Revival is Like Judgment Day - Part 3

And I found this to be true, that if the children of God tolerate open sin in the life of a servant of God, the Lord allows them to be driven out of the ministry some other way. Now this may make you pause and reflect. Why would the children of God tolerate open sin in the life of a servant of God? I'll tell you why. Because he draws a crowd. That's why. Sometimes sponsors will put up with anything, anything that's not an open scandal. They may know what's gone wrong with the man, but if it's not public, they'll put up with it because he draws a crowd. And why do they want to draw a crowd? Well, they may say their spiritual reason was of this material reasons, often. Now let's take an example of this from the passage in 1 Corinthians that I read to you. Here we have in the fifth chapter, the first verse, it is actually reported that there's immorality among you and of a kind that's not found even among pagans. It was a kind of incest. I was reading the other day that Mary Tipper Gore, wife of Senator Gore and her crusade against viciousness in the media, pointed out that Elvis Presley used to sing a song called Little Sister, which sort of celebrated the idea that sometimes when a fellow's dating a girl, he can fall in love with their little sister. That could be still legitimate. He could even end up marrying the little girl and not her older sister. But Mary Gore pointed out that today they're singing about incest between brother and sister. So far has the world fallen. What a descent into shame. Now this case in Corinth, Corinth was a very wicked sort of place. But in this passage it says that immorality among you, even the sort that you don't find existing among pagans, that a man's found living with his father's wife. Now there's only one in the congregation guilty of incest, but the Apostle Paul goes on scolding. He said, you're so arrogant, don't you think you ought to mourn? In other words, you're guilty of not being ashamed that this situation should happen among Christians. And he says, let him who's done this be removed from among you. Or as you find at the end of the chapter, drive out the wicked person from among you. Now that was excommunication on the grounds of flagrant immorality. Our churches used to practice discipline, but there's very little of it today. Generally things are covered up or hushed up, but judgment is called for in this case. Now in case you think this sounds harsh, may I tell you there's a sequel. If you turn with me to this second, or as I think it should be called the third epistle to the Corinthians, the first one being missing, the second Corinthians 2, 5-11. Now the Apostle raises up the subject of his previous letter. But if anyone has caused pain, he's caused it not to me, but in some measure not to put it too severely to you all. In other words, you've all been hurt by this. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough. In other words, they clearly had obeyed the Apostle and had excommunicated this brother. But now he's saying, don't overdo it. I've always been guided by a verse of scripture, find a brother in trouble. If your brother be overtaken in a fault, let those that are spiritual restore such one. But repentance is essential. And remember, I think I'm getting to be well-known in all sorts of circles besides Sullivan Baptist for preaching a sermon on repentance. The word repent means to change your attitude. It doesn't mean to feel sorry. The word does not mean to feel sorry. It means to change your attitude. That's the meaning of the word repent. So he's saying the man has repented. Apparently he got back a letter updating him with all the information about Corinth. He said this punishment by the majority is quite enough. He said so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him so that he may not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Sometimes when a person is disciplined by the church or shunned by people who have rebuked him, he's brought to not only repentance but deep depression. He begins to hate himself. So he says, Paul says in verse 8, so I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. For this is why I wrote that I might test you and know whether you're obedient in everything. Now listen, anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. What I've forgiven, if I've forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, to keep Satan from gaining the advantage over us. For we're not ignorant of his designs. Satan's so clever he tries to pull a fast one. If he can see any opportunity in the weakness of a brother or some peccadillo or some major sin, he'll take advantage of it. So you see there was a sequel to excommunication. He repented so he was forgiven and not only forgiven, comfort him. That means give him strength now, help him, restore him. I remember a friend of mine years ago who was very indiscreet in some of his relationships. I wrote to him quite frankly and I said if you're a repentant, I'll be glad to help you. And I helped him set up a mission board and for years after that he did a good work for God. Now from this passage you find what the apostle Paul is talking about. He says you have to judge those who are