There Is Sin In The Camp

We're going to turn to the word of the Lord. Very different passage of scripture, but we are going through first Corinthians in our lesson series uh this quarter. And so we are going to begin in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Going to read a few verses there and then I'm going to read a few verses from 1 Corinthians chap 6. 1 Corinthians 5:es 1 and two. 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 and ye are puffed up and have not rather mourned.

Are ye yet puffed up and have not rather mourned that he hath done this deed might be taken away from among you? Down to verse nine. I wrote unto you in an epistle, not to accompany with fornicators, yet not altogether with fornicators of this world, or with the covetousness, or extortioners, or with idolattors. For then you must needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company. If any man that is called a brother, be a fornicator, or covetousness, an idoltor, a a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such and one do not to eat.

Then over to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Seems like a little bit different subject that Paul works in here, but we'll we'll get into how he ties it together. He says this in verse one. Dare any of you having a matter against one another another go to law before the unjust and not before the saints? Do you not know that saints shall judge the world? And if the world should be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more than the the things that pertain to this life? If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.

And then down to verse nine, know ye not the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived, neither fornicators, idolattors, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, covetous covetous, drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you are washed. You are sanctified. You are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. Today's lesson first Corinthians does definitely take a decided turn. We've studied uh the first few chapters of the book and Paul began his letter speaking of divisions that existed in the church.

And he then contrasted, as we studied last week, godly wisdom with that of the wisdom of man, the wisdom of the world, showing that godly wisdom was so much better in so many ways. And in chapter five, Pastor Paul, and I'll call him that today because this is a very pastoral letter, begins to address some specific issues plaguing the church. Now my aim is not so much to deal with what the sins he was dealing with with the what of that uh but rather focus on Paul's approach and how he approached it and what he did. In fact I titled this lesson there is sin in the camp.

And so we want to see how Paul responded to that issue. Two topics particularly are issue in our text. The first deals with immorality with things that were not right and the second with relationships that were adverse in the congregation. And so Paul lumps them together in one long passage. And so we want to look how he addresses and how he how he works with these issues and these problems in the church. Now there's no easy way to sugarcoat a lesson like that. So we're not going to try. We're just going to jump into the word of the Lord. Right?

That is what Paul did. I mean he's going along. He's talking. He just finishes talking about his ministry, the kingdom of God. He said it's not in word, but it is in power and all these different things. And then he says, "And by the way, it's reported among you that there's a problem. It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you." And such fornication is is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have as father's wife. The NIV translates this verse this way. He said, "It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and of a kind does not even occur among the pagans.

A man has his father's wife." Now Paul doesn't say here who reported this sin but it is very likely that it is those of the house of Khloe as we saw in chapter one uh the divisions in the church and the different things that were going on there. He had told them this in verse 11 of chapter 1. It has been declared unto me of you my brethren by them that are the house of Khloe that there are contentions among you. And so it's likely that whatever whoever gave this report from this house probably included this in their reporting to Paul.

And so he said it is recorded among you. And the King James as we read uses the word fornication. The NIV has sexual immorality. The Greek word behind that the porna is where we get our English word for porn. Now not necessarily we think of that way means like think of pornography but this word can refer to all kinds of illicit perversions. It can include adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, beastiality, incest. All these different kinds of things are all lumped into the meaning of this word. And it appears that this last meaning is what is in view in this verse. I think what we find from that is sin can't be hidden.

It will rear its head. It can be buried. We can try to put a public image to try to hide it. It can be tucked behind a wall of pride. It can be encased in politically correct of public opinion or language. But rest assured that God sees the good and the evil. He said, "The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good." And so whether we try to cover sin or hide sin or or do away with it, God sees it. And when it comes to his church, not only does he see it, but he is going to some way, somehow make it known.

He is going to make it available that that it will come out in our lives. And so many times this is true in the church where God will reveal a sin to those in the church. Sometimes to leadership, many times, many times to others in the church. And it is revealed that there is sin, if you will, in the camp. I'm reminded of Nathan's confrontation of David when he had committed this sin with Ba Ba Sheba and he came and he talked to him and told him the story and and then David gets all upset because someone stole someone else's lamb and Nathan looks at him and points his finger and said, "You're the man.

