And thank you Pastor Dan, it's good to be here with you this morning and God willing we will have our choir back next week. We had to take an extra week because I think it'd be a risk trying to sing. At the moment we'd end up with all sorts of coughs intermingled I think but the extra time is cherished. because I can preach for another five minutes on top of the usual hours. So 1 Corinthians chapter 5 please. 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and we're back to this sobering passage of Scripture. We made a start on the study of church discipline from this chapter a number of weeks ago and today we want to briefly review what we covered last time and then finish off our exposition of the chapter. 1 Corinthians chapter 5. sobering passage but a very needful passage in the day in which we live and why don't we read the chapter I'll read it for you you can follow along in your Bibles there 1 Corinthians chapter 5 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 that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you For I verily, though absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such one under Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or with extortioners, or with idolaters, for then must ye 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 covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such in one know not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth, therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. Let's pray. Father give us wisdom, give us your mind, give us the mind of Christ this morning to understand that this instruction from Christ who is our head. the head of the church, this church belongs to the Lord Jesus. You are the head of the church, you love the church, you gave yourself for it and through the Apostles you gave instructions for how things are to be dealt with in your local assembly. And so Lord, we pray that we might lay aside our own misunderstandings, Lord, our own feelings even, and help us to accept the apostolic instructions here concerning dealing with sin amongst the flock, Lord. And we pray for help now, for your blessing, in Jesus' name, Amen. praying and asking the Lord as I was meditating afresh on this passage, Lord what is the heart of this chapter? It's a good thing to do when you're studying a chapter like this, what's the heart and soul and the spirit of the chapter and really what it is, what we can see here is that it is God's heart that we be an unleavened people. It is God's heart that his church be kept pure And so here we have in 1 Corinthians 5 the instructions from Christ our Head. Let's just remind ourselves of that, that Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church and therefore the Church is to run according to His mind, not our thinking. And it's so important that we lay aside human thinking and adopt biblical thinking for the running of the church. We're living in a day-to-day where we're living in a day-to-day where there's very little understanding of the concept of church discipline. It's not popular, it's not practiced. In fact, it's very, very rare for a church to exercise any sort of disciplinary action against sin in its membership. But I would say this, you should be thankful to be in a church that by the grace of God does endeavor to deal with sin biblically. And for me personally, I would not want to be in a church, actually, that doesn't take sin seriously. I would not want to be in a church that does not seek to practice the biblical instructions related to these kinds of sins. Church discipline is not the easy way but it is the way of God's blessing and our heart should be that above all else we want the favor of God, we want the blessings of God upon our church and if we want to lose the blessings of God and lose the power of God just tolerate sin, just tolerate error, just ignore the biblical instructions concerning dealing with sin in the church. lack of discipline in a church, the wrong attitudes towards sin in the church is a symptom of carnality. That's the core issue we're dealing with repeatedly here in 1st Corinthians. We're dealing with a carnal church and a carnal church has a light view of sin. A carnal believer has the wrong attitude towards sin. And frankly, it doesn't necessarily come down to how many verses you can quote. You may be a walking Bible, but unless you are prepared to take a stand where it counts, really all your quoting of scripture means very little. And I say that for a reason, because to my dismay at times as a pastor over the years so far, I've seen where Christians who have a good knowledge of the Bible simply will not take a stand when it counts. you must be prepared to take a stand for truth and take a stand for righteousness when it counts, otherwise really it's a grievous sin against God. Albert Mohler Jr. observed, and he's not in our camp, but listen to what he said, just stating an observation. He says, the decline of church discipline is perhaps the most visible failure of the contemporary church. No longer concerned with maintaining purity of confession or lifestyle, the contemporary church sees itself as a voluntary association of autonomous members. That's true isn't it? Everyone just wants to be autonomous. You let me do my thing. Well no, you were bought with a price and you've been placed in a local body and you cannot just operate as a free agent. That's not scriptural. You need to consider others in your behavior. goes on, with minimal moral accountability to God, much less to each other, the present generation of both ministers and church members is virtually without experience of biblical discipline. By the 1960s, that's going back a while, I don't think it's got much better since then, by the 1960s only a minority of churches even pretended to practice regulative church discipline, Consumed with pragmatic methods of church growth and congregational engineering, most churches leave moral matters to the domain of the individual conscience. So that's the prevailing attitude out there. Let's bring it closer to home. I would have to say sadly, many independent Baptist churches do not really practice biblical discipline or attempt to. so this is a very important subject for our day. So I want to give you the outline to help it guide our study here but remember at the heart of all of this God desires an unleavened pure people. God desires a church that is pure and a church that is purging itself from moral and spiritual corruption. so we're going to look at, just briefly recap the first five verses there, look at the context of the instruction on biblical church discipline, then we're going to look at the cleansing of biblical church discipline and then the cases for church discipline. So firstly, the context of the instruction here on biblical church discipline in verse one to five, and I'm not going to really go back into a detailed study of this, we covered this in the previous message, But the Corinthian discipline case here forms the backdrop for the Apostle Paul's vital teaching on this subject. We see in verse 1 what we would call the report of sin in the church. It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you. So this was well known, it was a well-known situation and the facts of this discipline case were clearly