I'll invite you to take your Bibles and turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. 1 Corinthians chapter 5 this morning. We've been discussing here for a number of weeks, a focal point. The book of 1 Corinthians points us to Jesus Christ. Now the church at Corinth was a church that had a number of different problems. But having problems, I don't want you to think it's not a church that you wouldn't attend. If you were on vacation and passing through Corinth, no doubt you would gather with the saints at Corinth at one of these churches, these house churches that met. This was the kind of church that you would want to be a part of. It was a gifted church. There was great preaching in that church. They were enthusiastic. in their ministry. Though there were problems, it's probably a church that, if you knew somebody who was moving into the area of Corinth, you'd say, man, I've got the church for you. This is the place that you would wanna be a part of. And in saying that, there's gonna be some things we're gonna be talking about as we continue in the book. We realize that there were some things that were under the surface. Some were not visible or seen, some problems, and others were a little bit more prominent. They knew about them, but didn't exactly know how to deal with those problems. If you were to have drone footage, I don't know about you, your drone footage has just changed how you view videos. Back in the day, we'd watch these TV shows, and you could tell they had taken the video from a helicopter. It was kind of choppy, you know. But now, with these seamless scenes, they move up and down over the mountains, and it's just an amazing thing. If you had drone footage of ancient Corinth, wouldn't that be cool? And if you were to look over the city of Corinth, there'd be some prominent features that would probably stand out to you. The first century city of Corinth had several places for entertainment. They had a large theater. They had sporting arenas. They had a marketplace right in the middle, a beautiful marketplace. And then they would have also not only places for entertainment, there were several places that made note of religious engagement. The people there were are religious people. And maybe in the same way, if you were to have drone footage over any major city in our country or over the city of Lima, there'd be some of the very similar things. You would see some arenas, some sporting fields, and you would see some places for entertainment. You would see places set aside for religious engagement in the community. And so in some ways, we're very similar to the city of Corinth. where we spend our time today is probably very similar to how the people were spending their time back then. But what would you say, let's just say that there was some drone footage going over Lima, Ohio, came over Bluelick Bible Church and looked down and you spotted a fire. You saw a little bit of smoke and you saw some flash of flame. What would you do? Just continue on your way or would you say this needs to be addressed, I need to call someone, I need to deal with this, I need to go there and help to solve this problem. A number of years ago our family had lived in a cul-de-sac and in that cul-de-sac we had received, we called it the ring of fire because there had been several lightning strikes around that cul-de-sac while we lived there. Our neighbors across the street, Richard and Gina's house, had been struck by lightning on one particular day. We all heard it. All the houses were wired in a way together. And so when one smoke detector went off, all of ours went off in the cul-de-sac. So we all knew something happened. And then sure enough, we saw the smoke coming out. And me and my neighbor, they weren't home at the time. They had gone to a niece's birthday party in Columbus, and so we did the, we of course called the fire department immediately, and then we gathered Richard's garden hose, and we were trying to squirt it up. Didn't do very good at all. And it would be a, they would be able to salvage the house after about six months of intensive gutting and replacing. It wasn't a total loss, but it was close. But a little fire, we saw it start and it did, in fact, move fast. What would happen if we found a little fire at Blue Lake Bible Church? It'd be serious, right? We would want to take care of that immediately. A couple of months ago, I was sitting down with our insurance adjuster talking through future plans and why they wanted to raise our rates. And I was talking to him, he says, well, You don't have to have 100% coverage on the church. You could do maybe 90%. He said, what are the chances that all of it's going to get knocked out at one time? He said, hey, hey, 100%, please. We don't know. We want to protect what we have here for the work of the Lord. But what if there was a fire? He would be serious. First Corinthians chapter five, we're going to find there's a fire in the church of Corinth, not the fire like you're thinking of, the fire of sexual sin. What was once an unconscionable topic in the church, or an uncomfortable topic in the church, has become an all too common topic in the church, the topic of sexual sin. Begin reading with me at verse one of chapter five. First Corinthians chapter five, verse one. It's 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 hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. For verily, verse three, I am as absent in the body, but present in spirit, have judged already, and though I were concerning him that hath done this deed. Verse four, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse five, to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. That the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Let's just bow for