 Today, we're going to be looking at something that is probably one of those portions of scripture that people don't just select to teach. I mean, there are portions of scripture that I might feel akin to. I like these portions of scripture and I'll speak about them. Things that relate to love and grace and unity and things like that. That's really where my heart is in ministry and I think anybody in this church probably already knows that. That is really my bent, especially towards the passages that relate to the word of God, fellowship, things like that. I love that. So I wouldn't necessarily select this chapter to teach on if it weren't in front of me. Because what we're going to look at is church discipline that's found here in chapter 5. But at the same time, that's one of those subjects that most pastors I'm familiar with do not like to speak about other than Raul. It's one of those passages that people don't really feel the kinship to. And so you'll see why it because what it is is it's dealing with how to deal with sin in the church. Now, frankly, that I do have a kinship for. I want to be a man who walks with the Lord and avoids things that are not pleasing to him. I would hope that that is known. But at the same time, I would like to make sure that we are fellowship believers in general. Those who are with us who don't call this their home, but do come on Sunday night. I would like to encourage all of us as believers to walk in holiness and to cede the need for that and things that pertain to that. And that's what we find here in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. I'm going to do my best to be as thorough as I can in the time that I have. And we're going to be looking at just the subject I didn't have another way to call it. So it's a subject that relates to what is called church discipline beginning at verse 1 chapter 5 1 Corinthians reading to verse 8. Paul writes, it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and such sexual immorality as it is not even named among the Gentiles. That a man has his father's wife and you are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you for I indeed as absent in body but present in spirit have already judged as though I were present concerning him who has so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together along with my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glory and it's not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump since you truly are unleavened for indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast not with old leaven nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. In order to understand this allow me to lay a foundation. It'll take a few moments to do this so you might want to relax if you take notes you might want to be ready to take a few notes. We have a passage found in the Gospel of Matthew it's Matthew chapter 16. Jesus is in the northern portion of Israel a portion that is referred to as the Galilee. Jesus is up in an area called Caesarea Philippi. And in Caesarea Philippi there's an interesting conversation that takes place. We all know the story once I began sharing with you this particular story you'll know it you'll recognize it. Jesus asks his disciples whom do men say that I the Son of Man am. And the response comes rather quickly. Some say that you're Jeremiah some say that you're Elijah some say that you're John the Baptist others say that you're a prophet. So the Lord says and who do you say that I am. And that's when he receives the answer the Apostle Peter speaking says you are the Christ the son of the living God. And when that answer is given Jesus pronounces a blessing blessed are you Simon Bar Jonah flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who's in heaven. And so he goes on to speak to him in a way that is actually speaking concerning a reality that at that point had not been known but was now being revealed something that we called the church. Jesus begins to speak at that time and he actually uses the word church for the first time. It's found in Matthew 16 18 and 19 where he says I say unto you that you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Upon this rock I will build my church. The word church is Ecclesia. The word Ecclesia in Greek literally is the called out ones. Jesus speaks of us as the called out ones that's what Ecclesia means. We're called the church or the called out ones because we've been called out of the world system and we've been called to Jesus Christ. That's why we're called the Ecclesia. According to Peter in 1 Peter 2 verse 9 you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and a holy nation, a peculiar or a unique people that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. The called out ones have been called out of darkness and brought into the light of fellowship with God, the light that comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ, the light that comes through the illumination of the Holy Spirit. So we know that the church is an organized organism. It's a living body and known in various ways in Scripture. It is called the body of Christ. It is called the church. We know that the church is not a building where people come together for religious services. But the church is a gathering of people who come together in order to worship God and to build each other up by mutual faith and spiritual strength. That's what the church is. So as the body of Christ we're intended to become living examples of his mercy to the world. The body of Christ is the visible presence of the Lord on earth. And as such