once again this morning to the book of first Corinthians. And we're coming toward the end. Of chapter five in our discussion. First Corinthians. Chapter five. We're looking at this chapter again from really two perspectives. Number one, the importance this chapter has for church government. It is a pivotal chapter regarding the procedure and necessity and purpose of church discipline, and we reviewed last week some of the aspects of that discipline, particularly as it relates to the offending party. It is also an important chapter in the context of the epistle that we're studying. It's one of the key problems that was taking place in the Corinthian church that caused Paul to write this epistle, one of the things that he saw fit to correct by the inspiration and revelation of the spirit of God. So this is not just Paul giving his recommendation as to what ought to be done in these difficult matters of discipline in the church, but it is that word of God himself as he spoke through the apostle to reveal this truth to the people. All right. Now, in our last discussion, we were coming to look at the purpose of this discipline as it relates to the church. As it relates to the offending party, it was certainly, number one, a matter of discipline. There had to be the lesson taught that sin has consequences, that God is intolerant of sin, and that sin will be dealt with, and the visible arm of God in this world, the church, is responsible for maintaining the purity of the visible representation and to demonstrate that that sin has a penalty that must be paid. There's also a positive aspect of this discipline in regard to the offender. It is the intention to cause this one to destroy the flesh, to come to repentance, and once again come to restoration within the church. And I gave you my idea, my interpretation, that that one In 2 Corinthians chapter 2 where Paul is recommending the church to receive this one back is most likely none other than this one that he now recommends to expel from the congregation. Now in verses 6 and following we have the exhortation in regard to the purpose of discipline as it relates to the whole church. We talked a little bit last week about this imagery of leaven the ability of leaven to cause the expansion of the dough, so it is then this evil, this sin in the midst, has the potential of spreading. And if it goes unchecked, if it goes undisciplined, that is going to give the word that, hey, this sin is not so bad. There are not the consequences of sin that otherwise you have led us to believe, you preachers and elders. It's not as bad as you let on. Here's someone that sins. He's apparently sinning here without consequence. And so that would tend to cause this infection to infiltrate the entire congregation. So purge out this old leaven. Separate yourself from that corrupting one. so that it does not ruin the whole the love for the individual is certainly in focus we desire his restoration but there is the love that must be evidence for the congregation for the assembly as a whole to protect the purity and the sanctity of this local assembly that are gathering together in the name of Christ and again the reason for that as we noted last time was that they were to remember the Passover. Remember Christ, our Passover, has been celebrated or sacrificed for you. Remember Christ, and he uses the imagery there of that Passover then to keep the feast. Keep the feast of recognition, of remembrance, of consecration, of thanksgiving, of what Christ has done, and with this proper focus upon Christ, then this difficulty is going to eliminate itself. Now that brings us then to verses 9 and following. Here's the final imperative given to separate from fornicators. Verse 9, 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 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 idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such a one know not to eat." So separate yourself from those who profess to be believers, but yet who are living lives that are obvious in their sin, unrepentant. in their sin. Now there is an interpretational problem, not really so far as what the text means, but in regard to an aspect of biblical studies that we call introduction, that deals with the dating of books and the authorship of books and the integrity of books that I'm not going to get into in verse 9. I wrote unto you an epistle. The question is, is there another Corinthian epistle? Some scholars argue that there was an epistle that is now lost. that Paul wrote to the Corinthians that he makes reference to. Others say, no, this is part of 2 Corinthians that has been mixed up in the editing along the years. Much of it is a lot of nonsense. I have a particular problem myself. Certainly not everything that the apostle did was inspired, but I think the implications of seeing the apostles writing epistles to churches that were not inspired, I say has serious implications. I'm not going to get into all of the ramifications of that. It's my understanding, and I would interpret it this way, that the word wrote there, while it is in a past tense in our translation, is a form of the verb that we call an epistolary aorist, which means nothing to most people, not even my Greek students know what I talk about when I say an epistolary aorist. Take my word for it, the grammar there would tend to suggest that this is referring to what Paul is writing here. Not that I wrote in the past, but this is what I'm writing to you now. And really is to be taken as a present tense and therefore a reference to this present piece. So I'm writing to you not to keep company with fornicators. Yet not altogether. Now he delineates this. Now I'm not talking about isolation here, he said. I'm not saying that you find yourself a little island someplace under yourself and you have no contact and no association with the world. That's obviously not what he's