This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

This is day four together of our look at 1 Corinthians chapter 5. We're going to
look at verses 9 to 11. And up until now in this chapter, we have been talking
in somewhat broader terms, how to judge, when to judge, the danger of wrong
relationships, the picture of the Passover celebration, just in case we might
miss the point.

Paul had started by talking about a man who was caught up in sin and what needed
to be done. And just in case we might get caught up in philosophy and miss the
practicality of this, Paul now gets extremely specific. Listen to verses 9 to
11, "I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral
people.

" Not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral or the greedy and
swindlers or idolaters. In that case, you would have to leave this world. "But
now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a
brother but is sexually immoral or greedy or idolater or slanderer or drunkard
or swindler.

With such a man do not even eat. " Those are the verses. And looking at those
verses, it makes some feel very judgmental just to read them.

How could Paul say this? Where is the love in this? Well, first, before we get
into what Paul is talking about, let me tell you what he's not talking about
here as he talks about the associations that we have in our lives.

First of all, he's not talking about--he's not saying to not associate with
anyone who's ever struggled with any kind of sexual immorality. In the next
chapter, he's going to say all the Corinthians have struggled with sexual
immorality. They've come out of that.

They've been changed. But they all struggled with it in their lives. Sexual
immorality, as Paul talks about it here, is someone who's involved in immorality
right now and unwilling to repent, unwilling to change.

He's not talking, as we said yesterday, about those who are struggling with sin.
But he's talking about those who stubbornly refuse to admit their sin. So he's
not talking about anyone who's ever sinned because we've all sinned.

So that's obvious. He also makes very clear here that he's not talking about
unbelievers. When he says don't associate with people who are sinning, he's not
talking about unbelievers.

He says you'd have to leave this world if you couldn't associate with
unbelievers who were caught up in these kinds of sins because that's their
lifestyle. That's how they live. They don't know Jesus.

They don't want to know Jesus, maybe some. And because of that, they're living
any way that they want. So what in the world does Paul mean here then?

What does it mean to not associate with someone who is a brother but is caught
up in sexual sin? Well, we go down the road and we think, well, maybe what he
means here is don't be their best friend. Don't spend hours and hours with them.

Well, Paul's very clear about that. He says with such a man, do not even eat.
That's very clear.

Now, why is he being so strong? Let me tell you why. Paul is being so strong
because all of us are weaker than we think.

Paul is being strong here because I'm weaker than I think. We are all prone to
fall into sin, and sexual sin is especially insidious. Because of that, Paul
says, if you accept an association with this person who's fallen into sin and he
continues to call himself a brother, you're going to fall right in with them.

Now, if you think, oh, no, not me. If you think I can handle it, you're already
in a trap and you don't even know it. That's scary.

You can't handle it. That's what Paul's saying here. You cannot handle the fact
of sin being close to your life and not get involved in it.

You can't. That's why we need the protection of a fellowship of believers.
That's why we need the Word of God to sanctify us.

That's why we need the Spirit of God within us. But even with the Word of God
and the Spirit of God and the fellowship of the Church, if I allow myself to get
involved in fellowship with someone who says they're in the Church (but it's a
false fellowship, it leads me the wrong way). If I allow myself to get involved
with someone who says they're speaking the Word of God but it's a false Word of
God, it leads me the wrong way.

If I get involved with someone who says they are following the Spirit of God but
they're actually following the spirit of this world leads me the wrong way. I
can say I'm following God, but I'll end up in the wrong place. Paul's being
strong here because I'm weaker than I think.

That's why Paul says to Timothy, and he's letter to Timothy, "Flee. Run away
from sexual sin. Don't think you're strong enough to stand there and handle it.

Run away from sexual sin. " That's why at Saddleback Church for our staff, we
have what we call our Staff Ten Commandments. Our Ten Commandments for Sexual
Purity.

And those commandments help us to say we're not even going to get close to a
situation that could tempt us to sin. Those Ten Commandments involve things like
never go out. If you're married, you never go out with another woman by yourself
for a meal.

