But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field and the man force her” … that is, rape her, out where she can’t cry for help … “and lie with her, then the man only that lay with her shall die.” Now, all of that is just to show you how God feels about immorality. It was the cause of execution in the Old Testament. There’s no place for it. Now, some people think that God is a cosmic killjoy wanting to prevent everybody from the natural processes and from the enjoyment of life.
And the fact of the matter is that when you do it God’s way, you reap the fullest kind of reward and the fullest kind of blessing because that’s the way God designed you to be fulfilled. And this is an aberration of God’s plan. Now, there are many other passages that deal with the same thing. You can study Leviticus 19:29, Leviticus 21:9. Read Proverbs 6:24–35 and you’ll find God’s same perspective is given repeatedly on the subject.
Now, as you come to the New Testament, nothing really changes because the New Testament carries over God’s same attitude toward this kind of life. There is to be no sexual immorality.
You find it in the gospels, the Lord speaking of harlotry and the Lord speaking about immorality and the Lord speaking about adultery and constantly bringing it up and saying that porneia, any kind of immorality, and the kingdom of God are incompatible. And the apostles said the same thing.
Look at I Corinthians 6:9.
9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
“effeminate” … that could be something such as transvestites, people who wear the garb of women, usually is what it’s used to refer to …
“abusers of themselves with mankind,” … some kind of sexual masochism or sadism …
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
verse 10 at the end says, “shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
In other words, that kind of living is incompatible with God’s kingdom. And so we find that the Bible makes it clear that God feels very strongly about this kind of activity. In 1 Corinthians 10, you remember that when the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they had committed all kinds of sexual acts at the foot of Mt. Sinai while Moses was getting the law. Remember? They made a golden calf and had a big orgy. Well, God came down and, well, how did God respond to their sexual activity? 1 Corinthians 10:8
8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
God just took the life, instantly and sovereignly, of 23,000 people who did that. And there’s a reason that He did. In verse 11 it says
11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
They not only were for their benefit, but they are written and recorded for our benefit, that we might know how God feels about that kind of activity. The Bible, then, is very clear about what God thinks regarding sexual immorality. And it is so serious that Paul attacks the problem in Corinth with a vengeance.
Now, Paul has laid down some basic feelings about this that come, of course, from the Holy Spirit and
3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
1 Thessalonians 4:3 says “this is the will of God, even your sanctification” … and the word means purity. God’s will is that you be pure … “that you should abstain from immorality.”
There is to be no immorality, not sexual activity, not sexual promiscuity, that is fooling around, short of the sexual act itself, nothing of these things being effeminate, masochism, sadism, homosexuality, lesbianism, beastiality, all of that category is forbidden. Abstain from it.
4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:
and especially for Christians is this unthinkable. People, sex is a very sacred thing. It’s a sacred thing. The world doesn’t see its sacredness. We must. And here in the church … if ever there is to be any consciousness of what is sacred, it should be in the church … the church at Corinth is tolerating incest. Incredible thing!
Now, Paul’s gonna deal with it.
What does the church do, what do the elders of the church do, the leaders of the church or any Christian in the church, when they discover somebody in the congregation living in immorality? And I’m confident, knowing the world like I know it and knowing the situation like I know it, that there’s probably somebody right here in this congregation, maybe more than one, surely more than one, who are in this very situation right now. What is the church to do? What is the instruction for disciplining an immoral member of the body of Christ, an immoral Christian. There are four things we’ll cover: the need, the method, the reason and the sphere or the limits of that discipline.
1 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.
2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
The Recognition of Sin: 5:1-2
The Recognition of Sin: 5:1-2
1 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.
2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
The Removal of Sin: 5:3-5
The Removal of Sin: 5:3-5
3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Our Responsibility
Our Responsibility
First Individually
First Individually
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Secondly Corporately
Secondly Corporately
4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Our Reason
Our Reason
Deliver to Satan
Deliver to Satan
Now, how does discipline work? “To deliver such an one to Satan …” Now, how do you do that?
Do you take him to a seance?
How do you deliver a guy to Satan? Simple.
Satan is called by the Lord Jesus Christ, the prince of this world. All you have to do to deliver somebody to Satan is to put him out of the church into the cosmos, into the world. That’s what it means. Somebody has forfeited his right to the fellowship simply because he is impure and he putrefies the fellowship; you just put him out. You are no longer permitted to attend. You are no longer permitted the fellowship in any way. You are out. That’s the way it goes. You put him out into Satan’s domain. Deliver him to Satan. Satan is the prince of this world, the god of this age. He runs the world system. That’s where you send this individual. You say, is he a Christian? Yes. You say, why would you do that? Because the Lord says to do that. Because you don’t need him destroying the church, corrupting it and not only that, corrupting its testimony.
