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. . . . How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful. Let's open up our handbooks to song number 10. We'll turn our handbooks to song number 10. Knee of the Cross. Song number 10. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Knee of the Cross. Welcome to All Ladies. You don't necessarily have to be a mother or have your mother with you. If you're a lady, you're welcome to attend. So if you'd like more details about that, you can always speak with my wife and she'll fill you in. And that will do it for announcements this morning. Let's go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching. Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. The rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. And there, at this time, we'll pass you over the plate as it goes around. Let's open up our Bibles to 1 Corinthians, chapter 5. That's 1 Corinthians, chapter 5. As always, we'll read the entire chapter. Please follow the law silently. Brother Gabriel reads to us from 1 Corinthians, chapter 5. 1 Corinthians, chapter 5. Verse 1 of the Bible reads, Verse 2 of the Bible reads, Verse 2 of the Bible reads, Thank you so much. Thank you for your goodness and mercy. Thank you for the opportunity to be in your house, Lord. Just bless the service, Lord God. And build deacon with your spirit. Just give us a heart understanding, Lord. Thank you for all you do for us. In Jesus' holy name we pray. Amen. Amen. So, 1 Corinthians, chapter 5. You have a topic that's being dealt with that, quite frankly, isn't very popular today. It's not something you're going to hear preached in a lot of churches. It's certainly not going to be something you see practiced very often in churches. And that is the practice of church discipline. And this is something I've preached about in the past, but it's always good to go over these things and to be reminded of these things. And also, I want to preach this just so I can make myself very clear about what we believe and what we practice here when it comes to this topic of church discipline. So, we're going to look at the six sins of 1 Corinthians. That's kind of a way that I can remember where these sins are found. It's the six sins of 1 Corinthians 5. You take the six sins minus the one in 1 Corinthians, you get five. So, that's just like a mnemonic that I use to kind of remember that. But that's the title of the sermon. The six sins of 1 Corinthians. Now, let's just get into the text here. It says in verse 1, 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, as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. So, Paul here is pretty incredulous. You can hear the tone coming across here, that he's saying the sin that's in your church, it's the type of sin that even among the unsaved, the heathen, the Gentiles, isn't even named. And that's the sin of one having his own father's wife. Now, this can be a little bit confusing because you might say, well, if he's fornicating with his father's wife, wouldn't that make it adultery? So, obviously, what's taking place here is that the father has died. And I feel confident in saying that because the Bible makes a very clear distinction between fornication and adultery. Those are two completely different things. That's an important distinction to make in the day and age that we're living in when people kind of want to blur that line and kind of blend those two sins and kind of make them equal. They're not equal. There's different levels to sin. There's varying degrees of punishment to sin, as we'll see this morning. I mean, we have six sins here in 1 Corinthians that are punished with church discipline, meaning you are thrust out from the local assembly until you get that right. Obviously, that's not because these are the only sins that people are capable of committing. People are capable of committing all kinds of different sins, but it's these six that we are limited to when it comes to exercising church authority and church discipline. So there's a very clear distinction here being made between fornication and adultery. The Bible makes that abundantly clear that there's a difference there. And again, you can make this case here. This is easy to see. And if you would, go over to 2 Corinthians 2. Keep something in 1 Corinthians 5 all morning. We'll be back there several times this morning. But the father has died. So therefore, we know that the father has died here because of the fact that he's committing fornication and he's not committing adultery here because the spouse is no longer there. Now, this is a very serious sin, by the way, when a man would have his father's wife. This is something that is dealt with in the Old Testament. And sometimes you read about these things that are taking place or you read things in the Old Testament and you say to yourself, why would God even need to include that? Are people even capable of doing these type of things? And the truth is that they are. People, even Christians in churches, will do things that they know is not right. They will do things that are contrary to the word of God and they will do so willingly. And they'll do bizarre things even. I'm not even getting into all the bizarre things that the heathen do sometimes. But this specific sin of a man having his father's wife is repeatedly condemned in the Old Testament in Leviticus 18, Leviticus 20, Deuteronomy chapter 22, Deuteronomy 27. I won't read all these, but I'll give you Deuteronomy 27 verse 20. Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife because he uncovereth his father's skirt and all the people shall say amen. So this guy is bringing down a curse on his head by committing this sin. Now let me say, as a church body, we are not here to enforce Old Testament law. Obviously there's moral principles and things that we take from the Old Testament and apply. There's things that we exercise as a church body. But society today, and you've probably already noticed this, isn't exactly cleaving to the Bible, going to it for its source of determining what is right and wrong, of forming laws and enforcing them. The Bible's kind of an afterthought. It hasn't always been that way. Back when our country was a godlier nation at its founding and thereon, going forward from there, it was a biblical nation. It was a nation where people, even if they weren't saved, understood and respected the Bible. Many of our founding fathers based what they put in the Constitution and the other founding documents on the Bible. That's just a fact. But today in the world we're living in, society is not embracing Scripture. And they're certainly not enforcing law here based on the Old Testament. Well, let's move on here. Look at 2 Corinthians 2. 2 Corinthians 2 in verse 6. It says, Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many, so that contrary-wise you ought to forgive him and comfort him, perhaps lest such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore, I beseech you that you would confirm your love toward him. So who is this talking about? Well, if you know the book of 2 Corinthians, you know Paul here is referring back to the man in 1 Corinthians 5, the man that had been committing fornication with his father's wife. Okay, we get into 2 Corinthians 2 and he's again addressing that man and what does he say? That they inflicted this punishment upon him and then now he's imploring them to forgive that man and to confirm their love toward him that he should be received because obviously he got this right. He quit committing that adultery or that fornication, excuse me. So this man, he later repents and Paul insists on his being forgiven. So this is the purpose of church discipline. The purpose of church discipline is so that people will get things right. It's not for us to pound our chests and feel like we're holier than thou or something like that. It's not to shame people. Well, I guess it is in a sense to shame people, but it's not for the sake of shaming people. People should be ashamed of committing certain sins. And they should be ashamed of any sin really, but the purpose of church discipline ultimately is that