Okay. 1 Corinthians chapter 5. I'd like to look at the first
two verses. 1 Corinthians 5. We're going through this precious
book. And the Apostle Paul, under the
inspiration of God's Spirit, records this. It is reported
commonly that there is fornication among you. and such fornication
as is not so much is named among the Gentiles that one should
have his father's wife. And you're puffed up and have
not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be
taken away from among you." Now the wonderful thing about going
through a book is that we deal with subjects as the Spirit of
God saw fit to record them. And what we have tonight, and
I'd like to just deal with the first two verses of 1 Corinthians
5, and Lord willing, the next time I'm in 1 Corinthians, I'll
deal with the rest of the chapter. But what I'd like to do is look
at these two verses, and I've entitled this message, is rejected
when a man is to be put out. Rejected. Paul enters into a
subject and a problem that plagued this assembly in Corinth. Now
Corinth was a city that was wicked. It was wicked. And it was just
commonly accepted that that just sexual immorality was just commonplace
in the community. It was just an accepted practice. But in the assembly, Paul was
going to have to deal with a situation here that was bad. Someone and
all of the writers that I read seemed to indicate that whoever
this was, he was either someone that was real prominent in the
city itself, kind of an official or or someone that was even in
the assembly that had formerly been highly respected and esteemed
and could have been one of the teachers, I don't know. But whoever
it was, it seems that most people feel as though that this man,
because of the way that the people reacted to him, that whoever
it was, it was someone that probably had a lot of influence, whether
it was political power, whether it was monetary, whatever it
was, this man was guilty of the crime of incest. What he had done is he had married
his stepmother. Now that crime was not only a
crime against God, And it was a crime that had been dealt with
specifically in God's Word. I'll read this to you, Leviticus
18.8. It says, The nakedness of thy father's wife. Now anytime
it was talking about the relationship of a stepmother, it was always
said as your father's wife, not your mother, but your father's
wife. The nakedness of thy father's
wife. shalt thou not uncover. That means to lie with her. It
is thy father's nakedness. She's one with your father. One with your father. And it
was against the law of God. for a man to marry his stepmother. I mean, it gave, go back in Leviticus
18, it gave all the restrictions. I mean, they were restricted.
You know, you don't marry your sister, sisters don't marry brothers,
you don't marry your first cousins. It was on and on and on and on.
But to marry your stepmother was forbidden. But not only Did
the Spirit of God reveal this crime to be against Almighty
God? It was a crime against the person
committing it. 1 Corinthians 6.18, it says,
flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is
without the body. But he that committeth fornication
sinneth against his own body. So, sexual immorality. According to the scriptures,
the body itself is defiled, it's dishonored, and it's disgraced. And this one that was committing
this crime, obviously in an unchecked manner, was one that was claiming
to be a believer. Back in 1 Corinthians, it's reported
commonly that there's fornication among you. That is, in or one
with another. It means one's claiming to be
a believer, like you. And this crime was of such a
heinous nature. Now, remember, In the city of
Corinth, this sexual immorality was just an accepted practice. This is just what we do. Everybody knows it. But concerning
a man marrying his stepmother, Here's what Scripture says. It
is reported commonly that there's fornication among you, and such
fornication as is not so much as named or mentioned among the
Gentiles, that a man should have his father's wife. I mean, in
the city, in that part of the country where it was just such
common practice that sexual immorality was just so commonplace, not
even they talked about it. It was that heinous, it was that
evil. And the Spirit of God declared
in 1 Corinthians, just turn over one page probably, 1 Corinthians
6.13, it says, and the belly for meats, but
God shall destroy both it and them." Now the body is not for
fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. Food,
what He said is intended for the body and the body for food,
but this can't be said of sexual immorality. Our bodies were intended,
they were made, intended to serve and glorify God. We're the Lord's. Almighty God has made us. Man's
fall in the garden didn't make it right. And so our bodies... Now here's what Mr. Hawker, Robert
Hawker, made this statement on this scripture, on that first
verse there in 1 Corinthians 5. I thought this was good. He
says, Satan has no opportunity so effectual to trap and distress
the soul of a child of God is by the enticements of the body. I was thinking about King David. You know, I mean, it actually
came to fruition with him. But here's the problem. There's
nobody, nobody, nobody in this congregation that is free from
the thoughts at least of this thing. Man looks upon another
woman, looks upon a woman to lust after her. He's committed
adultery in his heart. He's done it. He's done it. So
nobody is free from this. So Hawker says, he says, Satan
has no opportunity so effectual to trap and distress the soul
of a child of God as by the enticements of the body. He said, he allures
the flesh with or because of its corruptions and lust, and
if he can accomplish his evil purpose, he truly interrupts
that soul's peace and fellowship with the Lord and with God's
people. There is nothing that will destroy a witness so quickly
as sexual immorality. Our brother Henry said one time,
he said, it's not beyond reason, he said, especially for a preacher,
a God-called preacher, he said, to fall to the enticements of
Satan into sexual immorality. He said, but I'll tell you the
best thing he could do, get out of the ministry. Get out of the
ministry. You say, well, but doesn't the
Lord forgive? Yes, He would, but it is such a distraction
that it is, get out, just get out. So, but this, the thing
that aggravated the situation here in Corinth was that the
members weren't appalled concerning this crime. Here's what verse
two says, and you're puffed up. and have not rather mourned that
he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you."