established. It was a sexual sin, okay, fornication, it was a scandalous sin, such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles. So you have a sin that has been tolerated in the Church of Corinth that even the unbelieving world would look down upon. That's pretty serious. You know a church is in a bad state when it has a lighter view of a sin than the world does. That's pretty bad. was a sordid sin that one should have his father's wife.' Terrible situation there. Then we note the rebuke of sin in the church, in verse 2 and 3 Paul rebukes them for being puffed up and exhorts them about the fact that they should have taken away this erring member from their midst and then we see the remedy for sin in the church, the remedy in verse 4 and 5 was for the church to come together and under the authority of Christ exercise discipline. Discipline the erring member. And that's where we left our exposition in our last lesson. We come now to number two, the cleansing of biblical church discipline. cleansing of biblical church discipline. Church discipline, when done properly, has a purifying effect on the church. Your glory is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened, for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Notice in verse 6 what I would call the reproof of their attitude. The reproof of their attitude, he says your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? So here Paul again really goes to the heart of the problem, they had the wrong perspective, they had the wrong attitude towards this grievous sin, they had a light and a lax view of sin and Paul draws on a familiar figure here, the figure of Levin from the Old Testament to demonstrate the the danger of the sin in their midst and the danger of their attitude towards it. So we note the rebuke of their pridefulness, the rebuke of their pridefulness, verse 6, your glorying is not good. This shows that the church at Corinth was not just tolerating sin in its midst, it was actually puffed up about it. Glorying means to boast, So you've got a church that's not just tolerant of a sin, they're boasting about their attitude towards it, in effect their attitude was we can handle this, it's not a big deal, that's the prevailing attitude isn't it in a Corinthian like society, that's not a big deal. A carnal believer does not see clearly the seriousness of sin and the potential damage that it can do to the flock. He rebukes them for their pridefulness, he rebukes them then for their foolishness, he says... They were being foolish, they should have known... potential for this sin in the church to exert a corrupting influence. Notice how it just takes a little leaven to leaven the whole lump. In other words, it doesn't take a whole lot of sin tolerated in the church to have a very corrupting effect upon the church as a whole, just a little leaven leavens the whole lump. If you've ever made bread you know this is true. have a large lump of dough and it only takes a small amount of yeast doesn't it? Insert it into that dough and very soon what happens? The yeast exerts its influence right through that whole lump of dough and that is a picture of sin and corruption and how it works If you have the wrong attitude towards it, if you tolerate it, it very quickly spreads like a cancer, it spreads like a disease. And before you know it, the whole church has come under the corrupting influence, in this case, of moral leaven. Did you know if you tolerate moral sin, sexual sin in the church, guess what's going to happen? It's going to catch. And you could end up with a whole string of adulteries, a whole string of fornications, and you say, why is it that that church is just so overcome with sexual immorality and sexual impurity? Well, it probably goes back to not dealing with the source of the leaven, not having the right view, the biblical view, of how it should be dealt with. the church that underestimates serious sin in its membership will pay a heavy price in the long run. Do you understand that? It's so hard today to get Christians to think beyond just the immediate present time. We don't seem to be able to very often think a little further down the field and to where things might be leading to. It's important you do that as a Christian. The prudent man, Proverbs says, foreseeth the evil and hideth himself. We need some Christians who have some biblical perspective. If we don't deal with this, where's it going to lead to? Where's it headed? This is the heart of our head. expressed here in this passage. And the same goes, it's not just here we have moral leaven but the Bible also uses the figure of leaven in relation to false doctrine. Jesus said beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and he was referring to their doctrine, their teaching, destructive teaching. In Galatians chapter 5 and verse 9 there Paul uses the exact same phrase but for the Galatian problem and the Galatian problem was doctrinal, here it was moral, in Galatians it was in the churches of Galatia it was doctrinal and Paul said the exact same thing to the Galatian churches, a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. So a church must deal biblically and soberly with moral sin and with doctrinal error. By the way, you entertain doctrinal error in your life, it's going to have a corrupting influence in your life. Well, it's just a little thing, you know, I mean, I just like this particular view. No, no, no, you need to be biblical, because if you're not biblical, that error is going to exert a destructive influence in your life. I've said it before, I'm thinking of people who... peers in the ministry who've gone the wrong track and I remember with one particular group of men they got off on the on the rapture and I said you watch it won't stay with that doctrine very soon they'll be into other error and guess what happened now they've ditched the King James many of them they've become Calvinist why because error begets error and error is like leaven that exerts a corrupting and a destructive effect in people's lives. You say, why is this church so careful about doctrine and so careful to check things and careful to do things by the Word of God? Because the leaven of falsehood is a big deal. The leaven of false doctrine is very dangerous if tolerated in a church. So you can see where this prevailing attitude out there, we just don't worry, we just, you know, we allow for a broad spectrum of views. That's very, very risky. You're going to allow anybody on the membership to have any view of the timing of the rapture, that's a recipe for doctrinal leaven to just rip through the church. Is that fair? I mean you allow various views on repentance, various views on... I understand that there are conscience matters, personal convictions that we can exercise grace over, but we're talking here about the truth of the Word of God. We're talking about the doctrines of the Word of God. If the Bible is clear, we need to be clear. A little leaven, leavens, the whole lump. Have you ever heard the saying, it only takes one rotten apple to spoil the whole barrel? You ever heard that saying? You know it's actually true? I looked it up, scientifically proven, one apple as it rots, it lets off a certain gas and I can't remember the scientific name of it, but it actually exerts an