John MacArthur, Church Discipline, Huffington and Patheos

Gonna do a quick screen flow video here. I might get interrupted about halfway through. I hope not already record this once and record the wrong screen. That was fun. Anyhow, it's an important enough topic to rerecord the whole thing all over again.

Saw a video posted by grace to you of dr. MacArthur Responding to a question that had been sent in and it was posted at the Huffington Post. Gay voices. Well, there's gonna be no place Like that place for bigotry bias prejudice.

You know.

Just just the place is horrible. So anyway, of course, dr. MacArthur was being attacked for what he said. He was answering a question that had been sent in. What do you do if your adult child? Comes out and professes to be a homosexual and he gives a biblical answer.

So let's take a look at what he said and then we're gonna look at. Some responses that were offered. Look at the text as well and hopefully it will be of use to you. So here's here's what he had to say.

Church Discipline and a Professing Believer

We received a very interesting letter and question recently and this is it my adult child Just came out In other words declared to be a homosexual. What do I do? You know, the answer depends if that adult child professes Christ Claims to be a Christian then that becomes an issue for Confrontation of the sternest and strongest kind because that falls into Matthew 18.

That's a sin for which you go to that person if the person doesn't repent and turn. You take two or three witnesses and confront again if there's still no repentance. You tell the church and the church pursues and if there's still no repentance, then there's a public Putting out of the church of that person who professes to be a Christian.

That's how you deal with that. On the other hand if this adult child Doesn't profess to be a Christian then he or she is just acting like a non-christian. That that's a whole different issue in the first case if they profess to be a Christian You have to alienate them.

You have to separate them. You can't condone that it's inconsistent with the profession of Christ. So you isolate them? You don't have a meal with them you separate yourself from them you turn them over to Satan as it were as scripture says.

But if that's a non-believer you have to treat them like a non-believer and non-believers do what non-believers do and Then the issue is to bring the gospel compassionately directly Confrontationally to expose that sin and all other sins and call that person to salvation and repentance in that case.

You might want to spend more time Confronting and showing compassion but calling for salvation.

The Nature of the Church and the Need for Holiness

Okay, so there's what I had to say and very obviously he's talking about this within the context of church discipline and Unfortunately many people who would view that would not be aware of what that context was and.

That context is found here in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 and sadly there's a lot of Christians that don't know what that context either is because the fact.

That.

There is so little emphasis today upon the real nature of the church. What you win them with is what you win them to the repentanceless holiness. Less holiness. Less less gospel. It's not a gospel at all, but it's so popular today.

Results in a degraded church and If you think that the church is just some place where you just you just throw the doors open. You try to get as many people in there as you possibly can, you know, let's just get let's make everybody feel comfortable.

Then you don't understand what the church is. You haven't thought about Ananias and Sapphira. You haven't thought about what Paul said about people unworthily taking the Lord's Supper and dying. You haven't really thought about the nature of the body of Christ is and You certainly haven't thought about what it means to be holy even as I am holy.

And that is addressed to the church as a whole. So notice what Paul says 1st Corinthians 5 Is actually report that there is sexual immorality among you and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans for a man has Father's wife and you are arrogant ought you not rather to mourn let him who has done this be removed from among you.

There is a view of the church here that involves moral and ethical standards. It involves Judgment knows what Paul says in verse 3 for though absent in body I am present in spirit and as if present I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.

There is to be judgment exercised within the body of Christ and it's based upon Morals and ethics and what we do obviously that's extremely uncomfortable for people today. Because the Vassal Church has never exercised discipline never exercised discipline.

There's even something here about church membership, by the way, because if it says to put them out How could you put them out if you don't know who's supposed to be there? But anyway Notice what Paul says when you are assembled in the name of 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 that his spirit may be saved the day of the Lord now don't have time to go into all that that might mean.

I'm not even sure that I know all that might mean but the point is this is to be done in the assembly. It's not private. It's not secret. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus, this is the formal meeting of the church.

The power of the Lord Jesus you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction. He is to be put out of the fellowship out of the protection of that that body. He is to be put out. So does spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord as that has some kind of Hopefully repent, you know repentance producing thing.