They were passive in this situation. They didn't want to rock the
boat. This is why they were puffed up. They applauded what was going
on. Though this man was guilty of
a crime that was specifically dealt with in the Scriptures. And they excused, and again,
because probably of his influence. I mean, I don't know, maybe he
carried the thing financially, I don't know. I don't know. But whatever it was, Nobody wanted
to rock the boat. Nobody wanted to say anything
to him. And in the rest of the chapter, I can tell you this
Lord willing, now probably Sunday, I'll deal with the rest of it,
but Paul dealt with them and told them what was going to happen
and what they had to do. I won't get into it right now,
but apparently they excused his actions And the scripture says
it puffed up and they hadn't mourned, they boasted. They were boasting in either
one of two things. Number one, they excused his
actions, either boasting at least in their hearts by not acting
on it, either of their freedom from the law, or with their forbearance
and their Christian liberty. We're not going to say anything.
Paul says, you're puffed up and you've not mourned that he that
has done this deed might be taken away from among you. Now listen,
brethren, hear me well. You that have heard me for these
15 years, now almost, you know this, you know my thoughts concerning
by the deeds of the law, shall no flesh be justified. The law
specifically dealt with this issue. God's law dealt with this
issue. And while we do not live by the
law, now listen to exactly what I'm saying. Though we do not
live by the law for the establishing of righteousness with God, acceptance
with God. We do not believe that we keep
the law of God to establish righteousness. Though we don't believe we keep
the law for righteousness. God's people are not lawless.
We are not lawless people. I'll tell you what we're accused
of, what a believer is accused of. Because we say, because we
don't live by the keeping of the law to establish right. We know we can't do that. We
cannot fulfill the law of God. So it's not the keeping of the
law that we say establishes righteousness. But let me tell you something.
We love God's law. Listen to Romans 7.12. Wherefore,
the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. What problem does any believer
have with, thou shalt not commit adultery? Oh, we're going to
say, well now, we're not under the law anymore. Oh my friend,
not for the establishment of righteousness, but I'm going
to tell you something. We're not lawless people. God's people,
we love the law of God. We love it. We just admit because
of the frailty of our flesh, we can't keep it. But God's people
are not lawless people. We don't go around saying we
have no regard for God's law. We do! We just know our frailty
and our inability to keep it. Thanks be unto God, Christ kept
it for us and robed us in the obedience that He established,
His righteousness. But concerning this man that
this was dealt with in Leviticus 18, don't marry your stepmama.
