Purge the Evil from Among You!

1 Corinthians 5:1-5 ESV

 

“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

 

“For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.”

 

This is definitely a picture of the vast majority of what is called “church” in America today, only it is not the sins of just one man we are talking about, but it is the sins of the majority of men, and many women and children, the numbers of which are increasing. For sexual immorality is running rampant in today’s market-driven churches, and perhaps even in the old fashioned institutional churches, too. Even though each person is responsible for his or her own sin, I believe it has gotten to this extreme because the powers-that-be have perverted the grace of God into immorality.

 

Christians and prospective Christians are being fed a half-truth gospel created in the minds of humans, and not of God, which is telling them that they can “believe” in Jesus, have their sins forgiven, be on their way to heaven, guaranteed, and it can’t be taken away from them no matter what they do, no matter how much they sin from that moment forward. And they are NOT being taught that repentance (turning away from sin) and walking in obedience to the Lord are part of believing faith which saves, and that if we continue living in sin in disobedience that we won’t go to heaven.

 

So, the church is encouraging their congregants to live according to the flesh and not according to the Spirit, and to follow their emotions and their passions and the lusts of their flesh. And so marriages and families and the innocence of children are being destroyed in large numbers. And many are involved in pornography or extra-marital affairs or other forms of sexual sin, including child abuse and incestual relationships. But they don’t call it sin. They call it “love” and they find ways to excuse away the fact that what they are doing is sinful so that they don’t feel guilty for their repeated sins.

 

And the American market-driven “church” is proud of her gatherings, and of her talented musicians, and of her gifted speakers, and of her fun activities, and of her relaxed and non-judgmental attitude and atmosphere. She is proud of what she has created which is able to draw in large crowds of people from the world, and that her numbers are increasing, and that people are coming back because they feel at home in their worldly and fleshly atmosphere which rejects the teaching of the true gospel so as not to offend anyone with the truth. Rather, they tickle itching ears with lies.

 

And the church at large is not mourning over the spiritual condition of the church at large, which does NOT include every church fellowship here in America. And since their stance on sin is to not confront it, to not talk about it, or to lessen it to “I messed up,” they are largely not taking appropriate and biblical steps to bring these sinful situations to a halt and to discipline the unrepentant. For they make room for the sin to grow via their diluted half-truth gospel which does not teach repentance and obedience to the Lord, but which leaves the door wide open for them to keep on in sin.

 

1 Corinthians 5:6-8 ESV

 

“Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

 

This couldn’t be more obvious in today’s market-driven and flesh-driven churches here in America, which are the majority of churches here in America. And it is no longer a little leaven, but the leaven is massive!! It is predominant! And it is widespread now all throughout the body of Christ, and few have escaped its grip. So, to cleanse the old leaven, i.e. to cleanse the church of such sexual immorality as this, who would be left? Few! The churches would have to close their doors for there would not be enough people to attend their services or to support their buildings.

 

Even if the situation wasn’t sexual immorality, but it was just the ones who practice telling lies who would be removed, who would be left? It seems most people make lying their practice these days, even pastors, many of whom are being trained to lie, to manipulate, to trick, and even to use people to get where they want to go and then to discard them when they are not needed anymore (we were taught this in our church planters training). So many pastors are following marketing books over or in place of the Scriptures, and in place of the Holy Spirit, too. And this is awful!

 

So, what is the call here? It is to repent, to turn away from such sins, to reject them, and then to turn to the Lord and to follow him in moral purity and in honesty and in obedience to his ways and to his commands. It is to cleanse the gatherings of the church of all this rampant and deliberate and habitual sin that is going on, and to exercise true biblical church discipline, and to throw out that half-truth gospel which is just paving the way for this to take place, and to begin again to teach the whole counsel of God via the Scriptures being taught in context, so the church will worship God alone.

 

But, instead of doing this, they are being taught to get rid of those of us who have “strong convictions” and who are still holding on to the gospel that Jesus taught and that his NT apostles taught. They are being told to discourage those who “don’t fit” from participating in their “churches,” and to encourage them to “go someplace else where you will be a better fit.” And they are being taught to market their ”churches” only to select people groups. My husband and I went through the training so we know what is being taught, and now it is so much worse than it was 20 years ago.

 

1 Corinthians 5:9-13 ESV

 

“I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. ‘Purge the evil person from among you.’”

 

So, unless a massive revival takes place in the church at large in America, I don’t see this happening at all, because the sexually immoral are in the majority, not in the minority. And if you speak out against what is going on inside these “churches” in the name of Jesus, then you become their enemy, on their “hit list,” so to speak. They don’t want anything to do with you. You are poison to them. So, they “blacklist” you, sort of, by painting a picture of you as a legalist, as hateful, as negative, as self-righteous, and as one who teaches “works-based salvation.” And you may find yourself standing alone.

 

But keep walking in purity of devotion to the Lord, even if you have to stand alone, at times. Keep teaching the whole counsel of God, and do not compromise with the world and with the worldly church in order to be accepted by them and to not be ostracized. Keep living the truth and keep speaking on holiness, righteousness, godliness, moral purity, honesty, and faithfulness, etc. Don’t let them intimidate you. Even if they falsely accuse you of things you did not do or you did not say, because they want to destroy you, keep walking in the ways of righteousness and trust God.

 

Lord, Move Me  

 

An Original Work / October 16, 2011

 

Be my desire, my heart set on fire,

Lord, move me to worship You only, I pray.

Fill with Your Spirit, my heart overflow.

Lord, may I long for You; Your word to know.

Teach me to walk with You, Lord, in Your power,

And may I serve You, Lord, right now in this hour.

 

Lord, how I want to obey You forever.

Help me to hear You, Lord, so I will not stray.

Teach me to love You; adore You always.

Envelope me, Lord, with Your grace today.

Meet me in my need and show me Your mercy.

Forgive me for all things, as I humbly pray.

 

Counsel me, lead me, direct me, and guide me,

So I follow You, Lord, where’er You lead now.

I love to hear You speak Your words to me.

I am so grateful that You set me free.

Wash me, and cleanse me, and make me like You, Lord,

And I will live with You for eternity.

 

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