You're the one that's done this." Well, it hit right to David's heart. He knew what he thought was covered up. what he thought was there. The man of God understood or the man of God knew because God had spoken to him. So God will reveal sin in the camp or sin in the church. And as terrible as the sin in verse one, I think it's interesting because in verse two that we read, Paul gives the situation, it's reported that there's this problem among you. Not it's worse than what it is with the Gentiles, this problem that you have. And then he immediately says, "And you are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he be had done this deed might be taken away from among you." As distasteful as the man's sin was, really, it was no more reprehensible to God than what was going on in the church.

Because of their pride, Paul said, "You are puffed up." Because of the proud spirit that was within the church of Corenth, they chose to ignore what was going on. And it's rather shocking that some sin such as this relationship that Paul is describing would be ignored by the members of a church that were supposed to be living for Jesus and spiritfilled. What could possibly cause them to tolerate such conduct? To overlook it, if you will, and to just let it continue without doing something about it? Paul said very clearly, here's why. You're puffed up. The attitude that overlooks sin is one of the most destructive in any life, and that is pride.

Pride will keep us from calling out sin. Pride will keep us from admitting to sin. Pride will keep us from trying to walk away or to steer clear of sin. And God makes it clear in his word how he feels about pride. Bible talks about a proud look, how that God hates it. And the sin of the Corinthian congregation was every bit as loathome to God as the sin of the man in verse one. In fact, Paul will spend most of chapter 5 not talking about the sin of the man. He's going to talk about the response of the church.

The church in Corinth, as we know, was severely divided. We talked about it in the first couple of lessons into different camps, if you will. I'm of Paul. I'm of Apollos. I'm of Peter. Well, I'm of I'm of Jesus. and they they were broke up into different factions, if you will, and Paul rebuked those. But in chapter five, he really got to the root of those divisions because Proverbs 13:10 tells us, "Only by pride comes contention." So pride, Paul's putting his finger on it right here when he said, "You're puffed up." Pride is the reason for the divisions. Pride is the reason for the contentions.

It is your pride that is d driving you into these divisive clicks and have precluded you from dealing with this situation. There's could be any reasons why they didn't. It's possible the church was reluctant to expose or to rebuke the man's sin for it would have made them look bad, if you will. We're a spiritual church and Corinth was very involved in gifts of the spirit and those kind of things. And so to have sin in the camp was something that would would really put a black eye or a scar on them. So rather than address it, they just kind of ignored it and just let it go on.

They couldn't bear to admit that one in their congregation was involved in such wickedness. And so they were puffed up with this spiritual pride. They they looked at themselves, particularly those that were gifted in spiritual gifts so much. They they they looked at themselves as being above some other people. And they they looked at theirelves that, you know, how how could this happen among us? And so they chose to ignore it. But but even the other camps and the other groups maybe they refused to deal with the sin as well because they were puffed up that they were more righteous than he was and I we're better than that and so they chose to what whatever the reason it is because of pride.

Sin is easy to ignore when pride blinds our lives. We need to be careful don't we? We need to look at ourselves and say is there anything is pride keeping me from taking care of this sin? particularly when it's in our own lives. So straightly after rebuking the failure of the saints in Corinth to confront the sin, Paul basically says, well, I'll confront it. He said, for verily, I'm absent in the body. I'm writing you this letter. I'm not there, but I am present in spirit. I'm relating to you in the spirit that is there in that church. And I have judged already as though I were present.

So I'm not there, but I've already made up my mind. I've already tell you what the judgment is concerning him that has done this the deeds. There's several points that we can get from this verse. Uh one of the first ones that jumps out, he talks about him he hath who hath so done this deed. In verse two, he had used that same word. He said that the he that hath done this deed might be taken away from you. But in here he says he that hath so done this deed. This is stronger language that he is using here in verse three.

