Amen.
OK, well, 1 Corinthians chapter 5.
And obviously, we know the context of this chapter.
We just read it together.
I am going to split this into two sermons.
But if for some reason I just get through this first three
points quickly, then maybe I will move on to the other one.
But I'm trying to preach it in two sermons
because there's eight pages.
I know how I am.
I know how I am with eight pages.
And I just want to do this chapter justice.
It's really important.
I did preach a sermon about this when I was in Yakima
not too long ago.
But it was seven ways to get kicked out of church.
The title of the sermon tonight is eight ways
to get kicked out of church.
Because there was one that I missed when I was there.
Now, I could preach three ways to get kicked out of church.
And it would still be right.
So there was just one that I left off.
And when I get to that one, it'll be the last point.
So if I don't preach about it tonight,
I would be in two weeks when I come back.
So anyway, 1 Corinthians 5, verse 1, what the Bible says,
it is reported commonly that there
is a fornication among you.
And such fornication as is not so much
as named among the Gentiles that one
should have his father's wife.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord,
so much for the scriptures.
Pray that you'd help me as I preach this sermon.
And Lord, to just rightly divide your word.
And Lord, that I would do it justice.
I pray you'd just fill me with your spirit
now as I begin to preach in Jesus' name, amen.
All right, so last sermon I kind of
preached about just kind of what's
expected of leaders and stewardship and things
like that.
And so now Paul's switching gears back again
to the problems.
So what's the main theme of 1 Corinthians?
It's that this church has some problems.
And so Paul's trying to help them with the problems
that they have going on in this church.
And obviously, this is a mainly Gentile church.
And Paul was the apostles of the Gentiles.
So they're not used to the way the things were done with the
Jews.
The Jews weren't sinners of the Gentiles or whatever.
So they didn't have the law of God.
They didn't grow up with it.
It's kind of like being one of us that just gets saved at a later
age or something, and they kind of just don't really,
they didn't go to church.
Jews grew up learning the Bible.
But Gentiles, nowadays, they might grow up learning the Bible.
But back then, not so much.
And that's not an excuse, obviously.
But they were used to living a different way
than the Jews were living.
So it says here that it's reported commonly.
And so what does that mean?
It means frequently, frequently that there
is fornication among you.
So Paul is hearing all these reports about fornication
going on in this church.
And such fornication is not so much named among the Gentiles.
So even the Gentiles were not named
to do this type of fornication.
And what makes it worse?
Well, that one should have his father's wife.
That's disgusting.
And it's not right.
And so even the Gentiles, he's saying,
they aren't saved no better than to do that.
And this is happening at a church.
So now there's a difference between fornication
and adultery.
So fornication is when you're sleeping around with someone
that you're not married to or multiple people or whatever.
Adultery is when you're sleeping around with someone
and you are married or that person is married.
So this person, obviously, what a lot of people think,
and I personally believe this too,
is that the father is probably dead at this point.
Otherwise, I would say this is an adultery that's
taking place at the church.
So I personally think that the father is not alive anymore
or maybe divorced or something like that.
But still, it's still not right.
So even in the book of Genesis, it kind of lays this out.
It's not right.
In Leviticus, it lays it out.
But fornication is a wicked sin that should not
be named even in the church period,
let alone this kind of fornication it's talking about.
But all fornication is wicked.
So fornication is not something that
should be named at this church.
We should avoid fornication.
Our young people need to grow up and understand
that you're supposed to keep yourself pure,
keep yourself a virgin until you go to the marriage altar.
That's when you should have your first kiss.
That's the first time you should hold hands.
That's the first time you should hug
is when you're already married.
And so God, people don't think this is a big deal,
but it is a big deal.
God killed 22,000 people on one day because of fornication.
And so it is a big deal to him.
And fornication is a sin that can harm your own body.
And so it's not something to play around with.
You can make this mistake and then
carry some kind of disease for the rest of your life.
And do you want to be that person that's
explaining to your future spouse how
that you have some disease that you can't get rid of?
Do you still want to marry me?
It's tough.
And look, people make mistakes.
I understand not everybody comes from various backgrounds.
And I'm not trying to beat anybody down tonight
or anything like that.
But if you know the truth, then keep it and do what's right.
And children, don't ever grow up and go off of the fornication.
You need to get married to somebody and stay with them
for the rest of your life.
That's what the Bible teaches.
If you want to be married, if you want to do this act,
then you need to be married when you're doing it.
And then it's not just something that's not a big deal.
It's a big deal to God.
And so it's a thing that will get you kicked out of church.
So he brings up this example of fornication.
And it is a wicked sin.
And especially this situation that Paul's talking about,
he's saying it's commonly reported that there's
fornication among you.
I don't think he's just talking about this one instance.
He's talking about it's probably multiple people.
And so this is the problem when you just let sin into church
and it's just not a big deal.
There's lots of churches today that just allow this
to take place and the pastor will never say anything
to anybody because you know what?
All they care about is putting butts in seats
and putting money in tithing plates.
That's all they care about.
They would not confront a couple and say,
hey, you need to get married or you need to get out.
Because that's the policy of this church.
If I find out that someone's in fornication,
then they're going to get a week to decide
what they want to do.
And if they don't get that done,
then they're going to be gone.
And look, I don't want to kick people out of here.
But this sermon is eight ways to get kicked out of church.
One of the ways is fornication.
That'll get you kicked out of church.
But I don't want to get too far ahead of myself.
I want to get over to Genesis chapter 35
and there's a story in the Bible where,
and obviously I think that this is adultery,
but it's still the same principle
where you're not supposed to mess around
with your father's wife or your, you know, whatever.
That's just weird, right?
So you're like, well, that person might not be
directly related to, but they are because
when you get married, you become one flesh.
And so that's what makes it weird, okay?
And so Genesis chapter 35 verse 22,
it's talking about Reuben and Bilhah.
Look at it says, in verse 22 it says,
And it came to pass when Israel dwelt in that land
that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine
and Israel heard it.
Now the sons of Jacob were 12.
So Reuben was one of Jacob's sons
and he went into Bilhah, which means that he
carnally lay with her.
He, you know, slept with her,
which was his father's concubine.
Now, I preached this sermon not too long ago
about how I personally believe,
and I think the Bible teaches this,
that concubines are, they're wives,
but they're just not on the level of like.