Corinthian Sin (Part 1)

No Compromise Radio. Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse, with no compromise.

The Most Politically Incorrect Chapter in the Bible

Why don't you turn your Bibles to the most politically incorrect chapter in all the Bible. The most politically incorrect chapter maybe in all the Bible, Old and New Testament, is 1 Corinthians chapter 5.

So if you'll open there. We are working our way through 1 Corinthians. We finished chapter 4 last week and now we embark upon the second moral problem that the Church of Corinth needs to address. The first, it took four chapters for Paul to discuss worldly wisdom that had infiltrated the Church to the extent that they were buying into worldly wisdom and a worldly philosophy.

And it was splitting the Church right at the top. Factions. I am of Paul. I am of Apollos. I am of Christ. I am of Cephas. And Paul moves to the second problem found in chapter 5, verses 1 through 13.

I left corporate America about 14 years ago so I never had to go through tolerance training. Sensitivity training. How many people here have been to some kind of sensitivity training in their workplace?

Okay, many of you have. Today I'm going to give you a course on insensitivity training. There's only one thing worse than unrepentant sin and that's unrepentant sin in a church that's not dealt with. There's only one thing worse than incest and that's incest that's going on in a local church that's not dealt with.

The bride of Christ is to reflect her groom. As Jesus Christ is holy, undefiled, spotless, blameless. Jesus Christ in John 12, we learn that when the angels in Isaiah 6 see Yahweh on the throne and they shout out, holy, holy, holy, John 12 says they see Christ.

And so Paul wants to address this issue that the Corinthians have and that issue is they are tolerating unrepentant sin in the church. Now of course we all sin but the issue here is unrepentant sin, the kind of sin that destroys a church, that permeates a church, that undermines her foundations.

In one sense, toleration is good if we are to have a fair and permissive attitude towards someone's thoughts, practices. But in a cultural sense or a social sense or a religious sense, we're not supposed to be respectful of the sin in the church and approve it, we're supposed to deal with it.

The sin of tolerance Paul is going to address. You may hear this called church discipline. Church discipline. The Belgic Confession in 1561 said, by which a true church is known, number one, the preaching of pure doctrine.

Is this a real church? You've got to have preaching of pure doctrine. Two, the administration of the sacraments or ordinances, the Lord's Supper and baptism. And number three, the exercise of church discipline.

How can you have a church if you don't have preaching, the administration of the Lord's Supper and baptism, church discipline? The abstract of principles of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1858, three marks of a true church, true order, true worship, discipline.

We have come a long way when it comes to seeing churches exercise church discipline. Historian Greg Wells said this, churches back in the old days, pre-Civil War, in America, held regular days of discipline in their church.

I have my own spin on that and that would be 40 days of discipline, but that's another subject. And the church would gather together and they would heal breaches in the church and issues in the church and one-on-one asking for forgiveness, rebuking obstinate people, excommunicating those that resisted discipline.

The fascinating thing to me is, the remarkable thing in our society today and in evangelical churches is not the absence of church discipline, it's the presence of it. Doesn't that strike you strangely?

Strangely, it's not the absence of it, it's the presence of it. Not many months ago, my friend who went to the Master's Seminary with me and Southern Seminary with me, had to announce somebody's name from the pulpit and he was in Fox News in moments, oh, look at that church, it's the Inquisition.

It's the Spanish Inquisition at that church. Closer to home, it's like the Salem witch trials, parading the young adulterous through the town like in the Scarlet Letter. Today we'll look at chapter 5 of 1 Corinthians and we'll deal with this issue, church discipline in the local church.

Let me read to you all of chapter 5 and I want you to look for the four important words that thematically tie this chapter together. And those words are remove, cleanse, deliver, and purge. We say we believe the Bible, you can tell if somebody really does if they'll do what it says.

If you don't do it, then you don't really believe it. 1 Corinthians chapter 5, I'll read from the ESV, 1 through 13, and look for those words rather, remove, cleanse, deliver, and purge. And you'll notice right from the beginning, Paul is very abrupt.

It's not a smooth transition, he is just very abrupt and he gets to the point. 1 Corinthians 5, 1, it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans.

For a man has his father's wife and you are arrogant, ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body, I, Paul, am present in spirit. And as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.

But when you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus, and my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Verse 9, I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.

Not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world are the greedy and the swindlers or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother, if he is guilty of sexual immorality, or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler.

Not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? It is not those inside the church whom you are to judge. God judges those outside. Excuse me, let me re-read at the end of verse 12.

Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. Purge the evil person from among you. Now before we look at our outline this morning, how does chapter 1, 2, 3, and 4 fit with chapter 5?

That is to say, what is the connection between dealing with leadership in chapters 1 through 4, and then moving to this issue of sexual immorality in the local church? What is the connection? The connection is this.

Show me a crisis in leadership, and I'll show you something that affects everyone else. Show me permissive leaders, and then the sin will spread. No leadership at home? By the father and by the mother?

