Church Discipline (Part 04) - Sins that Merit Church Discipline - 1Co 5:11, 1Co 6:9-10

Watch the video of this sermon on YouTube: Church Discipline (Part 4). For a master copy of the outline and the other sermons in the series, click here: Church Discipline. To listen to or watch the previous sermon in the series, click here: Part 3. To listen to or watch the next sermon in the series, click here: Part 5. VII. Sins that merit church discipline 1. The following are lists of sins for which a person will be excluded from the church. A. 1Co 5:11 - The sins listed in 1Co 5:11 call for church exclusion (see Section VI). i. Fornicator n. (1Co 5:11) - 1. One who commits fornication. a. Fornication n. - 1. Voluntary sexual intercourse between a man (in restricted use, an unmarried man) and an unmarried woman. In Scripture extended to adultery. b. Those who are commonly known to have had sex outside of marriage will be put out of the church. ii. Covetous adj. (1Co 5:11) - 1. Having an ardent or excessive desire of (or for) anything; eagerly desirous to do, have, or be. a. Covetousness is idolatry (Col 3:5) because the thing or state desired becomes one's god. b. Those who are commonly known to have had their covetous desires exposed will be put out of the church. iii. Idolater n. (1Co 5:11) - 1. A worshipper of idols or images; one who pays divine honours to an image or representation of a god, or to any natural object as a deity. a. An idol can be something that represents God and is used to worship God, such as was the golden calf that Aaron made and then proclaimed that "to morrow is a feast to the LORD" (Exo 32:5-6 c/w 1Co 10:7). b. Incorporating paganism into God's religion is therefore idolatry. c. Therefore, those who are commonly known to worship idols or incorporate paganism into God's religion, such as celebrating Christmas (pagan sun worship) or Easter (pagan fertility worship) will be put out of the church. d. Stubbornness is likened unto idolatry (1Sa 15:23). (i) Stubborn adj. - 1. a. Of persons or animals: Pertinacious or dogged in refusing obedience or compliance; unyielding, inflexible, obstinate: chiefly in bad sense, unreasonably obstinate. In early use app. sometimes with stronger notion: †Untameable, implacable, ruthless, fierce. (ii) See Implacable - Rom 1:31 - Section VII,1,E. (iii) Therefore, those who refuse to obey or comply with those who are exercising Biblical authority, are inflexible, or are unreasonably obstinate will be put out of the church. iv. Railer n. (1Co 5:11) - One who rails; a reviler. a. Rail v. - 1. a. intr. To utter abusive language. b. Reviler n. - One who reviles or abuses. c. Revile v. 1. trans. To degrade, abase. 2. To subject to contumely or abuse; to assail with opprobrious or abusive language. 3. intr. To use opprobrious language; to rail at a person or thing. d. Contumely n. - 1. Insolent reproach or abuse; insulting or offensively contemptuous language or treatment; despite; scornful rudeness; now, esp. such contemptuous treatment as tends to inflict dishonour and humiliation. e. Even when sinners rail on us, we must not rail back (Mat 27:39; Mar 15:29; Luk 23:39; 1Pe 2:23; 1Pe 3:9). f. Those who are commonly known to use abusive, degrading, or insulting language towards others will be put out of the church. v. Drunkard n. (1Co 5:11) - 1. One addicted to drinking; one who habitually drinks to excess; an inebriate, a sot. a. One need not habitually drink to excess to be excluded from the church because drunkenness is also an excludable offence (Gal 5:21). b. Drunkenness n. - The state of being drunk; intoxication; the habit of being drunken or addicted to excessive drinking. c. Drunk adj. - 1. a. That has drunk intoxicating liquor to an extent which affects steady self-control; intoxicated, inebriated; overcome by alcoholic liquor. d. Intoxication n. - 1. The action of poisoning; administration of poison; killing by poison; the state of being poisoned; an instance of this. 2. The action of rendering stupid, insensible, or disordered in intellect, with a drug or alcoholic liquor; the making drunk or inebriated; the condition of being so stupefied or disordered. e. Those who are commonly known to have gotten drunk, even once, will be put out of the church. vi. Extortioner n. (1Co 5:11) - One who practises or is given to extortion. a. Extortion n. - 1. The action or practice of extorting or wresting anything, esp. money, from a person by force or by undue exercise of authority or power; an instance of this; an act of illegal exaction. b. Those who are commonly known to have used an undue exercise of authority to take money from others will be put out of the church. B. 1Co 6:9-10 i. The sinners listed in 1Co 6:9-10 "shall not inherit the kingdom of God." a. The kingdom of God is the local church (see Section V). b. Therefore, a man that is commonly known to be such a sinner listed in these verses will lose his inheritance in the kingdom of God by being put out of the local church. ii. Fornicators n. (1Co 6:9) - (see 1Co 5:11 - Section VII,1,A) iii. Idolaters n. (1Co 6:9) (see 1Co 5:11 - Section VII,1,A) iv. Adulterer n. (1Co 6:9) - 1. One who commits adultery; who violates a marriage-bed, whether his own or another's. a. Adultery n. - 1. Violation of the marriage bed; the voluntary sexual intercourse of a married person with one of the opposite sex, whether unmarried, or married to another (the former case being technically designated single, the latter double adultery). b. Adultery is different than every other sin because it is possible to be in a state of adultery which cannot be remedied. c. A person can enter a state of adultery two ways. (i) The state of adultery by unlawful marriage. 1. If a man puts away his wife and marries another woman, he commits adultery (Mar 10:11). 2. Notice, it is marriage with another woman, not only sex with another woman, that causes him to commit adultery. 3. If the husband marries another woman, he has entered into a second life-long covenant with another woman, and that second covenant is binding just like the first. 4. At that point he is in an irremediable state of adultery because he is bound for life to two women and can't dissolve either covenant. 5. His wife could not choose to restore the marriage to him even if she wanted to because he is bound in covenant to another woman. 6. A man in such a state must be permanently excluded from the church because he is in an ongoing state of adultery (1Co 6:9-10). (ii) The state of adultery by being put away and not forgiven. 1. If a husband has sex with a woman besides his wife, he has committed an act of adultery. 2. This act breaks their covenant of marriage (Mat 19:9; Mat 5:32). a. If a husband puts away his wife for any reason except for her commission of fornication and marries another woman, he commits adultery. b. The "except it be for fornication" clause in Mat 19:9 proves that fornication is the only condition which breaks the covenant and allows the innocent spouse to put away the guilty spouse and marry another. c. It is evident that fornication breaks the covenant, else the husband would be committing adultery when he put his wife away and remarried. d. It is also evident that the covenant is no longer binding on the husband (innocent spouse), but is still binding on the wife (guilty spouse) in that "whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery" (Mat 19:9b). 3. Therefore, if the husband has committed adultery and therefore broken the covenant, that makes him an adulterer and a covenant-breaker, which will get him excluded from the church if it is publicly known (1Co 6:9-10; Rom 1:31). 4. At the point his wife finds out about it, she is free to put him away for adultery and marry another if she chooses (Mat 19:9). 5. She could also choose to forgive him and restore the marriage (Mat 19:9 and Mat 5:32 do not state that she must put him away). 6. If she chooses to put him away and not restore the marriage (which Mat 19:9 gives her the power to do), she is holding him in breach of the marriage covenant. 7. Since he is held in breach of the marriage covenant, he is in a state of covenant-breaking. 8. Since adultery is the only thing that breaches the marriage covenant, her decision to put him away and not restore the marriage holds him in a state of adultery (adultery = breach of the marriage covenant). 9. Since the duration of the marriage covenant is for life, the duration of the state of covenant-breaking and the state of adultery is for life. 10. Therefore while he is put away from the marriage for adultery, he must be put away from the church because he is in a state of covenant-breaking and adultery. 11. Until his wife remarries, he is in a remediable state of adultery which can be removed by restoration of the marriage covenant. 12. Once his wife remarries, he is in an irremediable state of adultery because she cannot restore the covenant of marriage to him. (iii) For more information on this subject, see the sermon called "Adultery and Church Membership." d. Those who are commonly known to have committed an act of adultery will be put out of the church. e. Those who have entered a state of adultery, either by unlawfully marrying another person after divorce, or by being put away by their spouse for adultery and not restored to the marriage, will be put out of the church for as long as their first spouse is living. f. Adultery can also be committed in the heart by lusting after a woman that is not one's wife or a woman that is another man's wife (Mat 5:28). (i) The thought of the heart will eventually come out if not repented of (Mat 12:34; Mar 7:20-23). (ii) A man's actions, such as viewing pornography or having sexually illicit conversations with someone other than his wife, reveal the thoughts of adultery in his heart. (iii) If this happens and it becomes commonly known, that person will be put out of the church for adultery. v. Effeminate adj. (1Co 6:9) - 1. Of persons: That has become like a woman: a. Womanish, unmanly, enervated, feeble; self-indulgent, voluptuous; unbecomingly delicate or over-refined. a. A man that acts like a woman, whether by his speech, clothing, demeanor, or relationships is effeminate. b. Men who are commonly known to be effeminate will be put out of the church. vi. Abusers of themselves with mankind (1Co 6:9) a. Abuser n. - 1. One who uses improperly, misuses, misapplies or perverts; a perverter. b. Mankind n. - II. 3. The male sex; persons of the male sex. 1526 Tindale 1 Cor. vi. 9 Abusars of themselves with the mankynde. (i) An abuser of himself with mankind is a man who misuses or perverts himself with men. (ii) In other words, he is a sodomite. (iii) Hence the reason sodomites are called perverts. c. "Abusers of themselves with mankind" (1Co 6:9) and "them that defile themselves with mankind" (1Ti 1:10) are sodomites who lie with "mankind" rather than "womankind" (Lev 18:22; Lev 20:13). d. They which do such things are an abomination to God (Lev 18:22). (i) Abomination n. - 1. The feeling or state of mind of combined disgust and hatred; abhorrence, detestation, loathing. b. Physical disgust, nausea. (ii) They are an abomination to God because they defile themselves. (iii) Defile v. - 1. trans. To bruise, maul: cf. defoul v. Obs. 2. To render (materially) foul, filthy, or dirty; to pollute, dirty; to destroy the purity, cleanness, or clearness of. 3. To render morally foul or polluted; to destroy the ideal purity of; to corrupt, taint, sully. e. Lesbians fall under the same condemnation as male sodomites (Rom 1:26-27). f. Those who are commonly known to be sodomites or to have committed sodomy will be put out of the church. vii. Thieves (1Co 6:10) a. Thief n. - 1. One who takes portable property from another without the knowledge or consent of the latter, converting it to his own use; one who steals. a. spec. One who does this by stealth; esp. from the person; one who commits theft or larceny. b. Those who are commonly known to have stolen something will be put out of the church. viii. Covetous adj. (1Co 6:10) - (see 1Co 5:11 - Section VII,1,A) ix. Drunkards n. (1Co 6:10) - (see 1Co 5:11 - Section VII,1,A) x. Revilers n. (1Co 6:10) - (see Railer - 1Co 5:11 - Section VII,1,A)) xi. Extortioner n. (1Co 6:10) - (see 1Co 5:11 - Section VII,1,A)