(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Hey man, we are in 1 Corinthians chapter number 5, we're studying the book of Corinthians and we are in chapter number 5. Now I was thinking about this, you know we're doing the wedding and then we have visitors here, I was thinking to myself, man what a perfect time to talk about 1 Corinthians chapter number 5. Now this is not an uncomfortable subject to talk about, it's talking about the main subject here is this matter of fornication, but I was thinking to myself, you know, maybe some people would think, well this is kind of an inappropriate message for a wedding, but if you think about it, it's not because we just had a wedding where two people abstained from fornication, right, and they got married and they did it right, amen. And you know what, we need more of that today in America, we need people who are willing to just abstain from fornication, to just get it right, get married, make that commitment and do things the right way. And thank God that Mark and Lucy did that. So this is not an inappropriate chapter to talk about and whether you feel it's appropriate or not, we're going to teach it anyways, because we did chapter 4 last week and we're doing chapter 6 next week, so we've got to do chapter 5 this week, alright. So look what it says here in verse number 1, it says, it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife. So right off the bat, the chapter does not start good at all, okay. Now what we've been studying in chapters 1, 2, and 3, Paul the Apostle is writing this letter to the church at Corinth, to the leaders there, and he's telling them, you guys are proud, you guys are puffed up, you guys are not dealing with certain things, okay, you guys are glory. And if you look in verse number 20, 21, excuse me, of chapter number 4, it says, what will you? Shall I come unto you with a rod or in love and in the spirit of meekness? So he's saying, look, I'm coming to come talk to you guys face to face, okay. I'm going to come talk to you, we're going to deal with the issues that are at this church, and do you want me to come with a rod? Do you want me to come and chastise, or do you want me to come in the spirit of meekness? Now the reason he's saying that is because he rolls right into chapter number 5 regarding the issue that is taking place in the church. What is the main issue? Fornication. Now fornication is a wicked sin that the Bible highlights and talks about very thoroughly, but this type of fornication is even worse, okay, because, so what is fornication? Well fornication is the voluntary sexual intercourse between two unmarried people, okay, and it's vastly different from this topic of adultery. Some people would mesh in adultery along with fornication and say they're the same exact thing, but they're not, because adultery is a sexual act between two people who are between someone who is married, okay, whether it's one person who's married or both of them, that's called adultery. And the way you can tell that really adultery is far more wicked than fornication is based upon the consequence that God places upon that sin. Well if you study the Old Testament, what God did to those who committed adultery, the law said that they were worthy of death. So capital punishment was executed upon the person who was caught in the act of adultery. Now obviously that's different today, right, but as far as our laws are concerned, however, God still holds to that, and adultery is still wicked and is still worthy of death according to the Bible. Now fornication, on the other hand, according to the Bible, is not worthy of death. What God says in regards to fornication is you guys just need to get married, okay, now, but this is different here, because even in Corinthians, Paul the Apostle is speaking and he says, you know, it is good for a man not to touch a woman, but so that they don't commit fornication, he goes, let every man have his wife. In other words, just get married so you don't commit the wicked sin of fornication. But here we see that that's not necessarily the solution, because this guy who's in the church at Corinth is committing fornication with his stepmom. Now you say, well, hold on a second, if it's his stepmom, you know, isn't that considered adultery? Well, the reason I don't think it's adultery is because it says fornication, which alludes to the fact that potentially his father is dead, okay. So once he's dead, according to the Bible, she's loosed from that, okay, loosed from that, I was going to say bondage, but you know, marriage is not bondage, right? She's loosed from that covenant, but that's still his stepmom. So he's committing fornication with his stepmom. You say, man, that's bad. But you know what's even worse than that is the fact that the church is not doing anything about it. That's the wicked sin that's being taken place as well. It's wicked the fact that he's doing fornication and he's committing it with his stepmother. But what's even worse than that is the fact that the church is tolerating that evil wicked sin. They're just kind of turning a blind eye to it. They're ignoring it. They're just kind of not paying attention to it. They're not disciplining this action. We see right here, now, and here's the thing, it says it's reported commonly. That means everyone knows about it. And you know, some people say, you know, you know, brother, your type of preaching is what turns people away from Christ. But you know, the reality is what really turns people away from Christ is hypocritical churches, okay, that house wicked sins. The pastor's involved in sort of wicked sin when he's running off with the secretary. You know, they're allowing pedophiles and fornication in the church, and everyone's just like, see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. That's what turns people away. Why? Because they see that they're like, you guys are a bunch of hypocrites. That's what really turns people away from the truth. Not hard preaching. Not the fact that we're preaching the word of God, hypocrisy is what turns people away from God. Okay, now, hold your place there in 1 Corinthians chapter number five, go with me to 2 Corinthians chapter number 13. So he says it is reported commonly, that means more than one person is telling Paul. Now, if this were to take place in our modern day, which it does, you know, people would say oh, you can't believe everything you hear, you know, Paul, you need to get the facts. But here's the thing, there's a specific law in the Bible that tells us that under the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall be established, okay. And in fact, 2 Corinthians 13 one, it says this, this is the third time I'm coming to you, which goes to show that they have some issues, in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall be established. So he's saying this, I don't even have to be there at Corinth to know this is taking place. People have already told me. He said, well, hold on a second, how do you know they're telling the truth, though? You know, how do you know, well, this is how you know they're telling the truth, if every single one of their stories adds up. Because obviously, when you have