our lives are evidenced that the God we serve is real and we in our lives are actually in a way revealing his attributes. One of the things we know about God found in 1 Peter 1 verses 15 and 16 is that he's holy. And so the Scripture says, just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do. For it is written, be holy because I am holy. So the called out ones out of darkness into the light are to live lives that are holy. Now even though we've been called out we're still subject to moral failure. And because we are subject to moral failure God in his organized organism has actually established something that is referred to theologically as church discipline. The reason that church discipline actually exists is because it is intended to protect the holiness of the body of Christ. Now it's not intended to enforce an outer appearance of holiness. Because you can see that most anybody can have an outer appearance of holiness. When the Lord Jesus Christ was walking the face of the earth the ones who had the most outer appearance of holiness were the Pharisees, the separated ones. People regarded them as having a moral perfection if you will. That's why when Jesus was speaking on one occasion he said your righteousness needs to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. And those whom he was speaking to as men were at a loss because who could be as great as a scriber of Pharisee? These were the most worthy people in the society. How can we have something as righteous as they? How could we in any way? Well the whole problem was is they had an outer righteousness and we know that. All we need to do is read scripture especially Matthew 23. Jesus says your white wash tombs to them. He says you're nice and clean on the outside but on the inside you're filled with decay and dead men's bones. You look good on the outside. You broaden the hem of your garment. You wear your phylacteries. You stand on street corners and pray. You fast. You give. You do all of the outer religious things. People regard you as being of high reputation and moral excellence but your lips profess to know me but your heart is far from me. So Jesus could see their hearts where all man could see was their actions. And so church discipline is not intended to enforce some rigid outer appearance that we all look like we're holy because it's not hard to do just by a big tuna fish and put it on your chest. They're big igthus or carry a 500 pound family Bible and people can say man that person is really holy. Look at all the bumper stickers they have on the car. They're always involved in one thing or another. That's just religious activity that isn't necessarily revealing condition of the heart. We know that. We know that. And so what the Lord would have us to do is to have a holiness that is not just an outer at all but it's something that happens from within. And so what we have is we have church discipline but it's not intended to enforce some outer appearance. It's actually in order to safeguard the life of the body of Christ because something that people don't seem to know today and I say this with some experience because I see this pretty clearly is a lot of people don't seem to understand that sin doesn't just affect one person. Sometimes people who are involved with sin will say it's my life and I'll do what I want. What's it to you? Well my sin, your sin doesn't affect one person. It affects everybody. It affects everybody in the body of Christ. The way that I as a husband and a father, the way that if I do something that is morally unacceptable, I am not just affecting myself. It isn't just David that's affected by that. And I can't say, well you know what, it was my decision. I did this. No big deal. It doesn't affect anybody. It's just on me. No, it affects not only me. It affects my wife. It affects my children. It affects my grandchildren. It affects my mom, my brother, my sisters. It affects everybody who knows me. So my sin doesn't just affect me. And yet people today seem to, well we're just, let's face it, so self-centered that we think the whole world pretty much revolves around just me. And that's why it's difficult for me to understand that my sin affects other people. Everything I do affects somebody else. That's the way the body of Christ was intended to work. Sin doesn't affect just one member. It affects everybody. And how sin is responded to will send out a message. Do we or do we not believe God's word? When you look at the subject of church discipline, quite obviously this cannot be something that I go through with great detail. Because frankly there are whole volumes in books that are written on this subject. And we only have a short time to look at it. But as we look at the subject of church discipline, and we'll be looking at this as it takes place in chapter 5 here in 1 Corinthians, we need to know that church discipline is both preventive as well as corrective. It's preventive as well as corrective. Church discipline actually has those two aspects. One, preventive discipline occurs through the systematic teaching of the Word of God. You see when the Word of God is taught systematically, you receive the whole counsel of God. When you receive the whole counsel of God, the A to the Z, you're able to be well, or at least it is a potential to be understanding enough to have a regard for things that matter. And so every time we open up this book and say we're here in 1 Corinthians, we have an opportunity to take a portion of scripture and be trained in it to begin to understand God's perspective on certain things. And so when you go through a systematic study of the Word of God, you're actually working in a preventive fashion because you're equipping the saints so that they may know what is pleasing to God, and therefore it's a warning to avoid certain things and an encouragement to do the things that please him. That's what scripture is intended to do. Because it's in the Word of God that we're directed. Psalm 36 verse 9, for with you is the fountain of life in your light. We see light. And so God's Word is given so that we might have light in our darkness. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way, by taking heed there to according to thy word. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you. Is what the Psalmist said in Psalm 119 verses 9 and 11. So thy word, your word have I hidden in my heart. I've memorized your word. Why? So that I can impress people whenever I'm talking? No. So that I might not sin against you. That's why you meditate on the word. That's why you memorize the word. Why? So that I might not sin against you. And I've hidden it. It's a treasure that I placed deep within. There's a preventive aspect, but there's also the corrective. Corrective discipline is applied when God's standards revealed in his word are violated. In 2 Timothy, in chapter 3 verse 16, Paul said all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof. The word reproof means to correct. You can correct the way you think and the way that you act. For reproof. For correction. The word correction there actually means for restoration and for instruction or disciplining and righteousness. That the man of God may be perfect. That word perfect means become mature, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. And so God's word is intended to be our guide so that we might be furnished to do things that please him. In this particular portion of scripture here, Paul is bringing corrective discipline. Now, I'll lay a little bit more of foundation by saying the main purpose for corrective discipline is restoration, not destruction. Some people use church discipline as a hammer to hurt people with. That's not what church discipline is intended to do. When church discipline is brought into play in a person's life, it's intended to restore them in their walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. I was mentioning in our morning service, Matthew chapter 18. You might want to keep your place here in 1 Corinthians and turn with me for a moment to Matthew chapter 18. We'll look at verses 15 through 17. And you'll see something there before us in Matthew 18 verses 15 through 17. That will give us some insight. In Matthew chapter 18 verses 15 through 17, we read these words. If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if you will not listen, take one or two others along so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. Now I want you to notice something. There are stages involved. One, you speak to the one you have the problem with. You go to him. As I was mentioning today, it seems that some people haven't understood that because if they have a problem with somebody, they go and speak to somebody else about it. But Jesus said, no, if you have a problem with somebody, you go to that person and you speak to him personally. So that's your first stage. Your second stage is if it's necessary, you bring unbiased witnesses who can substantiate your claim. People who don't have an axe to grind, but are also witnesses of this particular behavior. So you bring them and they can substantiate it. And then if he's not going to listen, you take it to the leadership of the church. You bring it before the pastor, the elders of the fellowship, and they deal with it. Now the whole reason for this, and I want you to notice this, is it's not punitive, it's restorative. Notice how it says in verse 15, if he listens to you, you have won your brother. That's the whole point of it. Your desire when you speak to them isn't to destroy them. Your desire when you speak to them is for their restoration so that they can walk with Jesus Christ and have the joy of the Spirit. Listen, you cannot walk in sin and enjoy Jesus simultaneously. You can't. You can't do it. You can't go out and do whatever on a Saturday night and then on Sunday just come and raise your hand. Oh Jesus, you're too much. It doesn't work that way. What you do is you need to just be aware of the fact that sin has a way of making separation and that's the reason why so many people will be saying things like, I just don't sense God's presence in my life. Sometimes, at least, it's because I have a pet sin that I'm basically feeding and continuing in my life and so the joy of the Lord is being stifled by my sin and then somebody comes and speaks to me and says, you know, Dave, I need to speak to you. I need to let you know something and then they share with me. Now, if I'm wise, I'm going to listen to what they have to say. In my heart, I'm probably going to be arguing. But you know, you don't know me. Where'd you come up with this stuff there? And who are you anyway? In my heart, I might be smiling. Is that right? Well, praise the Lord, brother. But inside, I don't know you. But you take it home. You put it before the Lord. Jesus, did you hear what that jerk said to me? Jesus says, yeah, he's right. You are doing those things. That will be made known to you, by the way. The Lord will speak unmistakably to your heart. He gave you Scripture. It was rightly divided. You are guilty of it. Now you need to repent. So you eventually, hopefully quickly, it hits your heart and you say, God, be merciful to