talking about. It is the great commission of the church that we are to be evangelistic. We are to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And those creatures that we are to preach the gospel to are idolaters and they are fornicators and they are sinners of the worst sort. And obviously we must have that contact. in the world in which we live. We are in the world. We are not of the world. We are in the world. We minister to the world. So Paul is saying, don't misunderstand me here. I'm not saying that you become isolationists in this separation. And I think again, there's where some even in fundamentalism have gone wrong in the idea of, in the application of separation. It does not mean that we are isolationists, that we are monks. unto ourselves and we have our little monasteries here that we come to and shame on those that are not part of our number. We're not going to talk to anybody outside of our fold. That's not separation. That is not separation. And that leads to, if anything, it leads to the disobedience of the Great Commission. We don't even know sinners. We have no contact with sinners. There must be contact. Christ came and he ate among the sinners and he ministered to sinners for he came to seek and to save those that were lost. We are to not become isolationists. And so Paul corrects that particular notion. If you're going to separate yourself Completely not to have company and the word to not to company there with Luther means not to get mixed up with you Don't get mixed up with these fornicators But obviously we must evangelize and everything else. So that's the warning, but now he clarifies What he's talking about here in verse 11, but now I'm writing unto you not to keep company if any man is called a brother Here's someone that is a professor. He's on your church role and He makes a testimony of having faith in Christ. But yet he's living as a fornicator, and Paul makes it clear here now that it's not just this sin of fornication that was the issue in this particular instance, but it's any sin, anybody that is living like a sinner who professes to be a believer that does not listen and respond to the admonitions of the church to repent and to forsake that sin. That one you are not to associate with. No, you are not to eat with such a one. No fellowship. No fellowship. You do not recognize him. You do not bring him in saying, oh yeah, in spite of your sin, you've got a profession, you've got the date written on the fly leaf of your Bible, you see, so we're going to take your word for it. You can live like you want, but you said you were saved, and you know, once saved, always saved, and God's not going, you know, we'll give you the benefit of the doubt. No. We don't have the power, the church does not have the power to affect anything within the heart and the soul of man. That's the work of God, we understand that. Salvation is the work of the Lord. But it is for us, it is for us to judge and to determine the outside. You remember the words that the Lord gave Samuel as he was selecting the successor to Saul, and all of Jesse's sons paraded before him and Samuel had a pretty good idea as the one that he thought ought to be the best king. And there was David. And the Lord reminded Samuel that man looks on the outside, God looks on the heart. I think we sometimes take that and we say that alright, God looks on the heart and man looks on the outside as a rebuke to us. No, don't take that out of context. There was something that Samuel didn't quite understand there. But at the same time, it is true that God judges the heart, but we judge the outside. And we do make determinations. Not concerning a man's destiny, that's outside of our control. But we know them by their fruits. We know them by their fruits. And if here is someone who has a profession of faith, say, no preacher, you know, I've got my mother told me when I was five years old, I said this prayer and she wrote this in my Bible, so I'll never forget it. Sure. You know, I've been a drunk for 40 years and sure, I live in sin and there's no I have no interest in prayer and I have no interest in the Bible and I have no interest in church. I tell you right now, if I'm dealing with that guy, I'm going to deal with that guy and the priest, a physician, and he's not saved regardless of what's on his Bible. You see what I'm saying? We judge him by the fruit that he evidences. Every good tree bears forth good fruit. The seed of the gospel falls upon the good ground. And as you read the parable of Christ in Matthew 4 and the other gospels, the implication is that all of the other grounds, the stony ground and the thorny ground and that seed that fell upon the wayside, never came to production. It never came to bearing fruit. And those were not believers. But the good ground wasn't all the same, was it? Some of the good ground produced 30 and 60 and 100. It was not all bearing the same amount, but it was all bearing evidence that the seed had taken and it was a production of fruit in the life. Now, so Paul is here saying, now here's, you have somebody that professes to be a believer. but has no interest in spiritual things and is living a life of open sin, you do not give credence to his testimony. Don't give credence to his profession of faith. You do not eat with him as a brother, and there's some different interpretations there. Does that mean there's no social contact? And I've had people ask me, well, what if I've got a, you know, my brother or my sister, does that mean that I can never go home for Thanksgiving? And different interpretations and different extremes of application. It very well may be that the eating here is a reference to the table of the Lord. We're not to eat with such a lot. We're not to give credence to his profession at the place where we have public profession. That very well may be, and I would tend myself to that particular