people, there's people out there that slander, they tell lies, they embellish. Well, at that point, you could see if something's true or not, based upon does it hold water? Is what this person says, does it hold water with this person saying, do they make sense? Are they making sense together in regards to their story? But the witnesses that what it's referring to here is this, what he's saying is exactly what that person is saying right there. The details aren't left out, he's saying the same thing, he's saying it, and so are they. You know, obviously, there's slanderers in this world. And there's people who do what's called false accusations and railings. You can tell, you can spot one based upon the details within whatever they're witnessing for. But here it says, it was reported commonly that this guy's committing fornication, which is a sin, a wicked sin, and he's doing it with his stepmother. So this is common, everyone knows about it, okay? Now you don't have to turn there, but I'm gonna read to you from Deuteronomy chapter 19 and verse 15, where it says, one witness shall not rise up against any man, against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, and any sin that he sinneth at the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established. So God's way of doing things is this, where are the witnesses? So you can't just falsely accuse someone and say, oh, this person did this. Well, do you have any witnesses? Do you know if that's true? Why? Because there's people out there that just lie. They lie about leadership or they lie about this, but when you have more than one person saying the same exact thing, okay, then it's credible is what it is, okay? Now go back to 1 Corinthians chapter number 5. Now this is terrible. And the reason for that is because we'll see later on in the chapter that according to the Bible, according to the Word of God, the New Testament, fornicators are not allowed in the church. You say, that's cultish. That is such a cult. No, cults try to keep you in the church, try to get you to drink the Kool-Aid. I'm your master. You do as I tell you to do. And you can't go anywhere, okay? No, this is like, well, if you're a fornicator, you can't be in the church. We're not restraining you to stay here. We're telling you you have to leave is what we're doing, you know? Now obviously there's better options. The option would be right here, get married. You know, and look, if someone comes in here and they're not married, they're living in fornication, but they're safe people, they want to grow in grace, we'll give them the option to say, hey, why don't you get married, you know? Or they can split up and keep coming to church, or they can just get out of the church. You say, that's not fair. Here's the thing, I guarantee you, God's blessing is on this couple more than a couple who's involved in fornication, okay? And look, Mark and Lucy are going to be able to benefit and reap the blessings of being married. They go to bed with a clear conscience. He has his wife, she has her husband. They're not sinning. I'm sure that's a blessing to his mom, to know that, hey, he's married and he's, her little boys growing up, you know, that's a good thing. Why withhold that blessing from someone, right? So the options that we give people is this, if you're in our church and you're involved in fornication and you want to continue to come, these are your options. Option number one, which is the best option, just get married. I love being married. It's the greatest thing, amen? Marriage is a great thing. It's a blessing of the Lord, okay? That's your number one option right there. Get married and we give you a week to do it. Oh, I can't believe it. I need to, you know, plan all these things. Look, go down to the courthouse, get married, and then you don't have to be involved in sin anymore. Because here's the thing, in the Bible, fornicators, even in the Old Testament, God killed fornicators. That's an unrighteous God. Whether you think it's unrighteous or not, he did it. Okay? And look, that ought to instill fear in our hearts to say, man, I ought to do the right thing then. I ought to get married. Now, here's the second option. The second option is to just separate. You can keep coming to church, but you're not sleeping together, you're not shacking up. The third option is this. You've got to leave the church, okay? And we're going to see why God puts that command in the Bible. This is not a cult teaching. You know, you look at all the churches in Los Angeles County or anywhere else, no one even practices this. You know, they try to keep the fornicators in because they want your money is what they want. Okay? They don't want to offend anybody because they want your tithes. They want to keep paying for their beamers and their yachts and all their luxuries. Look, we don't want your money. We want God's blessing on your life. And the way you get is by getting out of sin. Okay? Now, verse number two says, and you're puffed up. Now, what does that mean? It doesn't mean like they're like inflated. Puffed up is a biblical term to mean you're prideful. You know, Paul's telling them this. Okay? He says, you're puffed up. He goes, and have not rather mourned that he which had done this deed might be taken away from among you. So he's saying this, you're keeping that person in the church. And that goes to show that you're prideful. Okay? Now, we've studied previous chapters to this, that Corinth had this characteristic of being prideful. They're glorying, they're glorying in their wisdom. They're saying, yeah, Paul's not going to come and do anything. He's like, you're glorying is not good. But what else do we see them glorying in the fact that they're not kicking someone out who's a fornicator in the church. And he says this, you've not rather mourned. What does more mean? More means to be grieved. It means to be saddened by this. You see, when someone is involved in fornication, it ought to grieve us. Okay? Why? Because it does not end well on any case when you're involved in fornication. Okay? You know, sexually transmitted diseases is not a good ending. Children out of wedlock is not a good ending. You shouldn't talk about, look, I'm a child born out of wedlock. So there. Okay? Yeah. That wasn't around. And you know what? That's that is a that is a result of fornication. Okay? Look, I love my dad. Him and her are good. I honor my dad. You know, he made a mistake. He wasn't even saved. But I'm telling you, this is the this is what happens. So it's not like, oh, you know, just let them just sell their wild oats and no, no, no, no, no, there come grievous consequences to fornication. And that's why Paul says you're not even mourning. These people you're allowing these people to destroy their lives. You know, do you really love them? You know, you're married, you know, the people here, I'm sure they're married, they have their kids, they're doing it right. But they're allowing people to be involved in fornication and they're prideful. They don't care about the people there. Right? He says you're puffed up and have not rather mourn the heat that had done this deed might be taken away from among you. He says that person