Well this evening we are continuing our current series of studies in Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians. For those who are new to these studies Corinth was and is a coastal city of ancient Greece. And we know from the Acts of the Apostles that Paul spent at least 18 months there. We also know from Acts that he preached and taught there, although we're not told this specifically in Acts, it's apparent from Paul's epistles that he established a church there. And we shall see this evening, now that we have reached Chapter 5, that 1 Corinthians wasn't the first epistle that Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, but it is the first of those two that God the Holy Spirit wanted to be preserved, in his word, for our benefit. Well as we saw in a previous study, Paul had been made aware by some members of the House of Chloe of various problems that had arisen at Corinth and when we reach chapter 7 and verse 1 we shall also see that some of the Corinthians themselves had also written to Paul about various problems that they were experiencing. So what we know is Paul's first letter to the Corinthians was written primarily to address a number of problems that had arisen in that church at Corinth. And so as we study this first epistle I trust that we too will receive guidance as to how to resolve similar problems that may arise in our fellowships. Now in our last study we were reminded that ministers of God's word must be faithful. We also saw that any gifts that we may possess are given to us by God. We can take no credit whatsoever for them. And we saw that sometimes it might be necessary for someone to be invited to a fellowship to be a moderator, to help resolve fellowship's problems where they cannot resolve them for themselves. This evening we shall be considering the whole of Chapter 5 and it may be that we might find some things, what we might say, unpalatable. However, when we are going through God's words consecutively, we have to consider what's before us and trust that it's the portion that the Lord would have us to study. Thus we begin with verse 1 which reads as follows. It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife. Now before we look at that verse in any great detail I'd like us to consider another verse in the scriptures which is a key verse as we shall see. In fact we should look at the preceding verse as well. So if you would turn to Matthew chapter 5 and verses 31 and 32. Matthew 5, 31 and 32, you'll find there these words. It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement. But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery. And whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, committeth adultery. Here we have the Lord Jesus stating that the only valid reason for divorce is where there has been fornication. So it's very important for us to be able to define fornication. Well, the Greek word, both here in 1 Corinthians and in Matthew's Gospel, is the word poineia, and it denotes sexual uncleanness. It includes adultery, for which there is a separate Greek word, and I myself believe that it includes many types of sexual uncleanness. Because of what the Lord Jesus taught about grounds for devotion, it's very important for us to be clear about what we believe. But it has to be said that not all Christians agree on these things. For example, some Christians believe that what the Lord Jesus was talking about was only sexual uncleanness before marriage, meaning that the subsequent marriage was invalid in God's eyes in the first place. And there are various other views on this matter as well. And it's not my intention this evening to present these different views to you, but I did want us to have a clearer view of what fornication can mean. before we look at verse 1, where we're told about a son who had a physical relationship with his father's wife, not being the son's mother but a subsequent wife. And the apostle refers to it being common knowledge. And the inference is that no remedial or disciplinary action had been taken. And the situation is described as one that wouldn't have been suffered amongst other Gentiles. However we do know that something similar happened amongst the Jews of old. Since in Genesis we are told that Reuben had an affair with his father's concubine. Genesis 35 verse 22 reads thus. It came to pass when Israel dwelt in that land that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine, and Israel heard it. So we see that grave sins are recorded in both Old and New Testaments and show us that the wickedness of men and women knows no bounds and is evident in every generation. Now some have suggested that at Corinth The son may have actually married his father's second wife, the father being dead, with the widow having been of similar age to the son. But when we eventually get to 2 Corinthians, God willing, we shall see evidence suggesting that the father was in fact still alive. Leviticus chapter 18 and verse 8 stipulates that, and I quote, the nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover. It is thy father's nakedness, referring there to a second wife. And commentators generally agree that this would hold good even were the father to be dead. Now from what's recorded in verse 2 of our study passage we see that the reaction of the church at Corinth to the unlawful liaison seems to have been to tolerate it and by default to condone it. Paul wrote, And ye have puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. Apparently promiscuity was rife in many places in the ancient world including in Corinth. Corinth was a sea port and many such ports were known for their licentiousness. And so it may have been the case that some of those who had made professions of faith there were to some extent still tolerant of licentious lifestyles. There may even have been some who were still in illicit relationships themselves. They certainly didn't seem to mind that an improper relationship was taking place in their midst, within the framework of the church. And it seems that there were those who, rather than condemning what was happening in their midst, seemed to congratulate themselves on their tolerance. As Paul put it, you are puffed up and have not rather mourned. Here we're looking at a situation where disciplinary action should have been taken by the elders of the church but wasn't. And so Paul gives the church a directive from afar, as it were, as is seen from verses 3 to 5 of our study passage. For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed. 