I don't know but it's very very serious and remember dr MacArthur specifically talked about going to the person who claims to be a Christian over and over and over again looking for what? Repentance. The fundamental assumption is this is a sin that needs to be repented of.

Which of course the folks at the Huffington Post wouldn't believe in the first place. Notice what Paul's goes on to say your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens a 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 both the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Passover, Leaven, and the Gospel

So using the Old Testament types. Which is why this doesn't communicate real well with people because most people really couldn't tell you unleavened leavened Passover lamb. Blood lentils doorposts, you know, whatever, but it certainly communicated to Paul.

The Passover.

Pointed forward to the great fulfillment that we are now the very essence of and so the Passover lamb has been slain and Therefore this old leaven is not to be a part of our experience the old way of life.

This is exactly what Paul was saying in first Corinthians chapter 6 such were some of you, but you were cleansed. What we're being told by liberals and heretics today is that we need to overthrow all of this we need to get rid of all this biblical teaching and Now the new acceptable church today is to allow the old leaven to stay.

Their entire denominations all the liberal denominations that are a band that they're, you know, absolutely capitulating on this matter. They don't believe what this text says. They don't believe in the Bible any longer believe it's normative for them.

Society is normal for them. Not this leave the old leaven. It's good. We'll just we'll just we'll clean it up. No. You are fundamentally denying that Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed as I've said many times this is an issue of the gospel.

It's an issue of the cross and there Paul makes the exact connection. It's right there in the text can't be denied can't be denied. Well, but it is denied and here's an example of that denial. Notice it says Anabaptist author Benjamin Corey of the religious blog pathos.

I Haven't seen anything worth anything on pathos for a long long long long time. Challenged MacArthur statements as hypocritical since he targeted sexual sinners while disregarding others like the greedy idolaters and drunks.

That is a gross straw man. I mean immediately on any meaningful level of integrity dismiss this guy. Because do you really think the John MacArthur if somebody in his church was found? Worshiping statues of Mary or some hideous idol.

Do you think you go? Oh, that's fine. As long as you're not a homosexual. Do you really think that he's answering a specific question and to take a two-minute Response to a specific question and start your response like this is Dishonest on a level that's makes me stutter.

It's amazing. But notice what he says, I'm just glad that I worship Jesus not MacArthur or even Paul himself. Okay, as soon as someone starts like that, you know, you're not dealing with someone who has any Intellectual integrity.

I mean this is just laughable. But sadly, it's very common Jesus the one who religious conservatives hated because instead of shunning he had meals with people the drunks the hookers the swindlers. You know the kind of people were supposed to shun.

This is precisely why we are to make Jesus and nothing else the center of our faith and practice. Because it is through Jesus. We find that sharing a meal not alienation is what love looks like. Get used to hearing this kind of stuff.

No, it's not serious in the sense that We define serious as looking at all of what the Bible says. No, that's not serious like that. This man is looking at a part of Jesus ministry. He's not he's completely ignoring Paul's authority context the nature of the church the Hawaiian Yards, it's it's Completely out of bounds, but there you go.

But this kind of Take the New Testament cut out the parts. You don't like Like keep the parts you do like that's the essence of liberalism and it's the essence of the only kind of Christianity That the world today is willing to accept because they realize it's never gonna challenge them.

It's not under the Lordship of Christ they realize that and so that's why they like that kind of Christianity. Because it never calls them to holiness. It's easy very very easy to find a Quote-unquote scholar to say anything while claiming to be a Christian.

It's frustrating to us. I believe it's part of the very judgment of God upon our culture that any unbeliever can can just jump on the web and in in two minutes. Contradict anything the Bible has to say from the mouth of a person that calls himself a Christian scholar.

It's judgment upon us. It's judgment upon us. Does that create frustration for us? Yeah, it does. We're still called to be salt and light. So god bless. Dr. MacArthur for being straightforward. It sure would be nice if he'd been interpreted within the light of what he actually said.

The Gospel, Liberalism, and Illegitimate Argumentation

But.

Just get used to this folks because we have to stay focused and be able to recognize this kind of Illegitimate argumentation because we're going to be facing it all the time. Thanks for watching.