a moment in prayer. Father guide us now We ask by your Holy Spirit, through your word, help us to not just think of this as some place somewhere else that's dealing with some other problem. Help us to understand the sin of Corinth is a common sin in the Church of America. The sin of Corinth is a common sin of the churches of Lima. Help us to consider this sin as we're by no means an exception to the rule. I pray that we would see sin as you do, we would understand your love, your grace, and your purpose for your church. In Jesus' name, amen. Out of love, God addresses problems. If you take your Bible from Genesis and work your way through Revelation, you're going to find that God loves us enough that he will address sin problems. Proverbs 3 verse 11 says, My son despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction. For whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth, even as a father of the son in whom he delighteth. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 6 says, For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son with whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? The reality is as believers, as children of God, God expresses his love to us in a number of ways. The oxygen that you're breathing, the world in which we live. We sing many hymns today that pointed to God's greatness through his creation. But one of the ways that God also demonstrates his greatness and his love for you and I is through his loving chastening, his loving discipline. Because he loves us, because he cares for us. We're told in Ephesians chapter five, it says, husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church. And it says, how did he love the church? It says, that he gave himself for it. that he might sanctify and cleanse it with a washing of water by the word, that he might present unto himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. God has a plan for you individually, and he has a plan for our church. Jesus Christ completed the work of paying for our sins upon the cross. Because of God's grace, we can not only be forgiven forever, we can live daily in victory. And God gives us the enablement, he gives us the power, and he loves us enough that when we are disobedient, when we're willfully disobeying his word, God will confront us. God uses his church to do that work. God uses his church to purify his people. Ephesians 4.15 says, but speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. So how does God bring about confrontation and conviction? And oftentimes he will use his body, his local assembly, to be the ones to lovingly point people to godly living. Hebrews 10, 24 says, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. Part of our responsibility as a church member is to lovingly disciple one another, to confront when needed to encourage when needed to challenge when needed Galatians chapter 6 verse 1 says brethren if a man be overtaken in a fall ye which are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of meekness considering thyself lest thou also be tempted the picture there is of resetting the bone He says, you which are spiritual. Earlier in the passage, he explains that we all should be spiritual. Every believer should be spiritual, spirit-filled, spiritually-minded. And we have a responsibility as Christians to care for one another, to care enough. A true friend will always tell you the truth. And as Christians, it's our privilege to lovingly care for one another, to tell each other the truth in love. Christ is the one who produces godliness. 1 Timothy 3.16 says, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. And then it says, where does godliness come from? God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed unto the world, received up into glory. The answer comes here, where does godliness come from? From Jesus Christ. Christ who died for us, was buried, rose again. He is the way, not only to eternal life, but he is the way to godly living. Godly living comes from Jesus Christ. So in the church at Corinth, we see there were some serious problems affecting their ministry. There were problems that affected their church's ongoing ministry, and it also influenced their public testimony. In that city of Corinth, as we were thinking and flying over with our drone footage there, as we were looking at the city of Corinth, spotted throughout the city would be places where people live. And the church, unlike our day, where we gathered together in one central location, they gathered, some up to 1,000 people, more than likely, were gathering in individual homes throughout the city. They had been peppered, been spread throughout the city, and their lives, their testimony, should I say the testimony of Jesus Christ, mattered. A number of months ago, I was watching A YouTube video of a church, used to be a great big Baptist church in Akron, Ohio. And it had been closed down. and these guys were walking through the building of this church that once was something. They were going great guns. They were doing everything. Here they had all the VHS tapes of all the sermons, and they were all falling off the shelves, and all the old hymn books, and all the Sunday school curriculum, and my heart broke. Here was a church that once was doing great things for God, but whatever, after the economy changed, and industry moved, and people just eventually abandoned Not only that building, but that church. It was heart-wrenching. I just thought to my, I mean, a lot of the things I was watching in that video, I've seen in places I've served. Yeah, I remember that, and I remember, oh yeah. Here it was, this big, empty, depressing building. If you like watching those videos, well, more power to ya. I'm kinda giving up on that. That doesn't