Port City Faith Church
Sunday Morning - July 12th, 2026
  • Raise A Hallelujah
  • All Creatures Of Our God And King
  • Who Else
  • We have been going through the Letters to the Corinthians,
    The Corinthian church had issues.
    Paul tended to write letters to churches where he needed to correct their behavior - they were doing something wrong.
    Paul Wrote at least 4 letters to the Church in Corinth,
    We only have two of them
    the Two that we have are some of the longest letters from Paul,
    and some of the longest letters we have from the ancient world.
    The Corinthians had issues
    The past Couple weeks we saw Paul deal with the biggest issue of the Corinthian church,
    Dividing themselves over their favorite apostles,
    Paul dealt with this by going back to the Basics
    Jesus Christ the Son of God was Crucified for our sin.
    That is the basis of our faith, that is what unites every christian.
    Then Paul addressed the fact that the apostles were not leaders, for the people to choose their favorite
    they were servants of Christ, working together to build up the church.
    the only authority the apostles had over the churches is as fathers over their children.
    This week we pick up with the next major issue of the church in Corinth,
    Sexual immorality.
    Now, Ancient Corinth was home to the Temple of Aphrodite
    The greek goddess of sex.
    “Worship” of aphrodite meant going to the temple and sleeping with one of the thousands of priestesses, for a fee
    So you would think that the issue paul would be dealing with would be tied to that.
    Stop going to the temple of aphrodite. That’s not what he says
    it’s worse than that.
    But before we get there let me read the last couple verses from chapter 4, I intentionally left these out last week, because the Chapter numbers were not there when Paul wrote the letters, they were added in later.
    1 Corinthians 4:15–21 ESV
    For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me. That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?
    Paul is saying he is like a father to the Corinthians, he planted that church, he shared the Gospel with them, he is trying to guide them in following Christ, and he gives this warning,
    that the arrogant members of the church are like rebellious children,
    And Paul is going to come and correct them.
    So its up to the Corinthians, will Paul arrive and see that they are shaping up, or will he have to pull out the rod? so to speak.
    This letter is acting as a warning: Deal with your problems now, or when i get there I will deal with them for you, and that wont be fun.
    He says all this, and then turns to the issue before them.
    1 Corinthians 5:1–2 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.
    There is sexual immorality among you,
    And we are all expecting he’s going to say, some of you go to the temple of Aphrodite,
    No.
    He says what is going on even the pagans who go to the temple find disgusting.
    a Man is sleeping with his father’s wife.
    Now how this is phrased is that he is sleeping with his step mom.
    And the church is allowing this.
    Its obvious that his is happening,
    and the church is allowing this.
    And we will get to their mindset in a little bit, but suffice to say that they believe they are being “tolerant” “Loving” “not condemning”
    They are probably thinking “Jesus said Do not judge.”
    Well lets look at what Jesus said.
    Matthew 7:1–5 ESV
    “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
    Judge not, because whatever measure you use to judge others, will be used to judge you.
    This passage is not about judging people in their sins, its about not being hypocritical.
    and Jesus gives a formula for how to confront others when they are doing something wrong.,
    But what is happening at the church in Corinth is not a little thing.
    Paul told them to remove them from the church.
    1 Corinthians 5:3–5 ESV
    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.
    Paul says this as if saying, if you need someone with authority from outside the church to make judgement here, then i will do so. Next time the church gathers kick this man out.
    He eve says “Deliver him to Satan” - let the devil have his flesh so that his spirit could be saved.
    That sounds horrible.
    I thought we were supposed to rescue people from Satan’s clutches, not give him people.
    But notice, giving the man to Satan - which the word satan means accuser. Leads to the man’s spirit being saved.
    How does that work?
    This is a passage that is best understood by recognizing the historical context of what is going on.
    In the Roman Empire at the time, which allowed for quite a bit of sexual immorality, a man sleeping with his stepmother was criminal, and carried severe punishments.
    often execution.
    So it was not just wrong according to Biblical standards, but also Roman law.
    And the church in Corinth was protecting this man from the justice system of the Romans.
    When he says “Deliver him to Satan” we have to remember that the word Satan means accuser.
    He’s saying Turn this man in, so that earthly justice can take place, so that he doesn’t have to face heavenly judgement later,
    See that Church thought that they were protecting a member, giving him sanctuary, even though he had done something dreadfully wrong. So that he was not facing justice.
    and it gets worse.
    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.
    THEY WERE BOASTING ABOUT IT!
    They were saying “Look, this man is sleeping with his stepmom, which is illegal, but we believe that Christ forgives all sins, so we are going to uphold this as good, and not let the authorities punish him.”
    Church, this is like saying “These people robbed a bank last night, but because they are member of our church we are going to keep the police from arresting them.”
    Or This guy shot up a school the other day, but he’s a member of our church so we are going to keep him here, because God is forgiving, and not turn him in to the police.
    Its outrageous!