people would get their act together spiritually and that they would cut out certain sins, all sins, especially sins that are punished by the local church. Now if you would, go back to 1 Corinthians 5. Obviously today we're living in a time when the world is not going to punish sin according to Scripture. The Old Testament lays out not just a moral law, but it lays out a civil law for Old Testament Israel that they were to follow. And it gives them laws to enforce, several of which were punished with capital punishment, the death penalty. And obviously today, society isn't enforcing that. However, God himself is not bound by man's decree. And that's something to keep in mind when you're reading through 1 Corinthians 5, is that society might look at fornication and these other sins and say, oh, it's no big deal, that's just old-fashioned values, that's just outdated conservatism, whatever. But God is not outdated. The Bible, the word of God is not outdated. The world might slough it off, they might brush it off and just say it's nothing to be concerned about. They might even glorify it. They're not going to call adultery adultery today. They're going to call it having an affair. They're not going to call it fornication. They're not going to call it by that filthy sin that it is. They're going to call it experimenting, finding out who you're compatible with, getting to know one another. The Bible calls it fornication, it calls it uncleanness, it calls it filthiness, it calls it vile. Those are the Bible words that are used to describe that sin. And again, that's not what the world's going to say, but then again, God isn't limited by the culture that we're living in. He doesn't operate based on societal norms. God isn't looking down and asking man what he thinks is acceptable and then conforming to them. God is not bound by man's degree. Look at 1 Corinthians 5 where we were. In verse number 2 it says, And you are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. So Paul's rebuking the church for not disciplining this sin. This is why you have to enforce church discipline because if people that are guilty of these sins that we'll look at in a minute, if they are not dealt with, then we as a church body could be held accountable to God. God's not going to bless a church where the leadership and the body just lets it become a den of iniquity. And look, I'm not saying we're going to have some sinless, perfect church. That's impossible. When we're going to get a bunch of sinners together in one room, we're going to have problems. There's going to be personality conflicts, there's going to be offenses, but there's also going to be potentially other things that happen that have to be dealt with as a church body, things of this nature, these sick sins. And look again, he says there in verse 2, you're puffed up. What does that mean to be puffed up? It means to be arrogant. It means to think you know better than God. It means to think that, well, I know that's what the Bible says, but we're just so much more advanced. That Bronze Age book, those knuckle-dragging Baptists, all that kind of mentality, that's a puffed up mentality that's out there. Another puffed up mentality that you can have is as a church body where we just think, well, you know, we're just more loving than God. We're just more accepting than God. We're more tolerant than God. We just put up with more than God is. We're just more forgiving and loving than God. Because we understand what 1 Corinthians 5 and elsewhere says, but we're just more tolerant. We've evolved on these issues and we're going to put up with this sin because we're more loving. That's a puffed up attitude. And that's what God is rebuking this church about. 1 Corinthians, if you know the books, 1 Corinthians is not a church that you really want to model yourself after. Basically, it's one long, scathing rebuke. And 2 Corinthians is like a close second. And he's saying here, you're puffed up and you've not rather mourned. Look, when there's certain things that start to go on in a church, it should bother us. If we see sin creeping in, if we see things being tolerated that are not to be tolerated, it should make us sad. It should cause us to mourn. That he that had done this deed might be taken away from among you. Now what does he mean by that? It means he should be put out from the church. He should be taken away from the assembly. He should not be permitted to attend services. That's basically what it's saying. Verse 3, for I, verily, as absent in body but present in spirit, have judged already as though I were present, concerning him that has so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, when you get together at church, Sunday morning, Sunday night, whenever you're getting together at church, and you're gathered together, and my spirit, it's as if I'm there with you, I'm giving you the authority to do this, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, you have the blessing and the charge of God to do this, to deliver such a wine unto Satan. He's saying take that fornicator, take that person that is sleeping with his father's wife, and it's fornication, as I've already made that abundantly clear, we're not talking about that the father has passed on, and he's saying excommunicate him, deliver him unto Satan. That's a pretty harsh punishment. I mean, that's, you know, what Paul just said about delivering such a wine unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh is far harsher than anything I've said thus far this morning. You know, I just say the word kick somebody out of church. Church discipline. You know, excommunication and people, oh, I can't believe you'd say that. Well, you know, the Bible says, what we're actually doing is delivering that person unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. I mean, I'd have to sit here and try hard to think of a more harsher way to put that. You know, I can't really think of anything more, you know, condemning than to say I'm going to deliver you unto Satan, right? I mean, that's pretty intense, okay? But this is, you know, welcome to the King James Bible, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. And let me say this, that, again, he's saying do this with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. So God honors this decision that's being made. This isn't Paul speaking. This isn't his opinion. This is something that God honors. This is something that God, in fact, expects from a church. And churches that, you know, by the way, by and large, most churches today don't do this, and you know what they are? They're puffed up. They think they're better than Paul here, better than the Lord Jesus Christ. God honors the church's decree when it comes to these things. If you would, go to Matthew 18 very quickly, Matthew chapter number 18, where we'll see another passage where, in certain instances, issues of sin, of trespass, are to be brought before the church as a body and dealt with. Look at Matthew chapter number 18, verse 15, we'll see where God honors the church's decree here. He says, moreover, in verse 15 of Matthew 18, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. Now let me clarify here, because some people latch on to Matthew 18 and they just run to extremes with it. When it says, when thy brother shall trespass against thee, we're talking about a more serious infraction. Right? It's not, you know, I came to church and he didn't even say good morning. He didn't shake my hand. You know, he treated, you know, he was rude. You know, that's not the type of thing we're talking about here, right? Oh, you know, he insulted me. You know, he said something. He didn't want to be my friend. You know, and you say, why are you bringing that up? Because people do this. People get petty and they have squabbles and they have personal beef with somebody else in the church and then they try to drag leadership in and say, well, Matthew 18 here. Says right here, you know, he trespassed against me because he called me a mean name in the church van or something. It's like, well, first of all, grow up. You know, just be, you know, sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. I mean, I remember learning that one pretty early on in life. You know, so someone in church doesn't like you and doesn't want to have company with you and maybe has a low opinion of you, so what? You know, when they start slashing your tires in the parking lot, then we'll deal with it. Now, that's a trespass. Yeah, we're gonna deal with that, right? You know, we all have to come along. You just have to be civil at church. You don't have to be everybody's best friend. You gotta be civil like you would anywhere else. I don't think that's a big ask. You know, and I'm not gonna be the type of guy that insists that everybody that comes here is just bosom buddies with everybody else in church because that's not realistic. You know, that's not reality. People have different personalities, different preferences. Not everybody's gonna be friends but they can at least show up and be civil and not slash your tires in the parking lot, you know, or whatever. You know, obviously that's a very malicious act but what if it's just something that was kind of done, you know, out of negligence, right? Maybe they bumped into, you know, this is the classic example. They bumped into your car at the parking lot and I've seen the way some of you drive. I mean, this could happen, right? They bump into your car. They put a dent in your fender and, you know, you go to them and say, hey, you know, let's get together. Let's work this out. You know, let's get exchange insurance and they just drive off, okay? That's kind of a legal issue, isn't it? Because when you get into 1 Corinthians 6, that's when Paul starts talking about them. He then starts condemning the church for brethren taking brethren to law. So, you know, that's kind of the trespass that we're talking about here where there's legal implications where, you know, it's not just your run-of-the-mill, you know, offense. This is something that's serious. And he says here, if thy brother trespass against thee, go, you know, Matthew 18, that's where we are, tell him his fault between thee and him alone. Go work it out with him by yourself. You know, maybe there's a business dealing or something that takes place outside of the church and someone shorts you on a bill or, you know, doesn't pay an invoice or something like that. Go to that brother and work that out and say, hey, let's settle this. And look, and that's just an example, okay? But, it says in verse 18, if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. So he says if that guy that's trespassed against you, that brother in the church, doesn't want to resolve the issues, then you go and get two other church members to act as witnesses. And by the way, those witnesses are to be in different third parties. They're just to witness. You know, don't go get your best friend who's gonna instantly side with you. You know, I brought my spouse. Like, well, gee, I wonder how they're gonna see things. I wonder whose side they're gonna come down on, right? Obviously, they're just there to say, hey, this is what happened. You know, maybe they document, kind of write down what was said, record it, whatever. You know, letting people know, hey, let's record this conversation. Because if things aren't resolved, we're gonna take it to the next level. And if he shall neglect to hear them, right, the one who has been offended and the two or three witnesses, tell it unto the church. You know, so this is kind of the process. Then you come to the church leadership and say, hey, I tried to settle with him. I got these two other witnesses. They can confirm everything that's being said. We're still not gonna resolve this thing. You know, we need to settle this, okay? That's when you bring it to the church and then as a church body, we deal with it. And you know, thank God we've never had to do this. It doesn't mean we never will have to do it. I pray not, but you know, we will if we have to. And then look at verse 17. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. You know, let him be somebody that's held in low esteem, a heathen. You know, put him out from the church. Verily, I say unto thee, verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. What's he saying there? He's saying whatever the church's decree, as long as they're following this process, I'm as God, as the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm going to honor it. Meaning if somebody has done something that is worthy of church discipline and it's exercised, God is going to honor that decision that the church has made. God is going to bind it or loosen it, just as we will, okay? So, we see that, you know, church discipline is a very real thing. It's a biblical practice. If you would, go back to 1 Corinthians chapter number 5. 1 Corinthians chapter number 5. So again, backing up a little bit, he says in verse 5 again to remind us of where we are in the text, he says, Deliver us such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Okay? And if you remember earlier, in just a few verses 4, in verse 2, he had said, you know, you're puffed up. And then he kind of reminds them again in verse 6, Your glorying is not good. It's not a glory for you to sit there and be puffed up and think that you're more loving and more kind and more affectionate and more tolerant than God. Okay? Your glorying is not good. Why? Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? And leaven being like yeast that you would put in a bread, right? You just put that little bit in there and it leavens the whole lump. It causes that whole lump to be affected by that little bit of leaven. I remember when I had a job where we made the pizza dough by hand, there was a great deal of flour that went into that and then very little yeast that went in there to activate. Right? But, you know, that whole lump, that 30 pizzas worth of dough, all of it would rise from just that little bit of leaven. Right? And Paul's using that analogy when it comes to sin in the local church. This is why sin cannot be tolerant. Certain sins specifically have to be dealt with in the local church. It has to be dealt with with church discipline. Right? People need sometimes to be made an example of for their own sake and for the sake of those around them. Okay? For the sake of, oh, I don't know, maybe the young children. Right? You know, maybe it's good for a church to kick out a fornicator, you know, so that way the children will understand that it's a serious sin that has serious consequences. And by the way, the sin of fornication, it's not just because God, you know, is stuffy. He's not just some stick in the mud trying to ruin everyone's fun out there. It's because fornication is exactly what the Bible describes it as, filthy and unclean. And that's why we have the unspoken epidemic of, you know, STDs running rampant in our world and everywhere else that seems to have embraced Western modern values. It's, you know, one in five people have an STD out there today. You know, why is that? Because fornication isn't viewed as it should be. So, you know, when we, you know, kick out the fornicator at a church, the children will say, well, that's serious, you know, to be kicked, it must be a very grave sin. There must be a reason for it. You know, one, so that person will knock it off and spare themselves and stop bringing reproach upon the name of Christ. And two, you know, so that the children you know, there are consequences for sin. That's why we have to exercise church discipline. And he's saying, look, a little leaven, leavens the whole lump. And by the way, that's why when you go in these churches where they don't exercise church discipline, there's just all kinds of sin running rampant. And it's just, it's normal. You know, you'll have people, you know, young people that are committing fornication, you'll have people that are living together outside of marriage, you'll have people that are, you know, have been, and remarried somebody else, you know, another person in the church. There's literal couples that come to the same church where they basically wife swap. They get divorced and they just kind of swap spouses. That's wicked as hell. It's strange and it's bizarre and it has no place in the local church. You say, how does that happen? A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Oh, you know, these teenagers, they're going to do what they're going to do. Just make sure they're doing it safely. I mean, no school system when it comes to stuff anymore. But, you know, that's not our standard. This is the standard, right here. This is what we practice in all matters of faith, this book. So he says, purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump as you are unleavened. For Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore, keep not the feast with old leaven. If you would, I don't know if I had you keep something in 2 Corinthians, chapter number 6. Actually, you know what? Just go to 2 Thessalonians 3. 