That might be a restaurant with a hundred other people around, but it's too
intimate a situation. You never get in a car with another woman and drive
somewhere alone if you're married. Why?

Because those involve situations that could lead to sexual immorality. You could
say, "Well, that's being legalistic, isn't it? " And it could be legalistic, but
it's not.

What we're saying is we're going to run away. We're going to run away from
sexual sin. Paul says if you look at your own life and the struggles that you
have in your life, many of them can be traced back to the relationships that you
have in your life.

And if you have good relationships with those who want to change, you're going
to be a growing person. If you think, "Well, I want to change others, and I'm
going to get involved in relationships with those who are unwilling to repent,"
he's not talking here about someone that is a friend of yours and has gone
through a devastating circumstance. You need to go to them.

You need to say, "Repent and change. " And they do. No, he's talking about
they've had a devastating circumstance.

You go to them. You say, "Repent and change," and they say, "I will not, and
what I'm doing is right. " And a week later, they say the same thing, and a
month later, they say the same thing.

At some point, you have to cut off the association. Why? Because you're weak.

Now, I know even some of you, as you hear me saying this, I've said it like
three or four times. You're weak. You hate it.

You think, "I am not weak. I am strong. I'm strong in Jesus.

The joy of the Lord is my strength. I'm strong. " But when it comes to sin,
we're weak.

And to think anything else of yourself is just pride. It's just boasting. So
that's why the Scripture says we run away from sexual sin or from the temptation
of sexual sin.

Let me just for a moment talk personally to some of you listening to this. Let
me talk to those of you who are caught up in a sexual sin right now. It might be
a relationship with a man or a woman who's not your husband, not your wife.

It might be an affair. It might be pornography. It might be a relationship with
somebody of the same sex.

Let me talk with those of you who are caught up in a sexual sin or are feeling
severely tempted toward a sexual sin. Let me just say to you from the Scripture,
things are not going to change just by you praying more or trying harder. Things
will change when you make a change.

Paul says you flee. You run away from sexual sin. Here the Scripture says stop
spending time with those who are flippant about sexual sin.

If you're finding yourself constantly tempted toward sexual sin, look in your
relationships. Is there someone who's constantly flippant about sexual sin? Stop
that relationship.

If they're a believer, stop that relationship. In Timothy, Paul says start
spending time with those who want to live with purity. He says run with those
who want to run with a pure heart.

Do that now. And he says run away from any situation that would lead you into
temptation. Run away now.

Whatever it takes. If you have to move, if you have to change jobs, what's your
purity worth? What's your marriage worth?

What's your depth of relationship with Jesus worth? Jesus, we live in a sinful
world. And we live in a world right now that sexual sin is just everywhere.

It affects every one of us. And as parents, we think about how it affects our
children, and we pray for them. We pray for them now, for purity in their lives.

But Lord, we would be prideful if we didn't begin with ourselves. Jesus, we
don't want to live caught up in this world, the way the world around us lives.
We don't want to live as if the sexual sin in this world was designed to somehow
meet our need.

We know that sexual sin uses people, whereas marriage, the way you've created
sex to bind a man and a woman together for life, that honors people. And that
honors you. And that's what we want, Jesus.

So we need change. How are we going to change? By trusting you.

So Lord, instead of trusting ourselves, I pray for the grace of your Spirit to
trust you and to set aside those relationships that are pulling us away from
you, to run away from those situations that continually, continually cause us to
fall into sexual sin or some other kind of sin in our lives. And Lord, define
those who want to live in a brand new way. Lord, none of us are perfect.

We all need to grow. But when we sin, Lord, we want to be these kind of people,
the kind of people that come to you immediately, ask you for forgiveness,
recognize that forgiveness. And then I'll also ask you, what can I do to change?

What could I do not to do that again? Lord, get me out of this trap. Help me to
trust you so I can live for you.

We ask that this would happen in Jesus' name, Amen.