And this man did it. And for whatever reason he excused
it, it did not make it right. It was wrong. It was wrong what
he was doing. Though we love God's law, we
know that we don't look to it in our ability to keep it for
the basis of our salvation. We look to Christ who is the
end, the finishing of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. Christ kept it. We love it. We love His law. Thanks be unto
Him that He established righteousness for us. But my friend, we are
not free to walk around as lawless people. We know something of
our inability and we admit that, but we highly esteem. This is
the expression of God's character. This is the expression of God's
will. And we bow to it. Look at Psalm
119, 97. I can read it for you. Psalm
119, verse 97. Listen to the words of David. Really, truly, these are the
words of the Lord Jesus. But ever a believer is going
to say this, Oh, how love I thy law. It is my meditation all
the day. Let me ask you this, you that
believe, do you not know, does your conscious not bear witness
to you? Whenever there's something that
you do, whatever it is, and it's contrary to God's law, God's
will, God's revelation, God's commandment, you say something. It's not exactly the truth. Not
totally. Do you know it? Then you admit that the law is
good. Because you just said, I went a little bit too far on
that one. Listen to verse 113. I hate vain thoughts, but thy
law do I love. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
didn't come that the law would be put away. I came to fulfill
the law. I didn't come to destroy it.
God's law is right. God's law is good. But we do not, do not live lawlessly. The Apostle Paul said that this
crime was aggravated because those who should have been appalled,
they were puffed up. And then he said, you've not
rather mourned. that he that hath done this deed
might be taken away from among you." The Apostle Paul told the
church as a body, this should have caused you to lament. This
should have just grieved you. He said you knew what was going
on. He said it was commonly reported. It's commonly known. Everybody
knows what's going on. It's out in the open. This is
not in the shadows. And he said, it should have caused
you to humble yourselves together as a body before God, seeking
the Lord's help because of this scandalous iniquity, praying
that the Lord give you some wisdom concerning how are we going to
deal with this. At this point I would like to
make a comment that will help us to understand the situation
as it was in Corinth at that time. Now we're sitting here
and here's what we have. We have the whole revealed Word
of God. This is all that God is ever
going to say to us. This is it. They had the Old
Testament Scriptures, and now we have the New Testament. We
have all of it. But at the time that the Apostle
Paul was writing this letter to these people in Corinth, they
didn't have the New Testament. We do. They didn't. And the Apostle Paul, who was
called of God, converted on the road to Damascus, taught of the
Lord. He said, the Gospel that I was
taught, I wasn't taught it by man. I didn't learn this from
men. I learned this from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. I
do not know what the Apostle Paul was told, he never said.
It was things that were not honorable. when he went to the third heaven,
and he heard things. I don't know what the Lord taught
him, but I can tell you this, the Lord Himself was going to
give, through the Apostle Paul, some direction and instruction
on handling this matter, and that instruction of which we're
going to cover, Lord willing, in the next message, is borne
out in God's Word. But what I'd like for us to consider
tonight, for the rest of this message, is how do we deal with
a situation like this? What would we do if something
like this were to arise among us? You know, and really, situations
that are clearly and specifically dealt with in God's Word. How thankful I am for the Word
of God. Because Almighty God deals with
it. Now Paul the Apostle, and I guess
I'm bound and determined, I'm going to go ahead and preach
the other message right now, but I'm not going to do it now. Paul
the Apostle told them what he was going to do under the inspiration
of God's Spirit. and He told them what they had
to do. But here, we have the Scriptures. So what I'd like
to do is just, I'd like for us to go ahead, because I'm not
going any farther than verse 2. But I'd like for us to consider
what God has to say, what God revealed through the Apostle
Paul in the Scriptures concerning how do you handle a situation
when something comes up in the Scriptures and there's a situation
that is specifically dealt with. Now there's a lot of things that
come up that are not specifically dealt with in the Scriptures.
But, if it is, we're going to know how to handle it. So I want
you to look, turn with me to Galatians chapter 6 and verse
1. I'll stay mainly right there, but we'll just look at a couple
of them. I want you to see how do you deal with it. They didn't
know how to deal with it. Pat, they didn't have the Scriptures.
I mean, they were living in a lawless, virtually, city. And what they
were doing was just commonplace, just everywhere, and it had come
into the church. And they weren't handling it
right. And God Almighty, in His mercy
and grace, sent a preacher to them, to tell them, this is how
it's to be handled. Now listen, let me tell you something. It doesn't matter what comes
up. If anything arises in this body
or any other body, if a situation arises, let me tell you how it's
to be handled. If there's a problem, if there's
a little this, that, and the other, whatever, this is how. Galatians 6 verse 1, Brethren,
if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore
such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself,
lest thou also be tempted." Brethren, if a man be overtaken in attitude
or in action, whatever, if he's overtaken in a fault, You that
are spiritual, if you want to know the spiritual way to take
care of this, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness. Now
I'm going to read you something that I read Brother Henry Mahan's
comment on this and I'm going to just tell you. You can go
back in his commentary and read. I'm going to read it to you.