me. I am so wrong. Well, Jesus said, you just want your brother. Your brother's right with the Lord now because he repented and he does the right kinds of things. But what happens if he doesn't? Well, it's serious enough for you to bring somebody else. And you're not gossiping. What you do is you say, listen, I've been sharing with so-and-so and I know that he did the same thing to you. I saw it. And it's probably a good idea if we together come and share with him. And then both of you come and this guy says, what again? I mean, what's this all about? I mean, come on, man, you already talked to me once. How many times do you have to talk to me? Well, until you listen. So this brother here wanted to say something. I'm stepping back. And you step back. And the brother says, listen, this is on my heart. That's the steps that Jesus takes. And then that person says, the one who's in sin says, I don't believe a word you're saying. That's not true. At that point, if it's serious enough, you take it to one of the elders and you say, listen, we're trying to get this brother to see what he's doing is wrong. He's not listening. Can you step in? And in this fellowship, what happens is we'll say, will you ask him to come on in? We'll sit down and talk. And then if the guy's willing to come in, you sit down and the elder will sit there and say, I've received concern from these brothers here and this is what I've heard. I'd like you to respond. And then the guy starts to do whatever it is he's going to do. And he may say, you know what? The first time I heard it, I didn't want to hear it. The second time I heard it, I didn't want to hear it. But I see how serious this is now and I've been seeking the Lord and the Lord has just opened my eyes to it. I am so sorry I repent. That brother's now won over. But if he's there saying, you're all wrong. Not one of you guys is right. What gives you the right to judge me? Have you seen my tattoo? Only God can judge me. And when they do that, when they do that, then you say, and you're going to see this in a moment. Bro, it's quite obvious that what you're doing is willful sin and you're unrepentant. And I have to ask you not to be coming back to this fellowship until you repent. That is the last stage. When Jesus says, treat him like basically like a pagan, like an unbeliever, it's not that you shun him. As a matter of fact, when we get together next time we'll be looking at that because that's the second portion of this and you see that in verses 9 through 13. It's not that you snub him. You see him as you're going into Starbucks and there he is and you just kind of turn your head and walk past him. Because some people do that. And they think, oh, this is what God wants me to do. What you do, well, is this. How do you treat unbelievers? Don't you treat them with love? Don't you treat them with grace? Don't you give them mercy? Don't you care about them? Don't you share with them the love of Christ? In general, that's what you're basically, you're not treating them like some evil plague of some sort. You're caring about them, but you recognize them as if they don't know the Lord. And seeing that they're acting like they don't, you treat them as if they don't with the grace and goodness and love. And I'll show you some things about that next time we're together. But it's not like you're mean to them at all. Your real reasoning is to get them right with the Lord and encourage them to really think through what's going on so that they might get right with the Lord again. So the reason that you do this is because you want to see their lives blessed but also church discipline is enacted to preserve solid and healthy Bible teaching. Now there are many today who don't think that there's such a thing as healthy Bible teaching but scripture has solid core doctrines that are preserved. I'll say this briefly. There are many people whom I have encountered over the years who don't read the Bible, don't study the Bible. It's not a book that they open up regularly. But they kind of believe that they are experts and it's simply because they're alive. And they heard a Bible study five years ago and so I've got this locked in. And so they have this attitude. I can't tell you the attitude that I've encountered as a minister over the years with people who think that they just naturally have a knowledge of scripture. And all the study that I and other pastors like myself have put in, 38 years of studying and teaching the Bible, they equate their knowledge with mine even though they have never even read the Bible. And they have that attitude. It's like me walking up to a doctor saying, you say the appendix is here. Well, I say it's there. What do you know? You're just a doctor. Or walking up to a pilot. I have a natural inclination for flying planes. Can I fly yours? Oh, really, have you taken any lessons? No, but I've seen a lot of movies with people flying planes. And I've been in them plenty of times. It looks pretty easy. You've got to stick here. You've got these little knobs there. I mean, what's the big deal? Come on now. I've played that game on my video and I can fly those planes. And people have that mentality. And the fact is, is no, there is this attitude so often that because people are convicted, they are trying to find a loophole somewhere in some vague Bible study they might have heard years ago that give them permission to continue in sin. So when you study the Word of God, if you're really going to know it, you have to make up your mind to obey what God reveals to you. And Scripture really does have a right way of