Let's turn in our Bibles now to 1
Corinthians chapter 5.
The Corinthian letter of Paul was mainly corrective.
The Corinthian church had innumerable problems.
Those from the house of Cloy had reported
to Paul many of the situations that did
exist there in the Corinthian church.
Part of the problem was the divisions that
existed within the church as they were dividing
off into little sects of sorts, little denominations.
I'm of Paul, I'm of Peter, I'm of
Apollos.
And Paul said this was a mark of
carnality.
Christ was not divided.
Those ministers who had ministered to them should
have had complementary ministries, not competing ministries.
And surely we should see the church and
the various ministries within the church as complementary
rather than competing.
I don't feel that our church is really
in competition with any other church, nor should
it be in competition with another church.
We should be complementary to the other churches,
filling up a part of what they are
not doing as they fill up a part
that we do not do.
And thus the churches should be complementary, never
competing.
But yet the Corinthian church had fallen into
this competition, little competing groups, dividing the body
of Christ, the mark of carnality.
Now with the end of chapter 4, Paul
has completed really his rebuke concerning the divisions
that existed within the church and moves on
now to even more serious problems, problems of
immorality that did exist within the church.
It is reported commonly, that word reported commonly,
is really it has been noised abroad, or
it is common knowledge that there is fornication
among you.
And such fornication as is not so much
as named among the Gentiles that one should
have his father's wife.
So there was in the church of Corinth,
a man who was living incestuously with his
stepmother, his father's wife.
And the Corinthian church was so busy with
their little squabbles over I'm of Cephas, I'm
of Paul, I'm of Apollos, that they allowed
this condition to exist within the church.
In fact, they almost took pride in the
fact that they could tolerate this kind of
goings on within the body.
They sort of prided themselves in their broadness
of view, as unfortunately there are some churches
that pride themselves in their liberal views today.
You are puffed up.
You're actually priding yourself in your liberal attitude
towards this condition.
And you have not rather mourned or grieved
over this condition that was existing, that he
that hath done this deed might be taken
away from among you.
For though I am absent in my body,
I am present in my spirit, and I
have already judged as though I were present
concerning him which has done this deed.
I already have made up my mind.
I've already made my judgment on this situation.
And in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, when you are gathered together, and my
spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus
Christ delivers such a one unto Satan for
the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit
may be saved in the day of the
Lord."
Or the Lord Jesus.
Jesus said that if your brother sinned against
you, that you should go to your brother
and deal with him.
And if he receives you, then you have
gained a brother.
But if he will not receive you, then
you should take some witnesses with you and
you should go to him in order that
the sin might be dealt with.
But if he will not receive then the
witnesses, let him be as an outcast.
Let him be as a heathen or a
publican unto you.
The first thought always of the brother in
sin within the church is restoration.
Going first.
Seeking to restore.
Seeking to bring about a rectifying of the
bad situation.
Paul exhorted the Galatians, if a brother be
overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual,
restore such a one in the spirit of
meekness, considering yourselves, lest you also be tempted.
So the first duty concerning that brother who
has fallen into sin is going to him
in a spirit of meekness, grieving over his
situation, seeking to restore him to a proper
walk with the Lord.
Always, even in the excommunicating, the idea is
that of restoration.
So even with this brother in Paul saying,
I've already judged, kick him out.
Deliver him over unto Satan that the flesh,
not the body, but the flesh, that is,
that life after the flesh might be destroyed.
That by his being excommunicated from the fellowship
of the church, he will realize the seriousness
of the sin that he is committing.
That it is alienating him from the life
of the church and the life of Christ
within the church.
But even in the putting him out, the
idea was to destroy this work of the
flesh in order that he might be ultimately
restored into the fellowship of the church.
And always, the ultimate view is that of
restoration, for that is the work of Jesus
Christ, is to seek and to save that
which is lost.
And thus is the church, when we have
to deal with issues within the church.
And there are times here where we have
to deal with serious moral problems where we
have asked people not to return to Calvary
Chapel.
Don't come back until you've taken care of
this situation in your life.
But the idea is that of restoration.
Now, just what involves turning them over to
Satan for the destruction of the flesh, I
am not quite certain.
Paul, in writing to Timothy, speaks of a
couple of fellows, one Hymenaeus, who was really
a crummy character, no doubt.
And Paul said that he had turned him
over to Satan.
That he might learn not to blaspheme.
And so, here, putting them outside of the
umbrella, the covering of the church, that Satan
might really take them on down and let
them see the end result of this kind
of sin and tolerated sin in their life,
or practicing sin in their life.
Let them see what it does.
