It is reported commonly that
there is fornication among you." Well, the apostle up to this
time had rebuked these Corinthians for their divisions, for their
factions, for their argument, for their carnality, and here
he gives them another reason why they had no right to be proud,
to be arrogant, to be glory in anything. be glory in anything. They allowed members of the congregation
to live in sin and open transgression, and they didn't condemn it, and
they didn't discipline them over it. And that's the sad thing
about it. And he says here, it's reported
commonly, there in verse 1, that there is fornication among you,
and such fornication as not so much named among the Gentiles,
that one should have his father's wife. He said it's common knowledge,
everywhere you go, people are talking about it, common knowledge,
that there's sexual immorality among you, that there's a man
who took his stepmother, his father's wife, I'm sure it's
not his mother, but it's his stepmother, and this particular
incident was known by everybody. He was living in open incense.
And I believe it was most likely some stepmother, and here's what's
so bad about it. They didn't do anything about
it. Not only that, but the Gentiles themselves, even the pagans,
wouldn't even do that, that Morn should have his father's wife.
Now, you keep this and look with me over in Deuteronomy 27. Deuteronomy
27. You know, there was a survey
the other day given out that four in ten people now say that
marriage is absolutely unnecessary altogether. Marriage is absolutely, there's
no reason to be married, no use to be married. It's altogether
unnecessary. And what happened was, and you
remember, this happened different times in the Scriptures. Jacob's oldest son, he took one
of his father's wives openly. And I'm telling you, God condemned
him greatly for that. And Assholem took one of David's
wives and done the same thing, to shame his father. But not
only did he shame his father, but he shamed himself, embarrassed
himself, and lived in such open transgression. And I'm telling
you, and this is obvious throughout the scriptures, sexual immorality
is condemned, and it's godlessness, and it's something that should
never be tolerated in society, much less among the Lord's people. But here in Deuteronomy 27 and
20, it says this. Cursed be he that lieth with
his father's wife, because he uncovers his father's
skirt, and all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that
lieth with any manner of beast, and all the people shall say,
Amen. Cursed be he that lieth with
his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his
mother, and all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that
lies with his mother-in-law, and all the people shall say,
Amen. Amen. God got it covered from
top to bottom. And everybody says, let them
be cursed. And they said, Amen. And here, back over in our text,
it says that it's reported commonly. And that's the thing about it.
When something like that goes on, it's all over the community.
Everybody finds out about it. Everybody talks about it. And they all automatically, they'll
say, well, the false folks can do that. They let that go on.
That means, well, anybody. That means that, you know, there's
no reason for us to ever go there because them folks let anything
go on. But look what he goes on to say here in verse 2. And you are puffed up and have
not rather mourned. And he that hath done this deed
might be taken away from you. Not only was it common knowledge,
but this was what was so awful about it. That these folks were
puffed up, they were proud, and they were arrogant. And evidently
they had this knowledge among themselves, and they wasn't grieved
by this action. But rather they held this person
in esteem and overlooked his way of life. Overlooked his way
of life and the woman's way of life. Maybe he was a teacher,
maybe he was a preacher, maybe he was a gifted man. But being
pumped up about it, rather than praying for him and removing
him from their midst, they were pumped up and did not care and
did nothing about it. Nothing about it. And you know,
when we hear about somebody, when somebody sins, this is just
natural, I really believe this is natural to somebody that understands
the grace of God, that's ever been saved by the grace of God.
When you hear about somebody sinning, the first thing it does
is it grieves you. I mean, it grieves you, whether
it's in your home, whether it's in your family, whether it's
a child, whether it's a neighbor, it grieves you. And you can't
change the situation, but you let them know that that's not
an approved behavior. Not an approved behavior. Instead of removing this fellow,
being taken away from Ammonia, they got puffed up and they gloated
about it. Well, look what Paul says here next. He said, For
I barely, I truly, as absent in body, I'm not there with you
in presence, but I am present in spirit, and have judged already,
as though I were present, concerning him that hath done this deed.
And so in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered
together and by my Spirit, and my Spirit with the power of our
Lord Jesus Christ, this is the judgment I've come to. This is
the determination I've made. This what must be done, to deliver
such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that
the Spirit may be saved in the day of judgment. And what Paul
is saying here, he says, now I'm not there with you. But I'm
there in spirit. My spirit is so stirred with
me. And I know all of you all. And I know this man. I don't
know what's going on. And I'm there with you in spirit.