should leave. So instead of mourning and being grieved over this, they're being prideful. Now what does this tell us? This tells us that they're just tolerating the sin in the church, potentially even covering it up as if nothing ever happened. Now this is the wicked sin in churches today, where sin happens in the church, children get molested. And what do the pastors do? They just cover it up. They don't want to get the leadership in trouble. You know, they don't want to get no one in trouble. They don't want to, they don't want to mar their reputation. Forget your reputation. You know, lives of children are being destroyed and you're worried about your paycheck. You know, it's ridiculous. And of course, I already mentioned on Sunday morning about North Valley Baptist Church. You know, their vice president was found to be a pedophile molesting little girls, molesting one girl for over a year. And what happens, the pastor there is just trying to cover it up like inappropriate conduct. That's not inappropriate conduct. That's evil. You've destroyed that little girl's life. Okay. And anybody who's ever been molested can tell you that, yeah, that little girl's life has been destroyed. But you know what it is? That pastor who's at that church, he's just concerned about the money. That's what he's concerned about. You know, he's like, I don't want to mess up my paycheck. You know what I mean? What about that girl's life? Okay. It's wicked. You know, we're not to tolerate sin. And look, you said, well, do you think you're sinless? No, obviously I'm a sinner. You know, we're all sinners. The Bible says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But first Corinthians chapter five highlights specific sins that you can't be in the church for. Okay. Oh, well, are you saying you're not a drunkard? No, I'm not a drunkard. I don't, I don't, I don't drink at all. Maybe some Nyquil when I'm sick or something, you know, I don't drink at all. Okay. And here's the thing. You can say, well, you know, you're a sinner. We're all sinners. Yeah. But the fact remains is that God says that's fine, but fornicators specifically, if you're committing the act of fornication, you should not be in the church. But aren't you sinning when you lust in your heart? You know, you said, brother Bruce, do you lust in your heart? Yes, I'm a man. Okay. And that's, that's a common sin that every man struggles with. But here's the thing. God does not say, if you sin in your mind, you can't be in the church. Okay. And look, I'm not a pervert. I'm not going around lusting after women, but the fact remains there's a big difference between lusting in your heart and actually committing the actual act of fornication with someone according to the word of God. Okay. Look, this may be like, you're like, well, man, this is different than the wedding sermon. Well, but these things need to be talked about. Okay. Look at verse number three. So he's not there. Remember this. He's writing this letter. And he says this, for I verily as absent in the body, but present in spirit, have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together in my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Okay. So verse number three. So this is very important because he says this, I'm not even there and I've judged. Well, this is very different with what we hear today, don't we? Don't judge. Oh, don't judge. Don't judge that you be not judged. And what they mean by that is you can't call out any sin. You can't say when someone's wrong or when someone's involved in sin. It's a snowflake generation where they can't be told that they're wrong. Okay. You know, the millennial generation where they just want to be praised and can't be told that they're wrong or two plus two is five. No, it's four. And it's just like, oh, you can't do that. Let them say that it's five. You're going to hurt their self-esteem. Look, you look back, look, I'm not even that old, but I know this. I know that in generations past, the reason the people were so tough in the generations of past is because they were corrected. Okay. Cause they were spanked. All right. And look, spankings are good. Spankings are needed. But you know what we have today? We have a bunch of brats who are now adults who don't want to be judged according to anything. Okay. They don't want, you know, don't judge me. Don't judge. Here he says this, I've already judged. He's like, I'm not even there. I hear about what you're doing and I've judged it already. Okay. So it goes to show us we don't need necessarily even have to be present in a certain circumstance or situation to judge it because why? He's already heard it from the mouth of two or three witnesses. It is commonly reported. Therefore he judged it. He goes, as though I were present concerning him that hath so done this deed and the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such an one unto Satan, man, for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Now first and foremost, I want to make a quick assessment here. So he says this, in the name of Jesus, we are to deliver this guy unto Satan. Okay. Now we're not charismatic. We're not Pentecostal. We're not, you know, like the demon's going to come in here and just take that person away or something and, you know, go all crazy. What we're saying is we need to cast him out and let God deal with him. Okay. Let God deal with that person. Let him destroy his life. He said, whoa, man, that's, that's, that's harsh language. That's what Paul said. He says for the destruction of the flesh. Because here's the thing, if this person is cast out, they're saved, God's going to chastise that person for being in sin and he's going to destroy his flesh. What's that going to do? It's going to cause him to want to get right with God. I don't believe that. Well, read 2 Corinthians because he does get right with God. So they cast him out and then he comes back and he's repented. You know, he's repenting of what he's done. And then Paul has to go back and tell the church of Corinth, hey, you guys got to forgive this guy. He's trying to get right. You know, it's like now you've gone on the other, the extreme side. You don't even want to forgive him. It's like, no, forgive the guy. He's trying to get this right. He's repenting. And look, this is where people get confused. It's like, man, you guys are so mean spirited. Look, if a person repents of their fornication, they come back, we never throw it in their face. Ready to come back, fornicator? You know, we don't do that. When we see that person and they're like, hey, I repented of this. I got it right. It's like, hey man, let's go get a burger, let's go get a coffee. You know, people don't like shove it in their face. We let that person just move on with their lives because that's the purpose. See, the purpose of this is to restore a brother. It's not just to shove it in their face. It's to get them to get it right, repent, and welcome them back into fellowship and to God's blessing once again. But he says there, to deliver such a one and to save him for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus. Now, this verse, verse number five, you know, people who believe they can lose their salvation