Let them come to the destruction of the
flesh.
You know, sometimes the best cure for adultery
is for the person to marry the person
they're involved with.
You know, Satan can so delude you.
They go, I can't live without them.
Oh, you know, this is the love of
my life.
This is the love of the ages, you
know, and all.
Oh my, you know.
And just let them get married and they
find out that they could have lived very
well without each other.
It was just a big lie that Satan
had built up in their minds.
So, turning them over to this, so oftentimes
brings the destruction of the flesh, the excitement,
the glamour, the allure of the whole thing.
And Paul's admonition to deliver such a one
unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh
in order that the Spirit might be saved
in that day of judgment.
Again, salvation is the ultimate desire and goal
here.
Even if it involves the destruction of the
flesh, the important thing is that the Spirit
be saved in the day of the Lord.
Now, your glorying in your broadness is not
good.
The fact that you're puffed up over this
and you glory in the fact that, well,
sure, you know, we can accept these kind
of things.
That's not good, Paul said.
For do you not know that a little
leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
Leaven was the sourdough starter that the women
used in making their bread, always keeping a
little bit of the dough from the last
batch to mix it in with the new
batch of dough.
And leaven is used in the Scripture always
in an evil sense.
Because the leavening process is actually a putrefying
process.
The air that gets into it by the
rotting process.
And a little starter into the new batch
of dough will work its way through the
whole batch of dough.
A little leaven will leaven the whole lump.
And it is such a classic picture of
sin, how that just allowing, tolerating a little
area of evil, it can permeate the whole
life of the body.
It can affect the whole body.
A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
Therefore, purge out the old leaven, that ye
may be a new lump as ye are
unleavened, for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed
for us.
Now, Paul brings in here the picture of
the Passover.
And you know the Passover was the time
of unleavened bread.
In preparing for the Passover, the 14th of
April, the Jews would go through their whole
house in a search for leaven, to remove
from the house any leaven that may exist.
And then they would make the bread for
the Passover out of unleavened bread, or the
flat bread, the unleavened bread.
Leaven being a type of sin.
And so, the feast of the Passover was
the feast of unleavened bread.
And it was known as the feast of
unleavened bread.
A beautiful type is involved.
Because of Jesus Christ, of which the Passover
was a type, being without sin, our Passover,
our sacrifice without sin.
And so, leaven being related to sin and
the old life in sin, now purge out
the leaven from the church, that we might
be a new lump, as ye are unleavened,
for even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for
us.
And so, Christ, our Passover, the one in
whom the whole Passover scene is fulfilled, the
unleavened bread, the broken bread, and all, all,
the whole beautiful symbolism there.
Christ, our Passover, sacrificed for us.
Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with
the old leaven, that would be the feast
of love within the church, not with the
old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice
and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of
sincerity and truth.
As we meet together, let us meet together
in sincerity, let us meet together in truth,
let us worship together in sincerity and truth,
let us love one another in sincerity and
truth.
Within the body of Christ, we should not
have the malice, we should not have the
strife, the wickedness, but there should be a
purity of heart before the Lord when we
gather together to worship Him.
Now, Paul refers to an epistle that he
wrote to the Corinthians, which we do not
possess.
So, we call this 1 Corinthians, but it
really is 2 Corinthians, or maybe even more.
We do not know how many letters Paul
wrote to them, but he does refer to
a letter that he had already written to
them.
I wrote unto you in an epistle not
to keep company with fornicators, yet not altogether
with the fornicators of this world, or with
the covetous, or the extortioners, or with idolaters,
for then must ye needs go out of
the world.
Paul now here is making a definite separation
and distinction between our fellowship in the church
and our life in the world.
Within the church, we are not to have
fellowship with fornicators, nor with the covetous, or
with idolaters.
Outside of the church, we live in a
world that is filled with fornicators, filled with
covetous people, filled with idolaters.
And the Christian life is never intended to
be a monastic existence.
In order to live a pure life, God
never intended for you to go and cloister
yourself behind some high walls and be shut
out totally from the world.
God intends that you be a light to
the world.
And the light is not to be placed
under a bushel or behind closed walls, but
shining in the world to give light to
those that are in the world.
Therefore, as I deal with the world, I
have to deal with people who are immoral,
who are greedy, and who are idolaters.
But when I come to church and meet
together with the people of God, I should
be able to meet in a totally different
environment.
There should be a holiness, there should be
a purity within the body as we meet
together.
Now, it is interesting, as Paul lists these
three basic sins, fornication, greediness, and idolatry.
As you look at fornication, it is really
a sin against yourself.