influence on the other apples around it and causes them to ripen and to rot quicker. Absolutely true. What do you have to do? You've got to remove the rotten apple out of the barrel to preserve the rest of the apples. So Paul reproved them for their wrong attitude. You know you can learn a lot about the spirituality and maturity of a church or an individual believer by their response to sin and error. Are you with me? You can learn a lot about the true spirituality and maturity of a believer by their response to sin and error. Now what I've noticed is that there are plenty of believers that are very good at condemning sin and error in theory, but they are not prepared to take an actual stand against sin. condemn sin in theory, to condemn false doctrine in theory, but to fail to back that up with an actual stand and drawing a line where it counts, you just undermine your position. Let me give you an illustration, if I say I'm against Calvinism, then I have a Calvinistic speaker, what have I done? Doesn't matter how much my theory might be correct, I've undermined my stance by my actions. you can say I'm against premarital sex but if you have a tolerant view or you accommodate a believer or professing believer who's just living in sin and you have a light response to that you've undermined what you say you believe in theory. Now the reason it's quiet in here is because this passage runs against the grain and the spirit of the 21st century. And it highlights that sometimes there's reservations in our own hearts and minds as believers because we're not thinking correctly according to the Word of God. We've got to accept the biblical view of sin. Actions speak louder than words. And Paul's saying here, you've got to take action as a church against this sin in your midst. Is that biblical? Is that right? The reproof of their attitude, look at then the requirement for their action. The requirement for them to action there, verse 7 and 8, purge out therefore the old leaven. you may be a new lump as you are unleavened for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us therefore let us keep the feast not with old leaven neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth you need to submit to scripture in this matter purge out therefore the old leaven they were to purge out impurity Consider the practice of purging here, the practice of purging. The word purge out there means to cleanse thoroughly. So you see what the church is to do, the church is to purge out corruption, moral corruption, doctrinal corruption. Interestingly, as you study the word, you find it's in the aorist tense in the Greek and what that does is it gives it a sharpness, it gives the command a tone of urgency, it's almost like a military command. It's like Paul's saying, I want you to purge this out and you need to do it quickly, you need to do it straight away before the church is damaged. And sin needs to be dealt with biblically, and swiftly. There's tense urgency do it now says Robertson and do it effectively before the whole church is contaminated now Paul is is referring back as I've mentioned already to an Old Testament figure and It goes back to Exodus 12 and in the lead-up to the Passover the Jewish the Jews celebrated before sorry before they celebrated the Passover they were to remove all leaven from their homes and So read Exodus chapter 12 and Exodus chapter 13, you'll find that, that they were to remove all trace of leaven before they kept the Passover. And it was really a beautiful symbol of the fact that they were breaking with the old life in Egypt and because of the Passover lamb they were called to a pure life. seven days, okay, feast there of oven on leaven bread for seven days, symbolic of completion there, a life now committed to purity. So that's what Paul's, Paul's taking their minds back to that illustration. Purge out there for the old leaven that you may be a new lump as you are unleavened. So you see here, I hope you can see that this purging is not optional, it's actually a command. Purge out, therefore, the old leaven. Oh, but so and so, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, but this situation, oh, but these emotions. No, purge out the old leaven. It is a command and any pastor who is prepared to accept a leavened lump is in rebellion against God. And I'll say this, any church member that stands in the way of leaven being dealt with biblically is in rebellion against God also. That's the reality. If you do not, if you are standing in the way of a church purging moral leaven out of its membership, purging doctrinal leaven out of its membership, you are in rebellion against God and his instruction. The practice of the purging. Purge it out. The purpose of the purging. What's the purpose? That ye may be a new lump. that's an interesting picture Paul says be careful a little leaven leavens the whole lump therefore purge out that leaven that you as a church may be a new lump and what it shows is it's a positive thing it's difficult but when a church deals seriously with sin it has a purifying effect on the membership it has a renewing effect it's like the church becomes new again Because leaven speaks of corruption, so you remove the corruption from the church and it has a purifying and a renewing effect upon the assembly. The position of the purging, as ye are unleavened, that's interesting. So hang on a minute, Paul says purge out the leaven, you are unleavened. Now, are they leavened or unleavened? Well, it's a clear reference to their position here. Paul's saying, In other words, I want you as a church to live consistent with your position. In Christ, you're an unleavened people. You're a pure people. You've been purified by the Passover lamb, the blood of Jesus Christ. And Paul's saying, I want you now to act in a way that is consistent with your unleavened position in Christ. So that's important, isn't it? If we are unleavened in Christ, if we've been made pure in Christ, then we need to translate that into pure practice in His assembly. Consider the picture motivating the purging. Look there again at verse 7. Look at this here. our Passover is sacrificed for us. See how Paul appeals to the type of the Passover to demonstrate here that the call to deal with sin is rooted and grounded in Christ's redeeming work. Just as the children of Israel of old were to purge out leaven in preparation for the Passover, so the New Testament Church is to purge out leaven by virtue of Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross. What a beautiful picture. Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. You go back to the Passover lamb. Oh, the beautiful pictures there of the cross and of Christ. That's a clear type, isn't it? Of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Passover and all that it teaches should drive us to purity. because of Christ's death on the cross, because we've been purged by the blood of Christ, because we have been made holy in Christ, that position should be translated in a practical way in reference to moral corruption in the local church. So the requirement for their action, they were to purge out impurity, then number two, they were to practice purity. Verse eight, therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. So notice there the reference to the feast, therefore let us keep the feast. Can you see how Paul is continuing to draw on the Old Testament type here? It's again drawing on the Passover picture as he enlarges on this teaching concerning purity in the church. The Feast of Unleavened Bread in Israel was for seven days, which is the number of completion, and what it really pictures is the ongoing life of purity for the believer. We are to live an unleavened life. It means that the Christian life is to be lived in the spirit of continual purging. Think about that, for seven days you were to pay careful attention to ensuring that there was no trace of leaven in your home, symbolic of that ongoing life of holiness and purity Again, let me emphasize the heart of this passage, God wants us to live this life where we are continually seeking to purge corruption out of our lives, moral corruption, spiritual corruption, doctrinal corruption, and of course it applies not just to the individual but to the church as a whole. God actually wants there to be this purging atmosphere, this spirit of purity in the local church that is working and that is operating in a very powerful way. We're to keep the feast, it's symbolic there of our ongoing Christian life. Now I believe in the context of the New Testament Church it would also include the Lord's Supper, We need to be coming to the Lord's table in purity, keeping the New Testament feast of the Lord's Supper, but it's more than that, it's looking really at the life of the believer, that we are to, just like the Jews of old, we are to seek to live in a practical way, an unleavened life, and that means there has to be a spirit of continual purging in our lives. Do you know I find that we need that? Just like those Israelites had to each day for seven days pay attention, is there any leaven here? Christians need to be alert to leaven because it just gets in, starts to exert its influence, the leaven of the world. impurity, false doctrine. And so the biblical mindset here is that I'm seeking to have that purging mindset, to purge out leaven. That's a very important mindset for you as an individual Christian, but it's very important that a local church have that spirit of continual purifying, continually purifying. Is that right? I'm sensing a bit of resistance somewhere this morning. I'm not sure where it's coming from but you need to yield to the Word of God here please. What I'm preaching is biblical and I'm not sure what's going on here but it's very important that a church be a purging church. And it's very important because a church that ceases to be a purging church is on the path to apostasy. It's that simple. There are churches that no longer exist today because they were not disciplining churches. They didn't deal with error, they didn't deal with sin. And you're going to have to work hard to get the 21st century emotional mindset out of your mind and heart and stop perceiving God's way as being harsh and cruel and actually see that it's love to God, love for the church, love even for the erring believer that motivates all of this. So the church is exhorted to not keep the feast with the leaven of sin but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. The cleansing of church discipline. Church discipline has a cleansing and a purifying effect upon the assembly. Do you see the heart of our head here? God's desire is for an unleavened lump. A church that is purging out moral corruption, spiritual corruption, doctrinal corruption, in order that it might be pure and holy for the God who purchased it. This is not our church. It's not for us to make it up how we think we should deal with situations, it's for us to follow the instructions of our head, as outlined through the apostolic epistles. this chapter just runs so headlong into the spirit of the age like we read in that quote in the early part of the message church discipline almost non-existent after 1960s that's just a reality it's hardly practiced and that's why when it is practiced often Christians have a very unbiblical response to it we've never seen this before this is so cultish this is so cruel this is so unkind no it's scriptural to deal with sin No, it's scriptural to deal with disorderly conduct in the assembly. It is scriptural to deal with doctrinal error in the assembly. Now of course that needs to be conducted in the right spirit. Of course it needs to be bathed in prayer and all those things but it must be done nonetheless. Number three, the cases for church discipline. Now what I find interesting here is Paul actually broadens the scope of discipline beyond just fornication to make it very clear that there are other serious sins that are worthy of disciplinary action in the local church. Now what Paul does in verse 9 to 13 is he provides some clarification on the candidates for church discipline and clearly the church had misunderstood a previous instruction from another letter from the Apostle Paul concerning the application of separation to fornicators and others in serious sin. And that's why he says in verse 9, So he's referring to another letter that he'd written to the Corinthians. Now, commentators get real stuck on this lost letter. I'll just say this, it's not lost, God knows where it is. And if it's not in the Bible, it means that that particular letter was not meant to be a part of Scripture, so don't stress about the lost letter of the Corinthians, okay? And Paul is going to essentially restate in this letter anyway, with clarifications, what he meant in that previous letter. So these are the sorts of things that captivate the minds of commentators, but they really have not a lot of eternal value. If the letter was meant to be in the Canon of Scripture it would be there, it's not, therefore we don't need to stress about this letter that's not there and it's not lost, God knows where it is. So, but Paul says, I wrote unto you an epistle, not to company with fornicators, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters, for then must ye needs go out of the world. So, we look here in verse 9 and 10 at to whom church discipline does not apply. And Paul makes it very, very clear that church discipline applies to those within the church, not to those without the church. Simple, clear, and he says, I wrote unto you in an epistle not to accompany with fornicators, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, and he lists a few others, or with the covetous, or with extortioners, or with idolaters. Why? For then must your needs go out of the world. Put it very simply, if a Christian was required to separate from every non-believer caught up in these kinds of sins, it would be practically impossible. Paul says you would have to actually leave the world. You'd have to get on Elon Musk's thing to Mars or something to leave the world. So in other words, the Bible recognises that as believers we have to interact on a certain basic level with non-believers. You think about it, in an employment situation, you might be working with a fornicator, someone who's on his third marriage, someone who's living in blatant sin against God. Now, does that mean you participate in their sin? No. Does that mean you go to the pub with them after work? No, but the Bible recognises that it would be impossible for you to exercise separation against every non-believer caught