Anarchy rules. Show me a lack of church discipline in any church, and I will show you the leaders are mainly to blame. Before I forget, I just have to say this. If you ever move from here, if you ever go someplace else, you should say to yourself, how do I pick a church?

And I personally could never attend, be a part of, pastor a church that doesn't have verse-by-verse preaching exalting Christ Jesus, of course, Lord's Supper and Baptism, and church discipline. Because it's not a church without discipline.

There's no purity of the church. You say, yeah, but they've got a really good rock band. That's good. You know, it's like Christian rock. Just gives Christian, you know, it's not Christian, and it gives rock a bad name kind of thing.

They've got a good youth program. Friends, everything else will find its way into the local church when the biblical mandate is being done, and that is preaching discipline. I could never go to a church, actually, let me say it this way.

It's not a church without church discipline. It's a tax-free assembly with certainly Christian people there, but it's not a church. And Paul was going to make sure that the church of Corinth, the church called by the blood of Christ, called by Christ and his substitutionary atonement on Calvary, confirmed by the resurrection, would live a life commensurate with their calling.

So this morning we'll look at only the first two verses as we begin to develop this theme of a pure church for the glory of Christ. And let me give you, for the outline this morning, six politically incorrect thoughts that are mandatory for every person in this building to believe.

If you want to believe the right things, here are six of them so this can be framed properly. Because the world is saying one thing, and the Bible is seemingly saying the exact opposite, and if you aren't thinking right, you're going to run into trouble, and it all starts in the mind.

And by the way, I'm going to push so many envelopes today, we might as well just start off at the beginning. I don't want you to be open-minded when it comes to this topic. If you went to a Jew 2 ,000 years ago and said, you ought to be open-minded, they'd probably look at you and they wouldn't say, oy vey, but something close to that.

Oy is actually the word woe. I think vey is woe in Yiddish. They'd look at you and say, no, that's not right, we're to be closed-minded. Open-minded people let anything come in, let anything go out.

They let the bad stuff come in, and they let the good stuff go out. Closed-mind people say, I'm going to think about, of course, bad things and good things, but I'm going to only accept those things that come through the grid of biblical thinking.

Because I'm fallen. I don't think properly. I don't assess things rightly. I'm selfish. Things appeal to me because I benefit from them. And so I want you to think properly. I want you to be closed-minded, biblically centered.

Six politically incorrect thoughts that I hope the Spirit of God rivets to your brain. Because you'll need them in the days to come. Number one. The first politically incorrect thought is this. You are your brother's keeper.

Or your sister's, for that matter. You are your brother's keeper. Let's find out in chapter 5, verse 1. When it comes to other Christian members of this church, you are to love them. Look at verse 1. It's actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you.

Like it or not, we are all one church body, aren't we? There is a mutual dependency that we have. I find it very interesting that Paul doesn't say this. Jim Smith, you're the one committing that sexual immorality.

I'm over here at Ephesus. Now you stop it right now. What does he say? He doesn't call out the person by name. He calls out the church. This is not just some kind of, well, you know, they're struggling over here and I'm okay.

There's struggle in the body and we're all responsible. And remember what Paul said in chapter 4 at the end? Verse 19 of chapter 4. But I will come to you soon if the Lord wills. And I will find out the talk of these arrogant people.

Not just the talk, but their power. He says in verse 21. What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod or with love and a spirit of gentleness? He's talking to the church. Of course it's wrong that this man is doing this.

But it's also wrong that the church says, live and let live. I looked up all the one another's in the Bible and there's too many to list. But just listen to a few. Love one another. Prefer one another.

Receive one another. Greet one another. Serve one another. Bear one another's burdens. Forbear one another in love. Forgive one another. Admonish one another. Teach one another. Comfort one another. Edify one another.

Exhort one another. And if it's the sin of somebody in the church, forget one another. No. They're all biblical except the last one. When it comes to sin in the local church, it affects you. Think back to 1 Corinthians chapter 12 or Ephesians 4.

The body of Christ is like a body. And you just don't go, well, you know, my toe is all messed up. And it's kind of got some necrotic tissue on there. I think maybe even gangrene. And up my vein there seems to be a line getting closer and closer to my heart.

But you know what? It's just my toe. It's just my foot. No, we are related to one another. And when the world says, you're not your brother's keeper. You keep your mind out of their business. Paul doesn't think that way at all.

Sexual Sin Is Not a Private Matter

Number two. Number two. Don't fall for this lie. The first lie is you aren't your brother's keeper. The second lie is this. What happens between two consenting adults in the privacy of a bedroom is nobody else's business.

What happens between two consenting adults in the privacy of a bedroom isn't anybody else's business. That's a lie. That's not true. Well, you look at the passage. Verse 1. It's reported that there's sexual immorality among you.

Specifically, a kind that's not even tolerated among the pagans. For a man has his father's wife. It may be private, but it does affect other people. It permeates the body. Garland said sexual immorality like this can never be treated as if it were only a private matter.

