Sin Permeating the Church

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.”

 

In the church in America today sexual immorality of various kinds and degrees is permeating the church. It has spread like wildfire and not much at all is being done about it. Very few church congregations anymore exercise true biblical and loving church discipline. Instead, most now coddle people in their sins and they give them permission to keep on living in sin by teaching them the half-truth cheap grace gospel.

 

Rather than the church being the body of Christ gathering together to encourage one another in the Lord so no one is led astray by sin’s deceitfulness, they are now inviting the people of the world into the gatherings of what they call “church” and they are altering the meaning of “church,” and they are altering the gospel message to make it more acceptable to human flesh and to the people of the world.

 

They teach them that a mere profession of faith in Jesus Christ is enough to secure them heaven for eternity regardless of how they live from that moment forward. Some will teach against sin but many do not, but still very few teach the consequences of continued sin in light of eternity. They are not teaching dying with Christ to sin and living to Christ and to his righteousness but many are leaving their adherents still dead in their 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.”

 

Because sexual immorality has become so prevalent and acceptable in our society and within the gatherings of what is called “church,” and so many people within the gatherings of the church are regularly engaged in some type of sexual immorality, including perhaps as many as 35% to 50% of pastors, rather than exercising true biblical church discipline, sexual immorality has been allowed to continue to grow.

 

And because most “churches” in America are now businesses which are being marketed to the people of the world, not much is going to be done to stop sexual immorality (and all sin) from continuing to permeate the church gatherings. And that is because these “churches” are being taught that they should not do or say anything to offend the people of the world because they want to attract the people of the world to their gatherings.

 

And so we now have children being given access to the internet where they can get to all sorts of evil, and these internet devices are being used as babysitters to entertain the children. And men and women are being unfaithful to their spouses and to their marriage vows, and marriages and family units are falling apart, and human lives are being destroyed by addiction to pornography and other harmful material.

 

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.’”

 

Now, because of the degree to which sexual immorality is now permeating the church, those who are actually living in moral purity are in the minority. And those who are speaking out against sexual immorality and all addictive sin, who are calling people to repentance, to turning away from their lives of sin to follow Jesus in obedience, are largely being ignored and/or shunned, and we are being called judgmental, legalistic, or self-righteous.

 

So, everything is flip-flopped. Evil is now being spoken of as good and good is being spoken of as evil. Now it seems to be a crime to talk about sin and to call people to repentance and to warn them of the consequences of habitual and unrepentant sin, for that offends people. And now you are regarded as good if you talk of sin as something everybody does as a matter of practice and you don’t get on people to repent and to obey the Lord.

 

So, for the people of the gatherings of the “church” who are living in moral purity to now all of a sudden take this passage of Scripture to heart, and to stop associating with everyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ but who is living an immoral life, i.e. who habitually and deliberately engages himself in some type of sexual immorality, all that would mean today would be that a few dedicated followers of Christ would leave the gatherings of the “church.”

 

For anything of this drastic of nature as is taught here to happen in today’s church gatherings in America there would need to be a major revival of God to sweep across our nation and to bring people to their knees and to repentance and to obedient faith in Jesus Christ, their Lord. But this does not mean that we sit back and do nothing about it just because so much of today’s church is doing little to nothing to cleanse the church of this evil.

 

We can “leave Babylon,” i.e. we can come out and be separate from this world of sin and not partake in it and not have close fellowship with other professers of faith in Jesus Christ who we know are living sexually immoral lives or who are living in deliberate and habitual sin against God of any kind. And we can speak out against sin and we can call people to forsake their sins and to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ.

 

And we can share the truth of the gospel and let people know that a mere profession of faith in Jesus Christ is not going to secure heaven for them when they die, but that they have to die with Christ to sin and live to Christ and to his righteousness. And they have to persevere in that faith until the very end if they want to be saved from their sins and have eternal life with God. For if sin is what we practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-10; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-11; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Ac 26:18; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15; Eph 2:8-10]

 

He Keeps Me Singing  

 

by Luther B. Bridgers, 1910

 

There’s within my heart a melody

Jesus whispers sweet and low,

“Fear not, I am with thee, peace be still,”

In all of life’s ebb and flow.

 

All my life was wrecked by sin and strife,

Discord filled my heart with pain;

Jesus swept across the broken strings,

Stirred the slumbering chords again.

 

Feasting on the riches of His grace,

Resting ‘neath His sheltering wing,

Always looking on His smiling face –

That is why I shout and sing.

 

Though sometimes He leads through waters deep,

Trials fall across the way,

Though sometimes the path seems rough and steep

See His foot-prints all the way.

 

Soon He’s coming back to welcome me

Far beyond the starry sky;

I shall wing my flight to world’s unknown,

I shall reign with Him on high.

 

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus –

Sweetest name I know,

Fills my every longing,

Keeps me singing as I go.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S23RqEr7ox4

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