Sermon – “For the Destruction of the Flesh”

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife! 2 And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. 3 For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 9 I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. 10 Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person. 12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? 13 But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”

Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘I am the LORD your God. 3 According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do; and according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do; nor shall you walk in their ordinances. 4 You shall observe My judgments and keep My ordinances, to walk in them: I am the LORD your God. 5 You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the LORD. 6 ‘None of you shall approach anyone who is near of kin to him, to uncover his nakedness: I am the LORD. 7 The nakedness of your father or the nakedness of your mother you shall not uncover. She is your mother; you shall not uncover her nakedness. 8 The nakedness of your father’s wife you shall not uncover; it is your father’s nakedness.

28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in pas-sion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. 8 Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.

It’s MORNING we’re going to continue through 1st Corinthians and we’re in the 5th chapter and you know shoo progressed into a book of the Bible if you decide you know preaching to a book a Bible there are going to be occasions where you’re like well you know i Pod be easier just to skip over this chapter. And this is one of those it would be easier just to skip over it because it is a sensitive issue and it is a difficult issue but it’s one did we really need we should address as a church we need to address it sometimes we have to talk about the tough things and there are times when I wish we had told Mr to children be here but they’re here so I’ll try to present the best I can with the topic that’s in today’s message before I do that though that 1st Him He is the potter and we are there clay and it really will fit with today’s message because there are times when the Potter has to crush deck clay and start all over doesn’t it has to reshape and remoteness and there’s times where that is the case in the church where they have to crush and then start reshaping and remote and that’s basically what the day’s message is about for the destruction of the flesh sometimes there’s difficult things that have to be done for the destruction of the flesh that the soul might be saved Amen. Scripture comes from 1st Corinthians 5 verses one through 13 hear the word of the Lord. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles that a man has his father’s wife and you are puffed up and have not rather mourn that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you for I indeed as absent in the body but present in spirit have already judged him who has so done this deed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together along with my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ they deliver such a want to say for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ your Goring glorying is not good do you not know that a little leaven which leaven represents sin leavens the whole loan my friends the loan piece referring to is the body he speak into the body of the church so a little sin in the church will fecht the whole loan so you have to remove the leaven so that the whole loan the whole body the whole church does not become corrupt Amen. Therefore purge out the 11 that you may be a new loam since you truly are an leaven for indeed Christ our Passover with sacrifice for us therefore let us keep the feast not with old leaven nor with leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth I wrote to you in my pistol not to keep company with sexually immoral people yet I certainly did not mean the sexually immoral people of this world or with the covetous or the extortioners or idolaters since then you would have to go out of the world and is not isn’t that true if we were not going to be around those that are covenants or extortioners or sexually immoral in the world we’re going to have to leave this world because there is so much of it just get out in the world and listen listen and see and know what’s going on we would have to literally this world to get away from it he. Says but now I have written to you not to come keep company with a anyone named a brother who was sexually immoral or covetous or not Dollops or or reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner not even to eat with such a person but what have I to do with judging those who are outside do you not judge those who are inside but those who are outside God judges therefore put away from yourselves the evil person my friends the church as a whole really does not practice as much today duty. It’s a practice that is not followed of course even Paul’s addressing that here because current had not done what they should have done before we go on let us pray Father we thank you and praise you for your presence we thank you for your Holy Word and father we know that your word sometimes talks about difficult things but things that we need to discuss the father may your spirit guide and direct us today father may we be faithful to hear and take to heart what you have force may your name be glorified may you may you be exalted for you are worthy and father I just prayed to help our hearts to be sincere to be true and to be pure for you that we would be your righteous people in Jesus’ name amen last week I do need Sorry David. Last week and preach and I briefly touched on the topic of judging and it said that we are not to judge anything before its time but Paul is very clear here in saying that we are not to judge those outside the church but there may come a time when we need to judge those within the church it would be in is a tough thing to do have to handle but it needs to be done we have to tackle the tough issues sometimes but it should be done with a loving heart it should be done with compassion Paul says here that this wickedness is so evil so bad that even the Gentiles consider this a Christian an incredible crime the wickedness that they were allowing within this