It is a sin that is marked really
by selfishness, but it is that of taking
advantage of another person, thinking of them only
for sexual gratification, not really caring so much
for them as a person, but only that
you can satisfy your own biological urges.
They become an object.
And so, it is really a sin against
the other person, a sin that is marked
by selfishness.
Greed, of course, is totally selfish.
Covetousness or extortioning, that is really out for
myself to get from you what I can
by whatever means possible.
But idolatry is sin against God.
That is worshipping something other than God.
When a person establishes an idol, and let
us not think of an idol only in
terms of some little figure that's been carved
out of wood or made out of silver
or gold.
For a person can make an idol of
a car or of a garden or of
a building.
It is amazing how many people make idols
of buildings.
There were a lot of people who had
much misgivings when we moved from the little
chapel a block away.
Oh my, you know, I was saved here.
Oh, you know, we can't leave this place,
you know.
Let's build three tabernacles and stay right here,
you know.
This is where God met me.
Whenever a person establishes an idol, a representation,
it indicates, first of all, that they have
lost the true consciousness of the presence of
God within their lives.
And so this is a reminder of what
I once had or experienced.
In the Old Testament, when Hezekiah became the
king, Israel had lapsed into idolatry.
Hezekiah was a reformer.
And one of his first actions was to
cut down the groves in which they had
worshipped the false gods and had set up
their idols.
And he broke down the various altars unto
the gods that had been built.
And then it says, And he took the
serpent that Moses had made in the wilderness,
and he broke it in pieces, and he
said, Nahushtan.
You see, that serpent that Moses set up
in the wilderness, when the children of Israel
were being plagued by these poisonous serpents into
the camp, and as they were bitten and
dying, the Lord said to Moses, Make a
serpent of brass, put it on the pole
in the middle of the camp, and whoever
is bitten by the serpent, if they will
look upon that serpent of brass in the
middle of the camp, he will be saved.
Again, a very beautiful picture of Jesus Christ,
as Jesus Himself pointed out to Nicodemus.
For as Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, so must the Son of Man
be lifted up that whosoever believes in Him
should not perish.
So, the serpent, the symbol of sin.
The serpent of brass, the symbol of the
judgment of sin.
For brass is a medal of judgment.
The serpent is a symbol of sin.
So, to look at Jesus and see my
sin judged, you see.
My sin doesn't then kill me.
It doesn't destroy me.
But I live by looking at Jesus crucified
for me.
But the people took this serpent.
Someone kept it.
And gradually through the process of time, this
had become an idol.
And the people used to make pilgrimages to
look at this serpent of brass that Moses
had made in the wilderness.
And it had become an idolatrous thing.
And so, he broke it in pieces and
he said, Nehushtan, which in the Hebrew means,
a thing of brass.
It's not a god.
It's not a representation of God.
This is only a thing of brass.
And when we're prone to get attached to
buildings, we need to realize, a thing of
stone, a thing of wood.
It's only a building.
And we mustn't get attached just because that's
the place where God met me.
You see, I should be having a fresh
experience with God each day.
And the fact that I want to erect
a idol means that I have lost that
consciousness of God's presence.
I'm reaching back for something that I have
lost.
Trying to regain it by establishing a relic.
Idolatry, the sin against God.
But yet, as I'm in the world, I
mix with these people.
I have to.
I don't say to the person checking out
the groceries, Is your life pure before God?
You know, I don't know if I should
allow you to touch my groceries as they're
passing by, unless you're born again, you know.
I'm in the world and I have to,
you know, live among the world.
I will confess, I don't like it at
times.
And there are times when I frankly hate
it.
I hate it when I have to listen
to the filth that pours out of some
people's mouths.
It disgusts me when they open the door
to their sewer and just let it pour
out through the room.
I hate it when I'm sitting in a
restaurant and people light up.
And why is it that they always hold
the thing up over their shoulder, you know?
I'll tell you why they do.
They don't want to smell the stinking thing
themselves.
But that's so totally inconsiderate.
But I'm living in the world and I
cannot escape it.
And God doesn't intend that I try to
escape it by moving off.
Now, I would, let me, I will confess,
I've had, I've had real yearnings to,
you know, say, let's all go together and
let's purchase an island in the Caribbean.
And let's just have a totally Christian community,
you know, where our kids could just grow
up in, you know, no jails, no police
departments, none of this, none of the need
for this, because we just live together according
to the principles of the word.
And, and just in a loving community, oh
my, you know, how I would love to
see my grandkids being able to walk down
the street without having to worry about some
nut trying to entice them in a car
or to forcefully, you know, abuse them.
It concerns me, the direction our world is
going in.