    and Paul says get rid of it! get rid of it like how people rid their homes of leaven before passover.
    Because Christ is our passover lamb, so we got to rid our lives of the leaven of sin - which infects everything it touches, and uphold the virtues of God.
    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.”
    This is where we see that Paul had written a letter to the Corinthians before.
    And he said there “Do not associate with sexually immoral people.”
    and then he clarifies, this means within the confines of the church.
    because if you were to try to not associate with immoral people you would have to leave the world, and the world needs Jesus.
    Jesus calls us to be in the world but not of this world
    But when it comes to those of us who are part of the church, who “bears the name of brother” - what we would call a member of the church.
    If they are living immorally - not just sexual immorality but other obvious patterns of immorality,
    Those are people we collectively as their church should judge them
    Becuase they are in the church, but living like they are still of the world.
    This is a serious thing, because the ancient church often met around meals.
    It is those outside the church, those who are still of the world, that we are not to judge,
    Becuase they still need to find jesus.
    Church this is a heavy topic.
    We can’t judge sinners for sinning, because we were all sinners, and equally guilty before God,
    That is why Christ had to come and take our punishment upon himself in death.
    But once you have seen God’s forgiveness, once you have joined the church, once you have studied scripture and know better, and you start living immorally, it is the place of the church, the pastor and elders, to confront you and correct you.
    And I would hope church that if i, as your pastor, ever started doing something immoral that you would confront me about it.
    And that can lead to hard and difficult conversations.
    And if those conversations do not go well, then it often leads to people leaving the church.
    So I beg you church, if and when we - your fellow believers - approach you with an issue we may have, please try to accept it not as condemnation, but as trying to correct mistakes, trying to restore you, for the sake of your soul.
    Paul continues in the next chapter, knowing that there will people who try to quote Jesus “judge not that you be not judged”
    1 Corinthians 6:1–8 ESV
    When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!
    This sounds almost like Paul is starting another topic, do not file lawsuits against fellow believers, solve the issues from within the church.
    But look closer as what he is saying.
    The Saints (Christians) will judge the world, we will judge angels!
    If we will be taking part in judging angels and the world on judgement day, how much more so should we be able to judge when our brothers and sisters in Christ are in the wrong, and find a way to correct them?
    And then Paul continues
    1 Corinthians 6:9–11 ESV
    Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
    Church there are some things that is is just wrong for people to do. there are some things that are inexcusable, that will keep you out of heaven.
    Living in sexual immorality, committing adultery, worshipping other Gods, homosexuality, stealing, greed, drunkeness, swindling others.
    Church here is the thing, we were all this way before we came to Jesus.
    But once we come to Jesus, we leave these thing behind. He washes us clean of our past, and helps us to move forward.
    So we do not judge those who are outside the church, they do not know better.
    But to those who are in the church, if they start doing these things, then our place as their church is to try and correct them, and if they do not receive correction, to judge the best way forward.
    Then Paul Addresses the next set of arguments that he knows people will respond with
    1 Corinthians 6:12–14 ESV
    “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.
    All things are lawful for me - As though they are saying “Christ has forgiven everything” or “that's old testament law, and we’re not under old testament law” or some other argument like that,
    and those things are true - we are not under Old Testament law, and Christ did forgive us our sins, but its not the full story,
    we are also called to live righteous lives.
    Just because its legal does not make it right. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should
    And just because some of these actions seem natural - because you are just naturally inclined to do something, it does not make it right in the eyes of God.
    Becuase sin has infected our very nature.
    But God raised Jesus, and will raise us up if we follow him.
    Paul concludes with this
    1 Corinthians 6:15–20 ESV
    Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
    Finally here at then end of this argument Paul mentions that you shouldn’t sleep with the temple prostitutes.
    Church when we live in sin, we are corrupting ourselves. And sexual sin is especially bad.
    and if we are the temples to the Holy Spirit, like we learned last week, then corrupting our bodies with sin is a Bad thing.
    We got to leave behind sinful lifestyles, and strive to be better,
    we will still mess up and we will make mistakes, but that why we are part of a church, to help each other out when we make mistakes.
    But our Goal should be to Glorify God in our body.
    To live lives that are Holy, Set apart, for Jesus who washes away our sins.

      • 1 Corinthians 4:15–21ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 5:1–2ESV

      • Matthew 7:1–5ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 5:3–5ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 5:6–8ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 5:9–13ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 6:1–8ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 6:9–11ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 6:12–14ESV

      • 1 Corinthians 6:15–20ESV

  • Living Hope
Port City Faith Church
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