will commonly use a verse like this to say, oh, see, that's why you got to make sure you live a clean life. Because if not, you know, your spirit won't be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Now, this is what I believe about this verse. If you believe something different, if you have a better interpretation of this, then, you know, see me right after the service. You know, I'm not perfect in my interpretation, but this is what I gather from this. All right. Take what you want from it. I believe that this guy is saved. Okay, let me say that first and foremost. I believe he's saved. The reason for that is because he's in church and the Bible later on says relating to his sin calls him a brother. Okay. But I believe this man is saved. So he's being excommunicated out of the church for the destruction of the flesh. But you say, well, why does it say then that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus? Now, go a couple chapters, go to 1 Corinthians chapter number three. Why does it say that? I don't necessarily think it means saved as in being saved the way we would say as far as being justified is concerned. Obviously, there's multiple times in the Bible where the word saved is used and it's in reference to us being justified before God. But there's also other times when it's used when it's not talking about that. Okay. Now, 1 Corinthians chapter three, look at verse number 15. It says, if any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. Now in 1 Corinthians chapter five and verse number five, it says that the spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus. Now we believe that we don't believe a person is saved on the day of our Lord Jesus. The spirit is not saved on that day. When are they saved? The day that they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ on this earth is when they get saved. Okay. So the Bible tells us, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works that any man should boast. And the way you can know for a fact that you're going to heaven when you die is that you believe on Jesus Christ. You trust in him as your personal savior and only him. You don't trust in your works. You're not trusting in the fact that you're a good person, quote unquote. You're trusting in the fact that Jesus Christ died, was buried and resurrected and that he's sufficient enough to save you. That's what saves you. So the day that you do that, which could be today, the Bible says you can be saved today. That's the day that your spirit gets saved according to the Bible. But it says there that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Well, what is the day of the Lord? It's referring to the judgment seat of Christ when he hashes out of the rewards for his servants for the works that they've done on this earth. So 1 Corinthians chapter number three is talking about that. That's the context they're in. When it says that his works shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, he's referring to the fact that your works, God's going to try your works to see of what sort it is, whether it's good or bad. Some of them are going to burn. Why? Because there were worthless works that you did. And some people, they're saved. They don't work for God. They don't do anything for the Lord. But because they believe, they're still saved. Because you're not saved based upon the works that you do. You can come to church 365 days a year for the rest of your life and that won't save you. You can give to charity. You can do, you think of the greatest work that could ever be done. That will not save you. After you get saved though, when we work after salvation, the Bible says we can earn rewards. We're basically working for God and he's going to pay us at the end. Well it says here, he's going to try those works. Well some won't get anything and it says there that, why? Because they will be burned, they will suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. In other words, all he gets is salvation. Which is still good. Amen? You're still going to heaven. You're not going to hell. You're not going to burn forever, but you don't get anything else other than that. So they're saved, yet so as by fire. And look at verse 16. Knowing not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you, if any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. So doesn't that sound similar to when we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse number 5 where it says, he delivers them unto Satan for the destruction of what? The flesh. Well in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, it's referring to the temple which is our flesh. You see what I'm saying? He said, but still you haven't answered the fact that it says for the destruction of the flesh that the Spirit might be saved in the day of our Lord. Why does he say that? Well let me first say this, is that once you're saved, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit of God comes to live within you. And the Bible says he's there until the day of redemption, until the day you go to heaven. He's sealed there until the day of redemption. Go to Daniel chapter number 12. So because if you think about it, let's say God doesn't chastise you. Which obviously the Bible teaches us that if a saved person is involved in sin, God is going to chastise that person. But let's say that concept and that doctrine did not exist in the Bible, where he doesn't chastise. So a person in other words gets involved in sin and they're just perpetually in that sin and they're just destroying their lives and God never executes any judgment on that person. He doesn't sic Satan on them and their flesh never gets destroyed. Let's say that he's allowed to live that way for years until he dies, okay? So he's going to have a lot burning for him at the judgment seat of Christ. Because he was allowed for so many years to commit these wicked sins that all these works that he did, they're just going to burn because he did nothing for God. So what is he being saved from? In my opinion, he's being saved from shame. I'm going to prove that, okay? Look at, where do I have your turn, Daniel? Daniel chapter number 12, verse number 1, it says, And at that time shall Michael stand up the great prince which stands for the children of thy people. And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. So the Bible is telling, by the way, contempt means shame, it means loss, okay? I don't think this is referring to someone who's going to hell. I think this is referring to someone who's actually suffering loss that we see in 1 Corinthians chapter number 3. They're going to be ashamed. Why? Because they're not getting nothing. In fact, do you remember in Timothy where it says if we deny him, he will also what? Deny us. Will he deny our salvation? No, he'll deny us rewards. Now you put yourself in those shoes. You're in heaven, you're about to get your rewards and you don't get nothing. How shameful, how ashamed will you feel on that day? In fact, some to shame and everlasting contempt. You will be there for all of eternity knowing that you didn't get nothing when you got there. You see what I'm saying? So when I see 1 Corinthians chapter number 5 