Welcome back!
Great to have you here again to share another slice of Daily Bread. Our
study today is about a topic that the world has turned from sin, to
something that is to be expected. Baffling as it is, fornication has become
accepted as the norm. Think of how ugly this must be in God’s eyes. An act
that He intended for the formation of human life has been turned into filth
and a manner by which to defile the flesh.
Even just saying
the word fornication gives you the feeling that you’ve done something wrong.
Does that tell you anything? Now what about those of you who want to turn
your heads and read about a different topic. Do you feel like you can
somehow apply the law vs. Faith doctrine to this and say, I don’t believe
there’s anything wrong with it, therefore, it’s not sin.
Well, I must ask
you some questions. Knowing all that you know, and as intellectual as you
are, can you honestly say that you are as pure as Adam and Eve before the
apple was eaten? We inherited the ability to know right from wrong when they
did that. We inherited the SIN. (Romans
5:14) Do you not instinctively feel that being unchaste is wrong? Maybe
to satisfy your lack of control, or to excuse your guilt, or to escape your
responsibility to try and be undefiled, you’ve found some way to justify
fornication. What we really need to do is stop lying to ourselves and using
a double standard for our convenience. Instead, double check with your heart
and ask yourself, What do I really believe? Is it right or is it wrong? God
is watching J ... You remember, God, that guy
who put the law into your heart (Hebrews
8:10) . . . yeah, Him.
Okay, now let’s
get that letter from Paul back out, and unroll the parchment out to Chapter
5 of 1 Corinthians and see what he has to tell us about this. Apparently
there was fornication going on in Corinth. It was known about publicly and
the circumstances were very shameful. This kind of thing wasn’t known to
occur among the Gentiles before.
In his concern and bewilderment, Paul says,
The person who did this might be taken away from among
you,
and instead of mourning, you’re “puffed up”.
What does this
mean, “puffed up”? Well, it could mean that they’re boasting about it
(similar to today’s world where adultery is promoted in all kinds of media),
or advertising it like scandals are usually gossiped about, or, it could
mean they’re angry about it.
Before you read
the next verse, recall that Paul said in Chapter 2, v. 15, He that is
spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
For I truly, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already,
as though I were present, concerning him that has done
this deed,
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are
gathered together,
and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
to deliver this person to Satan for the destruction of the
flesh,
So that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord
Jesus.
Your acceptance of this is not good.
Does this sound extreme to you? Look at it this way. As long as this
person is within the congregation, and the congregation is accepting his
behavior by not taking any action against him, the entire congregation is
brought down by it, because remember, we are one body. If the hand gets a
cut and has an infection the whole body suffers from it. So would you have
God punish the whole lot? Of course not, so Paul is saying, separate the
offender, cast him out and then God can deal with him separately.
Incidentally, what happens when you’re thrown out? You’re away from God.
You’re alone with the enemy. How much more efficiently can you show a person
that they need to get back on the right path? One bad apple spoils the whole
bunch. Paul relates this same thing using leaven as a good analogy for the
fornicator, or anyone else who may be a bad apple.
Purge (cleanse) out therefore the old leaven,
that ye may be a new lump, as you are unleavened.
For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed (put to death)
for us:
Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven,
neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness;
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and TRUTH.
I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with
fornicators:
Yet not altogether (solely) with the fornicators of this
world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then
must ye needs go out of the world.
But now I have written to you not to keep company,
if any man that is called a friend be a fornicator,
or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer,
or a drunkard, or an extortioner;
don’t associate with such people.
For what business is it of mine to judge them also that
are outside the Faith?
Don’t you judge them who are within?
But them that are without (outside the Faith) God judges.
Therefore cast away from among yourselves that wicked
person.
Paul has more to say about matters of immorality in the coming up
chapters so hurry back and join in for some eye opening study of this
important letter from Paul, right here at Daily Bread.