I can't be with you in body. But I've already passed judgment
what has to be done among you. This is what you've got to do.
When you all gather together as a church. And you gather together
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the power of Christ.
And that's the name we gather in. We gather here this evening
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to worship Him, to honor
Him. We gather this morning. We'll gather the next time we
gather. We'll do that. And he said, and when you gather
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and my Spirit there with
you, and with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, this is what
you're going to have to do. You deliver that one. You pray
and you give him up. You pray and by the power of
Christ and by my authority, you give him up to Satan. You say,
here he is. that God may destroy his flesh
and destruct him and bring him down, that he may be saved when
the Lord Jesus comes. That's what he's saying. And
he said, I've already judged this case. And what he means,
the destruction of his flesh. And Paul said, you know, he turned
Hymatus and Philatus over to Satan for the destruction. And
what he means here, beloved, is that Christ may afflict this
person, may buffet this man, may try this man, may afflict
him very, very bitterly, and bring him to repentance, and
bring him to restoration, and bring him to humility, and bring
him to understand the awful sin that I've done, and I'm ashamed
of it, and I'm sorry, and I've dishonored you Christ, I've dishonored
this church, and God have mercy on me. That's what he's saying.
Turn him over to the devil. He's acting like one. And that's
what Paul's saying here. Oh, my. And here's the thing
about it. If he is one of God's, if they
are one of God's, you better believe it that God will bring
them to repentance. And you'll find that, and that's
exactly the thing that happened to this whole church over in
2 Corinthians when we get there. That all he went on to say here,
and your glory is not good. There's this fellow living in
incest. Everybody knows it. They're glorying about it. Your glorying is not good. Your
rejoicing is not good. Your bragging is not good. Huh?
And here they are. They're glorying in their prosperity,
in their riches, in their wealth, in their ministers, in their
wisdom, in their gifts. And all the time that they're
glorying in this thing, there's such immorality, such sexual
perversion in their midst, and yet they're glorying as if it
didn't exist. Paul said, this is not good.
This is not good. There's nothing good about it.
And look what he goes on to say. Know ye not that a little leaven
leveth a whole lump? You know that just a little leaven,
permit, let alone, uncorrected, will affect the whole body. If you put a little leaven in
bread, it'll affect the whole bread. And Paul's saying that
that's the way this business of sin is, and immorality, and
things that you let go on among a body of believers. He said,
if you let it go, it'll look like leaven. And after a while,
it grows, and you uncorrect it. You don't correct it. You let
it continue. You let it go. And let it alone,
it'll end up affecting the whole body. You remember when Achan got a
wedge of gold and some garments? God told him not to take anything,
but boy, he seen that gold, he says, man, I gotta have that
gold. Gotta have that pretty garment. And you know God afflicted
whole of Israel over that until it got wrapped down to who it
was it done. You know, whatever, and that's
what people don't understand, that whatever somebody's doing,
it affects the whole body of Christ. It affects us all. Wherever we're at, whatever we're
saying, whatever we're doing, it affects us all. And oh, beloved,
and whether it's a false doctrine, you let it go and it's going
to affect the whole body. You let a carnal spirit come
in and take over, foolishness, Joking, a lot of levity, affects
the whole body. You let immorality, undolliness,
it affects the whole body. If it's not stopped, it'll increase
to more evil, more undolliness, and it'll affect the body. And
if it's not stopped, and it's got to be stopped, may God stop
us and not let these things happen. Know we're to be compassionate.
We're to be kind and be unforgiving and be forgiving. Be very gracious
and very forgiving. But if we know sin, like this
is going on, it has to be judged, it has to be dealt with, and
it has to be put away. It has to be. And I'm thankful,
and I'll say this while you turn to Matthew 16 with me. I have
been blessed over the years that I've never ever had to deal,
I've had to deal with some things privately, And God's always been gracious
enough that it's never got out in the church, never got loose
in the church. You know, we've had to deal with
some things privately, and folks have left over the years, and
folks had to do different things. But we've never had to exclude
anybody. Never had to de-church anybody,
excommunicate anybody. And I'm very thankful for that.