up in these kinds of sins. Clear? And you think about that, you go to, you know, people say, oh, the owner of this corporation, you know, is wicked. Yeah, but you go to Woolworths and I'll guarantee you the owners of Woolworths are probably wicked too. I mean, it's just, you go and you purchase things from companies where the CEO might be a sodomite. And I'm not saying we condone any of that, I'm just saying we have to live as believers in this world and interact with fornicators and idolaters and adulterers and people who are caught up in terrible sin. And the non-believer needs conversion, not discipline. The church has no jurisdiction, and really actually this chapter really debunks the Catholic view, going back in history, where the Catholic Church tried to exert really dominance over the entire population of a country. throw non-believers in prison and compel people to go to church, that's not a scriptural view. 1 Corinthians 5 really gives us the scope of church discipline but it also puts the limits there as well. And as a church we don't have authority to exercise disciplinary action on a non-believer. Now, I'll just put this one caveat in there. I do believe a non-believer can be removed from the assembly if necessary for the protection of the flock, e.g. if you have a wolf in sheep's clothing or a predator. So certainly, shepherds of the local assembly have to be alert to spiritual dangers and if you've got a non-believer coming in with an agenda, you may have to ask them to leave. But as far as actual proper church discipline, that can't be exercised unless it's someone who's really a part of the assembly. So you'll notice there the reference to those within versus those without. So Paul says those without the church, really, God will deal with them. Those within the church come under The review of the local church and the local church is to, under Christ's authority, within the parameters of God's Word, exercise judgment on moral and doctrinal situations. That tells me that God has given a certain amount of scope and authority for each local church to determine the particulars of an individual discipline case. within the parameters of Scripture, I'm not talking about going beyond the Scriptures or outside the Scriptures, but taking the parameters of Scripture, the local church has to determine on the finer points of detail, how long the discipline is to last, the individual aspects of a case, the severity of the discipline. There are many things that a local church has to work through in relation to church discipline and God's Word makes it very clear, we're not in a position to exercise judgment on those without, in a disciplinary sense, but we are we are called of God under Christ's authority to judge them that are within. We should never judge! Actually the church does need to exercise sound biblical judgment on sin. That's true. Do you not ye judge them that are within? And the context here is moral sin. We should have a very clear readout sin of this nature. We should have a very clear perspective from the Bible and say, no, this is sin, this is wrong, and here's the appropriate action. So, church discipline is exercised within the household of faith. The standard for the individual who names the name of Christ is much higher. That makes sense, doesn't it? Again, the non-believer needs conversion. If you are a professing believer in sin, you need discipline to bring you to repentance. hopefully, if you cooperate. So that brings us then to whom Church discipline does apply, verse 11 to 13. But now I have written unto you, so see how Paul says, you misunderstood my previous letter, I wasn't saying that it's possible that you have to withdraw from every interaction from every non-believer, now I'm writing to you to make it clear, if any man that is called a brother, now that makes things very clear. If any man is called a brother, be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such in one know not to eat. There is to be a definite withdrawal of Christian fellowship from an erring brother, a professing believer. Okay? You say, well, are they really saved or not? Well, only God knows, but if someone is called a brother, someone professes to be a true Christian and they're living in serious sin of this nature, then the Bible is very clear, believers are to withdraw fellowship from that individual. Is that what it says? With such a one know not to eat. You sit down for a meal with a man or woman living in moral sin, you have disobeyed that instruction. Is that true? If you sit down for a meal with a person who claims to be a Christian, who's living in sin, you have disobeyed 1 Corinthians 5. That's just right there in black and white. So to whom church discipline does apply. Number one under that, the sins requiring discipline. The sins requiring discipline. The believer is not to keep company with believers caught up in these sins. Now that phrase, not to keep company, means not to mix together or associate with. So we're not to mingle with and associate with professing believers who are caught up in these sins that bring disgrace upon the testimony of Christ. And the six specific sins requiring disciplinary action are listed. So it shows that we have the backdrop of the Corinthian situation, but Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit now, really gives us a broader view of church discipline. It doesn't just apply to fornication, it applies to a whole list of things here. But the first one is fornication, so look at it there. But now I've written unto you, verse 11, not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator. fornicator. So that's very clear, to be caught up in immorality as a professing believer is a most serious offence. Is that correct? To be caught up in immorality as a professing believer is a most serious offence against God. To be a fornicator all the while claiming to be a believer, that's serious business with God. And I don't care how much our modern society has tried to dumb down the sin of fornication and premarital sex and immorality and all the rest of it, God's mind and God's word has not changed on this issue and as a church we have no authorization to dumb down our view either. And to be called a brother and at the same time to have a reputation as a fornicator, that's serious with God. And I will just say this, a light response to such sin by the church is blatant disobedience to the clear command of Scripture, and a soft response, I believe, actually works against the erring believer's repentance. You're not helping the believer caught up in moral sin if you take a light and lax response to it. And often that's the problem. In the name of false love, there's a light response. and an unbiblical response to fornication. But true love will seek the repentance of that person and the best way that you can be a part of helping that person come to repentance is to take a very clear stand in reference to that sin. Because if you cushion the person who's in moral sin and you have a light view, you don't deal with it strongly, guess what you're doing? You're by your actions telling them it's not too big a deal. That's the reality. You're telling them it's not really such a big deal by your actions and in many ways you will actually embolden them. This man who's living