understanding it. Now, when somebody comes in opposition to truth, they have to be dealt with. In Romans chapter 16 verses 17 and 18, Paul said it like this. Now, I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you've learned and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, their own appetites. And by smooth words and flattering speech, deceive the hearts of the innocent or the simple. So, we need to know that there is truth and truth should be our guide. When church discipline is exercised, it's exercised over the issues of sin. What kinds of things will cause church discipline to be enacted? Well, before us, we have a case of sexual sin. You also have church discipline that is enacted over somebody who's causing division in the body of Christ. In 1 Timothy chapter 6 verses 3 through 5, Paul said if anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he's proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain from such withdrawal yourself. Titus 3 verse 10, warn a divisive person once and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. So, church discipline is exercised over sexual sin, over divisiveness, and various other sins. If you look at verse 11 here in the same chapter, Paul says, I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother who's a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner, not even to eat with such a person. We'll look at that next week. But those are various sins that are listed where church discipline is to be enacted. Now, when church discipline is enacted, when you actually are bringing corrective discipline, there needs to be a proper attitude. The attitude should be humility and understanding. And it is enacted by spiritually mature leaders. Galatians 6-1, brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. And so, when it's enacted, it is enacted by spiritually mature individuals who are aware of their own weaknesses, which means that they bring it to bear with humility. Now, what happens when a church leader is in sin? With a church leader, witnesses are needed. And they are especially needed as in all sin. But when you bring the witnesses, if the leader is guilty, then it is something that those who are in the know, if it's something that's being done, we'll say in a meeting, see the way it normally works is if somebody's sin is known by all, it's dealt with in front of all. If somebody's sin is known to a group of people, but not all, then it's normally dealt with with that group of people. And so, in the case of a church leader, if somebody comes to a church leader, who's aware of this, will be part of this, the witnesses will come, and that leader is going to be dealt with in front of those who are aware of it. The Bible says to us in 1 Timothy 5, 19 and 20, against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses, those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest may also fear. And then finally, if unrepentant, they're treated with love and concern, they're treated with true fellowship in the church until they repent. What we have here in chapter 5 is a passage devoted to the correction of immorality in the church, and basically there are two major problems that Paul has to deal with. First, there is sexual immorality that exists in the church. This exists in the church in the first place that it has to be dealt with. But second, what is of great concern also, let's see this in a minute, is the response of the church to the sin. That is a really telling thing, and that brings great concern to the apostle Paul. So as that was your introduction, let's get into the study. Verse one. And I want you to see how he's writing. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and such sexual immorality as it's not even named among the Gentiles that a man has his father's wife. This is one of those sins that even the blatant pagans don't do, is what he's saying. This is something that would shame a heathen. The Greeks don't think this is a good thing and the Greeks were very free thinkers when it came to sexuality. But they had a myth, all of us have heard of it, the myth of Oedipus. And that story of Oedipus having relations with his mother was to illustrate how disgusting such an activity is. And so Paul is speaking and saying they don't even have anything to do with it. The pagans themselves don't have anything to do with this. And yet, notice he says it's actually reported. In other words, it is common knowledge and generally known that there is fornication in your fellowship. Your church has a reputation in the community and whenever your church, the church of Corinth is brought up, this is also mentioned. Your reputation is that you have sexual immorality in your midst that is tolerated and unchecked. Now in chapter 1 verse 11 we know that the household of Chloe had brought a report, so Chloe most likely brought this sad news to the apostle Paul. And he speaks of it. He says sexual immorality as it is not even named among the Gentiles that a man has his father's wife. When he says in such sexual immorality that emphasizes the revolting character of this case of fornication. He's saying this is such a serious sin, heathens themselves don't practice it. The Corinthian Christians were actually trying to win pagans to Christ and living more loosely than the Corinthian heathens among whom the very word Corinthianize meant to live in sexual license. They were out paganizing the pagans. And yet they were trying to make it seem as if they were walking in the grace of God. And it's interesting how Paul names the sin here in verse 1 that a man