And I would, I would oftentimes, in my
mind, I would love to escape.
But God didn't intend that we escape and
just, you know, have our own little heaven
on earth.
We're living in a world that is filled
with sin.
We're living in a world that's corrupted by
sin.
But we look for that city, which hath
foundation, whose maker and builder is God.
And we're just pilgrims here.
We're just passing through.
One of these days, we will come to
the kingdom.
And it will be a place of beauty
and rejoicing.
And the scripture says, and the children shall
play in the streets and not be afraid.
But not now, not yet.
I cannot escape it.
I must be a light in this dark
place.
But now I have written unto you not
to keep company if any man that is
called a brother, this is a different sense.
If he's in the church and he's called
a brother, and yet he is a fornicator,
or he's covetous, or he's an idolater, or
a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner,
I'm not to have close fellowship with him.
And that is what the term to eat
signifies.
For you see, according to the Oriental tradition
of the Middle East, to eat together with
a person is to become one with that
person.
For in their society, they usually have a
common bowl of soup of sorts in the
middle of the table.
And then a common loaf of bread.
And you take and you pull off a
portion of the bread and you dip it
in the bowl.
And the person next to you, they don't
use utensils, they just take their hands and
pull it off.
And you pass the bread around, everyone pulls
off a hunk.
And then you dip it in the same
bowl of soup in the middle of the
table.
And you're all eating from the same bowl
of soup and the same loaf of bread.
Well, that makes me one with you.
Because the bread that is now being assimilated
and becoming a part of my body is
being assimilated into your body and becoming a
part of your body.
So the same loaf of bread is nourishing
and assimilating in both of us.
So I become a part of you and
you become a part of me.
And they really looked at it like that.
We're being joined together as one by the
eating together.
That's why the Jew would never eat with
a Gentile.
He didn't want to become one with a
Gentile.
So if a man within the church is
a fornicator, an extortioner or covetous, or an
idolater, a drunkard or whatever, then don't have
this close communion with him.
You shouldn't have this close fellowship with him.
Now those that are without, for what have
I to do to judge them also that
are without?
Do not you judge those that are within.
Those that are on the outside, God will
judge.
But we should have a certain judgment within
the church.
Therefore, put away from among you that wicked
person.
Referring back to this fellow who was having
an incestuous relationship with his stepmother.
Now, Paul brings up another issue.
And that was the taking of a brother
before the pagan courts.
Dare any of you, having a matter against
another, go to law before the unjust and
not before the saints?
Do you not know that the saints shall
judge the world?
And if you're going to be judging the
world, are you unworthy to judge in the
smallest matters?
Now, there were those within the church of
Corinth that were going to court, to the
pagan courts in Corinth, with judgments against a
brother within the church.
And Paul is saying, ideally, your differences should
be resolved within the church, by the church.
For God has committed judgment to the church.
The church will be judging the world.
Now, we know that Christ will be the
one that judges the world.
But we are one in Christ.
And so, in Him, we will be participating
in the judgment of the world.
Now, if that awesome responsibility is to be
placed upon the church in Christ, then, surely,
we should be able to judge in these
small matters that exist between brothers.
And differences should be resolved, if possible, within
the church.
Now, Paul is not saying that, if necessary,
we should not take legal recourse.
He is dealing, first of all, with the
situation within the church itself.
There are those that, perhaps, you have a
legal problem with, who are outside of the
church.
And they would not submit to the authority
of the church's decision.
And thus, it is sometimes necessary to take
legal recourse, in order that you might obtain
justice.
Paul himself, when he was getting the old
political runaround before Festus, when Festus said, Are
you willing to go up to Jerusalem and
face these charges?
And he had already spent two years waiting
for justice to be done there in the
prison in Caesarea.
And Paul, realizing this is just one more
little political go-around, then he said, I
appeal unto Caesar.
And he exercised his right as a Roman
citizen, made his appeal to Caesar.
So that Paul himself took a legal recourse
to save himself further manipulating by the politicians.
But as much as God has placed judgment
within the church, we should be able to
judge in the matters that deal with those
within the church.
Know ye not that we shall judge angels?
Now, there are angels which did not keep
their first estate, who probably, with Satan, rebelled
against the authority of God.
Revelation would indicate that as many as perhaps
one-third of the angels joined Satan's conspiracy
against the authority of God.
And Jude tells us that they are being
reserved in chains awaiting the day of judgment.
Now again, Christ will be no doubt the
one figure of judgment against the angels, but
we are in Christ and we are associated
with Christ.
We are together with Him, joined with Him
in the kingdom age as one with Him.
And so we join in Him even in
the judgment of angels.