Brother Henry is one that we've highly respected, and he made
these comments on that, and I'm just going to tell you his comments. He said, We are redeemed children
of God, indwelt by His Spirit of holiness and grace, but we're
still human. We're flesh. And the motions
of sin and the desires of the flesh and the potential to fall
are in every believer. Therefore, if a brother is overtaken
in a fault, we are to make every attempt to recover, to restore,
and resettle him to his place of fellowship. He said, the attitude
of strong, mature, restrained believers toward the fallen is
not to be critical and condemning with a holier-than-thou attitude. It is to be a spirit of humility
and meekness, for we know that the potential to commit any sin
is in us, and we only stand by the grace of God. I'll never forget, I had seven
years of the most blessed time, seven years, Brother Scott was
here. And as I've told you, I've told
you this many times, it bears bringing out again. Of all the
things that he told me, this is one that I have repeated so
many times. I was talking to Brother Tom
Harding one day, and told him what Brother Scott told me about
something that someone had done, not in this congregation. And
it had so disappointed me. I thought, how could you have
done that? That was so out of place. That was so needless. And I asked Brother Scott about
it. And here was his comments. He'd
say, well, what would Brother Scott say? Let me tell you what
he said. He said, Marvin, let's pray for him. The Lord will teach
him. And I thought, you know, that's
some of the wisest advice that I've ever heard. If a man be overtaken in a fault,
and we're all susceptible to it, the ones that are spiritual,
if you want to know the spiritual response to it, Restore such
a one in the spirit of meekness." Meekness. Submission to Almighty
God. Submission. I told you there's
a difference in meekness and weakness. Meekness was exhibited
by Abraham when he told Lot. He said, look, there's a squabble
between our shepherds. There's enough grass here, and
we're brethren. You take what you want, and I'll
take the rest. Now that's meekness, that's submission
to Almighty God, submission to His providence, submission to
His will. In a spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted. In 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse
24-26, let me just read this as I wind this up. 2 Timothy
2. 24 to 26, and the servant of the
Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach,
and patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves,
if God, peradventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging
of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the
snare of the devil, who were taken captive by him at his will,
In closing now, I want to just not go beyond, obviously, what's
been revealed in the Scriptures. But Paul said something in the
latter part of that second verse right there. And this is what
he said, verse 2. He said, You have not rather
mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away,
that is, removed from among you. And again, we consult the scriptures. This man, if you look at the
last verse of 1 Corinthians chapter 5, if you want to know what was
to happen to this man, look at the last verse, verse 13. But
them that are without God judges, therefore put away from among
yourselves that wicked person. This man was put out. Excommunicated. He was put out. But what does the Scriptures
have to say concerning a man being put away? The latter part
of verse 2 says, You've not rather mourned that he that hath done
this deed might be taken away from you. I'm going to tell you
what obviously had happened. This man, probably based on what the scriptures
later revealed had been talked to about this. But let me tell
you now what I know for a fact is if we have a situation where
we have to deal with something like this. Titus chapter 3, Titus
chapter 3 And again, how thankful I am
for God's Word that we can know we don't have to sit here and
say, well, I think, what I think we ought to do, well, it doesn't
matter what we think because we're all just human and we all
have an opinion. And everybody can have an opinion,
but it doesn't matter. What does God have to say about
it? And here's what God has to say. Titus chapter 3, verse 10
and 11. that is an heretic, after the
first and second admonition, reject, knowing that he that
is such is subverted and sinneth, being condemned of himself."
Now, this is not talking about a man or a woman that has fallen
into something and it just they were caught unawares, and it
just, they were, before they knew it, they stepped on a trap. Satan had caught them and they
just, they made up, they erred, they were taken in a fault, and
they, confessed it, and they forsook
it. I mean, listen, there's not one
of us here that doesn't do that. We all do that. I mean, if we're
going to kick somebody out every time somebody falls, there ain't
going to be nobody here. I mean, we just quit meeting.