interpretation. We don't fellowship with him in spiritual things. We don't recognize his profession and eat with him at this table, because that recognizes that there is a communion of spirit, and that is not the case at all. Separation. Don't get mixed up with those who are characterized by these things. Put away the sinner, verses 12 and 13, for what have I to do to judge them that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within, but them that are without God judge them. Therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person. The ultimate judgment here belongs to God. God deals with those that are outside. And, consequently, we don't deal with them recognizing their belief. Alright, very important chapter. Very important chapter, I'm saying, in regard to this matter of discipline. But again, in the context of Corinthians, it demonstrates the terrible spiritual condition that this church was in as a whole. Separating over petty issues, but yet receiving with open arms this one who was a great offender of the truth and the purity of the gospel. That brings us to chapter 6 and the theme changes here a little bit. There's a nice transition between verses 12 and 13 and what follows, but the theme changes in this chapter and there are two main themes that are dealt with. First of all, concerning the matter of lawsuits. And what we are to do in the matter of lawsuits and the last part of the chapter deals with sexual purity. And then that theme will continue on even into chapter seven. Now, in chapter five, we've learned that believers have a right to judge lawless members within the congregation. Verses 12 and 13 make it clear that God has the right to judge the unsaved. Now, here's the transition, I think, to the present problem. Unbelievers, then, do not have the right to judge believers. And this is the issue now that Paul is talking about here. Now, the evidence of further division, and really this is a further manifestation of some of the problems that we addressed way back in chapter one. There were divisions in the church, divisions, the sectarian spirit. Now here apparently is one of the manifestations of that division that had permeated the church. Verse 1, dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust and not before the saints. Here is evidence of this divisive spirit. Having a matter, that which produced a clash, And it's going to be clear in this context that what's producing this clash is not spiritual things. These are not theological issues that are at stake in chapter 6 of this epistle. But these are matters, these are those things that deal with the things of life. Notice down in verses 3 and 4, I think this will become clear. Know ye not that we shall judge angels, how much more things that pertain to this life? If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church." Now that word that's translating pertaining to life, things that pertain to life, all one word basically, have the idea of those things that are mundane Things that are mundane. Things that deal with everyday affairs, everyday issues of life. So here are matters that are not spiritual. I'm not saying they're ungodly things, they're just not in the realm of the spiritual. They are mundane matters. Everyday matters. Of business, of this, of that, of the other. That they had disputes over for whatever reason. And Paul here is contending then that it is absurd for him, dare any of you, having this mundane matter, having this non-spiritual issue, this everyday affair of it, go to law and the idea there literally is, are you permitting yourselves to be judged? Are you permitting yourselves to be judged before the unjust? In these mundane affairs, are you permitting yourselves to be judged by the pagans, by the heathens? Now, it's a clear application here before we go any further, as Paul is now looking at something that is very practical, if you will, something that concerns everyday life and the business dealings and the legal dealings of everyday life. Paul is indicating here the inseparable connection that there is between your spiritual life and your everyday life. We've made the premise all the way through here that right thinking about the gospel produces right living. And the gospel is going to be the answer to every problem. Christ is the answer to every problem. We've seen that up to this point and we're going to see it again as Paul deals with this issue. Something that's mundane. But what governs our mundane behavior? The fact that we've got a relationship with Christ. And the fact that Christ is our Lord. That governs even our most mundane affairs. There is no distinction that can be made for the believer between the various compartments or departments in which he lives. We cannot segregate our life into these various little segments and say, oh, now this is my church life. I'm going to act one way and I have certain relationships as I deal with people within my church life. Here's my business world and my job. And well, here's a different relationship. And now I'm going to act and I have certain behavioral patterns that I will exercise there. Or here's my home and I'm going to. The fact that we have a relationship with Christ The fact that Christ is our Lord, that we belong to Him, affects every single relationship that we have in life. And I cannot divorce my spiritual life from my home life, or my home life from my business life, or... The fact that we have Christ affects every single other relationship in life. It's not God first, and others second, and me last. That's not the idea. It's God in everything. It's Christ in everything. And there's no relationship that we can have as believers that is not defined by the fact that we are, first of all, believers in Christ and children of the Lord. Now, that's what Paul is arguing. So he's astonished. Apparently, what was happening, they have these