has his father's wife. Now this isn't a one-time sin. This is a continuing sin. A man has his father's wife. This is a continuing sin. This is a lifestyle of sin that he's referring to. A man is having a sexual affair with his father's wife. In Deuteronomy 2720 the scripture says cursed is the man who sleeps with his father's wife for he dishonors his father's bed. So this woman that is being slept with by this man is the wife of his father but is not named as his biological mother. It's not that he is having intimacy with his biological mother. He is having intimacy with the woman his father is married to. But the same token is still recognized as sinful. Now in order to understand this we need to understand the passage by looking at some scripture and we need to remember a couple of things and this will help us as we look at this right now. In the Bible God says that sexual expression is right as long as it's confined to a marital relationship. Sexual relations are proper before God when confined to a marital relationship. Californians have encountered this lately. That Californians believe that we have what is called a common law. Common law relationship. All of us know what common law is right? You live with someone long enough and they're regarded as a wife or husband right? Did you know that California does not have common law? We don't have that here. There are some states that have that. California is not one of them. So when people are living together they are not regarded under California law as being married. There are people who come to church. I have met people in this church who have spoken to me after services who have introduced me to the person they're living with as their husband. But when you begin to speak to them they let you know we're living together but we're husband and wife. Do you understand how awkward that makes me feel at that moment? Because I have to say something. I have to. And so what I do is I say just a minute and then I call Mike. Mike, can you come and talk to these people? I don't do that. But it is awkward. It is awkward. When somebody is living with somebody else it is not marriage. The Bible calls it fornication. We used to call it shacking up. My mom used to call it playing house. But that's what it is. We used to have a saying, all of you have heard this if you're old enough, some of you who are younger maybe you've heard it said by the old relics around you. Why buy the cow if you what? If you get the milk for free. Young men love that. They love that arrangement. I've got no obligations. I go home and play house. She thinks that because she's investing in me that I'm investing in her. But all she's doing is playing by my rules. She just doesn't understand it. Oh, I'll say the thing she wants to hear. You know, baby, I love you. There's nobody else. It's just us. When I get on my feet and I have some money maybe we'll get married. You never know, but oh honey whenever you're ready I just love you, all right. Why buy the cow? Why buy the cow? And then you have this arrangement you have your children you call it a family but the guy's not married he has no obligation. She's not married eventually she might meet somebody else and say you know what we're not married we don't have to have a messy divorce we just break up and off we go. It is plain loose with the covenant of marriage but I am telling you you know this I'm speaking to somebody so people who know this it is so common today that people don't even argue about whether it's right or wrong and in church it is common and we have numbers of people that I know are in this fellowship that I have met and yes by the way when we discover it we do deal with it we do help we do our best to help we have something here in California that's called confidential marriage you see when you get married and all of us who are married already know this but those of you who are not married you have to go through blood tests and all kinds of things there are various things at least when we got married I don't even know if they still do those things now but we had to go through a variety of things and all of that we had to get a license then you get married and the person who performs the marriage has to be licensed in the state of California there's a variety of hoops that you jump through in order for you to go through the process of getting married and when that takes place you actually have what is called a regard regarded as a legal marriage why because the marriage contract is a legal document it's a legal document and that's why you sign it and that's why an official has to sign it and that's how that works you're actually signing on a dotted line that you are under contractual obligation that's why you have to go through divorce proceedings because you are breaking a license you're breaking this commitment that's how that works because our society regarded marriage to be of such a nature that it was best for family it was best for children it was best for issues related to poverty and all kinds of things it was regarded very early and what happened in our day is people think no, I don't need a piece of paper if my love can't bind your heart and we even write songs that are real corny and stupid to justify that kind of mentality and what we end up with is we end up in what people may say oh, this is my spouse or this is my husband or wife but does God regard it that way a woman approaches the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus looks at her and says give me something to drink you don't have anything to draw water with, she says the