Now, it doesn't mean that you're going to
have a chance to say to your guarding
angel, hey, where were you on the 16th
of October when I ran into that guy?
Why weren't you there to hold me back?
But those angels which kept not their first
principles are to be judged.
They are awaiting the day of judgment in
chains of Tartarus, awaiting the day of judgment.
But if we're going to be judging in
these spiritual issues, how much more should we
be able to judge in things that pertain
to this life?
If then you have judgment of things pertaining
to this life, set those to judge who
are least esteemed in the church.
You know, the least esteemed Christian is more
capable of honest, true judgment than the smartest
judge in the superior court as far as
able to render righteous judgment.
Now, more and more as I read of
some of the judgments coming out of the
superior courts, I wonder concerning the competency to
judge.
I am alarmed, I'm shocked at how
light a sentence or non-sentences some of
those convicted of terrible crimes are receiving.
So, the least esteemed.
You see, the courts of the land know
nothing of the laws of the Spirit.
Paul was talking about the natural man does
not know the things of the Spirit or
does not understand the things of the Spirit,
neither can he know them.
They are spiritually understood, discerned.
But he which is spiritual understands all things,
though he is not understood by the world.
So, in dealing with issues within the church,
especially issues that involve spiritual things, the least
of the saints are more competent to judge
than the wisest of the world.
In the same token, you can learn more
divine truth from an uneducated, simple, Spirit-filled
believer.
You can learn more spiritual truth from them
than you can the wisest PhD in the
country who is not born again.
Scholarship has nothing to do with the understanding
of things of the Spirit because the natural
man cannot understand them, neither does he know
them.
And thus, they cannot be a guide to
spiritual truth, nor can they be competent to
judge in spiritual matters.
These issues should all be settled within the
church.
Paul said, I'm speaking to your shame.
I'm hoping to shame you by your actions.
Is it so that there is not a
wise man among you?
Not one that shall be able to judge
between his brothers?
Don't you have one person there who is
wise enough to deal with these issues?
But a brother goes to law with a
brother and that before the pagans.
Now, therefore, there is utterly a fault among
you because you go to law with one
another.
Why do you not rather take wrong?
Why do you not rather allow yourselves to
be defrauded?
No, you do wrong and you defraud and
that your own brethren.
Tragic, tragic that it hasn't stopped.
There are still those within the church today
who would defraud even their own brothers to
shame.
And so Paul is speaking of the shameful
condition.
Now, again, this does not at all dictate
against going to court with a person who
is not a brother.
That is sometimes our only recourse and it
is not a prohibition.
Nor is it to my knowledge or understanding
of prohibition of going to court with a
brother if the brother is not willing to
settle it within the church.
You see, if he's unwilling to submit to
the arbitration within the church, then you may
have to take other recourse.
But Paul said that's that's a shame.
It would be better if you would just
be defrauded.
Allow it.
If a man sues you to get your
coat, give him your cloak also, Jesus said.
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not
inherit the kingdom of God?
Now we're getting down to some very serious
issues.
Those who are going to inherit the kingdom
of God.
Paul declares, don't you realize that the unrighteous
are not going to inherit the kingdom of
God?
Don't be deceived.
Neither fornicators, the word here in Greek is
male prostitutes, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the
effeminate, nor the homosexuals.
The abusers of themselves with mankind is the
Greek word for homosexuals.
Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revelers,
nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God.
Paul writing to the Galatians in chapter 5
declares, for the flesh lusts against the spirit
and the spirit against the flesh.
And these are contrary one to the other.
So that you cannot do the things that
you would.
But if you are led by the spirit,
you're not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest,
which are these adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry,
witchcraft, which is in the Greek pharmakia, the
use of drugs, hatred, variants, emulations, wrath, strife,
seditions, heresies, endings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such
like.
Of the which I've told you before, as
I have also told you in time past,
that they which do such things shall not
inherit the kingdom of God.
Is that plain?
Paul said don't be deceived.
A lot of people are deceived into thinking
that they can live however they please and
still inherit the kingdom of God.
Not so.
And thus, these words should come as a
searchlight to our own hearts.
If I desire to inherit the kingdom of
God, these things should be searching my own
soul.
For the unrighteous are not going to inherit
the kingdom of God.
The fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor abusers of themselves and mankind, nor thieves,
covetous, nor drunkards or revilers, nor extortioners shall
inherit the kingdom of God.
And such were some of you.
But you've been washed.
But you are sanctified.
That is, set apart for God's use.
You are justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our
God.
Though that may have been a part of
your past life, that's where it should be.