when it says for the destruction of the flesh, God's basically cutting your life short if you're involved in sin. So you don't shame yourself even more by continuing in that sin and just destroying your life and then you'll be, I mean your contempt will be everlasting even more so than if he wouldn't have taken your life. So the Bible says in 2 John verse 8, it says look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought but that we receive a full reward. You see, we want to receive a full reward. Thank God for salvation, we're saved if we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but guess what? After that, we need to get some rewards. We're working here, we get to serve the Lord and get those things which were those rewards that moth and rust that's not corrupt nor thieves break through and steal. We get these everlasting rewards but you know what, a lot of Christians are not going to get anything. They'll get salvation, they'll be saved yet so as by fire but they won't get anything. Oh, I take that back, they're going to get everlasting contempt, shame because they didn't do anything for God. So yeah, the Christian you say, because sometimes people say, I can't believe you just say the people could get saved and they can just live however they want but you know what? That person may live it up here and get involved in all kinds of sin here but you know we're a lot longer over there than we are going to be here. And that everlasting contempt will last forever. That shame of the fact that you knew that you didn't do anything for the Lord. Now go with me to Hebrews chapter number 12. So this is a biblical teaching that we can deliver people into Satan. I'm not saying as soon as you leave the doors, like you know, it's like, oh man, these demons and you just like, spirits should just start attacking you. We're not that kind of church. What we're saying is this, is that God, and this is recorded multiple times in the Bible, where God uses Satan, you know, perfect example of this is Job. Now Job was not in sin, but you know, he allowed him to be tested and he used Satan to do it. He uses Satan to chastise people, okay, because why? Because Satan is not just allowed to roam freely, he's on a short leash. You know, Hollywood likes to paint Satan as being his own entity and he can do whatever he wants and you know, it's him versus God. No, God is greater than Satan. Okay, Satan got nothing on God, all right. He has to get permission from God to do certain things. Even when he was attacking Job, he's like, okay, you can touch all his finances and all that stuff, but don't touch his body. And he did it. And then after he goes, okay, touch his body, but don't kill him. He had to get permission for these things, okay. So it's not like Satan's, you know, all powerful, almighty, no, God is almighty, okay. So let that be a lesson to us to understand, look, God loves you, but because he loves you, he's even willing to chastise you to make sure you get right with him, okay. Because look, any parent who loves their child will spank their child, you know, to teach them obedience, to teach them how to live holy and righteously. If they love them, they'll do those things. Well, where do we get that from? We get that from God. You don't have to turn there. I'm going to read to you from Proverbs 3, verse 11 says, my son, despite not the chastening, chastening is that whooping, despite not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction, for whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth. Even as a father, the son in whom he delighteth, happy is the man that find his wisdom and the man that get his understanding. Now, this is reiterated in Hebrews chapter 12, verse number six, look what the Bible reads, for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If he endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons, for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if he be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live? I got to tell you the story. So yesterday, who was I with? I was with Milan. You know, we're at this, we're sowing yesterday, and we're knocking on doors preaching the gospel. And it was kind of dry, right? It was a little dry. But we get to this one door, and this guy's washing dishes, and it's like, hey, hi, how's it going? You know, my name is Bruce. Want to give an invite to our church? He walks all the way up to me, past the garage, and, you know, I say, you know, you go to church anywhere? He goes, yeah, I used to go to church. And he kind of gives me his little dissertation of the church that he used to go to. And I said, well, you know what more important than church is knowing where you're going to go when you die. Are you 100 percent sure that if you die today, you go to heaven? And he said, I'm not. I said, you got a couple minutes? Can I show you from the Bible? I'm busy right now. And he said, are you sure? It'll only take a couple minutes. And he goes, all right, go ahead. Well, we'll turn it into, like, a couple minutes, turn it into 40 minutes. And look, my gospel presentation is never 40 minutes, okay? But this guy, he was trying to just understand the gospel. And so I'm giving him the gospel, I'm giving him the gospel, and he's just stuck on this whole thing about repenting of your sins. He's just stuck on it. He's not being stubborn. He had to overcome that thought that you don't have to repent of your sins, you don't have to do works, you don't have to be a good person to go to heaven. You know, the Bible says that salvation is a gift, okay? So a gift is what? It's without condition. It's something that's free, right? So for God to say, here's salvation, but you've got to make sure you live a holy life, keep the commandments, and do all these things, that's not a gift. A gift comes without condition, okay? It's not a wage, it's a gift. And so I'm explaining this to him, we're going through verses after verses, and I'm gonna tell myself, this guy's not getting it, I'm ready to just give up and move on. But I just kept at it, and we kept at it, and just showing him verses after verse after verse, and he goes, but I think I got saved before, he said. He goes, because I repented of my sin and all these things, and I said, his name was Marty. I said, Marty. And I just told him, I said, according to the Bible, if you say you've trusted Christ, but you're also repenting of your sins, according to the Bible, you're not saved. And I said, let me explain it to you, let me show you what the Bible says about that. And it was just, he was having such a hard time getting it, but finally, it's like the light bulb went on. And he goes, so if I believe on Christ, I'm saved, I'm going to heaven. I said, yes. And he goes, and if I continue in sin, I won't receive punishment in the life to come. And I didn't tell him this. He goes, you're saying that I'm gonna receive the punishment here on this earth. I said, exactly. Actually, I was in the way, Milan behind me, he's like, yes, he's like, you got it. And it was just like, I get it. I was like, yeah, I'm not saying you can just sin and nothing's ever gonna happen to you. What I'm saying is this, you will never suffer hell because