I'm very thankful for that. But here in Matthew 16, in verse
6, look what happens. Our Lord talking about this leaven. Then said Jesus unto them, Take
heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
He's talking about leaven, you know. The little leaven leavened
the whole lump. Your glorying is not good. And they reasoned
among themselves, saying, It is because we've taken no bread.
You think of leaven, you think of bread. In which when Jesus
perceived he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason
ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Do
you not yet understand, neither remember, the five loaves of
the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? Neither the
seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took
up? How is it that you do not understand, that I spake it not
to you concerning bread, but that you should beware of the
leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? then understood
they had that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread,
but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Shepherds." And so we
have to be very cautious and very careful. And I personally
think the Word, I think the Word is what God uses to correct and
keep the church in line. But whenever somebody just refuses,
refuses to take the Word, refuses to take the gospel, refuses to
deal with what the Word of God says, then there has to be something
done. And I hope we never have to deal with anything like that
by God's grace. But then back over here, he says
here in verse 7, So know ye not that a little leaven leveth a
whole lump? It's just, you know, Paul said that to the Galatians,
a little leaven leveth a whole lump. I mean, you know, you bring
in just a little bit of it all, you just won't bring it all in.
Ain't that right? You bring in just a little immorality,
next thing you know, It'd just be two, then there'll be three,
then there'll be four. Next thing you know, you've got
a church house full of people. Huh? Yeah. All right, in verse 7, "...purge
out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new love, even
as you are unleavened. For even Christ, our Passover,
is sacrificed for us." And when he says, "...purge out therefore
the old leaven," he's saying, purge out this person with this
incest. Just like the Jews who purged
out this sin. It's like the Jews when they
purged their house of leaven just before the Passover. You
remember, they had to get all the leaven out of their houses.
No leaven could be left in the house nowhere in the Passover.
And that's why he said, you purged this, man. You purged this. Get
this leaven out of here. Get it out now. And you know,
leaven is just like a small piece of fermenting dough, and it's
typical of corruption and decay. And so it was here, it was here,
beloved, and forbidden in all the sacrifices. And he said,
rid yourself of this open evil, that you may be what you profess
to be, that you say we're in a new luck. We've forsaken that
old leaven. We've forsaken the law. We don't
want no leaven. And when we come to offer sacrifice
and praise, no leaven. Purge it out. And you say you're
new creatures in Christ? You say you're new believers?
You may be a new love, even as you are unleavened. You get that
leaven out of there and you'll be unleavened, just like unleavened
bread. And oh, beloved, listen, you walk in newness of life.
keeping the true and spiritual Passover, which is even Christ
our Passover sacrifice for us. And I'll tell you, you'll notice
this, everything that Paul does, whatever's wrong with the congregation,
whatever situation he's dealing with in these people, he always
brings them back to Christ being the motivator and his sacrifice.
Always brings them back to that. You know, as they put out the
leaven to have the Passover, Christ is our Passover. Christ
was the one sacrificed for us. Christ is the one that put away
our sin by the sacrifice of himself. God, because for Christ's sake,
passes over us. Our sins are gone. So why wouldn't
you purge out everything that would dishonor Him, that would
bring shame to Him, that would dishonor and affect the whole
body of the Lord Jesus Christ? What else could motivate you?
What else do you need? Oh, and he goes on to say here
now, listen, therefore let us keep the feast. Now what feast
is he talking about? He's talking about the Lord's
Supper, the Lord's table. That's the only feast we have.
We don't have any other feast than that. The Lord's blood and
the Lord's body. And therefore, let's keep the
feast. Let's keep the Lord's table.