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 an one unto Satan, for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Paul had exercised his judgment not being in Corinth but making the same spiritual judgment where he was, as he would have made, were he actually in Corinth. He had enough facts and information to enable him to do this. And the directive that he gave was authoritative, being from one of God's apostles and given in the name of the Saviour, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this excommunication, this is what it was, was to be ratified by all the church gathered together for that purpose. When ye are gathered together, as Paul puts it. And does this not show us the importance of church members publicly demonstrating their agreement to any disciplinary action. But now what does it mean to deliver such and one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Now some have felt that all that was being spoken of here was simply excommunication whereby a person was disfellowshipped being no longer welcome amongst the people of God. However, others, including myself, believe that there is more to it than that. Just consider 1 Timothy 1, verses 19 and 20, which read thus. Holding faith and a good conscience, which some, having put away concern in faith, have made shipwreck, of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan. that they may learn not to blaspheme. We can all no doubt see that the world can in a sense be described as the kingdom of Satan for the saviour himself referred to Satan as the prince of this world. And so we can see that to cast someone out of the church could be viewed as delivering them from the realm of Christ into the realm of Satan. However, is there not a thought here that not only may a person be disfellowshipped, but that they might also be required to some sort of physical penalty as a result of grave spiritual or physical sin, or both? Some have understood for the destruction of the flesh to mean for the destruction of a person's corrupt nature. But since in verse 5 of our study passage we have a contrast between the flesh and the spirit, is it not more likely that Paul is here referring to physical affliction? There is no doubt but that the apostles had the power to call for the physical punishment of those who warranted it. Just consider the case of Ananias and Sapphira and that of Elemas the sorcerer. John Gill had this to say about what the destruction of the flesh meant for the one who had offended. And I quote, that is, that his body might be shook, buffeted, afflicted and tortured in a terrible manner. That by this means he might be brought to a sense of his sin, to repentance for it and make a humble acknowledgement of it. Well you may or may not agree with Gilbert. He also had this to say about what Paul meant when he said that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Kiel's explanation is that this meant, and I quote, that he might be renewed in the spirit of his mind, be restored by repentance, and his soul be saved in the day of Christ. The main aim of the excommunication of the man who had been guilty of fornication, including any possible physical affliction, was that he might be restored. And this is something that must ever be borne in mind in cases of church discipline. In those hopefully rare cases, When a church has to exercise discipline then it must always be done in love and with a view to restoration. Now we mustn't move on from verse 5 without noting that it mentions the day of the Lord Jesus. And this of course refers to that great day to come when the Lord Jesus will return to the earth to gather his people to himself. his second coming. And as I've mentioned on previous occasions, we mustn't spend all our time thinking about that great day, but neither must we spend too little time. We need to get that balance right. Now the first words of verse 6 can be misunderstood. your glorying is not good. Paul is not suggesting here that saints at Corinth were boasting about the fact that there was a fornicator in their midst who remained unreproved. What Paul was alluding to was the fact that those saints held themselves out to be somewhat superior in comparison to others when in fact There was much that was wrong in the church there. And Paul goes on to quote a Jewish proverb which probably had its equivalent in other cultures. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? A very small amount of leaven or yeast is enough to make a relatively large lump of dough rise. And just one sin, if it's not dealt with, can lead to a multiplicity of sins. If sin in a church isn't dealt with, then it can lead to a lax attitude amongst others towards sin. And before long others may feel that there is no need for them to seek to live holy lives. Now before we consider verses 7 and 8 I'd like to remind you of the institution of the Feast of the Passover in Exodus chapter 12. In Exodus 12 verses 14 to 15 we have these words. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. Ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread. Even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses. For whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. And so we can see how this ties in with verses 7 and 8 of the passage we're studying this evening. 