This so done refers not only to the sin but to the manner that he did this sin. The manner of the circumstances in which it was done. Not just that it that he did it but he so did it or the way that he did it or or the manner in which is done. Doing it with pride. Doing it as if I I am can do this. Some have this attitude that you know I'm filled with the spirit and I live by grace and God's grace allows me to live any way I want. So whatever the circumstances or the reasoning behind it, he had so he had made up his mind that he would do this.

And many commentators feel he was could very likely have been a very prominent member in the congregation. And so he was doing it very fragrantly fragrant, excuse me. And he he was doing it in such a way that he was flaunting it, if you will. Second to Paul told the body of believers, he said, 'Alough I am not there physically, yet I'm there in spirit. We must understand that God still speaks to his people. God still reveals things to his people. And it is very reasonable to assume that the Lord may have done it through, as Paul will talk about later, words of wisdom, words of knowledge, or some discernment of the spirit or some similar operation of the Holy Ghost in his life.

And so Paul said, I I understand. I I see what is going on here and I do it through the spirit. I think the lesson to be learned is God's concern for the well-being of his church is is so careful is so important that he will move by his spirit to bring revelation hidden matters and things that we think are hidden or think are covering up. God will speak that word to a pastor or speak that word to someone that can come and say, you know, we need to get this straightened out in your life. It's both good for the body and it's good for those that are living in sin.

We must trust. I believe the spiritual sensitivity of those who follow and operate in the spirit. Paul stated that he had judged already. I think that that's an interesting statement because it introduces a concept I think that we most many people understood. He said, "I've judged." Perhaps one of the popular scriptures and verses of scripture particularly among those not living according to scripture is this. Well, judge not that you be not judged. They live in sin. They live sinful lifestyles, do what they want to do, and then they turn around. Don't judge me. I think we need to look at that closer.

In fact, we will in this lesson. We need to understand this verse does not mean that we should overlook sin for fear of being judgmental. If the word declares something is sin, then it's the word that judges sin. In this case, the man was living in direct opposition to scripture. And to call him out was not judging him. Now, we have to be careful. There is a fine line. If we're trying to assess his motives while you're doing this because, and how do you know that? You probably don't. You'll likely find yourself in the camp of the judgmental. But to proclaim sin and say, "This is what the word of God has to say, and this is wrong is not judging.

It's letting the word that two-edged sword. It's swift, quick, sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing thoughts and the intents of the heart, letting the word do the work. There's a couple scriptures that come to my mind when speaking of judgment. First is 1 Corinthians 2:15. Paul writes, "He that is spiritual judgeth all things." Wait a minute. He said, "Judge not that you be not judged." Well, if you're spiritual, you are going to judge things. And we'll get into more detail on what that means here in a little bit. But to judge with a carnal mind is wrong. But to judge or to discern from the spirit is a gift of God.

Sometimes God will help us look at a situation and determine is this good? Is this bad? Is this something I need to be a part of? Is this something I need to get away from? And so the spirit will help us to judge those things. Second are the words of Peter in 1 Peter 4:17. He said, 'The time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God. And if it first begin at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel? And Paul's going to take this up, this idea here shortly, and we will we'll get into that.

And so, in the ongoing situation in Corinth, Paul related in no uncertain terms what steps need to be taken concerning this wicked man. There had to be a separation between the congregation and this man both for his good and for the good of the church. And so he said in in verse four, "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together in my spirit with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such one and and one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved by the day in the day of the Lord." Paul instructed the church to publicly excommunicate the man in question.