In the past life, if any man is
in Christ, he's a new creation and the
old things are passed away.
But what do I say if the old
things are not passed away?
Then obviously you're not a new creation.
Don't be deceived.
Do not be deceived in taking the grace
of God as a cloak for lasciviousness.
Thinking, because the grace of God is covering
my life, I can live as I please
after the flesh.
There is a lot of clamor today, even
within the church, to broaden the road to
eternal life.
To open the doors to all kinds of
lifestyles.
To a toleration of ungodly
lifestyles within the family of God.
For are we not all seeking the same
goal?
Are we not all walking the same path?
For all roads lead to God.
And that endeavor to broaden the road.
But let me remind you that Jesus said,
Strive to enter in at the straight gate.
For straight is the gate and narrow is
the way that leads to eternal life.
And few there be that find it.
But broad is the gate and broad is
the way that leads to destruction.
And many go in there at.
Beware then, he said of false prophets, right
after warning about these two gates.
Beware of false prophets who will be there
as wolves in sheep's clothing.
The false prophets who say, hey, it doesn't
matter, you know.
God loves everybody.
Doesn't matter how you live.
Beware of false prophets.
They may have reversed collars.
They may be there in ministerial garb.
But many of them are wolves in sheep's
clothing.
But grandma, what big mouth you have.
I get so totally upset with men who
purport themselves to be ministers of Jesus Christ.
They seem to love to take the title
of reverend.
And do you know that in a suit
filed against President Reagan by the ACLU, that
they have several ministers from the Southern California
area here who have joined in the suit
against President Reagan for declaring 1983 as the
year of the Bible.
And they have filed a civil suit against
the president.
Several ministers.
They must be ministers because they have reverends
in front of their names.
Hey, they are wolves in sheep's clothing.
They're disguising themselves as servants of Christ.
But as Satan is able to transform himself
into an angel of light in order to
deceive, so are his ministers.
And these are servants of Satan disguised as
ministers of Jesus Christ.
And they are working to destroy the body
of Christ and the church.
The communist has planted many men in places
of position in some of the major denominations
across the United States.
The World Council of Churches is close to
a communist front organization and espouses almost every
communist cause and supports every crooked thing going.
I could get carried away with this.
I'll tell you, I would not give one
dime to any church that is a part
of the World Council of Churches or the
National Council of Churches.
When they support the guerrillas that are killing
the missionaries in Zagwe and the little children
over there, when these militant groups are supported
by the World Council of Churches, your money
would be used when they support PLO, when
they support Angela Davis.
Oh, some of you were
such, but thank God we've been washed.
Washed first of all, then sanctified and then
justified.
Oh, that glorious work of God in my
heart through Jesus Christ by the power of
the Holy Spirit.
I have been changed.
I no longer am what I was.
My life has been changed through the power
of the Holy Spirit and faith in Jesus
Christ.
And it is a new life.
And the old things have passed away and
all things are become new.
Now all things are lawful unto me.
That is a very, very broad statement.
It is as about a broad as ethic
as any man could ever express.
The Epicurean philosophy came close to it.
They said all things are lawful for me
if they bring me pleasure.
It doesn't matter what it is.
As long as it brings me pleasure, it's
all right to do.
So you talk to them about some horrible
thing you did.
Well, did you enjoy it?
Oh, yes.
Well, then it's all right as long as
it brought you pleasure.
Paul said all things are lawful for me,
but all things are not expedient.
Again, as a child of God, I'm a
goal-oriented person.
My goal is to be found in Him,
not having my own righteousness, which is by
the law, but the righteousness which is of
Christ through faith.
My goal, one day, I'm going to stand
before Jesus Christ.
And you are going to stand before Him,
for we must all appear before the judgment
seat of Christ.
To receive for the things that we've done
while we are in these bodies.
To receive the rewards for our faithfulness in
our stewardship or in our lives.
What I have done for the Lord, because
I have only one life and it soon
will be past.
And only what I do for Jesus Christ
is going to last.
And I'm going to stand before Him to
receive the things done in my body.
My works will be judged by fire, what
sort they were.
And my goal is that when I stand
before Jesus in that day of judgment, He
will look upon me and say, well done,
thou good and faithful servant.
You've been faithful in a few things, now
enter into the joy of the Lord.
I'll make you ruler over Kauai.
Have thou rule over five cities or ten
cities or whatever, you know.
To hear, you know, I don't care what
I have done in life, what I've accomplished,
what I've gained for myself.
None of that will matter when I stand
before Jesus.
At that point, to receive His words of
approval and commendation are all important.
That's what I'm living for.
That's what I'm looking towards.