2 Thessalonians 3. I'll remind us again of 2 Corinthians 6, where we have another text backing up the practice of church discipline. He says, sufficient to such a man is this punishment which was inflicted of many. The punishment was inflicted by many. The many is the church. The punishment was inflicted by the church. Verse 9, and also did I write that I might know the proof of you whether you be obedient to all things. He's saying, I'm writing unto you in 2 Corinthians. I wrote 1 Corinthians that I might know the proof of you whether you be obedient. He's saying, I wrote that first epistle unto you to know whether or not you would do what needs to be done, to know the proof of you whether you would be obedient. What is it that he was insisting they be obedient in? Church discipline. He's saying, whether you would do what you're supposed to do as a church body. It's a biblical practice. Galatians chapter 6 verse 1. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual will restore such an one in the spirit of meekness considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. How do you restore somebody? You know, first you have to kick them out of the church so that they realize that there's consequences for their sin and hopefully it doesn't come to a place where Satan has to destroy them. You know, as Paul said, this isn't just me being over the top up here. Paul said, deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. You know, we believe that Satan's real. The Bible says Satan's real. We live in a spiritual realm. We are spiritual beings. And he's saying, deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. That's why in Galatians 6 he's saying, restore such an one. Look, you can't restore somebody who you haven't put out of the church. I believe Galatians 6 is a great, you know, another proof text of church discipline. How about 1 Timothy 1, where Paul said, Discharge, I commend unto you, Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare, holding faith and 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 for the destruction of the flesh. Paul himself is saying, look, I've delivered people I've delivered Hymenaeus and Alexander. Well, I can't believe he would ever, as a church body, you know, name somebody by name and their sin and make a decision on it publicly. Paul wrote the names Hymenaeus and Alexander in the Bible, in the word of God. It's literally engraved in stone for all eternity. You know, I don't know that these necessarily were saved guys, Hymenaeus and Alexander, but it does say, they'd shipwreck, meaning they shipwrecked their faith. So I kind of take that as, well, maybe they had faith, they just kind of destroyed their testimony or whatever. They're blasphemous, right? You could be saved and be a blasphemer. You know, safe people could save blasphemous things. How would you like that? So let's just, you know, benefit of the doubt. Let's say, Hymenaeus and Alexander are saved and they're in heaven right now. You know who else is in heaven? Paul. And they're like, thanks, Paul. Do you have to write our names out? Do you have to put our names in there? Yep. Right? Because then it carries weight, doesn't it? You say, oh, you're just trying to scare people out of sin. Yeah, exactly. That's exactly right. I'm trying to scare people away from sin because sin has horrible consequences. Lives are destroyed because of sin. Families are destroyed because of sin. So if the threat of somebody being called out publicly for certain, not every sin, by the way, I'm going to pass the mic this morning and I'll get up and confess, you know, all the sins we committed this last week. That's not what I'm saying. You know, we're going to get into the six sins here. They're very specific. And when they happen, in certain circumstances, we are going to call them out publicly and if the threat of that happening keeps somebody, if that alone keeps somebody from not committing them, good. Then good. Then I want to do it. You're in 2 Thessalonians 3, Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which you have received of us. And he goes on to explain what this disorderliness is, the tradition that these people are not walking after. Right? He says in verse 7, For yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you. Right? He says, excuse me, to withdraw from a brother that walks disorderly. And then he says, You know how we have behaved ourselves not disorderly. Right? Neither did we eat any man's bread for naught, but we wrought with labor and travail night and day that we might not be chargeable to any of you, not because we have not power to make ourselves an example unto you to follow us. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you that if any man should not work, neither should he eat. Okay? So Paul is saying here, you know, we came unto you in Thessalonia, and we made ourselves an example, even though we had the power to receive of the church, to be taken care of as laborers, as those that preach the gospel, should live of the gospel. Right? As full-time ministers in the church, we could have received wages, we could have taken from you what we needed to survive, and make ourselves an example to those that were walking disorderly. Right? That's why he said we rot with travail night and day that we would not be chargeable unto any of you, that we wouldn't have to take anything from you. Right? So that's the disorderliness that he's talking about. People who are leeches and refuse to work. And look, I'm not saying that, you know, if you're not working that you're in sin. Like, obviously, people have pensions, savings, you know, and they make a nest egg for themselves, and that's fine. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying, because the context is, you know, we're not making ourselves chargeable to any of you. Neither did we eat any man's bread. When someone's coming into the church and is refusing to work, and then therefore the church is having to, like, well, we can't let this guy starve to death. You know, that's the disorderliness. You can't have people just come in and mooch off the bum, come in here, and just start, you know, trying to take people's money. And this happens all the time. People call the church all the time because they never darken the door. They've never attended the church. They're probably just going through the phone book. They don't even know what church they're calling. And they're just like, can you pay my rent? Can you pay my electric bill? Can you pay my car payment? Can you pay my insurance? Can you pay my rent to anybody and everybody? It's literally against the law to just hand out money to strangers from the church coffers. You can't do it. It's a violation of tax code, okay? And people, they don't even realize that. But, like, secondly, you know, we're not going to just hand out people who are just, the only reason they're down in the dumps is because they won't work. It's called disorderliness. And Paul says, as a church body, if that were to happen inside them, right? And that doesn't mean when they show up to church, we give them the cold shoulder. You know, the disorderly brother who's refusing to work sits down and like everyone just in that row gets up and moves to the other side of the building or something. That's not, you know, to withdraw from them means we're going to have to put them out and not have anything to do with them until they get it right. Until they go get a job and get their job right. And that works. It carries weight. You know, any parent who's doing it right knows this. That children will obey simply out of fear of, you know, the consequences of not obeying. You know, we practice that as adults. Obviously, we're not taking anybody over our knee. But, you know, this is how it works out as a church body as grown adults. You know, you're put out from the church. Look at verse 10 again. We're with you that we, you know, we're not going to work neither should we eat. I would love to get that on a bumper sticker. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working, not at all. So that's the, again, the disorderliness that he's been referring to in the previous verses. Not working. But are busybodies. They're idle. They've got a lot of time. They're just gossiping. You know, they're just in their, with their team somewhere in their squad or whatever just running their mouth. You got to bring it into the modern vernacular, right? Now, then that are such we command and exhort by the Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they work and eat their own bread. You say, why are you turning to this? Because it's another example of the sin of God. You know what? Go back to 1 Corinthians 5. I'm sorry. I'll read to you from Romans 16. He says in verse 17 of Romans 16, Now I beseech you brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them. So here's yet another instance where Paul is saying there's people that we as a church, and when somebody comes in here and starts preaching false doctrine and starts teaching lies and heresy, the Bible says a man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject. So that's another reason to put somebody out from the church and they're not welcome. Now obviously we use discernment. It's not like you're preaching all the subtle nuances of end times prophecy. Well let's make sure we're all squared up on that otherwise you can't come to church. Obviously he's talking about divisions that are enough to split a church, right? Where it's a very clear distinction on a certain doctrine like oh I don't know the Trinity. You know people want to do salvation which is a damnable heresy. They want to come and start preaching some thinly veiled works-based salvation like repent of your sins to be saved. Another damnable heresy. But even then you know you kind of want to clarify what people believe by that. So obviously he's talking about the major offenses, the major things that are un-Christ-like. I'm so un-Christ-like because I'm preaching what the Bible says. I'm so un-Christ-like because I'm insisting that we follow what Paul insisted we follow in the Bible. Like how am I un-Christ-like for telling you what the Bible says? I'm confused. So if this is a biblical doctrine, church discipline, it has to be. But here's the thing, obviously not all sin is subject to church discipline. So let's talk about here church discipline in practice. I think I've made my case that it's biblical. I feel like I've turned to several passages that make it crystal clear on this. There are certain instances where certain things come out. The easiest way to do that is for them to go out. For us to withdraw from them, that is. So now let's talk about this discipline in practice. When would we actually practice this? First Corinthians chapter number five, if you went back there, chapter four, then you must need to go out of the world. So what's he saying here? He's making it specific within the church. It's not our job to go around and condemn the world. They're still doing these things. And Paul's saying, look, if you had to separate from everybody that was guilty of one of these sins, you'd basically just have to go around. Jesus said, you know, that not that he would take us out of the world, but he would keep us from it, keep us from that sin that's in the world. Verse 11, but now I've written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or a Joe Blow from off the street, but when it's someone that's considered a brother in the church. And look, you know, I'm not going to sit up here and try to be so pedantic as to say, well, you know, if you've come this many, have shown up this many times and heard these sermons that, you know, they're living together in sin and fornication. You know, they're committing fornication. They, you know, they got an apartment together and, and, you know, they're not married and they're fornicating, right? What are we going to do? Well, I would in that instance, you know, probably go to them separately and say, hey, you know, I'm going to go to that couple or whatever the instance was. Somebody's new to the church, newly saved, doesn't know these things, you know, is doing a lot of drinking. You know, they're a drunkard because that's one of them, right? I would go and explain to them, maybe preach a couple sermons about it from a biblical point of view, give them time to absorb and I'm glad that our church is good about this because I've heard and I know that other churches from time to time have not been so good about this when it comes to grilling people when they walk through the door. You know, some first time visitor, someone who's come a handful of times, it's like they want to get to the bottom and, you know, and get that, you know, and it's a total stranger. Like, imagine how many times it can be kind of make people nervous. I mean, how much more so when you got some stranger going, oh, I see you guys came in together holding hands. Are you both married? I don't see a ring on that finger. It's like, well, you know, this is our first time here. It's like, you know, take a chill pill there, Turbo. Let's cool our jets and, you know, let's not break out the heat lamp, you know, take them in the back room here and just start like, are you fornicating? Are you a drunk? You know, obviously, it's if a man that is called a brother, somebody who's been faithful to the church, someone who's a regular at the church, somebody that we would consider, you know, a saved brother in Christ. They're not just some random, you know, unsaved person that walked in off the street. They're somebody that we know is saved, you know, and they've been brought up to speed on it, okay? You know, I consider anyone who attends services like three out of three services a month at a minimum a member here basically. That's kind of how I gauge it, but that's, you know, I'm not going to use that in this instance necessarily, right, to determine whether I'm going to church discipline or not, to be honest. Anyway, so that's the specific circumstance in which church discipline is practiced. Now let's talk about the specific sins, because after all that's the name of the sermon, the six sins of 1 Corinthians. Look at 1 Corinthians 5 verse 11, but now I've written unto you not to keep company, meaning don't hang around, don't have fellowship with a mornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner. Okay, so that's it. You wonder what sins will get you kicked out of church, you just read them. Now obviously we looked in Romans and elsewhere where if you're preaching things contrary to the doctrine which we have learned, if you're not making things right, if you've committed a trespass according to Matthew 18, and you're not hearing the witnesses, you're not hearing, you're not hearing everything this morning that I know of, unless I'm missing something, right? And these are the big six sins, the big six, right? Fornication, any physical relations outside of marriage, and again, not adultery, these are two different things and it's important to make that distinction. Covetousness, you know, what would be an example of this? Maybe somebody who just uses church for business connections. They're not there because they're they just want to network, right? And look, I don't want to I don't want to be overboard with this. I get it. Sometimes people have church, they do business outside of church and they come to church and they discuss some details of what's going on that week or