Now, there's been a lot written about the strength of this verse and what what Paul is saying there. It would seem that Paul referred to something more than just prohibit him to participate in the church in meetings. Instead, Paul appears to officially saying, you know what, I'm praying that we separate him and turn him over to Satan. What did he mean by that? He talks about the destruction of the flesh. Now he's not referring here to destroying the body if you will the soma the Greek word the the physical body but rather the destruction of the fleshly or the carnal nature the sarks in Greek there there Paul always makes this distinction when he talks about the body soma he's just talking about your physical body but when he talks about flesh and he uses the word sarks he is generally talking about the carnal nature and sinful desires and so he said, "Turn him over to Satan for the destruction of that flesh, that carnal desires, those carnal motives, the carnal things that he is doing." And when he is brought low by suffering, you ever notice when people reach that pit, there's a tendency for even the most wicked person to say, "I need to call on God." And so that's what Paul's after here.

Turn him over. Let him go down his road of perversion if that was what he wants to do. And eventually hopefully in the end he'll find salvation. That is the desired end. That the spirit may be saved. That his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Paul was willing to let the man go to whatever end it was necessary if the end result was the salvation of his soul. We don't like to pray that sometimes, do we? Lord, whatever it takes save soand so. Because what we're saying is, Lord, let him do whatever. let them go down whatever road until they make that decision.

I don't want to live this life anymore and they turn and come back to him. Reminded of that story of the the prodigal son. The father let him go. The father sent him on his way knowing that that was what he wanted to do. And he let him go until he finds himself desiring to eat the slop that he was given the pigs. And at that point he said, "You know what? it was so much better in the father's house. And he turns and he comes back. It's kind of the picture, if you will, of what Paul is getting that.

And in the next passage, Paul takes up the scriptural use that is all throughout the Bible, old and new testament, of lightening sin to leaven or to le yeast. He said this in verse five. And here again, he's not talking about the man now. Now he's talking about the church. He said, 'Your gloring is not good. You ignoring this problem, you being puffed up the way you are, it is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavenveneth the whole lump? Doesn't take a whole lot of yeast. He said, "Purge out therefore the old leaven that you may be a l new lump as you are unleavened.

For even as Christ our Passover is sacrificed Christ for us, therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leavenven of malice and wickedness or sinful things, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Purge out those things. Paul warned these members that their response to this matter does more than affect your reputation and your effectiveness in church. In reality, by ignoring sin, they were they were really placing their own souls in danger because that sin will grow and that levan will will eventually go throughout everything. Just as that yeast will ferment and spread its influence to the whole batch of dough, sin of this man earlier and his spirit will creep throughout the congregation.

even if the particular sin he was involved in may not be repeated. That that spirit that was in him, that rebellious attitude would replicate itself in others. You see, in reality, church, there is no such thing as a little sin. Heard people say, "Well, that was just a little white lie." It's either a lie or it's not a lie. White lie, black lie, whatever kind of lie you want to call it. If it is not truth, it's a lie. So sin, it's lonesome in the sight of the Lord. It's a direct affront to his holiness and his separateness. No sin comes into his presence because he is separate from all that.

And if we bring it into his church, it's an affront to God in his holiness. And all sin consistently will act as a cancer. It will spread if it is not taken care of. even something that's small or even insignificant, if we don't deal with it in a church, but yes, also in our personal lives, it will work its way into other things. And so Paul warns them, purge out the love levan. Get rid of that sin. And then the remainder of this chapter gives us a concrete understanding of Peter's words that we talked about earlier. I said I would come back to this that judgment must begin at the house of the Lord.

Paul uses verse nine through the end of the chapter. uh but he kind of intermingles two ideas here. So I'm going to separate them out so that we can look at each one individually. Obviously Paul is putting them together in context. So in verse 9 verse 11 and then in the second half of both verse 12 and 13 he describes uses those to describe judgment in the church. Talks about judging. He also uses verse 10, the beginning of the phrases in 12 and 13 to talk about judgment of the world. So he's talking about two different concepts here. Judgment as far as the church is concerned and then judging the world.

We tal talked about judge not that you be not judged. We talked about he that spiritual judge all things. So Paul's looking at both sides of this coin of judgment first. And so we'll look first in the church. And I'm going to read these uh pulling them out in that order. So in 1 Corinthians 5:9, he said, "I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators." Verse 11, he said, "But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that be called a brother be a fornicator, or a covetous, or idolattor, or or drunkard, or an extortioner, with such one know not to eat?" The end of verse 12.