Now, there are things that I can do
that would be all right.
They're not going to damn me.
I am saved because of my trust and
faith in Jesus Christ.
But there are things that I could get
caught up in, very easily caught up in
them, that would impede my progress towards my
goal.
That would rob my time and my energies
so that I would not have time to
do it.
I don't have time or energy to do
the work of the Lord or the things
for the Lord.
I could become so involved.
Oh, they're perfectly all right.
There's nothing wrong with it.
But yet, it takes me away from my
primary goal.
It's an impediment in my movement towards my
desired end.
And thus, though it is lawful, though it
is all right, I don't do it because
it's not expedient.
It doesn't expedite my journey towards my goal.
So, it is important as a Christian that
I learn to prioritize my life, lest I
get caught up and I'm spending inordinate amount
of time in non-essentials.
Because that's a very easy trap for people
to fall in.
Where you get so involved in things that
really don't count eternally.
And you can spend months in these projects,
and then watch the whole thing go down
the tube.
And, hey, what have you been doing for
the last six months?
Nothing.
It all blew up last week.
Six months of labor.
But yet, Paul tells us at the end
of the epistle, know this, that your labor
for the Lord is never in vain.
One day we're going to stand before the
judgment seat of Christ.
Oh, to hear him say, good job, well
done.
Enter into the joy of the Lord.
All things are lawful for me, but I
will not be brought under the power of
any.
Only a Christian knows what it is to
be free.
The man who is living in sin is
not free at all.
Paul, writing to Timothy, said that we might
take them from the captivity of the enemy
who has taken them captives against their will.
Paul writes that the God of this world
has blinded their eyes that they cannot see
the truth.
So, he's holding them captive against their will,
blinding their eyes.
And you can't say he's really free.
Don't tell me that fellow snorting coke every
weekend is free.
Don't tell me the alcoholic is free.
Or a person that's bound by any kind
of a habit says, oh, I just got
to go out, man, oh man, I've got
to have it, you know.
That's not freedom.
That's bondage.
Only the child of God knows what it
is to be free.
I appreciate my freedom.
I love my freedom.
You see, it isn't really the freedom to
do those things that is really so exciting
to me.
It's the freedom not to have to do
them.
That's the kind of freedom I enjoy.
I have the freedom not to have to
do them.
I don't have to do those things to
get kicks.
I don't have to do those things to
feel a sense of well-being or get
excitement or whatever else.
Thank God I don't have to do that.
I'm free.
Now, being free, it is possible to exercise
that freedom in such a way as to
bring myself into bondage.
Being free to drink if I so desire.
By the exercising of that freedom, if I
drink to the point that my mind is
now influenced by the alcohol that I've ingested
into my system, that my judgment is now
fuzzy or impaired, that I am no longer
able to think clearly, then I am not
free.
I am under the power or the influence
of the alcohol that is numbing a part
of my brain cells.
Free to snort coke.
But what I am doing is putting a
little insulator between the snaps gaps so that
my thinking is now, I can't make those
connections.
The snap gaps doesn't snap across.
And though it may prolong a pleasurable sensation,
I cannot make the proper connection in the
snaps gaps.
And thus I don't think rationally and I
can get addicted.
And where I have to have it, and
then I am not free.
I've been brought under the power of it.
So it is foolish to exercise your freedom
in such a way as to bring you
into bondage because then you're no longer free.
And some people have unwisely exercised their freedom
in such a way as to bring themselves
into bondage.
So though all things are lawful for me,
I will not be brought under the power
of any because of my love for freedom
that I have received through the power of
Jesus Christ.
That glorious freedom not to do those things
that are destructive.
Meats are for the belly and the belly
for meats.
That's a part of the body itself.
So if I eat meat, it doesn't matter.
That's not the issue that's being dealt with.
The meat that I eat is going to
be destroyed.
God will destroy both it and them.
But the body is not for fornication.
God didn't give you this beautiful instrument.
God didn't place that strong sex drive in
you nor the pleasurable delight that you might
use the body for fornication.
Your body is not for fornication, but it
is for the Lord.
And the Lord is for the body.
And God hath both raised up the Lord
and will also raise up us by His
own power.
Now I'm to have a new body.
Even as though God raised up Jesus Christ,
so He's going to raise me up.
And my body is not for living after
the flesh or after the things of the
flesh, after fornication.
It isn't to just satisfy the desires of
my body that I live in this body,
but it becomes a beautiful, delicate instrument in
the hands of God to do His will
and to do His work.
Know you not that your bodies are the
members of Christ?
Shall I then take the members of Christ
or the instruments of Christ and make them
members of a harlot or a prostitute?