something. But they're not coming here like soliciting business. You know, if someone asks for a business card at church, I'm not against them handing, like yeah, I do that, call me, we can talk, right? Well, I'm at church right now, I can't really discuss that. You know, I'm not going that far overboard. What I'm saying is when somebody who's coming here was just like hmm, you know, I wonder how many of these ladies I could sell my Mary Kay products to. You know, I wonder how many of these people I could get to my Tupperware party and make a killing. That's covetousness, right? You're just thinking about yourself, trying to get gain, all right? I'm talking about the Catholic church and elsewhere, which is basically worshiping man-made images, you know, graven images, so on and so forth. How about railing? If someone's going around making false accusations purposefully, right? I'm not saying if somebody thinks somebody's up to something or makes an accusation and then finds out that they're wrong. If they sincerely thought that that person was up to something or they brought it to someone's attention, you know, that's not necessarily railing. Accusing people, you know, falsely, on purpose, okay? That's the kind of railing I'm talking about. The smirching somebody's character, trying to just, you know, ruin their reputation at church. That is railing. Drunkenness. Now, let me take a minute and clarify this. This is not limited to alcohol, okay? People read the Bible sometimes and they get these foolish notions. Well, you know, the Bible condemns alcohol, but it doesn't say anything about heroin. People would say that. Obviously, that's a silly example, but you know the one people use a lot? Well, it doesn't say anything about pot. And we all know pot's from the earth. You know, it's a healer. Yeah, I've known too many potheads to know that, to make such a fool, that pot's a healer, okay? Unless, unless remembering things is a, is a problem, okay? It's not a healer, okay? I don't want to go on and on about that, but, you know, if someone's a pothead, consider that drunkenness. If someone's doing coke or heroin, God forbid, and you know, any of these things, God forbid, but I mean, those are, you know, on the scale of drugs, you know, if someone's going to do anything, like, I'd hope they would be pot, you know, if they're guilty of, you know, because it's just, it's just going to make you lazy and eat more, basically, right? But it's still drunkenness. You're not sober-minded if you're smoking pot, you know, I'm talking about somebody who is a drunk, and I'm, sometimes I'm hesitant to say these things because I think people think I'm giving them a license to do things, but I have to temper, you know, what we practice here. I have to make sure people don't go overboard with it, okay? You know, somebody has a six pack in their fridge, and every Friday night they crack one open and have a beer. I'm not going to consider that person a drunk. I'm going to say, you're in sin. The Bible says, don't even look at alcohol. Literally. Don't even look at the wine when it giveth its color in the cup and it moveth itself right. When it's a fermented alcoholic beverage, it shouldn't be looked at, let alone drank. Unless you, and you'll say, well, I'll just pour my red wine with a blindfold on. Well, I hope you have ceramic flooring. You know, make sure you put on like a chemist's gown or something that you don't mind getting dirty. You know, there's red wine everywhere. You got the Merlot everywhere, right? So, obviously, you know, you're just cracking a beer now and then, I'm like, oh, you're drunk, you're out of the church. But if someone's like, you're day drinking, you're getting blind drunk every Friday night, you're a drunk and you will be kicked out of this church. You know, you want to spark up a J every now and then. You're still sinning. You're still harming your mind. You're still a bad example to other people around you. It's stupid. It's a waste of time and money. You know, but I'm not going to kick you out of the church over that. You know, you're using it up, you know, on your way to work, on your way back. Yeah, you're kicked out. You're not sober. It's drunkenness. Okay? So, obviously, you know, these sins are very specific, but, you know, we have to use discernment and as a church body, you know, we have to kind of think these things through. And, you know, thank God that God gives us, you know, has the confidence in us to make these decisions on our own. He doesn't have to sit here and list out every single circumstances and every single substance The Bible's already a long enough book, folks. What's the last one? Extortion. Right? You know, blackmail, basically. You know, someone knows you're up to something and they're like, you're going to start paying me a hundred bucks a month or I'm going to expose you. Right? Well, if that ever happens, that person, the one who's being extor- doing the extortion would be kicked out. And you can see how that might happen. You know, if the church was big enough and maybe influential enough where you had, the church. Right? Of course, a lot of these other sins would get kicked, most politicians kicked out too. You know, the drunkenness and the fornication and everything else. So that is the list of sins there. We basically covered these things. The trespasses, the six sins of First Corinthians, the disorderly conduct of being a leech and not working, being a bum basically, of not so providing for yourself. Those are really the things that we kick out, people out for. And I'm going to touch on this because this is something that has come up several times over the years, a church body. And I want to be clear where I stand on this. And I've kind of changed, you know, I feel like I've got a little bit more mature understanding now of how to approach this. I used to like kind of having people in the dark about this topic because I thought maybe, you know, it would keep them from doing things. But that kind of backfires, I think, because then it's people, what I find is that people are more afraid of me than of God. Okay? And the last sin I want to talk about, which is not a sin that I consider one that can be disciplined by the church, is adultery. Okay? Now, at first blush, you might say, whoa, like what are you talking about? Like you telling me adulterers can come to church? Let me slowly go through this, okay, and pay attention here, okay? First of all, we have to determine what kind of adultery we're talking about here. Because in the Bible, adultery takes on one of several forms, three, really, that I see. If you would, and don't let me lose you now, go over to Matthew chapter, actually go to Matthew 19, Matthew chapter 19. First of all, there's adultery that we're all probably familiar with, which is the lust of the eyes. Okay? Jesus said in Matthew chapter number five, you have heard that I shall not commit adultery, but I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. So, if we were to kick out everyone that have performed this kind of adultery, we would have to kick out every man in the church. You guys can say amen right there. You can really leave me hanging on that one? I guess I'm the only one with that problem. Well, maybe we have another problem I assume I'm talking to a bunch of red-blooded men here that are straighter than arrows. Let me say it again. If we kicked out every guy that lusted after a woman in his heart, we have to kick out every guy in this church. Okay. Man, I was worried for a second. Like, oh, we got deacon. Just leave him hanging up there. Right? Well, I'm the only one. And let me say this. You getting married is not going to cause this to go away. If they just get married, then they wouldn't have to deal with the lust of the flesh. They wouldn't want to look at other women or look at porno or whatever it is. Let me just clue you in on something. That's not going to change just because you got married. Now, obviously, it could lessen the temptation to act on some impulses if you had an outlet for those natural God-given feelings. But even married men have to make a covenant with their