encourage me. But how sad it would be one day to look back at eternity and to realize if we only saw what God had done in the power of the Spirit and obedience to the Word for the glory of God, if that was all that was seen of this ministry, what would be left? What would be left if from eternity you took a walk through this building and you thought, what did we do for the glory of God? Was it for the glory of man? Was it in the power of the flesh? Was it according to our will rather than God's word? Those things are, we should think about that. And the church of Corinth, like I said, is probably a church that you and I would wanna be a part of. This was a church that was doing things and going places, that they were making an impact in the community. But there were also some problems. The problems we found in chapter three came from pride. Initially it was because they thought they were enough. They were big stuff. There was pride, and what did that pride lead to? It led to partiality. They were breaking up and having their favorite group of preachers or group of influence, and they were divided amongst themselves. And that partiality then was a culprit in creating a stagnant Christian living. They were immature. They weren't growing. They had plateaued, and they had plateaued very low. They weren't increasing. in faith and grace and love. There was a need in the church. We saw in chapters four, chapter three and chapter four, that they've been very critical of spiritual leaders in the church. They had a very carnal view of those spiritual leaders. And we come to the end of chapter four and Paul says this, he says, how would you want me to come to you? He says, what will ye? Shall I come unto you with a rod or in love? and in the spirit of meekness. There's some issues that need to be addressed in the church. How do you want me to deal with them? Do you want me to bring the baseball bat? Or do you want me to come with a heart of love? And then in chapter five, he begins this confrontation, this loving confrontation. But he just brings it out. Now, keep in mind, this wasn't the first thing he brought up in the book. the letter he wrote. It wasn't the first thing he addressed. In fact, we're gonna find from this passage, this was probably the second letter, even though it says 1 Corinthians, there was probably a letter that had preceded this one, as far as we can tell. And so he was bringing up some things that had already been touched on a little bit, that they knew better. And so as he begins chapter five here, he has laid a foundation. He'd help them to understand not only who they were as a church, but what God intended. God wanted them to be growing. He wanted them to be maturing. He wanted them to be made useful in ministry, but there were some things that had kept them from it. They had stunted their spiritual growth because of pride, because of carnality. In 1 Thessalonians 4, in verse 3, Paul would say, For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor. Paul didn't mince words. When it came to sin, Paul called it sin. Sexual sin, sin outside of the bounds of a God-ordained marriage. God intends sexual relationships. God designed sexual relationships for his glory and for a number of purposes. But there was someone in the church who was living a sexually immoral life. This wasn't the first time this has ever happened in the world, and it certainly was not the last and is not the last. He says it's reported commonly. Back in chapter one, verse 11, Paul had gotten word about the contentions in the church, the division in the church, and he talks about that. He says he's heard from the house of Chloe that there's contentions among you. Well, something else that he heard, not only was there divisions in the church, but there was unrepentant, unconfessed, undealt with sin amongst the congregation. The church then was responsible. Collectively, they were responsible for the one who was unrepentant. What were they supposed to do? Look with me here at chapter five, verse two, and ye are puffed up, you're filled with pride. That's what he said back in chapter four, verse 18. Some of you are puffed up as though I would not come unto you. They had a problem with arrogance, with pride. And there he says in verse two of chapter five, and you're puffed up and have not rather mourned They should have, when they heard about this sin, they should have been broken. There should have been a collective prayer meeting. Let's gather together, let's confess our sins, let's confess the sins of our erring brother in the Lord, and let's be broken over this, because this is serious to God. They should have mourned, and they should have disciplined him. God gives the mechanisms to the ministry of the local church to deal with sin. Unrepentant, unconfessed sin must be addressed. Well, what if a person is not a believer? What if they're involved in sexual relationships outside of marriage and they're not saved? What comes to them? Well, Revelation chapter 21 in verse eight tells us, we know what happens to those who die without Jesus Christ. They'll be lost forever, they'll be judged eternally. But it says in Revelation 21 verse eight, but the fearful and the unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers And sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. There are those who will spend eternity in hell because of their sin of sexual immorality. But what about Christians? Are Christians immune from this? Is the church immune from sexual sins? No. No, and here's what we're going to find. This is a problem that needed to be addressed by the church. Christ is going to lead the church to godliness. And he leads them by his word. So the church should have a couple of things. Number one, they should have been disappointed with his sinful conduct. They should have had disappointment towards the conduct of this one. He explains to us in verse four, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's Christ's testimony that's at stake. That's why this is so important. That's why this needed to be addressed. It should have been a shock to them that this sin had taken place, and from what we can tell, this person continued to attend and be a part of their church. Few details are given, but we can assume a couple of things. The man committed sin probably with a woman who was unsaved. She is not addressed in this passage, but he is. She probably was not saved. Who was she? Probably a stepmother. Probably a stepmother. And Paul goes on to explain, this kind of sin, he says in verse five, he said it was essentially, it's unheard of amongst pagans, unbelievers. What's taking place here? This gross sexual sin was something unusual. I'm sorry, it's in verse seven. Purge out therefore the old leaven, that it may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened, for even Christ our Passover sacrificed for us. This is serious, it's a serious sin. It was common knowledge, that's what he says in verse one. It's reported commonly. People knew about this, right? People in the church, people in the community, they knew about this that was taking place. That was probably somebody who continued to regularly attend the gathering with the saints. Somebody who had more than likely been a member, if they had called it that these days, a member of the church. As far as we can tell, this is a person who was unrepentant, unwilling to deal with their sin, to get right before the Lord. But we also find that there are spiritual ramifications. And he says in verse five, to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. He wasn't condemning him here to hell. There's two categories, two realms in all the universe, the realm of God and the realm of Satan. And he said, Cassidy, essentially he's saying this, give him over to the world, send him out of the church so that he can be dealt with there. But God's goal in discipline is always, always, always restoration. He wasn't just kicking him to the curb to get him out of their way. His heart was, his desire was, not only to protect the people, but that the Holy Spirit of God would bring conviction to this man's heart, to bring him to a place of repentance and then restoration amongst the church family. That was Paul's desire. His sin should have come as a shock. Sexual sin should still shock the church. We're inundated, right? Constant flow of media is saying that there's nothing wrong. It's saying that it's just normal. But sexual sin is an offense to a holy God. It should not only shock us, but it should shame us. God's design for sexual intimacy is for heterosexual relationships, one man, one woman. For monogamous relationships, one man, one woman for life. For married persons, those who have been covenanted together before God in wedded matrimony, that's God's plan. That's his only plan. The word pornea that's used here, the word fornication, not only includes intercourse, it includes a whole panorama of sexual activity. Basically, any sexual activity outside of the bounds of marriage is condemned by God. It's guilty before God. But God created sexual relationships. He created intimacy. What for? For partnership? For protection? For procreation? Children? It's God's design for pleasure. God is not a cosmic killjoy, but he has put parameters around their sexual relationship because he says, I want you to have what's best, and I want you to have what I can bless. And not only does God desire partnership and protection, procreation, pleasure, but it's also a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Ephesians chapter five, we find husbands are to love their wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. The relationship between a husband and wife, the intimacy of a husband and wife is a picture to a watching world of our relationship as believers in the church with our savior, our bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's important. It's not to be messed with. The church should have been disappointed with this conduct. It should have shocked them. It should have brought shame to their heart that this was taking place. So much so that they felt the need to address it. Number two, they should have disciplined the sinning member. They have the authority of Jesus Christ in this. Verse four, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, when you're gathered together in my spirit with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ, that your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? And so, I mean, the Church of Corinth here, what are you talking about? They're puffed up and they're glorying. When you came to the Church of Corinth, and you, let's just pretend it was in our context today, but you come in and say, amen, welcome to the great Corinthian Baptist Church. We're here to serve God today, but we're a great church for a great God, amen. And everyone's waving their hankies and waving their Bibles, woo, great, everything is great. They're glorying, but Paul says quit it. There's a serious problem, there's a fire in the church. And everybody right now needs to stop what you're doing, quit getting comfortable in the pew, and let's get out, let's find the fire, and let's solve this now. Because if not, it's gonna destroy us. That's what he's saying. It's serious. They have the authority of Jesus Christ to deal with this problem. There's the accountability of the local church. Matthew chapter 18 gives us, and I won't spend a lot of time here, just to make mention of God's design for how we confront an erring