Now, look at 1 Timothy 1:20.
20 Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.
Paul had some other people he did the same thing to. He says “… Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered to Satan, that they might learn not to blaspheme.” He did the same thing. He put them out of the church. He sent them out of the church. That’s the ultimate act of discipline for the purity of the church. Put them out!
Destruction of the Flesh
Destruction of the Flesh
Now, why?… for the destruction of the flesh … for the destruction of the flesh. Now, I take it that the term flesh, there, is in contradiction to the term spirit. Spirit is the internal man; flesh is the external body. Put them out of the church. Put them in Satan’s world for the destruction of their body physically.
Now, when Satan was turned loose in Job 2, on Job, how did he afflict Job? Could he do anything to Job’s soul? Could he touch, could he lay a hand on a Job’s spirit? Could he touch Job in the inner man? No. What could he do to Job? Only on the outside, make him sick, that’s all he could do. Satan will be given the right under the judicial act of God to afflict a man physically. And that is precisely what Satan was allowed to do with Job.
Now, for the Christian, there is nothing to fear. Even though this guy is delivered to Satan; Satan can’t touch his spirit.
Deliver the Spirit
Deliver the Spirit
Who does his spirit belong to?… Christ. That’s why the verse ends by saying this: “… the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” Turn him out for the destruction of the flesh, but that will not be a problem for his spirit. It will be delivered. Maybe a better way to translate the word there, the word saved, his spirit will be delivered in the day of the Lord Jesus.
His whole lifetime may be one of physical anguish.
His whole lifetime may be one of physical pain.
His whole lifetime may be one of physical suffering.
But in that day, his spirit will be delivered from that, and in this day as well. Satan may mess my body up, but he’ll never touch my soul. And discipline … listen … came in the physical sense.
For example, in Paul’s situation where he said he had a thorn in his flesh, he called it a messenger of whom?… Satan. God uses Satan to discipline us in the physical. It says if you have a sickness, confess your sins. Why?… because a lot of your sickness is a result of your sin. You see, physical illness can be God’s rod of chastisement.
In 1 Corinthians 11, the Christians were fouling up the Lord’s table, desecrating the love feast, fooling around with idols and Paul said many of you are weak and sick and some of you … what?… sleep. Again, physical pain, physical anguish, even death.
Ananias and Sapphira even died. Even death can be a result of Satan when God allows Satan to be His rod against His own children. So you turn him over, his flesh will be destroyed by Satan, but his spirit will be delivered. Why? Because Satan can’t touch the inner man. That’s already redeemed forever. Right? And in the day of the Lord Jesus, when that day comes, that man will stand there with the redeemed, but he’ll pay a price in this life.
Their Repentance
Their Repentance
And, of course, remember this. The idea of this discipline is not to just wipe the guy out, but to change him. Wouldn’t you agree? He said, I turned over Hymenaeus and Alexander to Satan that they might learn not to blaspheme, that they might learn not to do this. You say, what happened to this guy? Did he get destroyed physically? Well, I’m sure he did. I don’t know what kind of disease or what kind of anxieties or what kind of pressure or what kind of physical pain he went through, but I’m sure that he got the destruction of the flesh. You say, will he be in Heaven? Yes, he will, because Satan was given his flesh but not his … what?… not his spirit. That belongs to the Lord and in the day of the Lord Jesus, he will be there with the redeemed.
This is how discipline is to work. Put him out, God will use Satan as the rod of chastisement to destroy him physically and Satan will be given his flesh, but his spirit will be delivered so that in the day of the Lord Jesus he will appear with the redeemed.
Now, people, you see there the church’s responsibility. The church is to come together, led by its elders, in the authority and with the attended power and presence of Jesus Christ, to excommunicate the immoral Christian so that Satan can afflict him with such affliction that it’ll bring about a remedial change in his life drawing him back to the holiness that Christ wants. That’s the idea. And even if he dies like that, Satan still doesn’t have his spirit because that was purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. There is the need for disciplining an immoral member and the method.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
28 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Do we recognize sin?
Are we rejoicing or repenting?
Are we ignoring or engaging?