[Steve Myers] All right, this is the Epistles of Paul. It's good to be back together again. We left off last time just finishing up Chapter 4 and mentioned the fact that Paul is going to get into some specific issues. Remember the household of Chloe had got him aware of some of the issues that they were facing and so Paul is going to go through these various problems, specific problems that Corinth was dealing with or in some cases not dealing with in the way that they should. And so as we get into Chapter 5, he talks about a serious problem that they had not been dealing with at all. So take a look at 1 Corinthians 5:1.

1 Corinthians 5:1 He says, "It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles, that a man has his father's wife."

And so now Paul begins to address this issue. And the idea of sexual immorality is the way the New King James translates it. King James says fornication, for sexual immorality, the word itself here is the word porneia, I-A, Porneia is the word here. And I think I got an extra A in here. Let me get rid of that, porneia, there it is. And you can see within this word we get our word porn from. The sexual immorality or what King James said, fornication...not the best translation in King James. That's why they put sexual immorality in the new King James. What he's really getting at here is the issue of sexual perversion. And sexual immorality, this word for porneia, doesn't just mean fornication, it doesn't just mean adultery. It can be any kind of sexual immorality. Yes, it could include adultery. What is adultery anyway? It's sex outside of marriage. You're married and you have sex outside of your marriage with someone who's not your mate. Fornication, it could include that. What's fornication? Sex between unmarried people, also unacceptable.

Other translations maybe speak to this idea of the many facets of sexual immorality that are included in porneia. So not only adultery or fornication, other translations will say sex sins, some say whoredoms, so running all over, sexually speaking in that way. It could include just about any idea of something that's outside the bounds of sex within marriage. And so it can include any of those things. And, of course, in this particular case, he uses this word porneia instead of...there's a specific word for adultery, it's moicheia. It's M-O-I-C-H-E-A-I. And that's pointing to adultery because this idea of porneia speaks to a level of higher sexual immorality in that regard. And so when we consider that, he gets right down to the heart of this. And we'll see this word come up over and over and over again.

And, of course, you think, well, why would this be a problem in Corinth? Okay, what kind of city is it? It's a big town. It's a harbor town. People are coming and going. They had this amazing temple at one time with a thousand temple prostitutes. Yeah, they were known for their sexual immorality. It's well documented by historians, the immorality that Corinth was known for. Even this idea to Corinthianize has an idea of immorality itself. And so, yes, no wonder they were dealing with these kinds of things. And here he says it's something that's not even named among the Gentiles. So this was not something commonly found in the pagan realm even. And that idea of a man having his father's wife, now in this case it's not the man's mother but this would be his stepmother. The man is having sex with his stepmother. And, of course, by God's law, if you hold your place here, yeah, we can see very clearly that this is something that God says you cannot do. Of course, first of all, you're supposed to honor your father, you're supposed to honor your mother, it's certainly in the big 10. But if you go back to Leviticus for just a moment, we can find these things spelled out pretty clearly in Leviticus 18:7 speaks directly to this concept of what you would call incest, right? Incest, having sexual relations with your stepmother.

Leviticus 18:7-8 It says, "The nakedness of your father or the nakedness of your mother you shall not uncover. She's your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. The nakedness of your father's wife, you shall not uncover. It is your father's nakedness."

So this is something that doesn't belong to you. And so you see very clearly that this is unacceptable. In fact, it goes on to say that, verse 29, he tells us pretty clearly that whoever commits any of these abominations.

Leviticus 18:29 It says, "They will be cut off from among the people."

So this is unacceptable. And this isn't the only time it's mentioned in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 22:30 also says the same thing. What was the ultimate result for someone who did those things? They just get a slap on the wrist? No, punishable by death. Punishable by death. And so when we recognize this, this is a serious matter. God holds marriage in the highest esteem. And so it is a sacred thing, especially when you think about what the spiritual implications are in marriage and how God uses marriage to represent Jesus Christ in the church. And so this is really an affront to God. So if you go back to 1 Corinthians 5, you begin to see that not only the fact that this was happening is an issue, This shouldn't be happening in the church, but what was the church doing about it? They were allowing this sexual immorality. It seems that they had been so infected by the society around them, well, it's just one of those things. It happens all the time in Corinth, sexual immorality, maybe not exactly like this, but certainly crazy things, yet what does he say?