of your sin. But if you continue in the sin that he was explaining to me about, yeah, you will suffer the consequences of that here on this earth, you know, because God will chastise him for that. And you know what, that's better than going to hell. And look, the chastisement of the Lord, according to Hebrews 12, produces the peaceable fruits of righteousness. That's where God's blessing is. So he finally understood. And then finally, I said, you know, and went through the eternal security and all that, he believed all that. I said, would you like to get saved? And he said, yes. So I said, all right, pray with me. I can pray with you and you can trust Christ as your Savior. And then I remember we closed our eyes and I started saying the words and he wasn't like repeating what I was saying. I was like, is this guy being weirder than me? You know, what's up with this guy, you know? But I looked up and it was just because he was crying. It's just tears just dripping down from his face. The fact that he understood I'm not working for my salvation anymore is solely upon. And then it was he was having a hard time repeating the words I was saying. He was choking up. And then afterwards, you know, he's crying. I said, man, congratulations. I said, today is May 23rd. And he has the day you got saved. And he told me, he goes, what time is it? What time is it? Is it six thirty? He goes, six thirty. And then he was just like so happy the fact that he got saved. And I said, do you have any questions, Marty? And he goes, yeah, I do. He's like, where's your church? He's like, and I said, I got a couple of gifts I want to give to you. And I was giving. And he said this. He goes, this morning I woke up and I said, God, I just want some answers. I just need some answers. And the answer he's looking for is how to be saved. What must I do to be saved? He goes, can you please just give me some answers? And he goes, and then you guys came. You know? And I told, I said, I said, amen. I said, God sent us, man. I said, we're no one special, but God answered your prayers. And look, that goes to show you that if someone really wants to be saved and want to know how, God will send someone. A foolish man like me, someone who's despised or whatever, he'll send us to go and give them the gospel and get them saved. But he understood. I'm saved now. And if I continue in the sin, God's going to destroy my life here on this earth. But I have everlasting life. And that's what's happening here. So go back to, go to First Timothy chapter number one. Look, that's what the Bible says. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Why? Because God loves us so much that he's willing to chastise us to get us back. Even to the point that he'll kill us. Oh, I can't believe you said that. Yeah, God will do it. It's just the thing. Look, just think about it. I'm not crazy here. If God kills you, what happens to you? Go to heaven. In other words, he's like, you're done. Let's just come home. You need to come home. You know, it's like my son, my son, you know, sometimes I let him stay up at night so we can play, but then everything starts irritating him. Like we're not playing the exact way he wants us to play. And then he's just whining. It's just like, okay, fun's over. You're going to bed. It's like, it's time to go to bed because nothing is pleasing this kid. He's not happy with anything we're doing. It's just like, it's time to go to bed. Come on son. And I pick him up. He's like, he's like, no. He's just like, but then as soon as you put him down, he goes to sleep. The best thing that can happen to my son is not that we keep playing. The best thing that can happen to him is that he goes to sleep because tomorrow's another day. He'll wake up with a great spirit and we can have fun again. You know what I mean? So the best thing to happen to a person, obviously dying soon is not the best option. You want to make sure you stay here in this world so you can work for God, get God's blessing, enjoy the goodness of God on this earth. But you're involved in sin. God's going to be like, you know, I'm just taking you home so you don't have to keep destroying your life. And I'm going to save your spirit on the day of the Lord Jesus Christ, save you from shame and everlasting contempt. Okay. That's still good God. The fact that he would do that. Now look at first Timothy chapter one, verse number 18, it says, this charge I committed to these son Timothy, according to the prophecies, which went before on the, the down by the Midas war, good warfare, holding faith in a good conscience, which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander whom I have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. Now we don't know exactly what Hymenaeus did and Alexander. We don't know exactly what they did. We know they blaspheme, but the Bible says that Paul gave them over to Satan. Okay. Why? For the destruction of the flesh. Go back to first Corinthians chapter number five. So this is what he's saying to do to this guy who's involved in this wicked sin. He goes, you need to cast them out so he can be delivered unto Satan. Verse number six, it says, your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaven at the whole lump. Now what is he saying? Glory is just another word for pride. He was like, man, you guys are being too prideful. You guys are prideful. And he says, don't you know that a little leaven, leaven at the whole lump, leaven is basically like yeast. It's the yeast that you put into bread. And when you put yeast into bread, it just spreads all up in the bread. It fluffs it up and makes it bigger, but it spreads. Okay. So he's comparing sin to leaven because once you allow sin into the church and it goes unchecked, you know what it does? It spreads. Okay. So he's saying is this, don't just let fornication be just like rampant in the church. Why? Because then you're going to tolerate other sins. Then you're going to tolerate pedophilia. Then you're going to tolerate adultery. You're going to tolerate sodomites. And God says, I don't want you to tolerate any of that. Don't let it spread. Because that's what sin does. As soon as it gets in, it spreads. And look, this is not just for a church. This is individually. If you allow sin to go unchecked in your personal lives, you don't confess it. You don't get it right. It spreads. Okay. It begins to spread into your heart. You know, and he's like, well, you know, I got this down. I'm good to go. I'm in church. You know, you allow sin in your life, you'll be out of church in no time. That's the way it works. So this is not just a principle for the church, but this is principles for us as well. We need to make sure that we're checking the sin in our lives, that we're not, we're making sure that we're reading the Bible, we're in church, we're doing that, which is right in the eyes of God. Why? Because a little leaven, living it the whole love. And what happens? You will destroy your life. Okay. Now, they're glorying in their wisdom. They're glorying that Paul wouldn't come. They're glorying in the fact they're not casting out the fornicator. Let me read to you from James 1 14 says, but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust has conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death. So it's not like, oh, I just got this little sin in my life, you know, nothing's gonna happen to me. Well, you know, according to the Bible sin, when it is finished, it brings forth death. There's never just sin in your life where you just bypass the consequences of your sin. No, no, no, it brings forth death. Look at verse number seven, Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened, for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. So in Acts chapter seven, you don't have to turn there. It talks about the church in the wilderness. So God executed this principle even in the Old Testament. You think of Achan, when Achan took of the accursed thing, we won't turn there in the Old Testament, when he took of the accursed thing, God says, God said, deal with it. You know, Joshua, go get that guy in his family. He took of the accursed thing. You need to make sure you purge them out, because if not, sin will spread in the camp. And it's the same principle that we see today, Phineas, right, Phineas is like, you know, they're fornicating over there, God, don't worry, I'm taking care of it, grabs the javelin, kills both of them, and the plague is stayed according to the Bible. All right. He said, Whoa, hold on, are you saying that we should drive javelins into fornicators in our church? No, because obviously, this is in the Old Testament, God was the government. He deputized his people to do these things, okay, obviously, we're not under that right now. Now, we will be in the millennial reign, according to the Bible, but right now we're not. In the New Testament, as a church, the Bible says we should cast out, purge out that leaven, purge out that sin out of our church. Look, our church is not perfect at all. You stay here for any length of time, you realize I'm not perfect, and I realize that you're not perfect either, amen, because no one is, okay? But does that mean we just allow sin to go rampant in the church? No. We got to make sure we check it, we got to make sure we purge it out. Verse 13, let's see here, where are we at? Your glory is not good, verse 6, sorry, your glory is not good knowing not that a little leavened leaven at the whole lump, purge out therefore the old leaven that you may be a new lump as ye are unleavened, for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, therefore let us keep the feast with, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. So God is saying, look, when you cast people out of the church for being fornicators and some of the other sins that we're going to see right here, you're actually being sincere. You're actually being honest and truthful for that, because people who don't do that, they're not being honest with themselves. You're saying, oh, it's because we're loving. You're not loving by doing that. You know, churches want to make it seem as though they're loving by not kicking people out of the church. That's not loving, because you're deceiving people into thinking that they can continue in that sin, and everything's going to be a-okay. Oh, you're living fornication, don't worry, man, we still love you. God loves you. Everything's going to be a-okay. Roses and daisies, don't worry about it. But you wouldn't commit that sin, right, Pastor? You know, you wouldn't allow that in your family, you wouldn't allow your daughters and your sons to be involved in that wicked sin, but it's okay for the church members to be involved in that sin. That's wicked. That's not sincere. That's not truthful. That's malicious and wicked, according to the Bible. Verse nine says, I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or even with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters, for then must he needs go out of the world. So he says this, because I wrote before that you shouldn't company with fornicators. Company means you shouldn't just hang out with people who fornicate. And then he says extortioners, and of course we know drunkards as well. Now often there's a thought process that people think, well, we can't hang out with any fornicator or any drunkard outside of the church. Well, if they're unsaved, you shouldn't just, your best friend shouldn't just be like a fornicator, right? Okay? You shouldn't just be hanging out with drunkards and all these things. But look, if you're trying to win them to the Lord, obviously that's different. Now he's gonna specifically say what we can do, or excuse me, what we really shouldn't do. Verse number 11, it says, but now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such and one know not to eat. So it says this, look, you can't stay away from all fornicators of this world, because if you were to do that, you need to like take a spaceship and go to the moon. Because people are sinners. People who are not Christians, who are not saved, you know, they're involved in fornication, they're not evil people, they just probably just don't know any better. They never heard a sermon on fornication. They don't know the consequences of it. So we don't hate anybody like that. And in fact, the Bible says, look, obviously, you got to deal with these people and you're their friends because you want to win them. But you can't just not company with them. Because if, and if that's the case, you need to go to Mars, because the whole world is involved in fornication, especially like today, fornication is something that is like, lightly looked upon. It's not a bad thing, or according to the Bible, still a bad thing. But here it says, but now I've written unto you that you shouldn't keep company with fornicators if someone is called a brother. Now, that doesn't mean that the brother is their name, okay? He's saying a person who is saved, someone who says they're a Christian, he says you shouldn't keep company with them. And don't even eat with them, it says. I'm not saying this. This is not my opinion. All right? Don't say, oh, man, that guy is weird, man. He says, no, I didn't say, I'm reading what the Bible says. And the Bible says right there, with such and one know not to eat. So he says, if you know anybody who's a Christian, they're involved in fornication, or they are covetous, okay, they're all about the bling bling, you know, they're all about the money. It says an idolater or a railer, a railer is someone who's just falsely accusing someone, they're trying to cause division in the church. Okay, a drunkard, what is a drunkard? Someone who drinks alcohol, right? But not just that, pot smoking. Okay, smoking, ganja, marijuana, or anything of the sort, you're a drunkard, according to the Bible. So hold on a second, drunkard just means alcohol, no, no, no, no, no. Drunkard means you're not sober. And if you're smoking pot, guess what, you're not sober, okay? Talk to any pot smoking guy, who's high, you will come to the realization within the first five seconds of that conversation, that guy's not sober, okay? Extortioner, what's an extortioner? That's a person who basically says this, give me this money or else. If there's anybody in our church who ever threatens you, okay, whoever says, hey, don't tell pastor this, but you need to give me this money