brother or sister. God gives us instructions of how to do that. In fact, turn with me to Luke 17. We'll go there while I explain. Matthew 18, one has offended you, one has done wrong. You personally, individually, go to them by yourselves before you talk to anybody else about it. And you go, you share your heart. If you don't have all the facts, make sure you have your facts. The picture in Matthew 18 of somebody who has done you wrong, it's something, it's not like, well, that person looked at me wrong, or I think maybe this is probably true. No, it's you know it, and you deal with it, and your goal is always restoration. So you go to them individually, and you want to win back that brother or sister to Christ. You want them to do what's right. Here's what I've seen. Is this true? Do you understand this is wrong and offends our holy God? Do you understand this is hurting you and hurting us as a body? Would you make it right? It's coming with a humble spirit. Considering yourself, lest you also be tempted, it says in Galatians 6.1. And so it's this amic but clear confrontation. What happens if they don't hear? Then you bring with a godly brother or sister in Christ and two or three of you come together and you make the same appeal. Now, I had come to you and you didn't hear it, but we're coming together because we've been praying for you together. We're not here to spread gossip, but we are concerned enough about what's taking place that something needs to happen. You need to make this right. You know, what happens if they don't hear it? It says, then you bring it before the church. Publicly? Yeah. Why? The goal is always restoration, because God's glory is at stake. Christ's testimony is at stake. The work and usefulness of our church is at stake, but that person's personal life, it's serious. It's saying, this is serious. And what happens if along the way they repent? They say, you're right, I was wrong. I need to make this right with God. And they get a, whatever, get on their knees and they confess their sin and they're seeking to make things right. Hallelujah, it says you've gained a brother. What happens if they don't even hear the church? It says you put them out. It's not necessarily saying you don't ever talk to them, but they don't enjoy the same close, intimate fellowship as a fellow church member that they once enjoyed. They don't get that. You may be related to them or married to them. You still love them and you still love God, but there's something that's missing. And as a church, you can't extend to them that same loving hospitality that God intended you to have. So look with me at Luke chapter 17, verse three. A parallel passage says this, take heed to yourselves, if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. And if he repent, forgive him. This is the key here. It's our own attitude towards an erring brother. We're not only wanting to see them restored, we are ready to forgive. Verse four, he says, and if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day, turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. So what is the attitude that we're to have? We're ready. We're ready to forgive. And notice the disciples' response in verse five. When they heard this, what did they say? Oh, Lord, could you increase our faith? Because that's gonna be very difficult if they keep sinning against me over and again. And God will increase your faith. God desires to see his church restored, to see it made useful and holy. It doesn't mean that the church is sinless. We know that because we're all here. But God designs his church to be purified into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is working towards that, and he will use the accountability we hold towards one another to accomplish that purpose. So why should private matters be addressed publicly? I mean, this is private. These are private sins. Why would this be brought out in daylight? A couple of reasons. One, because of influence, and he likens it here back in 1 Corinthians 5 to dough. He talks about a lump of dough. And very likely, this was the time of year, it was preparing for Passover, and so Paul uses this analogy to help them understand. As Israelites were preparing for Passover, they were to spend seven days scouring the house, looking for any leaven, and they were gonna remove that leavening agent from their house. And what happens with leaven? I mean, a little bit goes a long way, and it does expand. I pulled out the pizza dough last week from the freezer a day before. It got a little bit swollen. I set it out a couple hours before we were gonna make the pizza, and guess what? Two, three hours, boy, that had plumped up very well. I mean, that leaven, whatever, how much was in that store-bought pizza dough, had done the work. It had expanded. And the picture here is that's what takes place when there's sin in the church. It's like that little bit of leaven. It's going to affect everybody. It's going to expand. It's going to grow. So we have this word of warning, there's influence when there's unconfessed, unrepentant sin in the church, it affects everyone. But he gives us this picture here, it says in verse 7, purge, purge out there for the leaven, that you may be a new lump as ye are unleavened. In other words, to be pleasing to the Lord as they prepare themselves to bring a sacrificial lamb in the Old Testament. He turns their mind and reminds them Jesus Christ was their sacrificial lamb. Even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. He died for our sins. Not that we can, so we can live in them and raise our fist at him. No, that we can live a godly and holy life because he has enabled us to, right? The spirit of God who was given to us at salvation is intended to not only bring