with his father's wife is still in the assembly, why? Well everybody's cool with me, everybody's fine with me, no one's got a problem. Everyone's boasting about the fact they can handle this, they're tolerating it and Paul says you need to remove that individual from your midst. Then the second one, covetousness or covetous. It's an old word here for overreachers or those avarice for more and more. That's interesting, we don't often think about that as being a possible offense warranting church discipline, do we? Think about it though, if you have a reputation as a believer for being a covetous man or woman, that brings disrepute upon the name of Christ. So let me give you some illustrations that might help, or scenarios that might help you understand this. If you have a believer, professing believer, engaged in corrupt business practices, that would be grounds for church discipline. Because it's bringing disgrace upon the name of Christ. True? Let's think of another scenario. A believer in the church misappropriating church funds. That would be cause for church discipline. That happens, by the way. But Judas wasn't... he's not the first person who put his hand into the bag. Now we have procedures in place to stop that from happening by God's grace and it's never happened to my knowledge in the church here. But some people get very covetous over church funds. I'm thinking of one brother right now in another church I served in. Boy, I think it was a spirit of covetousness beneath it. He had a very bad attitude towards the pastor's salary. It was a grand total of about $30,000 a year. I mean, big money, really. And he caused all sorts of division and problems, and I think it was covetousness. that would be grounds for church discipline, I would say. The wrong attitude, dividing the church over a carnal spirit towards money, covetousness, that's a very serious thing. Idolatry or an idolater. Now this was very important in the Corinthian context because you had believers who were still attending the pagan heathen festivals. That should be clear, as Christians you shouldn't worship idols. You should not have a Buddha in the backyard. No, seriously, as a believer you should not have a Buddha in the backyard. Oh, but it's just an ornament. No, it's satanic and evil and the other naked statue too, needs to go. Is that a fair application? But idolatry goes beyond just physical idols, doesn't it, to really anything in our lives that usurps the rightful place of God in your life. You say, boy, this sounds hard, this sounds strict. Well, the Christian life is a very exact walk. I don't think we always pause to really think about how serious a holy God is about holiness in his people. I've never heard of any church that's... I personally haven't heard of a church that's disciplined anybody for covetousness. but it would be a biblical thing to do. If that, and we're not talking about, we all understand, we struggle with the impulse to sin, and maybe you have a brief moment where you covet someone's car and you repent before the Lord, if we're all getting disciplined for that, we'd be in trouble. A lot of the cars are out there this morning, but anyway, by God's grace, for me personally, I never got caught up in the car craze, and I'm not trying to sound super spiritual, but for me it might be something else. But we're talking about someone who's caught a brother who's essentially now got a reputation they're a fornicator, that's who they are, that's how they're living, they're covetous, it becomes a clear pattern of behaviour. Okay, we're not talking about there being no grace in the local church, we're not talking about being disciplined for every little sin that we commit, oh but no one's perfect, that is not the issue. There's a big difference between a believer who fails and deals with it quickly before the Lord and someone who's really unrepentant in these sins or living very openly in these kinds of sins. Here's another one, this one's interesting, or a railer. So what's a railer? Is that something to do with the train track? No, a railer is someone who abuses others with hurtful speech. You rail on someone, means you tear them down with hurtful and abusive language. That would be grounds for church discipline. If you as a believer, well I'm just, you know, I just get stuff off of my chest, mmm. Phlegm, the phlegm of wickedness. I just, you know, I'm just like a shotgun, I blow off and then it's all over. Yeah, but you've left holes in everybody around you. Now, godly reproof and rebuke, that's biblical, with the right motive, motive of love. Plainspokenness for the truth, that's biblical. But fleshly, abusive, degrading language is not. Yeah, there is some... verbal abuse does exist, and I know sometimes we are afraid of that... I know that sometimes we're like, well, where's that going? Because the world sometimes uses these labels and throws them around for everything. and puts the label verbal abuse on just about anything. But railing is a real sin. And there are believers who behind the scenes use their speech to tear people down, to degrade people, and you know what's at the heart of verbal abuse, that kind of abuse? It's a desire to control the other person. You smash them down so they'll do what you want them to do. Husbands can be like that, wicked husbands, verbally degrade and abuse their wives to whittle them down to make them conform to what they want to do. Sometimes parents do that with children. It's a real thing and if that's your reputation and you claim to be a believer, you need to repent of that. you are engaged in abusive speech that hurts others. The same word is translated reviler in 1st Corinthians 6.10, a reviler. So godly reproof spoken in love is appropriate, plain spokenness and boldness for the truth is appropriate, but tearing into someone with abusive fleshly and degrading speech is wicked and here it's grounds for withdrawal of Christian fellowship and discipline. you're a railer, you rail on people, then you should be disciplined by the church, if that's your reputation. Number five, drunkenness or a drunkard. that makes sense. You notice that each of these sins are really of a very public nature, that bring public disgrace upon Christ? It's not every little sin, is it? It's a specific list and with each of these sins you notice that they're particularly grievous and that they bring disgrace to the name of Christ. So if this makes sense, if you as a believer, you say you know Christ, are going to go down to the town and get stoned drunk, that's a very serious matter. If you, frankly, as a believer, are getting on the terps in your home, that's a serious matter. These pastors that promote social drinking, they should be disciplined. You say, I drink, but I don't get drunk. You're a liar. You are a liar. And I'm telling you as a pastor, I have counseled people and I know the backstory to this so-called drinking in the name of grace. And if you are honest and you drink in the name of grace, I can guarantee you, you've been defeated to that bottle behind the scenes. And you drink way more than this so-called moderate amount. It's a lie and it's a farce. There's this outward facade, oh because of grace we can drink wine, we can drink alcohol. The real story behind the scenes is one of deep defeat for these people. I'm drawing on some experience here so far. Don't believe the lie that I just drink but I don't get drunk. You say, how do I avoid getting drunk? Don't drink! Don't take the first glass! Every act of drunkenness started with the first cup. It's a lie of the devil that you can drink and not get drunk. You know that's not true if you're honest. scientific research shows within a glass or two you have been affected. Your body's affected, your mind is affected, there's a reason why the government requires pilots to have 0% when they fly. Because it's a mind-altering, body-altering, mood-altering drug and Christians should not take drugs. if you are a drunkard as a believer, you, according to 1 Corinthians 5, deserve to be publicly disciplined by the church. Pretty serious stuff. To drink, intoxicating liquor is a belief, it's a serious matter. And this is where people miss the deceitfulness of it. I'm just going to have one glass. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Proverbs 20 verse 1. Thinking now of a case of a brother and sister who was saved out of a life of alcoholism. who went, drifted, went to a contemporary church and they were told by the eldership there and by the elders' wives, oh no, you can drink, you can have a glass, that's your liberty in Christ. Now I would just say for a starters, can you show me any verse in the Bible that says that a glass of wine is a symbol of Christian liberty? Where do they get that from? That all of a sudden, my liberty in Christ means I can have a glass of red. Now, you would think, if you had any sort of shepherd's heart, if you had even a bit of logic, you'd think, not a good idea to put a glass of liquor back in the hands of people who've had a history of alcoholism. Wouldn't that just make a bit of logical sense? Not a good idea! I hate to quote the Catholic Church, but you know the Catholic Church even has procedures for people who've had a history of alcoholism. Instead of giving them a sip of the wine from the communion cup, they just dip the bread in it. Because, unfortunately, their wine is full of alcohol. Anyway, let's not get sidetracked on the plonked prelates there. Wouldn't you think, as a pastor, it wouldn't be a good idea to recommend to a former alcoholic that he could have a drink? Oh no, that's your liberty in Christ. Yeah, well that so-called liberty in Christ led that couple back into deep defeat, drunkenness on the weekends, and back to drugs. unto him that giveth his neighbor to drink. And when you counsel from the pulpit and counsel in person and tell people that they can drink in the name of Christian liberty, in effect you're putting the bottle in their hands and you come under the woe of God. It's wickedness. Drunkenness has no part in your life as a believer. Proverbs 23 says don't even look at it, so don't tell me you can have a small drink of it. If God's Word says don't even look at it, I guarantee you God doesn't want you to take a drop of it. It's not, oh you see, this is the culture of the Independent Baptist Church, it's a Baptist tradition not to drink. No, it's a biblical command and we as a church are not moving on that. If you want to be a drunk as a Christian, you better find another church. We're not into drunkenness here. We're not into drinking. You were saved out of that. And by the way, if you have the Holy Spirit indwelling you, if you've been purchased by the blood of Christ, you should not be reliant on a glass of liquor to pick you up in the Christian life. You should have the joy of the Lord. You have all the riches of Christ at your disposal. You don't need a glass of liquor to give you joy. We move on. Extortion. Fornication, covetousness, idolatry, railing, drunkenness, extortion, or an extortioner. What's extortion? Well Webster defines extortion as, quote, the act or practice of wresting anything from a person by force, duress, menaces, authority or by any undue exercise of power, illegal exaction, illegal compulsion to pay money or to do some other act. Now the same Greek word is translated ravening in reference to false prophets, remember Jesus talked about ravening wolves, Matthew 7 15 that word ravening is the Greek word extortion. So it talks about a person who basically forcibly extracts things from people. The Hebrew word for extortion in the Old Testament also contains the idea of oppression. So if you are an oppressive person, you oppress other people in order to force them to do something for you or to give you something, that is being an extortioner. I'll give you an illustration of this, I remember talking to the missionary in Ghana about the whole issue of bribes. it's a real difficult thing for Christians, do you give a bribe to the police as a Christian? He said it's actually more than bribes, he said it's extortion. They basically make it impossible for you not to give them something. They force you, with their power, to basically hand over some money. It's extortion. It's using one's position to force someone to give you money or to do other things. So that, of course, would be grounds for church discipline as well, if you are an oppressor, an extortioner, as a believer. So I know again the world sometimes misuses this or overuses these terms but coercive control is a problem. If you are coercing people and controlling people in a fleshly manner, using your speech as a railer to tear people down to get them to perform what you want them to do or you're an extortioner, you're oppressive in your behavior, that's wrong as a believer, wrong. The sins that warrant church discipline, then look at the specifics of the discipline. And there are two clear commands here. Firstly, don't associate with the erring believer, and then don't fellowship with the erring believer. Don't associate with the erring believer, we're not to keep company with people who are caught up in these sins, means don't have fellowship with them, don't associate with them. This word is translated, have no company with, in 2nd Thessalonians 3.14, listen to the verse, and if any men obey not our word by this epistle, note that man and have no company with him, same Greek word, that he may be ashamed yet, here's the balance, count him not as an enemy but admonish him as a brother. So even in disciplinary action, we're not treating the person like they're scum, we don't hate the individual, we don't count them as our enemies, but we admonish them as brethren. So that's the balance. We're not talking about a sort of a cruel, fleshly, cut the person completely out necessarily, it's a clear command to withdraw fellowship but there's still room for admonishment there so if you come in contact with that person you admonish them for their sin and seek their repentance. We are commanded to withdraw from disorderly believers, listen to 2 Thessalonians 3.6, now we command you brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly not after tradition which he received of us. So see that very clear, the command is to withdraw yourself, pull back from brothers who are walking disorderly, not after the apostolic truth there. That word disorderly means out of step, out of rank, That's pretty serious, isn't it? So what does it mean to be a disorderly believer? You're out of step with the Word of God. You're walking contrary to the Word of God. It