Do you not then judge them that are within? In the end of 13, therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked persons. So in verse 9, he references the letter and we talked about this in our introduction to first Corinthians. Obviously we don't have all the correspondence that Paul had wrote between the Corinthians and himself. Uh in fact here he mentioned something else. I wrote unto you in an epistle. We don't have that epistle. Uh we begin with first Corinthians where Paul is writing here. And so we don't have the previous one to that. But in that letter, he said, I simply told you don't company with fornicators.

Okay? So I I just kind of threw out a principle there. But now that we have this issue in church, he said, I I need to to go back and and review that and and give you some further instruction. And he said, but now I've written unto you not to keep company. if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or idoltor and all these things and so he must have decided I need to make this more clear possibly he was talking of fellowship with professor professing Christians in the first letter we really don't know but he was encouraging them not to fellowship with those who profess Christianity yet lived immoral lives so to remove all doubt he he adds this addendum now I have written to you let me make that more clear if you will to you.

And so he makes it very clear. He said, "You should have no fellowship with any man that is called a brother who is doing these things." And the final verse uh the final phrase of this verse says this, "With such a one know not to eat." What's he talking about there? He is talking about the communion table. Maybe you've heard, I often use the the phrase, particularly if we're involved in a communion time. There is no communion without community. Communion is always about God's people coming together as a family and uniting themselves with Jesus Christ and with one another. You can't do communion by yourself and say, "I'm I'm part of a community." No, it it's something when we come together.

And so by refusing to share communion with the transgressor, not to eat with them, Paul was saying effectively removing him from your community. You need to to separate him from the community. In fact, the phrase at the end of verse 12 asks this, "Do ye do not ye judge them that are within?" In other words, isn't your job to judge those who are there? And so I think this hearkens back to Peter's statement, judgment is to begin with the house of God. And so the implication is the church must judge itself. It is the church's responsibility. If it is truly a spiritual entity, then that which is spiritual must judge all things in the church.

Paul will play apply that same logic in chapter 12 when we get into spiritual gifts and we talk about that in a few weeks. But but he tells them this what to do in no uncertain terms. Therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person. And so he lays down the law. Here's what needs to happen. Separate yourself to him. Now, let's look at the passage again, but let's just pull out the other verses. Uh let's go 10 and then the beginning of 12 and 13. Verse 10. He said, "I I I told her, let's for context, go back and read." He said, "I told you don't company with fornicators." And then he said in verse 10, "Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world or with the covetousness or extortioners or with idolattors.

For then you must needs go out of the world." So what are you saying? I'm not talking about people living that way that are in the world. He's talking about the church here. Don't accompany with those in the church that profess to be a brother and they're not. If they're in the world, I'm not telling you to not altogether not to be associated with them. And then he said this in verse 12, for what have I to do to judge them also that are without. I don't judge them. That's not my job. And he said in verse 13, but them that are without, God judges.

Here's the thing. Jud sin will be judged in every case. That's an irrefutable fact. There is coming a judgment day. However, the instructions provided by Paul in the chapter are specifically directed to the situation of a sinful man in the congregation. And so there's a distinction to be drawn in our reaction to sin based on where that sin is and where it's taking place. And in saying do not accompany with fornipators, Paul was not referring to spending time with sinners. Because if we do that we would immediately in remove the influence of Christianity from the world. There is less danger in associating openly with worldly people than with carnal individuals who profess to live for Jesus Christ.

Jesus gave us a great example, didn't he? The Pharisees looked at him and they were the religious people and they said, "You eat with publicans and sinners." Matthew 9:10 and 9:es tw 10-12. It came to pass as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came, they sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, "Why does your master eat with publicans and sinners?" And Jesus, when he heard it, he said unto them, "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." If we're going to reach our world, if we're going to be an influence, if we're going to be salt and light and all those things, let our light so shine before men.

They can't do it. I'm not out there where they're at. And so, we need to impact our world. And so, Paul said, "I don't judge them." That's not what I was talking about. He said, "For what have I have to do that judge him without This is the judge not that you be not judged. Don't go around judging the people of the world. The church's job is to never in this age judge the world. It's to preach truth and it's let the word convict men's hearts but not to judge them. You know, there's probably a lot of people that never come to God because some saint is always judging them.

So that brings us to Paul's statement in verse 13. But them that are without, God's going to judge. God judges them. So let God do his job while we do ours. Chapter five, Paul had excruiated the church for failing to judge sin in its midst. And yes, he he was upset about men living in immorality for sure. And he will address that topic later on in chapter six. But first, he felt a need to address another failure of the church. He did pronounce judgment on the errant man, but he's going to res reserve his teaching on morality for the end of chapter 6.

And so, he's been talking about judgment. And we've seen how Paul writes. He'll be writing about something and something else pops in view. And he'll he'll kind of take a detour and talk about that for a little bit and then go back to to where he was. Uh, and so he's been talking about this judgment in the church and he said, 'Oh, by the way, since we're talking about judgment in chapter 6, verse one, dare any of you having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust and not before the saints. They were suing one another. They were taking one another to court.

And Paul calls them out on it. He said, "If judgment is going to begin at the house of the Lord, if it's the church's job, that just judgment is going to be spiritually guided, then there's no need to take matters before carnal men." Church, he was saying, "Work out those problems yourself." And so, he asked them four questions in very quick succession. Do you not know that the saints, number one, you're going to judge the world? Obviously, not now because it's not our job, but at some point, at some time, the church will judge the world. And if the world shall be judged by you, he asked this question, then does that mean you're unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

If one of these days you're going to judge big things, you're going to judge the things of this world, don't you think you can take care of some small matters among you without going to court? Know ye not that we're going to judge angels? He said, not only the world, but we're going to judge angels. And then he said, how much more the things that pertain to this life? Can't you take care of these small problems that arise among you without going to court? I think the first qu question might need a little bit of qualification. And he had just said in 1 Corinthians 5:12, "For what have I to do to judge them that are also without?

Yet now he said, saints shall judge the world." There will come a day we will reign, the Bible says, as kings and priests with Jesus Christ. And it is then we will judge the world. But to do so now is to overstep our authority. We're not there at that point in time. And so he asked the obvious questions. If you're going to judge the judge the world, can't you take care of these small things yourself? If you're going to change judge angels in verse four he said this if then you are judge if ye have judgment of things pertaining to this life he set them to judge who are esteemed least in the church what he said that that word is kind that verse is kind of written a little clunky in the King James it's really a question if you have judgment of the things pertaining to this life if you can take care of those things why do you set to judge those that the church doesn't even esteem why do you go to the world why do Do you go to a carnal person to judge these things?

I speak to your shame. He said, "Is it so that there's not somebody wise among you, church? Can't you take care of it yourself? No. Not one that should be able to judge between his brother? Is it not somebody there? But brother goeth to law with a brother and that before unbelievers. Now therefore, there is utterly a fault among you because you go to law with one another. Why don't you take the wrong? Why don't you suffer for yourselves to be defrauded rather than to go to court with them? Paul's thoughts are surely there's someone that is wise enough to settle those arguments and it's a fault among you because you you're suing one another.

You're going to court about it. Go so far as to say it's better to just deal with the wrong than to go to the world for it. I see at least a couple points uh that need to be made from this passage. First, Paul emphasizes that judgment in the church should stay in the church. Who better to discern right and wrong than people that are spiritfilled. Second, Paul does not say to put away those going to the law from among you. Notice that he doesn't say those of you that are doing it, separate yourself from them as he did with the sinful man.

So, while Paul did chastise them from going to court, he did not dysfellowship them. And I think that's important because in the first one there was a direct violation of the word of God. This man is living in sin and you're refusing to stop that sin. This one I don't think we can say it's direct sin. But he is saying it's just not the right situation. You shouldn't be suing one another. And so what what what I want to point out is Paul's method of dealing with these problems changes on what they are. If it's sin, it needs to be taken care of.