Well, you see a beautiful bride and she has the white dress on. And I love weddings and just to see the bride and the groom and the family and all that. It's never happened, but I guess it could happen here.

They're out taking pictures. Kind of the new land. She brushes up against some pitch on a tree. Oh, she looks so good, so beautiful. But that huge big smudge on the back of her dress, no one will see that.

There's a smudge on the dress of the bride of Christ at Corinth. And Paul doesn't care if they are doing this shameful, lewd behavior on the top of the Acropolis or in some dark, dingy, prostitute house.

Church Discipline Protects Christ's Reputation

It's still in the church. Number 3. You must not tolerate unrepentant sin that ruins Christ's reputation. You must not tolerate unrepentant sin. Now let me say this before we look at the text again. Corinth was a sex-obsessed seaport.

Remember all the thousands of prostitutes that would descend upon the city for worship? Remember all the people that would come and go to this kind of place? And it was either part of just lewd behavior, licentious behavior, or worship in a temple.

There was all kinds of sex that was going on that was outside of marriage. And certainly Paul isn't against sex. We'll see in chapter 7 that he'll actually say, if a husband and wife are able and they're not regularly meeting together, they're sinful.

He's not against the design of God. What he's after is any kind of sex that sullies and is dirty, and that is all sex outside of marriage. Marriage being obviously and only between a man and a woman. Now the word sexual immorality in the ESV, I think you'll know the word when I say it, pornea.

Pornea. It just means all sex outside of marriage. And in this particular case, we're going to see that it's incest. And Paul says what? I'm here at Ephesus, and word has gone out like the Drudge Report or a viral video that you are all so tolerating sin, the sin of incest, and now it's getting to me.

It's actually reported to me. Something that pagans don't even look upon with pleasure. Oh, they had all kinds of sins they looked upon with pleasure, but when it comes to incest, Cicero even said that's not right.

Pagans know better. You guys have no right. That's why we even get our words today. They're like Corinthians. He's kind of writing like it's shocking. It's actually reported among you. The called ones by Christ.

Born again. Justified, sanctified. And the way the tense is in the original, it's spreading. It's going farther. Thyatira has maybe heard of it. Pergamum has heard of it. The pagans who are loose, they even think, look at that's going on over there in that church assembly.

How shameful. How wrong. Pagans don't tolerate it. Church of Corinth, don't you tolerate it. That's the point. It's severe. Do something. Calvin said it is abominable to the Gentiles in the same way as a loathsome and horrible monstrosity, for it is a bestial lust, which destroys even natural modesty itself.

Now maybe something like this has happened among the Gentiles, but when it does, it's condemned, and now you just are live and let live. Now if you look at the text, the wife of his father, most commentators are right, it's a stepmother.

It's the man's stepmother. Whether the dad is still alive or not, who seduced whom, it matters not. This is the kind of thing that under Old Testament law was forbidden and would make you incur the death penalty.

You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife. It is your father's nakedness, Leviticus 18. If a man lies with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness. Both of them shall severely be put to death.

Their blood is upon them, Leviticus 20. Deuteronomy 22. A man shall not take his father's wife, so that he shall not uncover his father's skirt. Turn with me, if you would, to Deuteronomy 27. What's the community's response to all this?

It's interesting, back in Deuteronomy 27, you'll want to turn there. It's the fifth book of the Bible, as we would say in Germany, Moses 5. Deuteronomy 27. And I want to show you something that's very fascinating.

There'll be a truth from God, and then there's to be a response from the community. Yes, that's true. And here's probably where we get people shouting out, like Reformed Baptists do, Amen. Or yawning really loud like that.

That would be unreformed Episcopalians who would do that. Deuteronomy 27 is going to be set up in such a way that you'll see this covenant community, Israel, hearing truth about the purity of their assembly.

And when they hear the truth, they're supposed to respond, Amen. And you'll find this fascinating, Deuteronomy 27, verse 9 will start. Now, there's lots of differences between Old Testament Judaism and the New Testament church, but certainly a similarity is the purity of the people.

God's people must be pure. Deuteronomy 27 .9, Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, Keep silence and hear, O Israel. This day you have become the people of Yahweh your God. You shall therefore obey the voice of Yahweh your God, keeping his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today.

That day Moses charged the people, saying, When you have crossed over the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. So you've got those members standing on this one mountain.

They're the blessing side. And on the other mountain, these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. And the Levites shall declare to all the men of Israel in a loud voice, Curse be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to Yahweh, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman and sets it up in secret.

And all the people shall say, Amen. Verse 16, Cursed be anyone who dishonors his father or mother. And all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be anyone who moves his neighbor's landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind man on the road. All the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.

And now we come to the apex, verse 20. Cursed be anyone who lies with his father's wife because he has uncovered his father's nakedness. And all the people at Corinth said, Not one.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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