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. The allusion here is to the practice of the Jews at subsequent feasts of the Passover to make a strict search of their houses to ensure that there was not even a trace of leaven in them. It was to be a thorough search of the whole house. Could we not say? that as believers we ought to be regularly searching our hearts thoroughly to discover and to try to dispose of any remaining trace of indwelling sin. Believers are to be like a new lump of dough unleavened, leaven being a biblical synonym for sin. But now having referred to one element of what took place at Passover time, the purging of the old leaven, we see Paul pointing out that there is an even greater connection when he wrote these words. For even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. Now many sermons could be written on just that from birth and have been. But this evening I just want us to consider one particular aspect of the Passover and it's this. When the Passover was instituted, it was a requirement that, to avoid being slain by the angel of death as it passed over the land, people had to remain in a house that had been sprinkled with the blood of a lamb. And in like manner, to escape eternal death, we too must be covered with the blood of the Lamb. The Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. You see the Passover foreshadowed the one great sacrifice that would in due course take place at Calvary when our Saviour shed his precious blood for his people. And it is in this sense that Christ is our Passover. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Now what feast does the Apostle have in mind in verse 8? 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." Well it's generally agreed that Paul wasn't saying that the feast of the Passover should continue to be observed by believers, though some might disagree. And there are some who feel that Paul was referring to the Lord's Supper. which is sometimes known as a love feast but that view is also disputed. One further view which I happen to favour is that Paul was in fact referring to the entirety of a believer's life. In the Old Testament, a feast was a time consecrated to God. And one commentator has suggested that for us to keep the feast means to live our whole lives as a sacred festival, consecrated to God. Just as a feast lasting seven days was connected with the death of the Paschal Lamb, so a believer's life consecrated to God should be connected to the death of our Passover. the Lord Jesus Christ. And our Christian lives are to have no old leaven, referring to our old vain manner of life, nor be corrupted by sinful behavior of any sort, such as malice toward our fellow man, in fact any wicked behavior of any sort. Rather, believers are to be known for their sincere love of God and their fellow man, and their truthfulness, the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Moving on, verse 9 of the passage we're studying reads thus, I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators. And to my mind this means that Paul had written at least one other epistle to the saints at Corinth prior to the one he was writing now. But not everyone agrees. Some feel that he was referring to the present epistle but as he is writing in the past tense, I wrote, that seems unlikely to me. And so if he had previously written to the saints at Corinth as to how they should distance themselves from those guilty of licentious behavior, it seems that he'd come to see the necessity of qualifying what he meant, as we shall now see. He now wrote, yet not all together 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. Life in this world necessitates that believers will come into contact with those guilty of all manner of sinful behaviour and to avoid all habitual sin as it would be necessary to not live in the world. Then must your needs go out of the world. Believers are to be sought and liked, to be witnesses in a world of sin and shame. Now there have been those who have decided to live apart from the world as far as is possible, but scriptures such as we have before us this evening show us that this is not what God wants. If every believer only had contact with other believers, how would any unbeliever hear the gospel? Now we are to be willing to live amongst those who are ambivalent towards God or even hostile to Him and to seek to honour God when all around there are those who are dishonouring Him. Paul mentioned the fornicators of this world, the covetous extortioners and idolaters and this list could have been expanded to include all manner of sinful behaviour. Now one thing that needs to be made clear is that Paul is not encouraging people to make friends with the world. In his epistle, in chapter 4 verse 4, James had this to say, Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Paul is saying that it is impractical to avoid having dealings with unbelievers in this world who may be guilty of all manner of sin. Notwithstanding, we should always prefer the company of the people of God. And if that isn't true of us, we need to examine ourselves to see why that might be. But now in verse 11 we see Paul clarify what he intended by his former directive which is that believers should distance themselves from those professing to be believers but who are committing serious sins of one sort or another. He said, but now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man it is called a brother. be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such on one know not to he." And looking at those words, but now I have written unto you, surely we can lay to rest any suggestion that Paul hadn't written about this in a previous letter. But before we unpack verse 11, I'd like us to consider if we might be guilty of any of those things which Paul has listed. For example, would we admit that we may have been guilty of covetousness or of having an idol in our lives and thus guilty of idolatry? Many of us would and do confess that we are guilty of such sins. But surely, here in verse 11, it must be referring to those who are sinning openly