well is deep Jesus is saying I'll give you some living water she's saying give it to me so I don't have to draw again Jesus says to her go and get your husband she says I don't have a husband Jesus says in this you've rightly spoken you've had five and the one you have right now is what? is not your husband in this you've rightly spoken you had five marriages apparently she had actually gone through the right procedure to have five husbands but Jesus says but you're shacking with one right now well incidentally when you think about that passage interestingly enough when you look at scripture six, when you have five men and then the one she's with that six men six in scripture there's something called biblical numerics I'm just throwing this in, biblical numerics six is the number of man but seven is the number of perfection she had gone through six men but she came to the seventh and the seventh was Jesus himself and what she's basically saying is you've gone through man what has man done for you what you need is living water and the perfect man because you see what you want in your life is a man's love but you're going for the wrong men Jesus was saying I'm the right man because I'm not going to break your heart and I'm not going to do you as these other men have you can have living water for me see did Jesus say oh you've had six husbands? no he said you have five and the one you have right now is not your husband so when we try and say well living together is equal to marriage I do believe Jesus would argue with that and I do believe that Paul would say no that is called fornication that is sexual sin because you're involved in sexual relationships outside of marriage and the Bible makes it very clear that that is wrong in 1st Thessalonians chapter four verses two through seven you know what instructions we gave you the authority of the Lord Jesus it's God's will that you should be sanctified that you should avoid fornication that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable not in passionate lust like the heathen who do not know God and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him the Lord will punish men for all such sins as we have already told you and warned you God didn't call us to be impure but to live a holy life so the sin of fornication is consistently condemned in scripture Galatians 5 19 tells us that the acts of the flesh are obvious including sexual immorality and purity and debauchery Ephesians 5 3 through 5 says the same thing as well as Colossians chapter 3 verse 5 which says put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature sexual immorality impurity lust evil desire greed which is idolatry Paul says those who practice such sins receive a just penalty you'll see that in chapter 6 verses 9 and 10 now the Bible made it very clear in Leviticus 18 verse 8 that you are not to have relations with your father's wife it's considered under the umbrella of incest Leviticus 18 8 that you have sexual relations with your father's wife that would dishonor your father the thing that is happening though is verse 2 is that they are reacting by being puffed up and they're not mourning in other words they have responded with pride they resisted dealing with the sin that was in their midst it's possible some commentators believe that they felt that they were more loving by leaving them alone and not interfering in their lives but a church that doesn't mourn over sin is on the brink of going under we're to live lives that are holy and separated to God Ephesians 5 11 says have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose them so we're not to ignore sin we don't ignore it in our own lives and we're certainly not sin inspectors but we don't ignore it when it's blatant and before us and so we deal with it instead of grieving over the sin here I want you to notice this is a sin that has affected the life of the members they actually seem to have gotten used to it they've even embraced it as being acceptable to God but this kind of sin actually is to lead to the expulsion of the people who were involved in sin that's what he says in verse 2 when he says you're puffed up and have not rather mourned that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you they were to have actually dealt with him and removed them from the person or those who were involved from fellowship in the church notice verse 3 how it says I indeed as absent in body but present in spirit have already judged as though I were present concerning him who has done this deed I'm rendering an apostolic ruling this person is to have been taken away he's supposed to have been removed and so I'm rendering this ruling expal him in verse 4 in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ he says along with my spirit this is an interesting verse deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ destruction of the flesh literally speaks of the buffeting that you can have by being placed back in the world one of the things that people don't understand about the church and I'll say this very quickly in communion that's really a fun time in church okay I'm going to try and make this practical and I'm going to pretend that everybody is a member of this fellowship if you love the church fellowship you're part of you love that church you love your ministry you love your pastor you love your fellow members you just in love with that church it's a place that you enjoy going to being part of serving in it's your home it's your home away from home you're not one of these people who have to be reminded that church is starting you're the