1 Corinthians 5:2 Well, it says, "You are puffed up." There it is again. Yes, "Your arrogant pride," verse 2, he says, "and have not rather mourned that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you."

So here they're existing in their egotism, in their prideful attitude, and they didn't take care of the issue. And you wonder, well, why not? Why would the congregation allow that to continue? Why would you allow something that was blatant sin? Now, you get the idea here that what kind of sin is this? Is this an obvious sin? Yeah. Did they know about it? Yeah, absolutely. It was publicly known. It wasn't like someone sinned and they were off in a corner, no one knew it. It was a private thing that was just between them and whatever the issue. It wasn't that at all. This is something that seems like the whole congregation knew about this and they put up with it. And he says, "You're puffed up." Now, why would you be puffed up about allowing that to continue? Seems like kind of an oddity, doesn't it?

But you think you're so spiritual? If you think that you've reached that pinnacle of spirituality, well, I'm so spiritual, I can put up with that because it's not my problem. I'm so wonderful. In fact, I'm showing how wonderful spiritually I am that I can put up with this. Can you imagine that kind of prideful approach? It doesn't matter what other people do. We'll just let that go because, after all, I'm really spiritual and I can put up with that. But Paul is saying, wait a second, you can't have that perspective. It says you should have mourned. Instead of approaching it in that kind of an attitude.

1 Corinthians 5:2 It says, "This individual, it should be taken away from among you."

Literally, that means expelled. Get them out of your company. Get them out of your company. You shouldn't be putting up with that. That's something that's unlawful. It violates God's commandments and you haven't dealt with it because of your pride. So Paul says in verse 3 then.

1 Corinthians 5:3 "I indeed as absent in the body but present in spirit have already judged as though I was present, him who has done this deed."

So, Paul hasn't shied away as they have. He's made the determination, right? He's made the call. He recognizes the situation and instead of overlooking it and thinking that, well, I'm so spiritual, I can just overlook that, he says, no, I've judged this. This is the way God sees it, putting those passages together to recognize this is just sinful behavior that is uncalled for, that cannot be allowed within the congregation of God. What does He say?

1 Corinthians 4:4 He says, "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with My Spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."

So what's the determination? What should happen when there is blatant public sin, ongoing sin, within the congregation? Just put up with it? Just ignore it? Just think that you're so spiritual that you can handle it? No, Paul says it has to be dealt with. It has to be dealt with. And he says this is through God's power, the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. He in a sense implores the name of Jesus Christ in this, that this is what God would have us do to protect the body. To make sure that we are not allowing sin that is so blatant and so public, he tells very specifically, this is what needs to happen, "Deliver one, deliver such a one." And that's a pretty strong word, this word for deliver. Sometimes they'd use this word in a judicial setting in ancient Greece, that a judgment has been made. And so you deliver, it's like taking that prisoner that has violated the law and you deliver them to the warden. You deliver them to jail. You're taking them there. This word was used in that kind of a sense and it is a strong one. It is a strong word.

1 Corinthians 5:5 And so he's saying, “You deliver them to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.”

Sounds pretty harsh, doesn't it? Yeah, why would you want anyone to be destroyed in this way? Doesn't that sound un-Christian? Why would you say it in this way? Well, when you consider, who is the church? Who comprises the church? Well, converted individuals comprise the church of God. What is the church? The church is the body of Christ. Is the church to be separate? Is the church to be holy? Is the church to be living by God's standard? Absolutely. There's no doubt about it. And so we have been removed from this world, haven't we? Remember our definition of the church, the ecclesia, we are the ecclesia of God. What does that mean? We're called out of this world and we're brought together. We're separate from this world. So being separate, called out and brought together to allow blatant, obvious sin, continual sin, is an affront to God. And so if they're cast out, if they're thrown out of the church, what's on the outside? Well, whose realm is that? That's Satan's realm, right? It's the world, the world. It's governed by, you know, spiritual wickedness in high places.

So when they're out of the congregation of God, when they're out of the body of Christ, yeah, they are in a sense delivered to Satan. This is Satan's realm. And so interesting that it's for a purpose. Is it just to cleanse the body? No, no, it's so much more than that. When you look at what is this describing, we might call this disfellowshipping someone. Ever heard that term before? They're disfellowship. They're not a part of the fellowship any longer. We have the fellowship in the body of Christ. We share in the body of Christ. They are disfellowship. They are now outside the fellowship of Christ in the realm of Satan. So disfellowshipping someone is delivering such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. And it's not just to purify the body. That's really not what it's about. I mean, it's part of it. But the real issue is that person. What do you want for that individual? What about this guy who's having sex with his stepmother? Unacceptable. Can't be a part of the body of Christ and act that way. That ongoing sin has to be dealt with.

And so out of the body, you're turning them over to Satan, and what does it say the reason is? Just to get rid of them? Just to put them out? Oh, I don't have to talk to them any...? No, that's not why. It says, "For the destruction of the flesh." Why the destruction of the flesh? Well, we're to be spiritual creations, aren't we? We're going to be spiritually...what happens when you come to baptism? In a sense, you're proclaiming the fact that you're destroying the flesh, that I'm going to have a spiritual perspective from now on. I'm not going to let my physical things, my thoughts guide my actions. That's not who I am anymore. So to destroy the flesh means I become a spiritual creation in Christ. What's happened is I've allowed the flesh to take over again, carnality, my own selfishness. And so that has to be destroyed, doesn't it? It has to be destroyed, has to be dealt with. We have to put off the flesh and put on Christ. And so you turn them back to the world so that hopefully they will deal with that. Someone would be suspended from church or disfellowshipped for that very reason, not just to cleanse the body and get rid of somebody. No, it's really to deal with the sin. To deal with the sin. Yeah, and we know that is the case.

So we want to definitely protect God's church. We want to help the church in that sense. But there's also a loving discipline within the church. And so this is not done in a way that would just be dealing with this person in a harsh manner. It's not just dropping the hammer on this guy and getting rid of him. No, it's ultimately for the purpose that he'll change and he'll grow. So it's really done out of love. It's really done out of love because you have this, what would happen if you don't deal with this? What is this man's fate? Going in the lake of fire. If this has been someone that truly did repent, received God's Spirit and now has turned back to the world, lost. And we allow that to happen, we let that happen without dealing with it. You know, as a congregation, the congregation has a responsibility, the pastor has a responsibility to help that person change. And so they've allowed the sin to come back in and not dealt with it. You know, he's not saying this is a one-time thing. This had been an ongoing sin and they had to deal with that. And there was a responsibility that they had to help this person to change.

So this amounts to putting them out of the church, putting them outside of the fellowship back into the world, outside of the ecclesia so that they'll recognize this. So they'll realize, wow, I don't want to be out here. I need to deal with this issue so that I can be back a part of the fellowship. And so it really is an act of love for this person. Yes, it's a way to protect the church, no doubt we have to do that, protect the body. But also it's a way to help this person to change and to deal with that problem. And it's something that's done out of love and concern and care. And so Paul says, yes, this is what needs to happen so that ultimately they will change and they will grow. Because look at what he says is the ultimate goal. What's the ultimate goal? Repentance, that they would change. So he says in verse 5.

1 Corinthians 5:5 "Deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ."

And so that's the ultimate goal, salvation, that they would change, that they would change and repent. That's it. And so do we practice this in the church today? Yes, yes, if we have to. We'd rather not have to deal with these things if they weren't something that needed to be dealt with. So today, someone might be suspended from services, from coming to church, or ultimately could be disfellowshipped. Someone's told, you can't come to church until you deal with these things. And so why would that be the case? I mean, we see this obvious situation where it's very specific what this individual was involved in. But when you think, how would this be applied today? Why would someone be suspended from church or why would someone ultimately be disfellowshipped? Well, part of what this man was dealing with was habitual sin, habitual sin, unwilling to deal with it, not wanting to repent. And so that could be...boy, it could be a number of different issues that could be a cause for this. And so habitual sin would certainly be one of those very things.

Later in this chapter, we'll see how that concept comes up, that if there is habitual sin that is not being dealt with, that could be a reason to suspend someone. There's a second reason that also comes into play in this regard as well causing division. Habitual sin and causing division, those are really the basic two reasons why someone might be suspended from church or potentially disfellowshipped as well. So if someone is causing division within the church, that has to be dealt with. And so that's a sin that has to be repented of. And if it's not repented of, well, they're out of the fellowship. They're out of the fellowship.

And so that's an important aspect. And so the way that would work today, how would this look today in situations that could come up? Well, if it would be a situation where someone's dealing with an issue, like it could be causing division, it could be a habitual sin, that a pastor or elders would meet with that person and try to help them to see how serious a situation this is and basically give them a warning, warn them that they need to change. Hopefully, that would take care of it, that they would change and they would repent and that would be as far as it would go. But if it doesn't change, if that first warning is not regarded, you know, our policy within the church today is to give them another warning, to meet with them again, try to demonstrate that you want to work with them and that you care for them and they need to change and you help them to see the reasons they need to change.

And of course, if they won't, then that member would have to be suspended. That means excluded from the fellowship. Now, does that mean they're just out there and we ignore them and they're isolated and we don't have anything to do with them? No. Now, if they're just suspended from services, well, they can't come to church. Now, if they go a step farther, if they're actually disfellowshipped, now they are out of the...they're not just suspended from church, but they're out of the fellowship. Then that means no contact. Church members should not be in contact with someone that's been disfellowshipped. And so they are isolated in that regard. Now, a pastor should continue to work with them, you know, they should still have contact, but the rest of the fellowship should not. The members should not. You shouldn't just call them up and just have a conversation just like nothing happened. No, that's not the way it is.

In order to recognize what it means to be out of the fellowship, to be dis-fellowshipped, to be basically turned over, delivered to Satan, boy, if it doesn't feel like I need to change, if it doesn't feel like I'm a part of the fellowship, everybody just acts like everything's all the same, well, how is that person going to really feel the impact of their actions? And that's the reason that Paul says this, you deliver them to Satan, so that flesh will be destroyed so they'll come to repentance. It's a pastor's job then to continue to work with them even though they have been suspended or they've been disfellowshipped, to continue to work with them. Because the reasons why there is this fellowship becomes critical. It's because you're concerned about that person. It's because you love that person. You do want to care for the congregation and protect the congregation.

And in a sense, you know, it is a teaching tool. It's a teaching tool to the congregation. It's especially a teaching tool, hopefully, for that individual, that they'll recognize, yeah, it's kind of a tool of last resort, that it's gotten so difficult that they didn't change on the first warning, they didn't change on the second warning, they're not willing to change, it seems, so now you have to take drastic action. And then if it's ultimately disfellowshipping someone, that means they're outside the fellowship. No one should have contact with them and leave it to the pastor to deal with that individual and try to work with them ultimately so they will change and they will come to repentance and then ultimately could come back. And so the whole idea of suspension and disfellowshipment is a way to help an individual to come to understand that unless they repent and unless they allow themselves to be led by God's Holy Spirit, your very salvation is at stake. And so it's a big deal. It's a big deal.

Does it happen very often? Usually it doesn't come to that. Usually it doesn't come to disfellowshipping someone or as Paul says here, "Delivering such a one to Satan." Because normally if someone has God's Spirit and you go to them with an issue or a problem, what would your reaction be? Hopefully, it would open your eyes to the truth and you'd want to change, and I don't want to act that way, and I know I need to repent, and I know I need to go before God, and hopefully that makes it obvious then. And normally, that would be the case, that people would recognize their sin and then come to repentance. And so it is a tool that God says sometimes you need to exercise this.

Now, I think it's also important to recognize this is not shunning someone. You've probably heard of the practice of shunning. Some groups in early America used to practice this idea of shunning. There's even practice within Orthodox Judaism where they shun someone. In fact, in one sect of Orthodox Judaism, in shunning someone, getting rid of someone, they will actually hold a funeral for them as though they're dead, as though they were dead. Well, that's being vindictive. That's not what disfellowshipment, that's not biblical disfellowshipment. That's not what it's about. This is something done out of love. It's an act of love for this person because you do care for them and want them to grow and want them to change. Yes, it's an act of protection for the church, no doubt. We don't want that wrong influence within the church, but we really want them to change. We want them to grow.

And so we don't want to come to the conclusion that when the leadership of the church has to deal with someone in this regard, you may not know the details. You may not know. Now, here at Corinth, they knew. Here at Corinth, they knew what the issue was and they hadn't dealt with it. Sometimes maybe it would come up at church that someone was told not to come to services. You may not know the details. It's not your prerogative to know the details. You don't have to know that. You can ask the pastor about it and he'll probably tell you, well, this individual has been suspended or this individual has been disfellowshipped. That's about all that can be shared. Don't have contact with them for now, that kind of thing.

Don't think of it as something being harsh or overbearing on this person, it's really an act of discipline to help them to grow and to change. Sometimes if church members have contact with someone that's been disfellowshipped, well, they can tell their story and tell them, oh, how I was mistreated or I was wronged. Sometimes you could hear the story and they can try to get people on their side, which is not part of the reason for disfellowship. No, it's so you see your shortcomings. You could see how Paul has been dealing with this in Corinth with their arrogant attitude, they're puffed up and they don't want to deal with things. And then, of course, this guy's behavior, just totally uncalled for. And so to really feel that impact of that sense of, I need to change, I need to overcome, I need to repent, that helps bring that about. And so even though it may feel like we're ignoring this person, okay, yeah, in a sense, we are ignoring this person because we're letting them deal with their sin. We're giving them that opportunity to do just that. And hopefully, they will make the choice of destruction of the flesh because how much better is that than being destroyed at the coming of Christ? Yeah, what a difference. And so that seems to be the reason why Paul is doing that. And of course, we take this example today and, yes, we recognize there are certain extenuating circumstances where this may come up.

How often does it happen? Not very often, not very often. I think in more than 30 years in the ministry, I think of maybe 3 times that I've actually disfellowshipped someone. There has to be a really good reason. And normally, people do want to change. They will strive to make the changes. And so that's really the goal. Yeah, and you won't even find the word disfellowship in Scripture. You won't find the word suspension in Scripture. And so, yeah, even though the words aren't there, certainly the meaning of these things are embedded in this passage and other passages, you know, throughout the Bible as well. And so, always remember to think of it of two reasons, division, causing division, and habitual sin. Yes, those are the two main causes. And why? Because yes, we want to protect the church, but at the same time, we have love and concern for this person and want them to change. We want them to repent. We want them to grow.

And so, ultimately, Corinth was having a problem with that because they didn't want to deal with it for, it seems, a number of reasons. But Paul brings it back to their arrogance for one of the reasons for not doing it. Take a look at...if you're still there in 1 Corinthians 4, take a look at verse 6.

1 Corinthians 5:6 He says, "Your glorying is not good."

So evidently, they must have had a sense of pride in themselves for being able to tolerate these things. Boy, is that a reflection of our world today, our tolerance for things? Yeah, it seems like their tolerance for wrong behavior went way too far. Oh, look how merciful we are. Look how compassionate we are. I mean, you could just imagine the scene. It was probably something like that. So this glorying, the boasting, they were actually boasting about this. Yeah, that's not good. That is not good.

1 Corinthians 5:6  He says, "Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?"

So here we have, I suppose you could say a casual attitude towards sin. And the church was impacted by tolerant attitudes that shouldn't been accepting of these kinds of things. And what happens when one person, just one, just one goes off the rails in this way? Well, it impacts others. It impacts others. So Paul uses this metaphor of leaven. Might think of yeast today, right? Got any bakers among us? Yeah, okay. You know, do you take just as much of a pile of yeast as you have of a pile of wheat when you make a loaf of bread? You just need a little bit. You just need a little bit and what happens? Well, it expands and it grows and it puffs up the whole...it permeates the whole thing. And so Paul is comparing this lump, this lump of dough to the congregation, to the church. You just get a little bit of this kind of an attitude and it's going to permeate everybody. And that's the issue. And so it's not just what this man did and his ongoing sin, but now it's permeated all of you.

Now, it also reminds us, when was this letter written? It was written in the spring of the year. It was written right about the time of unleavened bread, when you've got bread on your mind. And so Paul uses this metaphor to really bring home the point, the spiritual impact of what unleavened bread is all about. There's this comparison of leaven and yeast to sin, that if you just get a little bit of sin and you don't deal with it, what happens? It's going to grow. You allow a little bit of sin in the congregation that everybody was aware of, it's going to grow. It's going to impact all of you. Within ourselves, just one person, my sin, if I don't deal with it, it's going to grow. It's going to leaven my whole attitude, my whole outlook, my whole approach. It's going to do the same for the congregation. And so here we are right there at this time of the Passover in the Days of Unleavened Bread. Boy, should this concept been on their minds? Yeah, boy, this should have been a no-brainer, right? Because what do we do when we get ready for Passover and unleavened bread? You get out the crackers, you get out the loaf of bread, you get rid of all those things that have been leavened. You get rid of that leavening and we eat the flatbread, right, the unleavened bread. And so Paul brings their mind back to the spiritual truth of what unleavened bread is all about.

1 Corinthians 5:7 He tells them, "Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened."

He's not talking about baking bread. He's using that as a metaphor, right? Yeah, this analogy he's using, we're not supposed to be like we used to be. If we're converted, we're not that old lump of bread, that dough. No. Now, he says, we're a new lump. We're a different batch of dough, right? And this batch of dough doesn't have leavening. It's not going to puff up. No wonder he was using that puff up word before, right? Because now it's like, oh yeah, that's what it's about. It's about sin. That's what it's about. Our lack of humility, our arrogance is really sin. Us glorying, boasting in ourselves, thinking we're so great, spiritually speaking, is actually sinful.

So he says, the Days of Unleavened Bread should remind us, you get rid of that. You physically do this, physically get rid of the crackers with the leavening and the bread with the dough, and you don't eat donuts and pizza and all that sort of stuff that puffs up. You get rid of that. You purge it out. You purge it, which is an interesting word. You look that word up in the Greek, it means to completely get rid. Oh, don't try to just a little bit here or there, right? No, you clean it out. You clean it out. You get rid of it completely. Why? Well, didn't he just say, a little leaven left over, it's going to come back. It's going to be there. It's going to grow. It's going to get bigger. So you get rid of any evidence of the old leaven, that old yeast, you get rid of it completely, and then you be this new lump. You be this new creation in Christ, is really what he's talking...you be this spiritual creation. We're not flesh anymore. We don't, you know, bow down to our physical desires anymore. No, that you get rid of. Just like you've gotten rid of this guy in the congregation, you get rid of the leaven. You get rid of the sin. You do it completely. You purge it out.

1 Corinthians 5:7 And He says, "For indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us."

How do you purge out sin? Through our sacrifice of Christ. We physically do it during the Days of Unleavened Bread because it should...it's an object lesson. Right? It's not about how clean can your house be, how perfect can your shelves be. Okay, we need to do that, but the greater spiritual truth is we need to get sin out of our lives because Christ is our Passover. He was sacrificed. It's through His sacrifice that we find forgiveness, that we can be declared righteous. Right? And so he reminds us of that. You get rid of the old leaven, you completely clean it out because Christ is our sacrifice and we find forgiveness of sin through that sacrifice, through our faith in that sacrifice. And boy, what a great reminder. Just like that guy in Corinth, did he leave on his own? No, you're going to put up with me? I'll just hang out and be sinful. This is...hey, I'm fine with that. And the congregation was fine with that.

What a lesson. Sin doesn't leave on its own. Sin doesn't leave on its own. You've got to put it out. And it takes a concerted effort. If we're going to accomplish the task of being a new creation in Christ, we must put forth effort by the power of God's Spirit to accomplish that. And so unleavened bread reminds us of that very thing, doesn't it? When we de-leaven our homes, our cabinets, we have to physically go and remove it. It doesn't magically disappear. You got to go do it. And so that's part of the reminder here as well, is that yes, we have to put a concerted effort into completely getting rid of sin. Here, they're keeping the Days of Unleavened Bread, probably when they got this letter. And so they were unleavened, at least physically speaking, got rid of all the leavening out of their homes. Great. Good job. But they fell short spiritually. They missed the object lesson. And so it doesn't do any good to get the leaven out of our homes if we don't examine ourselves and put the sin out. That's what becomes most important. And so, amazing that they missed this point. How critical for them to recognize it's Christ who sacrificed His life for us, that we can rid ourselves of sin and we can be forgiven and we can stand righteous before God.

Now, it's also interesting, just look at this in a general sense for just a moment. This is a mainly Gentile congregation. You know, there's some out there that try to make an argument that, well, you had Jewish churches in Palestine that were mainly Jewish, they kind of kept these old laws and did these things. And then the Gentile churches, they were different as they understood the sacrifice of Christ. So oftentimes you might hear various arguments kind of like that. This is a fantastic argument to show that just doesn't hold water. That is just not true at all. What was Paul expecting of them and what were they doing when it came to God's Holy Days? They are obviously familiar with, what is Passover? What are the Days of Unleavened Bread? What is this connection between leaven and sin?

They knew it. They understood what unleavened bread was about. They understood those days, which tells us obviously they were taught about these things. They were expected to observe them and celebrate the Holy Days. Here's a Gentile congregation mainly yet expected to do these things. So we see a continuity among the churches of God that there weren't Gentile churches of God and Jewish churches of God. No, no, it's all the same expectations. And so they understood that. And in fact, look at the admonition here. What a powerful statement that Paul makes. It's not just, oh, isn't this a cool little analogy that I'm using here between leaven and sin? No, it's about God's Holy Days. And so he says in verse 8, no mistake about it.

1 Corinthians 5:8 "Therefore, let us keep this feast." Or some translations say, "Keep the feast." Well, what feast are you talking about? "Not with old leaven." Oh, we're talking about an unleavened feast. So he says, "Let us keep the feast not with old leaven nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

So this is a beautiful New Testament reference to the Days of Unleavened Bread. And what does he say? Let's keep it. Therefore we must keep it. It's our obligation. It's our spiritual duty to keep the feast. There's such deep-seated spiritual meaning in God's Holy Days. It's not just some physical thing that these Jews did ancient...No, this is a powerful example of what our calling is all about. And so he's pointing out this needs to be kept. It needs to be celebrated. This is something that, some translations say, "We need to observe the feast." And so he makes this powerful point that we observe it, we keep, and literally it means to observe a festival. You observe the feast. And so he makes that admonition to the church. And so even today, we recognize God's church today is a Holy Day Sabbath-observant church, just like the early New Testament church was as well. What we'll do is we'll stop right there for today and we'll pick it up from there as Paul continues to show them the importance of keeping God's feast and ultimately the spiritual perspective in doing that.