Let's keep the feast. Let's worship our Lord. Let's
fellowship in the blessings of our Lord Jesus Christ, our sacrifice,
our Passover. Not with old leaven. Not with
our old traditions, and not with our old ideas, not with our old
opinions, not with our old traditions. No, let's not do that. Let's
gather and preach His gospel. Not in our old sinful, worldly
manner of life before our conversion. And oh, listen to what else he
says. Neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness. My
word. You know, it's hard to comprehend,
you know, people coming in, bringing in leaven of malice and wickedness. Somebody with malice and wickedness? I'll tell you, you know, incest
is It's wicked. People want to get even with
one another and want to hurt somebody and have ill feelings
towards them. That's maliciousness. But oh,
he says, listen, he says, oh my, don't go, don't go have this
old leaven, you know, this worldly manner, this malice, division,
strife and immorality. But oh, let's keep the feast
with the unleavened bread. Unleavened bread of honesty,
sincerity and truth and purity. Godliness with truth. Oh, when I read stuff like this
and deal with stuff like this, I am so confronted with the flesh
and the frailty of it and the inability of it and how we must,
must, must continually throw ourselves on Christ. Oh my, you
keep this with unleavened bread. When we take the Lord's table,
when we come to worship Christ, God, let's come here with sincerity,
honesty, purity of heart, right motive, and do it in truth. Truth. And then look what he
says here. And I wrote unto you in an epistle. Evidently, there was another
epistle that he had wrote to them. It's not 1 Corinthians
or 2 Corinthians, either one. And nobody has ever found that
letter. They don't know where, you know, but then he had. But
he said, I wrote unto you in an epistle, not to company with
fornicators. Don't run around and keep fellowship. Birds of a feather flock together.
If there's fornicators, don't you run around with them. Don't
you fellowship with them. Don't you get up and run around
town with them and make them to be your good buddies, your
good friends. And watch what he says. Not altogether with the fornicators
of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters,
for then you'd have to go out of the world. He says, you know,
when you're going out to work, going out doing business, he
says, you know, you're going to be confronted with people
that's living in fornication. You're going to be confronted
with people. There's people out there that's covetous. You're
going to do business with people that's covetous with extortion. There's
people that's going to... You're going to meet with people
that out in the world, they're going to have idols. You're going
to go in business with them. They got idols on the wall. They got idols
on the tables. Because if you're not going to
do that, you're going to have to leave this world. Because
that's what's out in the world. So when you're out in the world,
he said, I'm not telling you not to keep company with it.
Because you're going to have to leave the world to get away
from them kind of people. But he says, but I've written unto
you, verse 11, unto you not to keep company. Now watch this.
Here's the difference. If any man that is called a brother professes faith in Christ, professes
to know Christ, be a fornicator, or be covetous, or be an idolater. That's like me coming to your
house and you've got a great big statue of Virgin Mary holding
a little baby Jesus in her arms. You know, we couldn't let that
go. We just couldn't let that go,
could we? Couldn't let that go. But that's what we're talking
about here, that idolatry. Or an idolater or a railer. A
railer means somebody just wants to fight all the time, just criticize
all the time, just rail on fine fought with everything and everybody
all the time. Or a drunkard. Somebody that
just... A drunkard is not somebody that
has a drink. This is a drunkard. Somebody that just drunks. Drinks
to the excess, and continually so. Or an extortioner. An extortioner
is somebody that charges more than something is worth. You know, they got you over a
barrel, you know, it's like a storm comes along, and you know, before
the storm comes along, you should get a sheet of plywood for six
dollars. The storm comes along and takes $12. When it gets scarcer,
$18. Gets even scarcer, $24. It ought to always be $6, no
matter what's going on. And when they run out, they're
out. That's honesty. That's the way it should be. Then he says, if a man's calling
a brother, don't you eat with this person. He said, put him
away from among you. If he's guilty of immorality,
thief, and he remains impenitent, doesn't repent, is not sorry,
separate him from you and separate him from the company. Don't have
him at the Lord's table. Don't have him at your house.
Don't treat him like he is a brother. That's what he's telling you.
Don't do it. Don't do it. Boy, that'd be awful
hard to do. But I mean, you know, if somebody's
that immoral, I don't think it'd be that hard. But he goes on
to say, for what have I to do to judge them also that are without? And what he's saying is, what
have I had to do with judging them? I don't judge them that
are without. That's not my responsibility. The world, it's not mine or yours
responsibility, and we can't judge the world. But he says,
but don't you judge them that are within? Them that's within
the church? Don't you judge them? Can you
not judge them? We're not talking about judging
the world, we're talking about judging those among us. But he
says, he goes on to say, without God's going to judge them. God's
going to judge the world. But he says, here's the judgment
you've got to make. Therefore put away from among
yourselves that, and this is what Paul calls him, that wicked
person. That wicked person. And oh my,
this man who's living in incest, put him away, put him away, put
him out. Boy, Scriptures just don't cut
no course for any of us, does it? They don't. But oh my, how
we need the Lord Jesus. I read stuff like this and deal
with stuff like this, and I know what this flesh is capable of. and all mine. God save us all. God save us all.