church current was known said Anna beginning as we began his journey in Corinthians they were known for the census lifestyles and it’s very possible that there were some that came into the church that professed to be believers that had not completely broken away from their past lifestyles. They were continuing this lifestyle within the church and he says that a man even knows his father’s wife now so I believe that the big could have been a step mother’s father’s wife and it’s not to be done Leviticus 181 through 8 says then the Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to the children of Israel and say to them I am the LORD your God according to the things according to the points of the land of Egypt where you dwelt you shall not do so he say in I’ve brought you out of Egypt you remember what was done in the land of Egypt you remember the lifestyle you remember what they did you shall not do them you shall not do as they done and according to the doings of the land of Canaan where I am bringing you you shall not do he’s like I’m going to remove those people from that land and I’m going to give them this land to you but you shall not do the same things that they did that’s one reason God was removing them because of their wickedness so he saying to his people and he says to the church these things you shall not do nor shall you walk in their ordinances he says you shall observe my judgments and keep my word and says to walk in them I am the LORD your God you shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments which if a man does he shall live by them I am the Lord none of you shop any one who is near of kin to him to uncover his nakedness I am the Lord the nakedness of your father or the nakedness of your mother you shall not uncover she is your mother you shall not uncover her nakedness the nakedness of your father’s wife you see there is a difference there from the verse before that. It’s 1st speaks of Mother Nature you shall not uncover your father’s wife you shall not uncover it is your father’s nakedness we have to understand how this is so closely knit together because what does it say when a husband is wife is joined together to become one flesh so if he uncovers his Even his stepmother’s nakedness he is actually going covering his father’s nakedness it is a great sin against God We should not do these things Did anybody pick up on how many times he said I am the Lord I am the LORD your God 4 times in that one little passage he is the Lord our God and He is a holy God and He wants us to follow His ordinances in his commandments he is a holy and righteous God and we should practice his ways the Greek word for sexual immorality is only one word poor Nia they have one word it covers 2 words in our language and again I know the senses of issues but you know there are so much sexual immorality in our society today it’s everywhere look at the similar similarity to the Greek word cornea to pop pornography today it is probably you could call it a crisis level in our nation and we know that this sinful practice just leads to more sin and more sin it leads to lust because people I’m not going to just pick up men people are filling their hearts and their minds with things they should not sinfulness and it just causes them to lust for more in only 2 more sin Jesus says in Matthew 528 but I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Same thing we should not lust for a woman in our hearts in 1st Corinthians 6 verses 18 and 29 looked at all of 6 got Why don’t want to jump in too much of 6 and such would be next week but I can use these 2 verses 3 verses says fleece sexual immorality every sin that a man does is outside the body but he who commit sexual immorality sins against his own body or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you half from God and you are not your rune for you were bought at a price therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which your gods let that sink in a little bit we are to flee from it run from it run from sexual immorality because of the effects that it has on the body because of the moral and spiritual facts that it has on or body because he says this body is the temple of the Holy Spirit so how could someone walk in sexual immorality and think they are filled with the Spirit of God it doesn’t happen it does if they did they do not mesh together because God’s Spirit will not dwell where there is impurity sexual impurity it will not dwell there the temple is a sacred place it is a sacred dwelling place of God So therefore we cannot profane it we cannot fill it with impurity and secondly it is it belongs to God It says that it belongs to Him we are he is if he is the proprietor of it it is not all ours. So as a temple of the Holy Ghost it cannot profanity cannot occur great guilt in it belongs to God. It is not at our disposal to be used as we want to use it but it should be used as he has designed it to be used the problem was Paul said it use or puffed up you have turned a blind eye to what’s going on in the church instead of taking corrective actions he used the word morning saying that you have not rather mourned they have not been troubled by the existence of the wickedness that was going on in the church is the church trouble today bussin in the church. We ought to be we ought to be troubled by a sin we should not just accept it as the norm acts of this open within a church should start with morning it should not be an occasion of anger or pride or revenge but it should be done with compassion for the offender the purpose of putting someone out of the church as Paul was directing the church a critic to do was to deliver such a person to Satan for the destruction of the flesh because once they was removed they would feel guilt they would feel conviction of their sins and then would want to repent of their sinfulness to be able to come back into the church you know it was a while back I don’t remember if it was Wednesday night or satisfy we were talking about Jesus command that if your hand causes you to sin cut it off or if your I cause you to sin to lust Galahad out because it be better to enter into glory without that hand or enter into glory without that I then to not enter in at all and you know it was a lot of discussion I think it was Wednesday nights but anyhow this not a literal thing but it is an illustration to serve the severity of sin. It’s