petty issues. Here are these petty issues that have come up in the church, and they're already ticked at each other, right? They're already mad because you like Paul better than Apollos. And so there's all these feelings of hostility that they have won against themselves and say, hey, OK, I'll show you. And here are all these little petty issues dealing with who knows what mundane, petty, petty, petty. Take you to court. Take you to court. We're going to settle this thing. And so they put the issue. before the unbelief. You're allowing yourself to be judged by unbelief. Doesn't make any sense to the apostle Paul. Now, this, too, is going to be a significant chapter. It's a chapter and that is very easy to interpret as far as the evidence is concerned. What I'm going to do is simply go through this text and tell you what Paul is saying. There's no question. There is absolutely no question as to what Paul is saying in this chapter. The question deals with the application of it. And I may call on Tim to deal with some of the application of it. So be ready there, old bearded one. Yes, I may have to call on you to help me out here on some of the application. Here I can stay in my little ivory tower. I can tell you what it means. But problems and applications. Let me do my part first. Let me do my part first. And then if we have any questions, we'll direct them to Tim. I'm glad you're here. All right. Verses two to six, Paul now emphasizes their ignorance. He calls attention to the ignorance of this people, which is which is a nice little slam on them all the way through. They've been proud of their wisdom. They boasted in their wisdom. But over and again in this chapter, Paul is calling attention to the fact that they are ignorant. There are some things they just don't know. You can see it in verse 2. Do you not know? Verse 3. Know ye not? Verse 9. Know ye not? Verse 15. Know ye not? Verse 16. What? Know ye not? Verse 19. What? Know ye not? You get the impression these people don't know a lot, right? You get the impression. But all the way through, oh, we're so smart. We have wisdom. We've got Paul is bringing in here down to the depths and saying, hey, you people don't you don't know how to start today. You don't know anything. So attention upon their ignorance. Rhetorical question, certainly, but the way the. Questions are phrased here, expect Affirmative responses and they have to answer. Yeah, after all, we're we're ignorant. Yeah, you're right. We don't know. We don't know. All right. So here are some of the things that they don't know. Number one. And he's he's demonstrating here the absurdity of their going to court, adding these petty issues judged before unbelievers. Verse two, do you not know that saints will judge the world? And if the world should be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matter? Don't you know that saints, God's people, are going to judge the world? Now, I don't know all of the implications of that. There are other references that suggest the same thing. In the Old Testament, Daniel 7, I'm not going to. look up all of these passages, but Daniel chapter 7 and Matthew 19, 2 Timothy 2, Revelation 2 would indicate this truth that Paul is talking about here. You're going to judge the world. Now, one of the ways Paul likes to argue, he likes to argue many times from the greater to the lesser or from the lesser to the greater either way. He does this many times. God spared not His own Son. God spared not His own Son. And if God spared not His own Son, what's the application He makes to it? Yeah, you with me on that reference? How can He spare us anything? He's not going to withhold anything from us. So there's the greater to the lesser. All right. And the lesser than is guaranteed because the greater is true. That's a favorite type of argument that Paul likes to use. So here's the great thing. No, you're not that you're going to judge the world. It's big stuff. I don't know what it means, but that's big stuff. You're going to judge the world. Now, if you're going to judge the world, don't you think that you ought to have enough sense to deal with these petty issues? Doesn't make any sense. Look at the authority that Christ is going to give you. But yet You seemingly are recognizing your incompetence to deal with these petty issues. So these small matters, or some even take that in the reference to small courts, you're unworthy to judge in the smallest court. Probably the small matters, the petty issues. Doesn't make any sense. Verse 3, Know ye not that ye shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this law? If you're going to judge the angels, Don't you think you could deal with these petty issues? These mundane issues of life? Now, again, I don't know what that involves. This is the only reference. All right, this statement here that Paul makes is the only reference to our judging the angels. Must be true, it doesn't have to be in every page of the Bible for it to be true. But not all the details given to us there. Yeah, well, we know one of our jobs someday will be to judge the angels. I don't know when, I don't know where. Don't know anything about it. Except that we're going to do it. Paul. But if you're going to judge the angels, man, you ought to be able to deal with these. Petty issues, these things that deal with everyday life. Versus four to six. Saints should judge themselves. They should judge themselves. Verse four, if then. If then you have judgment. of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it so that there is not a wise man among you? No, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren, but brother goeth to law with brother, and that before unbelievers. It's a conditional clause here expressing a future condition. Next time the issue arises. What do you say? Next time an issue arises, it's going to happen. There are always going to be petty