and constantly such that they have become renowned for their sin. And notice that two more sins have been added to those mentioned in verse 10, railers and drunkards. Paul isn't saying that there are more such sinners in the church than in the world. In verse 11 he's merely expanding the types of sinful behavior that men and women are capable of. Now what is involved in keeping company with someone? What does it involve? Well we have another example of this in the New Testament. since 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 verses 14 and 15 read as follows. That's 2 Thessalonians 3 verses 14 and 15. And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but demolish him as a brother. And it seems to me that the incidents referred to in 2 Thessalonians might not have been as serious as that which we're considering here in our study passage this evening. But taking those verses from 2 Thessalonians into account, we can see, can we not, that part of the disciplinary treatment of believers can involve having no fellowship with them, including not eating meals with them. And the main purpose of that separation, as should be true of all disciplinary measures, is that the person being disciplined would repent of their wrongdoing and eventually be able to rejoin the fellowship from which they have been temporarily excluded. Now, disciplinary measures are not always as straightforward as we would wish them to be. For example, if a married man was found to have been guilty of an improper relationship and then had his church membership suspended and was temporarily disfellowshipped, would his wife be allowed to eat with him? And what about other family members? So we might conclude that it would only be non-family members who would be required to distance themselves from a church member under discipline. But you may look at things differently. Just as an aside. There are some exclusive brethren assemblies where it appears to be the case that when someone from a family leaves an assembly, the remaining family members are expected not to have any meaningful contact with the family member who has left. And of course that is an extreme position to take. But I believe they justify it on the basis of verses from the scriptures that we are considering here this evening. And so we need to make sure that we never go further than what the scriptures actually teach. Church discipline is important and there are some fellowships who haven't taken action when they should have. For example, members may have been allowed to continue to take the Lord's Supper when they haven't been keeping to their membership commitments. On the other hand, there have been some fellowships where discipline seems to be the order of the day. As already stressed, disciplinary action should only be taken when really necessary and it should only ever be taken reluctantly, almost as a last resort. Now in verse 10 we have seen Paul explaining that it would be impractical to have no contact with unbelievers and we see that he refers again to them in verses 12 and 13. First of all, we see that he states that he has no jurisdiction over those outside of the church. He wrote, for what have I to do to judge them that are without? There was a legal system in Paul's day, just as there are such systems in our own day, and have been throughout the ages. Some have been good systems, some have been bad. And those living in Corinth would have been subject to whatever system happened to be in place there at the time. If they broke the law then they would have been subject to whatever penalty was due under their law. We don't know whether sexual sins were penalised in Corinth and so we don't know if the man guilty of fornication would have faced any penalty from the civic authorities. I tend to doubt that. And so when Paul said, for what have I to do to judge them also that are without, he was saying, was he not, that he considered his only responsibility to be in respect of church affairs. He had no jurisdiction over unbelievers and the lives that they may have been living. When he further said, do not ye judge them that are within, he was saying that the saints at Corinth had the responsibility of collectively exercising discipline in their fellowship. Albeit on this occasion they were to follow Paul's directive. And note that Paul said, do not ye judge them that are within, for discipline must be a collective decision of any fellowship. albeit recommended by church leaders. Now the first part of the last verse that we're considering here this evening refers to the judgment of unbelievers whilst they're in this world, and not their final judgment, but them that are without God judgeth. In our lifetimes we will sometimes wonder why unbelievers seem to get away with certain things, seem to go unpunished. But on some occasions we do see people get in their just deserts because God has decided to judge them in this life as well as in the next. And of course their final judgment will be far worse than any judgment in this world. And the last verse in today's study ends with these words. Therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person. In the light of all that I've told you, says Paul, just get on and do what you need to do. And we have every reason to believe that the man in question was removed from the fellowship as commanded by Paul. Disciplinary action is never something to be relished but must be taken when necessary and without undue delay. Well we've come to the end of this evening's study among Corinthians and I trust it will have had a sobering effect on us. In particular, let us seek to ensure that we are never guilty of gross sin that might put us in danger of being disfellowshipped and bring the Church into disrepute. Amen. Feel free to contact us at Sovereign Grace Church in Tiverton. Email us at grace2seekers at gmail.com. That's grace2seekers at gmail.com. Alternatively, you can visit our website at www.sovereigngracereformedchurch.co.uk.