Just save the electric bill. Because everybody's guilty. That's
not what a heretic is. A man that is a heretic, again
I look this up, I didn't just come off the top of my head with
this. A man that is schismatic, factious, a follower of false
doctrine. One that comes in and he's just
a troublemaker. He goes here, and he goes here,
and he goes here, and he goes here, and he's trying to sow
in discord among the brethren. But not only that, but he is
a follower of false doctrine. He's schismatic and factious,
and he doesn't believe what God has to say, and he's going around
trying to spread within the body. False doctrine is one that denies
the fundamental truth revealed in Scripture. This is a heretic. He denies the truth concerning
God's sovereignty, Christ's deity, the truth concerning man's depravity,
salvation by the grace of God, the electing, redeeming, regenerating
grace. If one be found to be a denier,
of these truths among the brethren, and he's schismatic. He doesn't believe what we believe.
He's a factious person. He's just trying to start trouble
among the brethren. And he's attempting to sow division. He's a sower of discord. Here's
what God has to say. A man that is a heretic, if you
don't understand what a heretic is, it doesn't make any sense.
But a man that is a heretic, he's taken the revealed Word
of God. This man in Corinth, this is
what he did. God had dealt with this in the
book of Leviticus. Leviticus 18.8. Don't marry your
stepmother. And he did. And it was a problem. And he was
using his power as leverage to try to, you know, And after the
first and second admonition, you've gone to him at least twice. After the first and second admonition,
after you've prayerfully admonished him concerning the problem at
least twice, if he refuses to hear, He refuses to recant. He refuses to change. He refuses
to be quiet. Here's what God has to say. Reject
Him. What do you mean reject Him?
Have nothing to do with Him socially, privately, or in church communion. Why? Verse 11, knowing that He
that is such is subverted. What does that mean? It means
He is corrupt, attempting to undermine the authority of Almighty
God in the church. by His Word. And the Scripture
says, "...and he sinneth," that is, doctrinally, "...by denying
the revealed Word of God," and then it says, "...being condemned
of himself." That is, he's made his decision to reject God's
Word. He's chosen to show himself to
do nothing more than continue in rebellion and has proven himself
unworthy of fellowship. Oh, may we as believers recognize
and seek prayerfully the Lord's direction and instruction knowing
that we as His sheep, the sheep of His pasture, we want that
which pleases Him. Let me tell you something. This
assembly right here is made up of blood-bought believers. Those that Almighty God chose
from before the foundation of the world. That the Lord Jesus
Christ gave Himself, not only as surety, but as sacrifice. And the Spirit of God has called
out of darkness and taught us, and God's raised up this assembly,
and has kept this assembly. Over 60 years has allowed the
gospel to be preached. And the spirit and the fellowship
of the believers within not only this body, but everybody, is
of grave concern. Number one, to the Lord. This
is His body. And the way His body is to act,
He set forth in His Scriptures. And the thing that we must realize,
we cannot take God's Word lightly. If something arises, if the Lord
allows, I read one writer that says this, the Lord may allow
someone to come in and do something that will start a problem. And may allow that person to
be there for the trying of the faith of God's elect. To find
out, you know, concerning God's Word, how is it going to be handled.
I mean, this is one of those messages that when I was going
over these notes, I had been working on this message now for
two weeks, rewrote it again today, because of the seriousness of
it. Brethren, pray for one another. If a man be overtaken in a fault,
and we all are, we all do it, maybe some not so openly, but
we all are. But if one is to overtake Him
in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore Him. You know what that
means? Restore Him. It means to sit
like a bone broken. You know, sometimes it hurts.
Somebody caught up in something and somebody comes to them and
says, listen, I love you. I love you. But there's something
that I want to talk to you about. You know, if we're exposed for
something, it hurts, doesn't it? If somebody talks to us about
something. But you know what? If it's done
in a spirit of love and meekness, considering yourself, I could
do the same thing. And I would want someone to treat
me like I'm to treat you. To do it not in a haughty way,
self-righteous way, We don't have a right for that. There's
none of us here that's got any right or righteousness, you know,
that merits that. But in a spirit of love, in a
spirit of meekness and kindness, restore one another. And I'm
telling you, the Lord will bless it. I pray that God bless this
message to our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen.