Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the daily Bible podcast. Still just me today. Uh, we're in first Corinthians chapter one or no. First Corinthians chapter five through eight, almost said chapter one, chapter five through eight. Nope. Uh, that's not a thing we're in first Corinthians. I almost did it again. 5, 3, 8 first Corinthians five, three. Why is that so hard? Why is it first Corinthians five through eight chapters, five through eight, not chapter one, chapter five. That's not a thing. Chapters five through eight. That's where we're at today. First Corinthians chapters five through eight. Uh, hopefully you're having a great Saturday today. It's cold out there. At least it's supposed to be, it was a supposed to be cold after Wednesday last Wednesday. I don't know what happened. It's like, Hey, having a day, that's almost 80 degrees. And then we're going to plunge back down into the cold weather again. So those of you that like it warm around this time of year, I don't think that you have any more days in the eighties coming your way. I. I love you, but I hope not at least because man Christmas needs to be cold. Thanksgiving needs to be cold. We need the. It just needs to be chilly out. I'm a jacket, kind of a guy like wearing. Sweater sweaters and sweatshirts and jackets. That's, that's kinda my jam. So I know I live in Texas and it's hot. The majority of the time, but this is, this is the season. This is when it's supposed to get good and cold, but all right, let's jump in first Corinthians five through eight. Uh, first Corinthians chapter five, Paul continued to write to this church and addressing some difficult things going on there in the church. And that is true as well. In this particular chapter. And so we get in here to an issue of. Um, I was sexual immorality. And I want to try to keep this a PG as much as I can, but basically he says to the church here in no uncertain terms, he says, Hey, you've got something going on there. That even the unbelievers won't tolerate and put up with, there was something grotesque going on within the church that was, uh, out of bounds. Even at that time, at least culturally, with even the Gentiles and the pagans and the church was saying. Hey, it's no big deal. And, and when Paul says there, uh, you're arrogant. What he's referring to is he's saying, look, you guys are, are boasting. In you're accepting of this, you guys are boasting in the sense that you're like, Hey, look at us, look at how, uh, you know, kind of generous and tolerant. That's a word that's prevalent in our culture in society. Isn't it. We're tolerant of this person. We love so well that we're not going to put them out of the church. We're going to keep them here. Paul saying, no, this is wrong. There are sins. There are things for which you ought to put someone out of fellowship. And this is one of them. He says that in, in this text, he says, verse five, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of his flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. So it appears. Uh, Paul's hopeful that this guy might even still be a believer. At this point, but he saying, you need to turn this guy over, not just kick him out of the church, but Hey, Satan's going to take him out. Satan's going to probably kill this man is what this, the implications are here and you need to be okay with putting them out of the church towards that end so that he doesn't put his soul in the even more peril than it already. Is, uh, Yeah, it's, it's a difficult one there to know. Is he talking about this guy as a believer or a discipline amount of the church that he might have the opportunity to repent as a result of that and be saved and save his soul at that point? It's, we're not exactly clear on this, but this is a grave situation. Pulsing. Hey, get together church and figure this out. You need to practice church discipline. Here is what's going on. You need to put him out of the church and quit. Patting yourself on the back for being such a kind and loving church that you're not going to do that. He says a little bit 11 leavens, the whole lump. Look. The church has made up of new creations in Christ and needs to reflect that. It needs to be marked by that newness of life. And here. There was a situation where that was being compromised and it was, it was spreading the, the, the sin was spreading like gangrene and producing other sin in the life of the church too. And Paul says, this is not good. Put him out of the church. Um, there, there needs to be a fast and noticed change. Uh, in the church here. And so he's calling for that. And then he goes on in here. He says, you know what I wrote to you in my letter, not to. I associate with sexually immoral people. He said, but now I'm writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears in the name of a brother, if he's guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater or reviler or a drunkard or swindler, not even to eat with such a one. And this is again, building on the idea of church discipline. We need to take since seriously. Because it's a threat, not only to the individual who's in sin, but also to the church at large. And so in chapter five, he's saying you've got a problem. You need to go after this problem. Chapter six. The first part, the first 11 verses here, he identifies another problem. And that is. I said, you guys are suing each other. So the, this is a massive issue. He said that basically his argument in the first 11 verses here is if you have a dispute amongst brothers and sisters in the church, Solve it within the church. Don't go to the court of law when you go to the court of law and you're a believer suing another believer. He saying, this is a, uh, a mark on the name of Jesus. This is the world's going to look at this and go, wait a minute. You guys are both professing faith in Christ and, and you're suing each other. Aren't you supposed to have a love for each other and don't you guys preach forgiveness and don't you guys preach well. Yeah, but you don't understand. No. Paul says there's, there's no room for this now for Christians, can a Christian ever enter into a lawsuit? I would say the answer is yes. Um, Against another brother or sister in the church. I would say there, the answer is. Uh, Generally speaking. No. Um, If you're going to be part of a class action lawsuit, or if you're in a situation where, you know, you get hit by a drunk driver and there's damages done at, and you enter, enter into a civil suit against that person. Is that okay? Yeah, that's okay to pursue the means of justice that God has given you to pursue is okay. But what's going on here is that the bickering and the lawsuits from believer to believer we're causing the, the name of Christ to be degraded in the eyes of the world. And pulsing, that's a greater, slight than whatever the slight that, that you're trying to Sue to overcome is against you. And so you need to stop that and, and look to. To bring reconciliation within the church itself. Verse 12 then, um, Uh, let me hit verse 11 first because it's such a good one. He he's saying, look, don't act like the world acts because he says such were some of you that has this long list right before that, but now he said, but you were washed, you were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And by the spirit of God. So in other words, act like it live like it live in this new reality. Live like you have been sanctified already, fully sanctified. We are being sanctified, but live like you're justified. Like you're. You're washed your clean because you are in Christ. And so live that reality out is what he's calling them to. That's going to involve our purity. And that's where he goes next in verses 12, through the end of the chapter here, he talks about sexual purity and he says, look, there's a lot of things that are lawful, but not, not much. That's not all that's lawful is helpful for me. He said I'm not going to be owned by anything. And he talks about food. Uh, but then he also compares it to sexual morality. In, in two areas that, that we need to exercise self-control and willpower in are these areas of, of food and, and sexual immorality, our, our appetites in that regard. And he talks about that. Any in specifically sexual morality, he said, should I take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? He says never. Or do you not know that he is joined, becomes one body. And that goes back to that design for a husband and a wife and the physical union being one flesh together. And so he's saying don't, don't enter it. Don't mess around with that. That's a serious sin. Remember in chapter five. That was the sin at the heart of what led him to say, get this guy out of the church, turn him over to Satan. Even. And so he's saying here, verse 18, flee from this. Every other Santa person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body, it makes the body, your own body and instrument of unrighteousness. And that's. What God does not want at all. Romans six talks about that. Not presenting ourselves as instruments of unrighteousness any longer. And so Romans six, the end of it talk or first Corinthians six and Roman six, both, but first Corinthians six here, talking about sexual immorality in the last part, chapter seven, then principles for marriage is the opening here. He gives a lot of instructions to. Uh, husbands and wives, and you can go back and listen to my message from the transformed conference on that first part there about husbands and wives and conjugal rights. And what that looks like every day that ends in Y remember that, that line there from that. But, uh, basically he said, this is a good thing. You need to be doing this wives and husbands, make sure that you're focused on that. Make sure that that's part of your routine and your rhythm. It should be there. It's important because it's a safeguard against the enemy's temptations. There. He goes on from here. He says, look, if, if you're unmarried and you're dating someone and you're burning. For that person physically desiring them get married. It's better to marry than to burn with passion. He says there. Uh, verse 10. He says, look, there's no divorcing here to the married. I give this charge and not I, but the Lord, the wife should not separate from her husband, but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband and the husband should not divorce his wife. So there, Paul saying, look, divorce is out of bounds. And I know we've, we've talked about their qualifications to that. But even there that Jesus said, Moses allowed those qualifications because the hardness of your heart. Uh, our desire is always going to be to pursue reconciliation. If there's a possibility for reconciliation to be achieved. For, for a husband and wife for forgiveness to be offered and for repentance and all of those things, all those components that are necessary. If we can get there. We're going to move towards reconciliation with everything that we can only in that as a last resort. Are we going to say, okay. Yeah, if you biblically, you have grounds for divorce in this particular situation, and those are narrowly defined in scripture. Uh, and so it only at that point, are we going to say yet? It's it's it's okay. Move towards that. Um, there are other situations though, wherein if, if the trigger is pulled the policy in there, okay. The trigger's pulled, but, but you are going to remain unmarried then that that's our instruction to you. That's God's instruction to you. And the impulse careful about that. He said to the married, I give this charge. Not I, but the Lord. Because later on right after this in verse 12, he's going to say to the rest and I not the Lord. So he's, he's differentiating, he's saying what my instructions about this. They're not just me. This is God. God is telling you these things. And so he's, uh, he's very strong about that. And then he goes on in the rest of 12, 3 16 here. And he talks about living with an unbeliever as a believer. And basically he says this, Hey, stay together. Uh, if, if you're somebody who gets saved and your husband's not saved, or you get saved, your wife's not saved. Stay together. Even though we, we talk about not being unequally, yoked, that's more for those that are going into marriage. We don't want you to go into marriage. And get married to somebody who you're a believer, they're an unbeliever, but if, if two unbelievers get married, one of them get saved. And then what do you do with the unbelieving spouse? He says, stay together. And then he has this interesting thing. He says, uh, verse 14 for the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife and the unbelieving wife has made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is their holy. Uh, this is not talking about salvation, but this is talking about the institution itself. Um, That the, the believer, uh, gives the. Th this holiness to the union of husband and wife. And so in that sense, the husband is made holy or the wife has made whole way. And the believer in the marriage then gives again, Purpose and value to the gift of children. Because they are now going to be viewed as a gift from the Lord, which they are. So in that sense, the children are clean. Uh, not in the sense that they're saved. Uh, because they still need to get saved, but in the sense that, that they are going to be a part of a believing. At least one believing a family member in that the husband or the wife there. And in that sense, there are seen as a gift from God. So that's a good thing. So this is not salvation, but the children are now seen as a blessing from the Lord. So that's what he's talking about. There. In that verse 14. Uh, he does go on and say, look, if, if you get saved and your spouse, who's an unbeliever walks away and abandons you. Okay. So be it, let them go. You're not bound to that person. And so that's another situation where in that person would be free to remarry. But, um, that's only if the unbeliever says, um, I'm out because I can't live with you anymore. As a Christian, you've changed, I'm gone and they walk away. Verses 17. And following there, he does talk about, um, living as you're called living your life to, to please the Lord. And so he's just saying. Honor your commitments and don't seek to evade your commitments there. And fall back on your relationship with God as a, as a, as an outer, as an excuse for there. Uh, he talks about the unmarried and the widowed. Uh, in verses 25 through 31. He talks about living as though. W you were unmarried, really, this focuses on do everything you can to focus on serving the Lord, um, and, and, and be concerned with those things. I often talk to single people in verse 32, first Corinthians 7 32. I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. He says the same thing about the unmarried woman later on. He says in verse. 