differences. Always that potential. But next time one of these issues arises, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. And his argument is that even the least Christian in the number has better credentials for judging in this instance than the pagan court. So set the least to Steve to make this determination. And now with a bit of sarcasm in verse five. sarcastic irony, Paul says, what are you telling that there's nobody here in this church? That has enough sense. That has enough intelligence. To make this kind of decision between brethren, you're proud of your wisdom, but by admitting publicly that nobody in the church can make this judgment, you're saying, hey, after all, we're ignorant. What you're admitting, what you're showing. Don't become so entangled in your hatred one for the other that you bring reproach ultimately to the cause of Christ publicly. Now what's the solution? What's the solution? Verse 7, Now therefore, there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, you do wrong and defraud, and that's your brethren. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? So forth. It's the solution to this problem. These petty issues that are being aired publicly. Here's a church professes to know Christ, servants of Christ. And now they're taking all of their petty little differences and they are hanging them out publicly for the world to see. Brings reproach. To the name of Christ, to the testimony of this assembly. So the first thing Paul says, now admit your sin. Admit your sin. This church had sinned in tolerating the behavior and failing to provide the leadership, if you will, that was necessary to deal with this issue. He says it's a fault. And the word fault there literally is the idea of defeat. There is a defeat here. This church can't be successful. There can't be victory in this church. There is defeat here already. And the reason for that defeat, there's no winners, only losers here. Because of that decision to go to the unbelievers. Cause of Christ harm. Testimonies harm. There's defeat here. Defeat. Over petty issues, there's defeat. It was these petty things that was killing the church. All right, solution. Why do you not rather take wrong? Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? That's tough. That's tough. Why not suffer the wrong? Accept the ill-treatment. Accept the ill-treatment rather than demanding your rights. Why not? Because that goes against every grain of our nature. It goes against every fiber of our soul because we are Americans. Yeah, well, we've got our rights. We've got our rights. And pity the man that tries to take away my rights. or infringes upon my egocentric here. It's a very tough thing and I say it goes right against every fiber of self to follow Paul's recommendation here. Suffer the wrong. I've been wrong. Financially I've been wrong. Here I've been wrong. Suffer the wrong. I didn't write it. Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Now, verse 8 shows the contrast of what their actual behavior was. In contrast to that imperative, here's what they were doing. Nay, ye do wrong and defraud, and that's your brother. You're not only unwilling to suffer wrong, but you're initiating wrong, and you are demanding your rights and this and that. Suffer. Suffer. If need be, suffer the loss. Recognize the position of the unsaved, verses 9 and 10. Recognize what these unbelievers are. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? These people that you are taking these matters of life to are not going to inherit heaven. They're going to be in hell. They have no spiritual discernment. They have no spiritual ability. And yet you are throwing the issues before them. It doesn't make any sense. Doesn't make any sense. It brings reproach to the cause of Christ. It does harm to the unity of the body. Suffer the law. Now that's the recommendation. I can interpret that text very, very clearly here. The verses 11 and following, I'm not even going to begin to because my time is already gone. But this brings us to the theological issue. Here's the theological motive for the right behavior. And we'll stress that next Lord's Day. But the text is very clear. There's no question, exegetically, expositionally, what that text is saying. Believers, and certainly within the context that Paul is writing to, it's in a local assembly. There's no question about that. It's in a local assembly. That's obvious. He's writing this to the Corinthians, but this is God's word and becomes applicable to whoever reads it. But the question really is in the application. Does this apply to believers today? The believers have a right today to take believers to court. Or is it simply limited to the confines of a confines of the local assembly? I can't take you to court, Charlie. I can't take you to court. But boy, you let this guy down here, Herod is wrong and he's in there. But, you know, I can do that. Is that is that all right to do? We have the problem of independency today, you know, and who, you know, who recognizes let another church decide, and all of these expediency problems. Here's where Tim is going to give us the solution. But my time is gone, thankfully, right now. And we have to stop. But it's an important issue. And there are going to be differences of opinion. There are differences of opinion even among us here. I was talking to Tim about this last week, warning him that I would be calling on him here a little bit. And he said, well, you ever talk to preacher about this passage? I said, no, frankly, I never have. Well, apparently he and I don't agree exactly. But that's all right. There are going to be differences of opinion. And we'll talk about some of that next week. So be ready, our counselor. All right. Our time is gone today. We'll close in prayer and ask the Lord's blessing on what's going to follow. David Stare, would you close us today, please?