how severe sin is that’s how severe it is we should cut our hands off and this is again is another illustration of how severe sexual immorality is that they should be put out of the church to get their attention cut the handle that get your attention doesn’t it put one out of the church that’s going to get their attention you know send like that will often harm another person but all to mentally friends it is sin against God That’s the bottom line it is sin against God The Bible contains many references to people admitting that I have sinned against God Last week I spoke of Joseph and I was used in Joseph as the illustration of such a faithful servant of God No water no matter where he found himself he was faithful to God but I didn’t use the illustration where pancetta 1st wife tried to seduce Joseph tempting him but Joseph did not fall to the temptation he says My master has withheld nothing from me except you because you are his wife how could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God that’s Josef’s words to ponder for his wife how could I do this and sin against God He didn’t say how can I do this and sin against your husband or sin against my master how could I send against God yes it would have affected pontiff or it it did affect him when he found out had Joseph put in prison but the main thing is Joseph’s loyalty LOD with God How could I sin against my God who is so faithful to me this is where the church needs to be the church body needs to be when we sin we should know that we are sinning against God not just against our brother or sister. You know God gave man and women men and women I should say sexual relations to enjoy the pleasure of them but God designed that is should be within the bounds of marriage efficiency $53132.00 makes it very clear for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the 2 shall become one flesh this is a great mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the church nevertheless that each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband’s I’m going to say this because I can say that he did not say that a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his husband he didn’t say that a woman shall leave her father and mother Me joint to her wife now he did also not say that a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife in anybody else he pleases Diddy he did not he did not say that so I’m not just going to pickle mourn group he didn’t say many wives but a man shall be joined his wife and the 2 shall become one flesh period friends I’m going to say this and I speak it to the church as a whole any sexual relations outside of this definition is sin against God. Period Nono that there could be some watching that may be offended by this but this is God’s word and it is the truth and if we want to do that which is pleasing to God we follow God’s ordinances and not man’s because he says I am God I am your God We need to do that which is true pure and faithful. The problem isn’t today’s world especially in the West we’ve expanded that definition of marriage haven’t they so the idea that if it feels good just do it to the point where sexual purity is seen as our cake in unnecessary a friend according to God’s Word it is still necessary God’s laws are just as viable today as they were when they were given in our God is the same today as he was yesterday and forever more he does not change he says in 1st testimonies 43 through 5 and 7 through 8 for this is the will of God your sanctification that you should abstain from sexual immorality that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor not in passion of lust like the gentiles who do not know God that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter because the Lord is the avenger of all such as we also forewarned you and testified for God did not call us to uncleanness but to holiness therefore he who rejects this does not reject reject man but God who has also given us His Holy Spirit who dwells where within us within this temple so we reject God whenever we reject his ways whenever we go after sexual immorality or walk that life leavers are sanctified and for that reason we are to avoid sexual immorality the Greek word translated sanctified means literally purified made holy consecrated unto God as Christians we are to live the purified life. Because we have been made holy by the exchange of our sins for his righteousness our sins for his righteousness we are a new man a new creation crushed the old man the old Clay and he shaped us into a new creation pure and holy for him the old nature with all of its impurities have died and we are new in him we should now live and live by faith in the one who died for us to continue in sexual immorality the sin against God and if one continues to walk in sexual immorality at they profess that they are Christian leads one to question if they have ever truly been born again in Paul 2nd letter to the Corinthians he deals with I think this same issue and it would appear that the man had repented and 2nd Corinthians to Paul discusses this I don’t have the whole thing but he’s talking about the same person he says the sinner had repented and Paul writes The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient now instead you ought to forgiving comfort him so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow he says I urge you therefore to reaffirm your love for him verse 6 and 8 says as soon as the excommunication believer repents he should be welcome back into the arms of a warm and loving church community once repentance is a stablish we deliver one why because we are concerned about their soul their spirit Think about that for a moment the church that allows such things to go on inside a church does not care about their spirit or soul if they allow it to continue in this then they do not address it. We need the church I’m speaking as the church and a whole as a whole needs to address such issues because we love the person but we love them so much they want we want their spirit to be saved. And that’s the whole purpose for putting one out of the church to save their soul they might suffer for a while but the hope is that conviction will press upon them and if they would come and repent turn from that lifestyle and surrender their hearts fully to God as their own songs say created me a clean heart of God righteous impure holy unto you amen.