conviction to our heart, but daily to help us conquer sin, to live victoriously. Because of influence, it had to be dealt with, but also because of identity. Their identity is the body of Christ in that community. They needed to demonstrate who we are in Jesus Christ. We're going to deal with things. This is contrary. It'd be hypocritical for us as a church to preach godliness and holiness and preach that Jesus Christ died for us so you can live victoriously, but we're not dealing with sin in the church. It's hypocritical. As human beings, when there's sexual sin involved, we understand, hey, we're made in the image of God. We're imagers of God. When one takes advantage of another, They're violating something God made you to be. God made you. You're made by him and you're made for him. As Christians, we understand that goes a little bit deeper. It tells us in chapter 6, 19, we're temples. The Holy Spirit does come to live inside of you, but your body is now his temple. That's why we're told in Romans 12, 1, present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. As Christians, we're a temple of the Holy Spirit. We're a portrait as married couples of Christ and his church. As a church, we're to be the proclaimers and the protectors of truth. So there's a couple of things they should have known, right? They should have understood that they should have been disappointed with his sinful conduct in the church. They also should have been disciplining this sinful member. He's unwilling to make things right. He should have been Excused from the church. Dismissed from the church. Disciplined from the church. That's God's plan. Again, always with the goal of restoration. And so it's done in love, but it's done. And then thirdly, the thing that they should have realized that they need to have distinction from the sinful world. Morally, look at verse nine with me. There should have been a moral distinction between them and the world. He says, I wrote unto you an epistle, not to company with fornicators. Now, this is that letter I mentioned. This is the letter he had previously written. There's some things he included. It tells us in verse 10 what he had said. Now, when he was talking to them in this previous letter, he was saying, stay away from those who are committing sexual sin. They were thinking of unbelievers. But Paul is gonna come back to this from this passage here and say, actually, no, I was actually talking about Christians. Because he says in verse 10, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or the extortioners, or with the idolaters, or for them you must all needs go out of the world. And he's saying, actually, I was telling you, there's certain Christians you shouldn't spend your time with. There's going to be those, not only those who are committing sexual sins, but he explains. Who else is in there? The covetous, the extortioners, the idolaters. In the church, and that may not always be worshiping an actual idol, but people who would put other things before God. Perhaps money before God, perhaps fame or popular opinion. Whatever it was, they're putting things before God, and Paul said, be careful about that influence. Make no friendship, Proverbs tells us, with an angry man, right? Because there's influence. And so for, you say, well, I saw somebody do something wrong, I'm never gonna talk to them again. That's not what God said. We have a responsibility to be in the world, a sinful world, but not to become like that sinful world, right? So we must be a light. Let your light so shine before men. So I'm to live my Christian life before a sinful watching world in the middle of them, okay? but I'm not to become like them. What happens when that sin is in the church? There's gonna have to be some understanding. Hey, this is somebody we need to watch about. I can't make that my closest friendship. I don't wanna become like them. And if they're not willing to make things right with God, again, this is maybe in the process of Matthew 18 where there's confrontation. You know what? Until they do, until they make things right, I'm gonna withhold my close, intimate, personal koinonia fellowship from them. Doesn't mean I don't love them. Doesn't mean I'm not praying for them. But I'm serious about their sin because I understand how I can be influenced by it. They needed to be distinct from the world morally. It continues on there in verse 10, or verse 11. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator. That he includes. or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such a one not to eat. So, hey, you're not even picking up a burger at McDonald's with this person. This is serious. I can't give you that kind of close, intimate fellowship. And the sexual sin is mentioned there, but notice the other ones that are included in the same listing here. They're just as serious. Unconfessed and unrepented sin is a problem in the church, and that's what Corinth was dealing with. And so, we live in a world, don't we? where sexual sin is not only accepted, but it's expected, right? That's what's being taught in our school system. That's what's being praised on our TVs. It's expected. The election of two weeks ago was a reminder. There are those who say, hey, your liberty is to do as you wish, however you wish, and you should do wrong. There were those, and their convention was parading that fact. They were offering abortions at the side of the road. How horrible! How vile! But friends, that's where we're living. Okay, that's the world. In the world, sexual sin is not only accepted, it's just expected that everyone will partake. But in the body of Christ, amongst believers, We not only gather together, but we commit to join together as a membership to say we're not going to be like the