eyes, as Job, the most righteous man that God had in his day. There was none like him in all the earth. A righteous and upright man who spoke that which is right concerning the Lord. Job, who said, I have made a covenant with mine eyes that I would not worry for until I look upon a maid. Job had to do that. You know, so before you start condemning me like, oh, what's the deacon up to? What's going through his head? Well, I'm just like a man like anybody else. And we all have to make a covenant with our eyes. And that's what I do to my wife who just never had to deal with that sin again. Look, I wish that were the case, but that's not reality. Never had to deal with, you know, having your head turned, okay? And look, there's a lot of ladies out there that are more than happy to turn your head today, okay? And shame on them. But, you know, that's one form of adultery. That's not the type of adultery, you know, that's not subject to church discipline, obviously, okay? How about marriage? Now, this is one where you might kind of go, wait a minute, you're telling me you can commit adultery with somebody else's spouse and come to church here? Okay, this is how I would approach that. I would chalk that up as covetousness and kick that person out of church, okay? If someone started sleeping with somebody else's spouse in this church, I would kick them out. I would say, you're covetous, right? Because that's literally, you know, your spouse or anything that is thy neighbors, right? If you're committing adultery with someone's wife, you're coveting that person. You want her for yourself, something that's off limits to you, okay? So that's my work around for that. And look, if somebody somehow could prove to me that an adulterer could come here, you know, that kind of adultery could take place within a church, I would make it so uncomfortable here for that person to come back. You know, I just get up and preach the Bible and people, and they just walk right out and never come back. Believe me, I do it, you know, without even intending to, if I wanted to, I could preach people out the door, especially an adulterer, right? The Bible says in Proverbs 6, who so commiteth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding, he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul, a wound and dishonor shall have that proverbial, you know, scarlet letter upon you for the rest of your life. Now, maybe not out in the world, you know, maybe someone will slap you on the back and say, attaboy, you know, yeah, you know, go do that, go commit adultery, another notch on the belt out there, another something to talk about on the job site, but in God's way, I mean, I can't think, you say, what's the worst thing that could happen as far as, you know, somebody harming you? When you really think about it, like, adultery is probably one of the worst, if not the worst thing, I would almost rather somebody killed me than slept with my wife. You know, I would rather, honestly, you know, and the Bible says that, he will not spare in the day of vengeance, that jealousy is the rage of a man he will not spare in the day of vengeance. Like, you go commit adultery with somebody's wife, you don't know how the husband is going to react. He could literally kill you in a fit of rage and passion, and it wouldn't even be considered first degree murder. You know, they might even chalk it up as manslaughter, because people I mean, I don't know how I would react. There very well may be blood. I don't know. Thankfully, I don't worry about it. I don't have to worry about it. But my point is that people that commit adultery of this nature, like literal adultery, where they're sleeping with somebody else's spouse, that's a wound in her approach that shall not be wiped away. And word gets out and everyone, I remember I worked for a guy and all of his employees knew about it. And what do you think they talked about? What do they think they said about him? Oh, so and so. You know, constantly cracking jokes about it behind his back, constantly saying things about it, and that'll never go away. It's a pretty big sin, okay? So I believe, but how would you handle that in the church? I would kick you out because of covetous to that point. Or at the very end of that, probably aren't really godly upstanding people that are concerned with the peace of God too much anyway. When they're violating literally one of the Ten Commandments. I had you in Matthew chapter 19, okay? Now there's another form of adultery that I have to address, and let me just start by saying this. You know, people that are guilty of this form of adultery, I'm not mad at you, I'm not angry at you, I'm not upset at you. And I want to be clear about where I stand and where I believe our church stands on this topic of what sins are going to be disciplined. Because people have come to me and said, if I do this, will I be kicked out of the church? Specifically, what I'm talking about is people who have been divorced and they get remarried, which the Bible calls adultery, okay? This is crystal clear, okay? Matthew 5, let me just read to you, which is biblical terminology for divorce, whosoever shall put away his wife, that's divorce, let him give her a writing of divorcement, but I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery, and whosoever shall marry her, that is divorced, commits adultery, okay? So, divorced people getting married is adultery, according to scripture, okay? There's just no other way to put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, okay? And I don't have the time, I'm going long already this morning, the clock is down, okay? The clock, the battery, it's an atomic clock, it has to be reset, so blame the clock this morning if I go too long, but this is an important topic, we have to talk about this. Fornication, you know, he's saying saving for the cause of fornication, meaning when a man goes to take his bride on her, meaning she's not virgin on her wedding night when he's under the impression she was, in that instance, he may put her away and remarry, and it's not going to be adultery. How often do you think that's happening today? Probably almost never, okay? And again, so that makes a very clear distinction between fornication and adultery, that's the one exception, okay? And I'll say this because believe it or not, there's people out there, years later, you know, she was, she was, you know, or I knew it and years later, I want to pull out this, well, she was a fornicator before I got married, it was okay for me to divorce her. That's not what that's talking about, you see what I'm saying? They marry somebody who is not virgin, right? And then years later, they get a divorce, and they say, well, she wasn't, well, you know, I married, you know, me and my wedding night, I'm with my wife, and I find out she's not virgin, you know, I was under the impression that she was, and now I'm finding out there's some uncleanness in her, as it were, whatever it is, you know, she's committed fornication and prior, and you know, I'll tell you what though, honey, let's see how this goes, and if you burn the muffins, it's over. You know, if you don't clean up my socks and do all the things that I want you to do, then I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna drop the, well, you fornicated, that's not how, that's not what it's talking about, and you have to say these things because people literally think this, that somehow that's what that means in Matthew. It's not. It's saying in that moment, in that instance, that's, you have like that immediate moment, whatever it is, like the next day, you should probably go to the father, you know, back then, that's kind of how things work, and say, look, this, you know, go to the pastor, whoever married you, and say, we went on the honeymoon, this came out, yeah, annulled, okay? Mark chapter number 10, and in the house, the disciples asked him again of the same matter, and he saith unto them, whosoever shall put away his wife and marrieth another, and whosoever marrieth another, and whosoever marrieth her, that is, a put away from her husband, that comitteth adultery, I mean, it's, it's