person who actually enjoys the fact that it is and it matters to you you get involved in sin and sin always basically it seems to always kind of creep in and you're confronted and you convicted and you say oh my god forgive me you're restored but what happens when you don't care you know what I see is the most common thing today this is the truth what is the most common thing today is when somebody is in sin and found out they just leave they just leave they go to another church and they take their sin with them until they're found out there and when found out they just leave because they don't care because it doesn't matter to them because one church is the same as another and if they have the same name must be the same church and that's how they act it's they just don't they're not growing they're not in a fellowship so it doesn't matter to them so when I've had to deal with this and someone's asking have you ever done this yes we have the ones that we've been able to restore are the ones who love the lord they love his word they love us they love their church it breaks their heart you can restore them but the ones who don't care the ones who say oh that's your opinion what do you know big deal we're out of here have we had that I speak with experience in this much more times than repentance they're out the door they're down the street they don't care because they're not going to leave that sin see so it makes it difficult to enact a discipline on someone who doesn't care but when someone does care that's how you can enact discipline because they begin to be aware of the fact that we're going to be expelled when you're put back into the domain it's simply another way of saying you're no longer in fellowship with those who love Jesus Christ and you're back living amongst those who don't and when you're out there amongst those who don't it's a different environment different climate different everything than when you're amongst those who do and when you're out there not able to have fellowship not able to be there until you turn from your sin it makes you begin to think and to miss those things that you had before oh my god I am so sorry I miss my friends I miss the fellowship I miss everything about that I especially miss my fellowship with you you can be restored but if that person doesn't have that in their heart they'll just move someplace else then they'll move someplace else and they never never turn away from those things so what Paul is speaking about here is church discipline where he says you need to expel them they need to be set outside then he says in verse 6 your glory is not good don't you know that a little leaven leaven is the whole lump a little yeast is going to infect the entire lump of dough so what do you do well purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump since you truly are an leaven for indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us you see if you don't deal with it then it's going to infect where sin is accepted holiness is absent so the Corinthians are fostering an atmosphere of unholiness under the excuse of grace so the answer purge out the leaven because if it's left alone it's going to spread it's going to pollute the church and then he closes in verse 8 by saying Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed for us in the Passover celebration leaven is absent because leaven represents sin Jesus is sinless the body must be pure is the body of Christ to be perfect not on this side of heaven but are we supposed to close our eyes to wink at or even approve of sin well the Corinthians seem to think well you know we've got a sin that nobody else has they were almost proud of it he says your glory is not good because they were saying oh look at how gracious we are we're so grace filled and Paul says don't you understand that running around saying you're so filled that grace is missing what grace really is grace is not permission to continue in sin grace is God extending to you his favor to save you from it and out of it not to continue in it I got saved as an alcoholic I didn't become a saved alcoholic I got saved out of alcoholism I was a druggy but I didn't say now I'm a born again no I stepped away into Jesus I stepped away from my sin the sin that Jesus died on the cross has set me free from and I have to tell you when I first got saved I still liked my beers all once in a while and I didn't have a whole lot of problems smoking a joint here and there I had glaucoma and I did have a prescription no I'm lying and I was convicted convicted by the Holy Spirit convicted by my friends who said come out from amongst those things you were saved out of that not to stay in that be ye holy for I am holy the Lord says David that life is not pleasing to Jesus he died on the cross to set you free from it you cannot return to it and expect the favor of God to be poured out on you so early on I began to learn the lesson of repenting as quickly as I can and over the years I've tried to learn to do it a lot quicker because when the Holy Spirit speaks to you you need to answer you need to move the Corinthians were glorying white and we got a sin in our church but look at how everybody is so warm and loving towards them sin is tolerated in a lot of churches the part of the reason is is because the word of God may not be rightly divided there and not actually the body is not encouraged to actually do what the word says so it's kind of like yeah we all agree to read it but the key is not just agreeing to read it the key is agreeing to obey it whatever the Lord says that's what we ought to do