34. The unmarried or patrol with a woman is anxious about the things of the Lord and how to be holy in body and spirit, but the married woman or the married man anxious about the things of the Lord and how to please their spouse. And so their affections are divided. So if you're single and you're listening to this, maybe God is saying to you through Paul. You've got a gift. And that's what we talked about. The gift of singleness. You get to serve him. Uh, without distraction you, you get to serve him. You've got more time. You've got more abilities. You've got more resources to be able to serve then. Otherwise you might, if you were married now. If you're out there single listening to this going. Yeah, but, but pastor PJ, I want to be married. That's not a bad desire. Uh, nobody's saying that it is, it's not a bad thing to be married. Paul's just saying, look, if you're single understand, there is a gift there. And in that gift is you get undivided and secure devotion to the Lord as he talks about there in verse 35. Uh, and so that's, that's a good thing, but then he, he concludes and says, a wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she's free to be married to whom she wishes only in the Lord. So he concludes by talking about widows there. He says if you're widowed and, and whether this is a woman or a man. Your spouse dies. You're free to be remarried there and that's not a bad thing. Our chapter eight. Uh, food offered to idols. He talks about knowledge a lot here. In fact, in the first. Uh, 11 verses. We see the word five times there, this word knowledge, and the problem was there were some that were claiming knowledge. Uh, but they were. Being a hindrance to other people in the church. And so really he's saying, what good is your knowledge or your spiritual maturity? If it's not used to bless others. You're supposed to love the weaker brother. And so the knowledge was causing people to puff up and, and, uh, and be prideful and arrogant towards what we would say is, is the weaker brother. And so in verse four, he says, therefore, as eating a food offered to idols, because that's what was at, at, in question here. He said, we know an idol has no real existence that there's no God, but one. Okay. So he says, okay, good. You know that I get, you know, that, but there are others that are weaker in their knowledge and conscience in that. And, and for them, even though an idol is not really real. They're still not comfortable eating that food. He says, okay. So don't use your knowledge to cause that brother to stumble verse 13. If my food makes my brother stumble. I'm not going to eat meat less than make that other brother stumble. Okay. So where do we bring this into our, our kitchen, so to speak quite literally, um, I think one area is in the area of alcohol, right? You might say, okay. Pastor PJ look. I know the Bible doesn't outright prohibit the drinking of alcohol and you'd be right on that. You're correct. In fact, Paul tells Timothy to take a little wine and I know there's going to be people out there going to yet, but the wine, the alcohol content was different in that time. Granted a fair and, and that's a conversation for another time. Although there was still the ability to get drunk on wine as is prohibited. So we're not dealing with like, Jack Welch's grape juice. There was alcohol content there. So alcohol, right? You might say I have freedom. Because the Bible doesn't prohibit me from drinking alcohol fair. If you have a family over to your house, though, to eat dinner, that, that family, that, that may be a sensitive subject to them. For whatever reason you may sit there and go, well, I, I don't think there's a genetic pre disposition to alcoholism. That's my conviction. And that's where I'm at. And so I'm not going to bow the knee to that. Okay. But if you have a family over for dinner and they do think that it is, and they've got a family member, who's battled alcoholism, they've seen horrible things there. And you're going to sit there and in your Christian Liberty, you're going to crack open the beer and you're going to drink it in front of them. It'd be like, look, don't, don't come at me. I'm allowed to drink beer because. The Bible doesn't say not to, but you're not loving that brother right there. Um, love them enough to keep the beer in the refrigerator. Love them enough, not to break open a bottle of wine. Uh, love them enough, not to do those things and, and to go, okay, I'm going to die to myself to love the brother here. In the Corinthian church, they weren't doing that. And we need to make sure that we do. Uh, these things that we make sure that we love someone else more than we love our own liberties. Yeah for freedom. Christ has set us free only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. And that that can be. That I'm going to flex on my freedoms too, and insist upon them. Uh, to the detriment of another brother's faith, we gotta be careful about that. All right. There you go. First Corinthians five through eight. Uh, let me pray and then we'll be done with this episode. God, we pray that we would be a church that loves one another well, and that loves you. Well, Um, And really those two things can't be separated from each other. If we love you. Well, we will love one another. Well, that was the point of Jesus saying the greatest commandment is to love God with everything and to love others as ourselves. The love for the Lord overflows into a love for one another. So we pray that we would do that well, that we would be holy. That would be a godly church, a pure church. And that we would be effective. Uh, as a lampstand for you until Christ comes back for. So we pray this all in Christ's name. Amen. Ki bring your Bibles tune in again tomorrow for another edition of the daily Bible podcast. But.