just, you know, the gospels are hitting it repeatedly. Where you are, Matthew 19, verse three, the Pharisees also came to him, tempting him, and saying to him, is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? If she does burn the mother, if she does burn the muffins. And he answered and said unto him, Have you not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female? And he said, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother in Cleveland to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. Wherefore, they are no more one tame, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Saying, no, it's not lawful And this is what people always do when they want to commit this sin of being divorced and getting remarried. They always want to find their special circumstance of why it's okay. He saith unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered to put away your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And he didn't say, and Moses gave you a pass to remarry whoever you want. He said, if you're going to put someone away, if you're going to divorce them, make sure you give them the document that marriage is a legal union. Meaning there should be contracts. Meaning the state is involved in marriage. We're not one of these people who are like, oh, we don't believe in marriage licenses. And this is literally a bill of divorcement here. Okay? That's a legal document. That's binding. Okay? And he's saying, all he's saying is, you know, Moses said, because of the hardness of your hearts. What's he saying there? He's saying, God made the male and female and when they come together as man and wife, they are no more twain but one flesh. What God therefore has joined us under, excuse me, joined together, let not man put asunder. Saying God's intent and purpose and will is that when two people are married, they will never be divorced for any reason whatsoever, no exceptions. Saving the cause of fornication, which is rare and a very, very narrow window that you have. Okay? Which I have never seen applied to anybody in my personal experience. Okay? But he's saying that's God's intent. Right? But he's saying because of the hardness of your hearts. Right? Because God knows what man does. God knows we're flesh. God knows we are but dust. God knows that man is sinful. I mean, God bans polygamy in the Old Testament. You know, some people think, oh, the Bible teaches polygamy. God says, well, if you're gonna commit polygamy, make sure you don't, you know, diss your first wife. Basically, you know, you're not gonna treat her more poorly because you have a multitude of wives. Right? And that was something kings were guilty of. God specifically said above the kings of Israel, he shall not multiply to himself wives. Why did he say that? Well, because God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. 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God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God knows what man does. Waits God knows what man does. God knows what man does. God know what man does. Word does. God feels right, That's why it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, because God is a God that judges in the earth. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 29. And you say, well, what kind of judgment? What can I expect if I go out and commit the presumptuous sin of adultery in the form of getting married after having been divorced? I don't know. And all I would caution you is, do you really want to find out? Because I would go so far as to say that God might just kill you. I can't believe you'd say that. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 29. He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, talking about the Lord's Supper. He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eats and drinks damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you. They're not considering themselves. They're not considering their own sin in their lives, the leaven that they have in their lives, and their taking of the Lord's Supper. They're not examining themselves, as he says in the passage, and considering themselves, right? They're eating and drinking unworthily. And it says, as a result of that, many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. What does he mean by sleep? Well, you know, they ate the unleavened wafer at the Lord's Supper and carb crashed? No. He's saying they're dead. Many sleep. Because that's a reference, you know, the Christian takes a dirt nap. We don't die, right? We go to sleep. That's a reference to death. So Paul is very clear in 1 Corinthians 11 that God will even kill people in certain circumstances. Am I saying that if you go commit some sin that God's going to kill you? I'm saying I don't know. I don't know. Look at verse 31. If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. You know, if we would just say, hey, I know this is a sin, I shouldn't do this, and judge yourself, then God wouldn't have to judge you. When we are judged, we are chastened of the world, excuse me, of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. You know, God's people, we're not going to be condemned with the world, we're not going to go to hell, but we will be chastened in this life if we fail to judge ourselves. And all I'm saying this morning is you don't know what the consequences will be. And that goes for any sin, by the way, okay? I'm kind of honing in on that one, but that, you know, of adultery. But a lot of times people commit sin and they think, well, it's only affecting me. Well, it could affect your spouse, it could affect your children, it could affect your other relationships. And as a result, you know, God might have to judge, and God will judge, and God does judge. So, you know, I hope I made that very clear this morning, where we stand on this issue, okay, of church discipline, right? What constitutes church discipline? In what circumstances is it applicable? How would it be done? You know, we really need to get into that. You'll find out if you ever have to do it. It's probably we never have to. I haven't had to do it. I'll deal with it when I get there, right? If I have to. But, you know, we understand what it is, what would constitute, what would warrant, rather, church discipline. And when it comes to this topic of divorce and remarriage, that does not fall within the bounds of church discipline. As I understand the Scripture, as someone who's just trying to have integrity with the Word of God, that's how I understand it. But do not take that to mean as it's a stamp of approval, that there's nothing to worry about. That just because you won't get kicked out of church, God still won't judge you, yea, even severely, harshly, okay? Let's go ahead and close on a word of prayer. Dear Lord, again, thank you for the church, Lord. Thank you for the local assembly. Thank you for the body of Christ here on earth. Thank you that we have a fellowship together with you and your spirit. And Lord, thank you for the admonishments that we have out of the Word of God. Thank you that you hold us to a standard of righteousness, Lord, that you expect more out of us as your people. That we're not to be as other Gentiles or yea, in some cases, even worse than Gentiles when it comes to our living, Lord. That you expect that we live with all godliness and righteousness, that we walk in newness of life. And Lord, I pray that you help us to do that. Lord, help us to receive correction when it's appropriate. And Lord, help us to examine ourselves, each and every one of us. And Lord, help us to keep us back from presumptuous sins, Lord, that we would judge ourselves and therefore not be judged of you. We ask these things in Christ's name, Amen. Alright, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we're dismissed this morning. Jesus, Lord, help us to receive correction when it comes to our living, Lord, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life, that we walk in newness of life. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! We saw thee, we came home with fire from above. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!