even contains the idea of rebellious. You're out of step with the Word of God, out of step probably with the authority of the local church, church leadership, out of step with other believers. It's a serious matter to be walking contrary to God's Word and God's ways. disorderly. Try not to be a rebel in the local church. Try not to be a disorderly, divisive individual in the local church. It's not right. And if it emerges that it's a pattern of behavior, it warrants discipline. Barnes notes, a disorderly walk denotes conduct that is in any way contrary to the rules of Christ. The proper idea of the word used here, a tuctose, is that of soldiers who do not keep the ranks, that's the background of the word. If you looked at a group of soldiers and they're all marching in time but one guy's out of step, that's the word, he's disorderly, he's out of step with the others. soldiers who do not keep the ranks who are regardless of order and then who are irregular in any way the word would include any violation of the rules of Christ on any subject so a disorderly walk walking contrary to apostolic doctrine and practice so don't associate with the erring believer we're not to keep company we're not to mingle with or associate with believers that are caught up in these sins that bring disgrace on the name of Christ. Then we're not to fellowship, don't fellowship with the erring believer, the verse also says with such a one know not to eat. Well that's cruel, that's biblical, that's biblical. You don't sit down for a meal with an erring brother who's living contrary to the Word of God and bringing disgrace in the name of Christ. Now, that would include, I believe, a prohibition on participating in the Lord's table. That's why usually, if there's a disciplinary motion in the church, it includes the erring believer being barred from the Lord's table. Okay, but it goes beyond that to having a meal with the individual. Think about it, in the New Testament context, having a meal together was a big part of Christian fellowship, and is still a big part of Christian fellowship. So social contacts with such a brother are forbidden. eating a meal together with someone who's living in fornication is wrong. Who claims to be a brother, if it's a non-believer that might be a different situation, but someone who's called a brother, who claims to be a Christian, that's very serious. Now I know this is difficult but let me just say this, there is no exception clauses in this verse for family. Is that true? There is no exception clauses in this verse for family members. Oh, but it's family! Excuse me. Please do not insert an exception clause into God's instructions. If you have a family member who claims to be a believer, who's caught up in one of these serious sins, with such a wonder not to eat. I don't agree with that. You don't agree with God's Word then? You want something less than biblical? Now, as I said, we don't count the individual as an enemy, we admonish them as a brother. Now if you're going to admonish someone, that implies there may still be some contact on a limited level, in order to admonish them. So I don't believe the Bible necessarily requires a complete cessation of all contact with a nearing brother, but there's a withdrawal pulling back a fellowship and not sitting down for a meal and not entering into these kinds of social contacts with a believer who is caught up in these kinds of sins. W.E. Vine writes, the injunction involves an abstention from inviting such to one's house or accepting his invitations. The injunction would also apply to the Lord's table. So we have the sins for discipline, the specifics of the discipline, don't associate with the erring believer and don't fellowship with the erring believer. And then the sphere of discipline, verse 12 and 13, we've already talked about this. Those without the church are judged by God. Those within the church are to be judged by the brethren within the parameters of Scripture and under the authority of Christ. Read verse 4. So what happened to the man in 1 Corinthians 5? Well read the second epistle and I believe we have clear evidence that he repented and Paul called on the church then to restore him. So before you label God's Word as being cruel, unjust just remember that in this case this brother who was caught up in this serious sin was eventually restored back to the Corinthian church because he repented and it was the disciplinary action of the church that was used by God to bring that erring brother to repentance so please do not say that God's way is unloving it's actually a loving thing to obey these commands love for God Love for the church? I mean, boy, you can see 1 Corinthians 5, Paul is thinking about the entire church and the effect of this individual on the entire church. Could I restate? We cannot put the whole church on the line for one individual who's out of order. That's not right, it's not biblical. The entire church has to be considered, the well-being of the entire church in these kinds of matters. It's love for God, it's love for the church, It's love for the unbeliever, the testimony of Christ in the unbelieving world, and don't forget, it is love for the very individual. You think about it, as a parent in your household, if you truly love your child, you'll bring corrective action into their lives. Oh, I just love my child so much, I could never correct them. You don't love your child. He that spareth the rod, hateth his son. You don't love your child, not really, not truly, you love yourself. And it's too inconvenient for you to bring correction to the life of that child so you don't do it. And it's the same in the church. People who say in the name of love they won't deal with things don't truly love the erring brother or sister. They love themselves and their own ideologies. One 19th century theologian put it well when he said, when discipline leaves the church, Christ goes with it. That's sobering, isn't it? When discipline leaves the church, Christ goes with it. I don't know about you, I don't want to be in a church where Christ is not present and if we want to lose God's power and God's blessing as a church, it's very simple, just allow a little leaven, to leaven the whole lump. Let's pray. Lord, help us to accept these instructions from you. We pray, Lord, that you would help us. Father, for those who may be sitting in the pew today thinking, boy, this sounds harsh and unloving, help them to see that this is true love, love for Christ as the head of the church and love for the erring brother or sister. Lord, help us to adjust our thinking. Help us as a church to have biblical thinking about sin, about church discipline. And again, Lord, help people not misunderstand that there's some desire to discipline people or some carnal love in chucking people out of the church. Lord, that's not the heart. To follow this instruction, Lord, is difficult from a human perspective, but Lord, it's the way of blessing and it's the right way. So help us, Father, as a church to be a church where there is an environment of purging We pray for purged hearts, purged homes and a purged house of God, Lord, that we would remove the corruption of spiritual, moral and doctrinal living out of our hearts, out of our homes and out of your house, we pray. In Jesus' name, Amen.