If it's sin, it needs to be eradicated. If it's sin, it needs to be pushed out. If it's not sin, and he will say later, all things are lawful, but all things are not expedient. All things aren't good to do. If it's not sin, there are some things still for the unity of the church. You just need to judge one another and not go out and spread it in court, not go out and split the church down the middle. So, having exhausted his thoughts on judgment and Paul he he threw that in there. Then he immediately goes right back to the subject of hand and he begins to talk about these this immorality.

I said earlier I wasn't going to talk about the wise and the why nots of immoral actions. But as we close I do want to read again a portion of our text. He said this. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Don't be deceived. And then he lists. There are several we call them sin lists or vice lists throughout the Bible in Paul's letters in particular. And here's one of them. fornicators, idolattors, adulterers, effeminate, abuser themselves with mankind, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners, they shall not inherit the kingdom of God. So, we understand those with sin, living in sin, they're not going to inherit the kingdom of God.

But I like what he says next. And such were some of you, but you are washed. You're made clean through the word which I have spoken to. You have been baptized in his name. You are sanctified. You are separated. You are justified or you are put in right standing in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the spirit of our God. He said, you are no longer in those things. You are no longer living in that manner because you've put off those things. You are sanctified. You are separated from those. That's why he was so harsh about saying, "Separate yourselves from this sin.

Separate yourselves from what is going on." And even from this this man, as long as he's continuing to do that, we will see, we won't see, we're going to do first Corinthians, but if you read second Corinthians, you will see that evidently the man eventually was reconciled. In the next few verses, Paul discusses this horna that we talked about that the child of God must avoid. these things that he has just listened and said that such were son of you. And and he goes into detail about why we should not live in that way. He said if you're joined with a harlot, you become one with them.

He said you were part of the body of Christ and you're not to be joined together with with something else that is immoral. And he he goes into some details. We're not we're going to cover all of this. But I like what he says in the end of this chapter in verse 19 and 20. What know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is within you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? Aren't you thankful to know that you're a child of God? Aren't you thankful to know when the spirit comes into your life, you are no longer your own.

He said, "What you have are God, you have been bought with a price." He's paid the price through the blood of Jesus Christ that you can be redeemed. so that you can be sanctified, so that you can be separated, so that you can be holy, so that you can live for him. He said, "Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are gods." Glorify God. Not like this man that was chasing carnal desires and carnal natures and living after the flesh and living after those things, but instead realize that we are separated from sin, but unto God.

I no longer belong to my carnal nature. I no longer belong to the things that I desire in the flesh to follow after those things. Now I'm following after the spirit. Isn't it a beautiful thing to follow after his spirit? To know that you can be in right standing with God. To know when you lay down at night that you don't have to wonder, am I going to make it? Am I okay? Is my life right? But I'm following after Jesus Christ. So he said to glorify God in your body, in your spirit. Whatever you do, let it lift up God.

That's what living for Jesus is all about. We want to be like him because in Jesus Christ, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. So if I'm striving to be like Jesus, if I'm being conformed more and more to his image, if I'm not following after carnal nature and after flesh, if I'm becoming more like him, one of these days we're going to hear, "Well done, thy good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord." Why? Because I choose to glorify him. Sin will always attempt to get in the camp. Comes in so many different ways.

How it can't get in. But when it gets in this camp, I got to take care of it. I can't just through pride let it go. Let it be hidden because I don't belong to myself. I belong to Jesus Christ. Let's stand. Just take a moment. Thank God for his word and ask him to help us to live in it. So thankful Lord for the word of God. How clear the message is when it comes to sinful things that we are to abhore that which is evil. We are to cleave to that which is good. Help us Lord in our lives to seek to please you in everything that we do.

And if there is that root of bitterness, if there is that bit of s is there is that carnal desire that keeps bombarding us. Pray God that we will learn to flee those things and to serve you with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength in Jesus name. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Hallelujah.