God forbid.
Don't you realize that he which is joined
to a prostitute is one body with her?
For the Scripture says the two shall become
one.
Through the act of intercourse, the two become
one.
Now, your body is a member of Christ
or an instrument of Jesus Christ.
And if you use your body for fornication
or to be joined with a prostitute, you
are actually joining Christ together if such could
be the case.
With that relationship.
But he that is joined unto the Lord
is one spirit.
We are joined to Jesus Christ, one spirit
with Him, and thus we are not to
take our bodies and use them in an
animalistic way.
Flee fornication.
Paul writing to Timothy said, Flee youthful lust.
Run from them, Timothy.
Oh, God, help us to run from temptation,
to be like Joseph.
Who, when Potiphar's wife grabbed hold of him
and said, You're going to go to bed
with me, wriggled loose and ran naked out
of the house rather than to succumb to
her charms.
God, help us to flee fornication.
Every sin that a man does is without
the body.
But he that commits fornication sins against his
own body.
Most of the rest of the sins are
done without the body, outside of the body.
But fornication is a sin done against your
own body.
What?
Know ye not that your body is the
temple of the Holy Ghost which is in
you, which you have of God and you
are not your own?
Don't you realize this, Paul said?
Your body is the temple.
And again, this is the Greek word naos,
which is the holy of holies.
It's the dwelling place of God.
It's the place of divine activity.
It's not the heron, the whole temple precinct.
It's the naos, the inner sanctuary.
Your body is the inner sanctuary of the
Holy Spirit which you have of God.
You are not your own, for you have
been bought with a price.
That's what redemption is all about.
You see, I was a slave to sin.
I was a slave to my own flesh.
I did those things because I was bound
by my flesh.
But Jesus Christ set me free, free so
that I don't have to do those things
anymore.
And my body, which I once abused, I
now offer to Him as the instrument through
which He might work, the temple in which
He might dwell.
And thus it becomes a holy place, a
sanctuary.
For you see, Jesus redeemed me.
He paid the price.
He purchased me from my slavery to sin
in order that I now might be His
servant.
But as His servant, I must obey Him.
I've been bought with a price.
I belong not to me.
He didn't redeem me so that I could
be my own man.
He redeemed me so that I would belong
to Him.
I've been bought with a price.
I am not my own to do with
as I please.
My life now belongs to Him to do
as He pleases.
Therefore, we are to glorify God both in
our bodies and our spirits, which are His.
Again, if any man defiles the temple of
God, Him will God destroy, Paul said.
We need to respect our bodies.
They are marvelous instruments created by God.
I was reading the other day that your
brain in one day makes more connections than
all of the telephone systems in the entire
world.
No wonder you're tired at night.
The operator up there putting all these lines
together constantly all day long.
More connections are made in your brain in
a single day than in all of the
telephone systems of the world.
As David said, we are fearfully and wonderfully
made.
A beautiful instrument, my body, given to me
by God that it might be the expression,
the medium of expression for my spirit.
That it might become the medium of expression
for God.
That God might express Himself through my body.
And that's the divine ideal.
God revealing Himself through you, through your body
as His instrument.
Revealing His love, revealing His work, revealing His
plan.
And so we need to hold our bodies
as instruments of God and respect them as
such and not do that which would destroy
or harm the temple of God.
Oh yes, it may be lawful.
You may be able to prove that it's
all right, but that's not the question.
Is it expedient?
Does it bring you under its power?
Does it build you up or tear you
down?
Father, we thank you for thy word.
May it be like a light shining in
the dark recesses of our lives.
Illuminating, bringing to light those hidden things.
That if there be in us, oh God,
a wicked heart, an evil desire, a covetousness,
an envy, a bitterness, that these things, oh
Lord, might be exposed by the light of
your word and brought unto the cross and
placed there.
That we might renounce those hidden works of
darkness and walk in the light as He
is in the light.
Knowing this beautiful union and fellowship with Him
as our lives are being cleansed by the
blood of Jesus Christ.
Thank you, Lord, for thy word and for
the privilege of fellowshipping together with your children.
Thank you, Lord, for making us one together
to share in thy kingdom and in the
joy of your kingdom forever.
Bless us now.
Help us now.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
May the blessing of the Lord rest upon
your life.
And may you be enriched in all things
in Christ Jesus.
As you grow in grace and in knowledge
of His love and of His way and
of His goodness.
And may your body become truly an instrument
through which God works as He seeks to
reveal Himself to a lost world.
God bless you and strengthen you in your
walk with Him.
And give you discernment and help you in
using your time well as you redeem the
time in this present evil age.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.