world. We're by God's grace gonna be different from that. We're gonna live a life distinct from that. God cares for his church. And God confronts through his church. and God brings Christ-likeness to his church. God wants us to be like Jesus Christ. Unrepentant sexual sin is a serious problem. It can't be tolerated in the church. Christ died for it, and Christ can deliver us from all sin, including sexual sins. So if you're here today and you're involved in a sexual relationship outside of the bounds of God-ordained marriage, I'm gonna insist something today. I'm gonna insist that you repent. Before God, you're accountable. If you don't know Jesus Christ as your Savior and you're continuing in this sin, guess what the Bible tells us? You'll be judged eternally for all your sin, but for that sin. If you're involved in that, I insist that you make it right. I'm gonna issue a call for you to repent today. Get it right with God. Do not live. a loose lifestyle for your flesh rather than the glory of Jesus Christ. But if you are here, when you say God's speaking to me and I want to make this right, is there hope for me? Praise God there is. In 2 Corinthians chapter two, verse four, we have the sequel to this story. Do you know the church did exactly as they were told? Yeah, they were a carnal church. They had pride problems. But they humbled themselves to the teaching that Paul gave them. And they did as he said. You want to know something? It worked. That man heard. He responded to truth. He heard the truth. He responded to truth. Look what it says, 2 Corinthians 2 verse 4. For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears. Not that you should be grieved, but that you should know the love which I have more abundantly. Just a reminder, this is how you deal with sin in the church. Broken heart and love, anguish. That's how you deal with it. Look what he says in verse five. But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part, that I may not overcharge you over six, sufficient to such a man, that's this man, is this punishment, which was inflicted of many, Verse seven, so that contrary wise ye ought rather to forgive him and to comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up over much sorrow. Look at verse eight, wherefore I beseech you that you would confirm your love toward him. Welcome him back. Bring him into the body. You don't have to treat him like trash. You can give him all that koinonia love. You can invite him to McDonald's. Nugent spent time with him, because he received the loving correction of the church. That's God's plan, and it works. This is how God desires to see us. Back in 1 Corinthians chapter six, verse 11, we're gonna get there in the coming week or two. Paul says this, speaking of those involved in sin, and included in that is a variety of sexual sins, Paul said this about the church at Corinth, and such were some of you, but ye are, say it with me, washed. Say it again. Washed. You are washed. But ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God. You're clean. You're clean. You're forgiven. Sin must be dealt with, but sin can be forgiven. You are clean, he said to the church. And so the sin that this man committed was not unusual. These people understood it. They lived in a community not only speckled with religious worship places, but they were immoral worship places. It was a common practice in their community, just as it is in ours. What does all the promiscuity in our world reveal? What does the loose morals in the culture, in the church, what does it reveal? Dissatisfied hearts. We're looking for something to satisfy. But only Jesus Christ can fill that void. Only Jesus Christ can satisfy your heart. A selfish heart will always be dissatisfied. If you came here this morning, your arms are folded, and you're dissatisfied with life, guess what? You're probably selfish. You're getting what you deserve. Because you're not made to satisfy you. And you chasing after whatever you think you deserve is never gonna satisfy. It's a miserable way to live. God did not design you to be satisfied with selfishness. God's designed you to be satisfied with Jesus Christ. Christ is very concerned with your conduct. Why? Because he loves you. He wants what's best for you. Jesus Christ wants his church to be clean morally. He wants it to be made right. And wouldn't you know it, The God who made you, the God who loves you, the God we've sinned against offers us grace. He loves you enough to bring conviction, brokenness, and repentance. God is calling you and I, he's calling us back to him. And I wanna remind you, David in Psalms chapter 32 was a man who had committed sexual sin, and he found God's grace. He found God's forgiveness. It says in Psalms chapter 32 in verse one, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, in whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day. For day and night the hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. Verse five, I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord. Notice this. And thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. Psalm chapter 51, speaking of the same incident, as he pleaded for God's forgiveness in his life, David would say in verse two, wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgression and my sin as ever before me. Against thee and thee only have I sinned. David recognized when we sin, we're ultimately always sinning against God. It's him we have offended. Then he goes on to say in verse seven, purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Isn't that great? Look at verse 10. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in me. Verse 12. Restore unto me the joy of my salvation. Uphold me with thy free spirit. Praise God for his grace. Maybe in your past you've committed sexual sins, and you say, Pastor, this message is making me bring up old memories, and it's not helpful. I wanna remind you of two important facts. Number one, you cannot change the past, but Jesus Christ can change its meaning. Perhaps that sin was what turned you to Christ to come to Him in salvation, or perhaps that sin is what brought you to a place of brokenness. To not live a self-willed life anymore, but to live a humble life for Jesus Christ. You can't change your past, you can't. But you can definitely change the meaning. Christ Jesus can change the meaning. The body is the temporal part of you. You'll be made new into a perfect glorified body forever and eternity. Praise God for that. So who's the answer? It's Jesus. Jesus Christ is the answer. He is serious about sin because he's serious about you. He loves you and he wants what's best for you. If you're saved here today in Christ, you're accepted. In Christ, you can be restored. You may not understand this, but the church is here to love you and to lovingly bring you to a place of right standing before God. So let's put the fire out. Let's stop it. You're here today and God's spoken to you and there's something going on in your life, perhaps in your mind. The word pornea not only includes sexual sin with another, but any sexual sin, pornography, masturbation, all of those things are included in the same category and they're all sin and they're all an offense to God. They all hinder the ongoing ministry of our church. They all hinder the testimony of Christ through his church and this community. God takes sin very seriously because he takes you very seriously. He loves you and he wants what's best for you. Romans chapter six and verse 11, Paul gives us answers. He gives us solutions. I would hate to bring up subjects and not give you hope. The Bible gives us hope and it says in Romans 6 verse 11, likewise reckon you yourselves dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Verse 12, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you should obey it and the less thereof. Verse 13, he says yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of the righteousness of God. We're gods. Romans chapter 13 and verse 14. He says, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. So what do I need to do? I need to say no to self, and I need to say yes to Jesus Christ. Saying no to self is not enough if you leave it there. The purity culture of a decade or two ago was all about saying no, say no, say no. If you go to a purity conference or you make a purity commitment, you might get a nice piece of jewelry to wear to show that you're being pure. It was all about the no, but they forgot about the yes. Yes, say no to yourself, say no to your flesh, say no to sinfulness, say no to sexuality outside of marriage. Yes, say no, that's wrong, but don't forget to say yes to Jesus Christ. There's a generation who made commitments to keep themselves pure before God who don't even believe in God anymore. What did we forget? We made purity the idol. No, it's Jesus Christ and him alone. Christ is the one to be exalted. He's the one to be lived for. He's the one to be worshiped. Yes, say no to sin, but don't forget to say, say no to sin, but don't forget to say yes to Jesus Christ. Saying no is not enough alone. Galatians chapter five and verse 16. Paul explains that we can yield ourselves either to the flesh or to the spirit. He says this, this I say, walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Verse 24, he says, and they that are Christ have crucified the flesh of the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. God desires to help you live daily in victory. We live in a sin-soaked world. Every day we're walking through mud, aren't we? The sin of this world is like mud to our knees, and we are trudging our way through a sinful world. From time to time, some fall. For you, I say, there's hope, there's forgiveness, there's restoration. God means to restore you to a right fellowship with him. For those of you who haven't fallen, but you've seen others fall, do you love them? Do you pray for them? Are you willing and ready to help them when you can, to confront if necessary? Are you willing and ready to forgive them if they repent and seek restoration? Are you ready for that? That's our duty, that's our privilege. This passage, by and large, is addressing a church as a whole, and we have to ask ourselves in the context of the passage, is there sin that we're ignoring, that we're pretending isn't there? You'd be a great church and sing great hymns and have all kinds of things going, a lot of programs in the church, lots going on, but we might be missing out on the blessing of God. There's something that's not being dealt with. You say, well, that's your job, pastor. Pastors don't know everything, that's for sure. But when you come into contact with those who you know who are living disobedience to God and his word, whose responsibility is it ultimately to begin that process of confrontation? See the need, take the lead. It's going to be you. To lovingly, prayerfully, humbly, seek to bring restoration. And God can bless it. God can bless you and God can bless our church. If you're here today and have never trusted Jesus Christ as your savior, there's hope for you. The Savior who made you knows all about you, and he loves you anyway. If you come to him today by faith, he'll forgive you. He'll cleanse you. Father, thank you for your word, and I thank you for sharp words that Paul spoke that still speak today. I pray that we would be willing to be obedient to you in our own personal heart or as a church. I pray that you would do your work thoroughly in our lives, but in our church. In Jesus' name, amen.