or else I'm gonna put your dirty laundry out there. Come talk to me. We'll go talk to that person. Because the Bible says there's no extortioners, that's wicked, okay? With such a window not to eat. So why is that? Because they need to be ashamed, okay? So if someone gets kicked out of the church and you're still hanging out with them, they're not suffering the chastisement of God because you're sympathizing with their sin. And we need to make sure that the people who get cast out of our church, they get ostracized. And it's not because we hate them, it's because we want them to get restored so they can come back. That is the end goal for this situation here. Now it says verse number 12, let me see here, I wanna make sure we're not skipping anything. So along with that, so we have to judge. If someone's a fornicator in our church or involved in these things, we have to judge these things. And people say, well hey, Jesus didn't judge. He judged. Okay. Look, I'm not even up here with the cord of small cords and whipping people. Jesus did that. He's like making the cord, he's flipping tables. He's whipping people out of the church. He's going crazy. This is the son of God we're talking about doing this. He did that. He judged. And in fact the Bible says in John 7, 7, the world cannot hate you, but me it hated, Jesus speaking here, because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil. You know what that means? That means he judged. He's a man, that's evil. The works here are evil. All you shouldn't judge. Hey, we ought to be like Jesus, amen. Meek and humble and judgmental as well. Okay. Now, I'm not saying just flippantly judge with no facts, because there are people like that, obviously. They just run their mouth, they don't have the facts, they don't know what's really going on, and it's false. It's a false accusation. I'm talking about when we know the facts. I'm not just going to go up to people and say, hey, are you fornicating? I heard you're fornicating. I know you got that look on your face. I see how you look at your girlfriend. No, that's not my business. But you know what? If we hear of something, I have no problem going up to you, hey, are you guys married? Like, no, we're not married. Okay. Now, are you guys living together? Oh, yeah, yeah, okay. And then we give them the options. You see, that's because I care for the people. You see, isn't that uncomfortable? Of course it's uncomfortable. That's an uncomfortable thing to do. But look, if I'm going to be sincere, truthful, and loving to you, I have to ask that uncomfortable question for your sake. Okay. Now, it says there, for what have I to do to judge them also that are without, do not ye judge them that are within? So you're saying this, look, I'm not going to judge the people out there in the world for things. I'm concerned with the things that are going on in the church. And you need to judge the people who are in the church. I'm not saying have a judgmental sphere where everyone's getting judged. And look, don't think that, talk to anybody here. I'm not like that. But if something comes up, we got to judge it. Okay. In fact, there's a book in the Bible that's literally called Judges. The Book of Judges. It's all about judging. And those are considered good people in the Bible, okay, the judges. So judgment is something that's necessary. Well, you say, what's the other option if we don't judge? You tolerate everything. You just allow sin to go rampant. You just, toleration, don't judge, you know. Well, you know what? You can take that philosophy and take it somewhere else. But it's not taking place in the church. Okay. Because this is God's church. We got to run it the way God wants us to run it. Verse 13 says, but them that are without God judgeth, therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. Now this goes to show you, there is a false teaching out there called the universal church teaching. Okay. What they say is basically this, all believers all over the world are part of one universal church. Okay. That we're all part of this huge, I don't know, the mega church or something that's like spiritual or whatever. Well, that's false. Because the Bible teaches that there are local churches, visible churches. And the way we can reinforce that teaching, the way I can prove that to you is if the Bible tells us that we need to cast out a person out of the church, if we're part of the universal church, how is that even possible? Right. Because as soon as we cast them out, it's like, ah ha, I'm still in the church. You know, it's like, we're still part of the universal church. I'm still here. It's just like, that wouldn't make sense. But because they're local churches, yes, we can cast them out and they're no longer assembling with that congregation of believers. But it says there in verse number 13, here's the solution. You need to put away from among yourselves that wicked person, you need to get them out of the church. Okay. And look, we're going to practice this until Christ comes back. All right. And it's not a weird teaching. It's not odd. Look, even companies have requirements for their employees, right? They won't tolerate certain, certain conducts in their companies. How much more should the church of God adhere to the, to what God says in his word about these things? It needs to be done. So we can't just, oh, you know what? We just want to be loving for everyone and make sure that nothing bad happens, no one gets offended. No. We need to make sure that we fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Amen. So what's the sermon tonight? The sermon is this. Good job for doing it right. Amen. They got, they got married. They're doing it right. And look, we want to make sure that every single wedding that we have here is a reflection of that. Okay. That we're trying to do things God's way. Okay. And look, if you're in here today, you like our church and you say, but I'm involved in fornication. Well, now you know what the Bible says about it. So you can't say you don't know about it. Okay. And those are your three options. It's not an unloving thing to do. We love you. We want you to, to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but not at the expense of church discipline. Okay. It's not at the expense of saying, nah, we're not going to adhere to these principles here. No, we need to adhere to the principles of God. Amen. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this day. Thank you for our salvation. Thank you for Mark and Lucy and the fact that they came here, Lord, and they got married and they're doing it right. Lord, I pray that you help us as a church to keep it pure and Lord, we're not perfect, but we're trying not to be hypocrites. We're trying to make sure that we adhere to the commandments found within your word as best as we possibly can. And help us not to tolerate sin, but to deal with it, not just in the church, but even in our personal lives that we not allow sin to go unchecked in our hearts. You've told us if we regard iniquity in our heart, you will not hear us. And I pray that you'd help us to confess, forsake, repent of our sins on a daily basis. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen.