July 17, 2025 • 24 mins
A study in the book of 1st Corinthians.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to K Wave's Pastor Spotlight featuring the Bible teaching
of our local Southern California pastors. This week we're pleased
to bring you the Bible teaching ministry of Andrew Carter,
lead pastor of Royal City Church in Inglewood. Royal City
Church meets each Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. at 226
South Market Street in Inglewood.
For more information about them, visit their website at Royal Church.org.
(00:25):
Today on Pastor Spotlight, Andrew Carter will be looking at
1 Corinthians chapter 5. Paul addresses a serious sin problem
that his Corinthian church plan is not taking all that seriously.
Here's Pastor Andrew with today's study.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Chapter 5 of 1 Corinthians. So just a quick recap
to get you guys up to speed. Corinthians is a letter.
It's a letter from Pastor Paul to one of his
church plants. He's writing back to them because he's an Ephesus.
So if you guys read the book of Ephesians, that's
where he's at. It's another one of his church plants.
He gets word that the church in Corinth.
is going crazy. There's some weird stuff taking place, and
(01:03):
we're gonna actually uncover some of the weird stuff that's
going on. And so he's writing a letter to address
some of the issues that are taking place. And what
I love about the book of Corinthians is that the
things that they were going through are very similar to
the things that we're going through in the church in
the United States. So in chapter 5, verse 1,
(01:23):
It says this, 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. Let's just talk about that for a second, right?
It sounds like an episode of Jerry Springer. He's writing
back to 1 Corinth to the Corinthians, and he's saying
(01:43):
there is something going on in your church that the
world ain't even doing.
And you guys are OK with it. So we're sitting
here saying, I'm getting word that there is a man
sleeping with his dad's wife.
Let that sink in.
There's some crazy stuff going on in the church and
we're OK with it.
(02:03):
In verse 2, he says, and you are puffed up
and have not rather mourned that he has done this deed,
that he who has done this deed might be taken
away from among you. For I indeed, he says, as
absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged
as though I were present, Him who has done this deed.
(02:23):
So we're saying, and you guys aren't even upset about it.
In fact, you're kind of prideful about it. You're celebrating it. You,
you aren't worried that this is an issue. This is
something that's just OK in the church. And he goes
as far as saying,
For indeed, I'm not there. I'm present in spirit, but
I've already judged that. Now, hold on a second. Doesn't
(02:45):
the Bible tell us not to judge, right? Judge not
lest ye be judged.
And this is an argument that you hear a lot
in church. Oh, well, you're not supposed to judge anybody.
You're supposed to just love everybody. You're supposed to just
be all right with everybody. There's not supposed to be
any judgment, and that, my friends, could not be further
from the truth. That is a scripture that is taken
(03:07):
out of context. And we're going to unpack that. You
guys have the, you guys thought we're gonna talk about
fathers today. No, we're talking about dudes sleeping with their
father's wife. We're talking about judgment inside the church. We're
about to get with it. OK?
So here he is in Matthew chapter 7. I want
you guys to turn there for just a moment. Matthew
chapter 7, because this is an example of what Jesus
(03:29):
is talking about when it comes to judging. And I'm
not gonna get on some holy high horse and start
judging every single one of you, but I want you
guys to understand that there should be a certain level
of judgment, there should be a certain level.
Of like understanding that we aren't of this world. And
so therefore we should not be living like this world.
The things that are OK in the world should not
(03:50):
be OK in the church, and it's our duty to
call that out amongst the fellowship and amongst the family
of believers. Just like the great prophet, Kendrick Lamar would say,
they not like us.
Right? We're heavenly, right? And some of you guys are like,
who is this Kendrick Lamar? What book is this? No, listen. I'm.
(04:12):
They, they, they're not like us. The way that the
world operates is not the same way that we should
be operating. So when we see something that doesn't line up,
we got to get it gone. Matthew chapter 7 says this,
and excuse me if I'm fired up. Hey, if you're
a first-time guest, welcome. Uh, this is kind of how
we do things around here.
Grab your seat belt.
And if you don't know Kendrick Lamar, look him up.
(04:33):
It's a fantastic beef taking place that I enjoy. It's
been fantastic. Chapter 7, verse 1 says, Judge not that
you be not judged. So that's where we take that.
We hear Jesus says, judge not unless you're gonna be judged. So,
you know what, I don't do anything. I don't judge anybody.
But if you continue to read, he says, for with
what judgment you judge, you will be judged. And with
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the measure.
you use, it will be measured back to you. And
then he says in verse 3, why do you look
at the speck in your brother's eye but not consider
the plank in your own eye? He's not telling us
not to judge, period. But what he's saying is you
need to have a measure of righteous judgment. Make sure
that if you are judging somebody, that you are ready
to receive the same amount of judgment that's gonna come
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right back at you. So if that's the case, if
you're going to judge, and you're going to receive.
That same measure of judgment, you better make sure you're
walking a walk that is filled with integrity. You better
make sure that the life that you're living is filled
with righteousness. This isn't where you're calling out other people's sins,
but he's saying, look, stop worrying, like, some of you
need to not judge because your stuff is in such disarray.
(05:36):
You need to take that to somebody else so that
they can address it. But he's not saying that you
should not judge inside the body.
Verse 5 says, hypocrite, first remove the plank from your
own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove
the speck from your brother's eye.
So what is he saying? Not to judge, or he's saying,
(05:57):
get your stuff together so that then you can do
a better job of helping. He says, remove the one
from yours so that you can still do what? Judge
righteously within the church. So we hear this in First Corinthians.
He said, I'm here, this is Paul, the church planner, right, saying,
I'm judging this. I'm in a position, a situation as
the leader, as the
Church planter to judge this sin. He's like, I can
(06:19):
see it from Ephesus. This ain't right. And somebody needs
to call this out. We need to do something about this.
So before we get in this place where we're like,
oh well, we're not supposed to judge, that is not true.
There was a level of judgment inside this group, this
family of believers that needs to take place because we
need to hold each other accountable and call each other higher.
Thank you. John chapter 7 verse 24.
(06:43):
Take it to there for just a second.
He says, when the people, this isn't gonna be on
the screen, when the people are beginning to wonder who
Jesus is, uh, and instructs them, he says, do not
judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. John 7:24.
You guys there? When the people are beginning to wonder,
(07:06):
they're trying to figure out who this Jesus is because
he's there teaching with wonder. They've never seen anything like this.
They've never seen anything like that. And he's asking them,
he's telling them, hey, I want you guys to do this.
I want you to judge for yourselves. Do not judge
according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.
Judge with righteous judgment.
(07:28):
Sitting here telling us that we need to judge in
a way and in a manner that is righteous. And
so we can't just think that we come to church
and we see things that are OK and we just
smile at sin and we just dust it under the rug,
and we just hope that the Holy Spirit is going
to fix it. There has to be a level of accountability.
There has to be a level of leadership in the church,
and we have to be at a place where we're
(07:49):
OK to call sin, sin, exactly what it is, and
to call people higher and out of that.
Verses 4 through 5 of 1 Corinthians chapter 5, as
we continue on.
He goes on to say, in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Again, this is Paul writing to him,
when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, he's like,
I'm with you guys, with the power of our Lord
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Jesus Christ, Deliver such a one to Satan for the
destruction of the flesh. That's heavy. He's like, the guy
who's sleeping with his dad's wife, you guys need to
let him go. When you gather together, you need to
call it out. You need to address it, and you
need to let him go. Where is he gonna go? He,
they want him to surrender him.
To Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Why? That
(08:32):
his spirit may be saved in the day of the
Lord Jesus. Too many of us.
Allow sin to sit among us and we enable people
to continue in that lifestyle.
How many of you have dealt with an enabler? I
grew up in a family that's filled with addicts, drug addicts, alcoholics,
people who struggle and wrestle with these, these diseases. They're
(08:53):
real things. And my grandmother would enable my mom. She
would give her money. She would watch me while she
went out and turned tricks. My grandmother would enable my
mom rather than calling out the sin, turning her back
on her.
Putting her out to the streets, she would refuse to
do so because she loved her and she cared about
her and enabling people, it's not done out of evil.
You're not trying to hurt the person, but you don't
(09:14):
realize that by not calling things out and sometimes handing
them over, you're actually making the situation worse because you
are enabling them to continue in their sickness and in
their disease, and in this case, in their sin.
And so he's saying, hey, you gotta call this guy out,
and you've got to deliver him to Satan because in
doing so, you're going to set him up to potentially
get his heart right. But if you let him continue
(09:36):
to sit in the church, living in this way that
is contradictory to the scripture and what Paul taught him,
he is going to continue. And then what happens next?
is in verses 6 through 8. It talks about how
that little bit of sin is like 1, and it
gets into the body, and now it starts to become OK.
(09:56):
And now it starts to become a lifestyle, and then
it permeates throughout the entire fellowship. But before we get there,
I want to talk about this. The goal of the
action by kicking this guy out, it's not retaliation. It's
not because he doesn't love him or he doesn't care
about him. It's for rehabilitation.
So you have to understand that sometimes the hardest things
that we have to do is let somebody go. And
(10:18):
it's not because we don't love them or because we
don't care about them. It's not out of retaliation. It's
because unless we do so, they will never be rehabilitated.
Sometimes we have to let them have their way, right?
You gotta give them like Burger King, man. Let it,
let them have it their way.
You gotta just let them go. And this is what
he's doing. It's not because he doesn't love them. It doesn't,
it's not because he doesn't care about him or because
he's not a vital piece of their ministry. He understands
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that sometimes you gotta let them go, have their way,
so that they can work out their own salvation with
fear and trembling.
The reason why is he wanted to convict this man
of his sin or allow the Holy Spirit to do so,
to encourage repentance and restoration. He even says, give him
over to Satan, right? For the destruction of his flesh.
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I don't know what that looks like. Maybe his plans
get blown up, maybe some of the things that he's,
he's going after, maybe his, maybe there's doors that shut,
maybe relationships fail, maybe he gets sick. I don't know
what that looks like.
But he hands them over to Satan for the destruction
of his flesh. Why? That his spirit may be saved
in the day of the Lord Jesus. He's doing so
for repentance, rehabilitation, and for restoration.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
You're listening to Kwave's Pastor Spotlight featuring the Bible teaching
ministry of Andrew Carter, lead pastor of Royal City Church
in Inglewood. You can learn more about Pastor Andrew's Church
at Royal CityChurch.org. Now here's Pastor Andrew with more of
his study in 1 Corinthians chapter 5.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
And so you're like, well, what does this mean, pastor? Like,
I'm not sleeping with my dad's wife. Uh, I don't
know where you want me to go with this. Um,
and that's a good thing, or maybe you are. I
don't know. Uh, it's 2024. I wouldn't be surprised because
the things that we see these days are so out
of pocket. It's crazy. Um, wouldn't have thought 2030 years
ago that you would see some of the things that
you see.
(12:06):
But I'm gonna say this, maybe that's not you, but
maybe you know somebody like that, or maybe your sin
just looks different. Maybe you're claiming and professing to be
a believing Christian, a follower of the Lord Jesus, but
you're living in a way that is opposite to what
it is that we're preaching and that we're sharing. And
this isn't, again, not because I'm on some high horse.
Looking down at people. This isn't judging, but the reason
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why you have to call sin out is so that rehabilitation, repentance,
and restoration can take place, or else we're gonna continue
this toxic cycle of people being in this church, getting
a word that tickles their ears and then going right
back out to the same sin that God has rescued
them from. My heart for this.
Is, is this, right? I preached with this passion because
Jesus changed my life. I was the worst. I, I
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promise you there probably was not a person who sinned
worse than I have in this building.
And we, I mean, we could have a competition. I
could share my rap sheet, like my actual rap sheet
of prison, of jail, of the things that I've done.
I've done some horrible things. I've been a very, very
terrible person. But the, but Jesus, Jesus changed my life,
changed my life. And so that's why I'm up here. I'm,
(13:12):
I'm trying to call out sin. I'm trying to preach
the word. I'm trying to bring a conviction because like
I said, we
We are not of this world. We are in this
world but not of this world. We are foreign or
foreigners in this place. We have a mission. There is
a plan, there is a purpose for each and every
one of your lives. Each and every one of your
stories has purpose, and there's people, souls attached to what
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it is that you carry. People need to hear what
you've gone through. They need to hear your story. They
need to hear how you've lived and how God has
carried you through the darkness.
This is so, so in first, I'm gonna stop. I'm
gonna get too crazy.
I'm gonna get crazy. We'll get there. Some of you
are like, you already are crazy, bro. Um, the three
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crucial purposes of church discipline, there's reasons why these things
are in place. And, and just so you know, I'm
not thinking about any one of you guys. I don't
know what it is that you're doing. So if you're like, man,
he's reading my diary, like he's opening my business. Like
he's been watching my stories on Instagram. I haven't. I
really haven't. I don't know what like secret.
Life you're living. I don't know what you've got going
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on in the recesses of your apartment. I don't know.
I'm literally just preaching. We were supposed to preach chapter 5.
So if this lines up with something that you're going through,
so be it. That has nothing to do with me.
We did 4 last week, we did 5 this week.
Next time it's gonna be chapter 6. So if it
lines up, talk to God about it.
The reason why we talk about church discipline is because
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it's a very real thing. First, it's necessary in order
to convict and correct others so they're not fooled about
their spiritual state. There's nothing worse than living life thinking
that you're good or that you're in alignment and you
couldn't be further from the truth. Like we have to
call those things out in a righteous way. Again, with truth,
with love, with honor, with kindness, with gentleness, all of
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those things are key.
All of those things are important, but we have to
call them out. Second, we do church discipline because it's
necessary for spiritual health of the other believers. You guys
have to understand that your leader is leading from a
place of like, I'm not OK with certain things. There's
things that we can't just turn a blind eye to.
And then third, it's necessary to prevent the unbelieving world
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from having legitimate reasons to criticize the body of Christ.
We can't give the world another reason to hate Christianity.
We can't.
We're already notorious for mismanaging funds, right? Pastors in private
jets taking up, going all over the place, finding money
in the wall. Pastors wearing million dollar chains. Like that's crazy.
(15:40):
We've already given them enough reasons. Pastors touching kids, pastors
falling from grace, pastors having extramarital affairs. Like we, we
keep giving the world reasons to run from Christianity, but
that's not Jesus doing those things. Those are men who
are poor representations of Jesus doing those things.
So we must discipline the sin inside the church so
(16:01):
that the world can't keep saying these things. What happens
is that we get so comfortable, they don't want to
offend anybody. They're more concerned with keeping people in the
seats than preaching the truth, because when you preach the truth,
it makes people uncomfortable, and what do they do? They
don't come back. And so they'll, they'll soften the word,
and they'll say things that tickle your ears and make
you feel good and.
Fuzzy, and they might give you 10 ways to be
(16:22):
successful in the business place, but that's not the word
of God, that's not the scripture. And so what I'm
preaching is not popular. Church discipline is not popular, but, but,
and what it doesn't do is it doesn't fill the seats,
but we gotta be true to the word. I'd rather
have a handful of people on fire for the Lord
than this place filled to the brim with lukewarm believers.
(16:46):
I feel like I'm running for office. I just like.
You guys voting for me or what?
Mayor of Ingle, my, my felonies actually disqualify me for
running for office. So that will, that is not in
my future unless they expunge those. Um.
First Peter chapter 2, we talk about this is where
we get the idea and the, the direction for Royal
(17:08):
City Church, uh, verses 9 and 10. But 11 and
12 speak to church discipline and why we discipline. But
in chapter 9, you know, or verse 9, it says,
but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, his own special people. Why? that you may
proclaim the praises.
of him who called you out of darkness into His
marvelous light, who once were not a people but are
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now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy,
but now have obtained mercy. That's Royal City Church is like,
that's our foundational verse. We are a chosen people, a
holy people, a royal priesthood. We've been called out of
darkness to proclaim to the world around us the goodness
of God and the light that he rescued us out of.
But verses 11 and 12 say this. Again, this is,
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this is Peter speaking, beloved, I beg you as sojourners,
that's another word for like temporary residences. He's like, hey,
y'all are only here for a little bit. And pilgrims, right?
Basically travelers or adventurers. You guys are here for just
a moment. It says, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war
against the soul. And here's why, verse 12, having your
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conduct honorable.
Among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as
evil doers, they may, by your good works, which they observe,
glorify God in the day of visitation. Um, Gentiles is
another word for people who aren't of the, the holy
lineage of God. So Gentiles is like, we'll just consider
them the world. So we're saying, hey, watch the way
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that you live your lives and make sure that it's
done in a good way. Make sure that there's church discipline,
make sure that there's order, make sure.
That people are preaching the gospel and not just words
that will tickle their ears, so that when they speak
against you, all they see is the good works in
the way that you live your life. And so as
a pastor and as a leader, I, there's gotta be
church discipline. We've got to call people higher. So 1
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Corinthians chapter 5 verses 6, we're gonna work our way,
we're gonna keep moving our way through this.
He's writing to them and he's saying, your gloryan is
not good. Is this on the screen? Yeah.
Do you not know?
That a little leaven, leavens the whole lump.
He says, therefore, purge out the old leaven, that you
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may be a new lump since you truly are unleavened. Uh,
who here has ever baked bread, knows anything about yeast
and leavening agents, right? I'm gonna need a loaf of
that sourdough, uh, at the next service.
Cause bread is good. I actually don't because I'm trying
to lose a little bit of weight, that bread, boy. Boy,
that bread. Um, talk about bread, the Red Lobster, you
(19:39):
guys ever been to Red Lobster? They got those cheddar biscuits?
My God. So good.
When it comes to leaven, leaven was used in making bread.
So if you don't know, a bit of risen aged
dough from the previous batch would be stored away as
a starting point for the next batch of dough. You
work this tiny little piece of dough into the new batch,
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and you introduce it as a leavening agent, and it
spreads into the new batch. And so now it starts
to rise. If the leaven was bad, then it infects
the rest of the dough, the rest of it. It
won't rise. It won't do what it's supposed to do.
So when he's writing this, Paul, the readers would understand
what leaven means, adding a little bit of leaven to the,
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to the bread, they understand that.
The idea here is that sin of this nature, left unaddressed,
not talked about, would be like care carelessly throwing rotten
leavening agents into the bread, allowing that kind of lifestyle,
allowing that kind of sin to just take place and
then turning a blind eye. Oh, well, we just gotta
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love everybody here and we just gotta go with the flow,
like just like, but turning a blind eye to that.
It ruins the entire ministry. It ruins the entirety of
the church, because now you're turning a blind eye to
specific things. You're gonna let that go, but you won't
let that go. But then you're gonna turn a blind
eye on that, but you're not gonna call that out.
Now you're starting to pick and choose, you're starting to
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play favorites.
And so here he's saying, you got to purge out
the old Levin verse 7, that you may be a
new lump since you truly are unleavened, for indeed, Christ,
our Passover was sacrificed for us. Verse 8. Therefore, let
us keep the feast, not with old Levin, nor with
the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened
bread of sincerity and truth.
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Now before you guys think that I'm gonna start calling
you out, um, and giving you the boot, I want
you to understand this. There is a difference between a
believer who sins and somebody who's living in sin.
There is a big difference. And I wanna give you
guys 12 differences that really, really make a difference because
you might be like, well, Pastor Andrew, I'm, I'm struggling
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with this sin. Does that mean you're gonna kick me out?
I don't have a place in this church? That's not
what I'm saying. But there's a difference between again, struggling
or dealing with sin, and then blatantly living in sin.
And the big thing is the spirit of rebellion.
So the first thing, the believer enjoys fellowship with Christ
and His redeemed people. So if you're a believer,
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You might struggle with sin, but overall, you're going to
enjoy the fellowship of other Christians and being in this place.
You probably wouldn't be here, you know, for the most part,
you're probably not in church. The second thing is that
believers walk in the light, not in the darkness. Remind
yourself that, hey, I might be struggling with this, but
I'm gonna walk in the light. I'm gonna do the
best that I can. I'm gonna try my best to
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make decisions and choices that lead that way. Number 3,
the believer admits and confesses the sin.
So when you're living in sin, you're probably not repenting
or confessing about it. You're rebellious about it. You're, you're
in people's face with it. Then there's a pride about
your sin that you're living in, like you're in people's
face with it. There's no repentance. There's no hiding it.
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The fourth thing, the believer obeys God's word. You do
your best to read, you do your best to devote,
you do your best to pray. You do your best
to follow suit.
Number 5, the believer loves God rather than the world.
Number 6, the believer's life is characterized by doing what
is right. That doesn't mean that everything you do is right,
but it's characterized by what is doing right. For the
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most part, you try your best to do what's right
in the sight of God. That's the difference between struggling
with sin and living in sin. The believer's life, uh,
seeks to maintain a pure life.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
And with that, Pastor Andrew Carter brings our study for
today to a close. We invite you to join us
right here at the same time tomorrow as Pastor Andrew
looks at Galatians chapter 5 right here on Kwave's Pastor Spotlight.
Pastor Andrew Carter is the lead pastor of Royal City Church,
which he helped to found in October of 2021. Royal
(23:45):
City Church stands on 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9,
which says, But you are a chosen people, all royal.
Priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession that you may
declare the praises of Him who called you out of
darkness into His wonderful life. The church focuses on teaching
and preaching the word of God so that those who
(24:05):
attend start to understand who they are and begin walking
in the fullness of their identity, which will inspire them
to tell others about the good news of Jesus. You
and your family are invited to come and worship this
next Sunday morning at Royal City Church. The Sunday service
time is at 10.
They're located at 226 South Market Street in Inglewood. For
more information, visit their website at royal Church.org. Well, that's
(24:29):
all the time we have for today on Pastor Spotlight.
We invite you to join us right here tomorrow at
the same time for more of the Bible teaching ministry
of Pastor Andrew Carter, lead pastor of Royal City Church
in Inglewood. Pastor Spotlight is a production of Kwave Radio,
sharing life, delivering truth, giving hope.
Welcome to K Wave's Pastor Spotlight featuring the Bible teaching
of our local Southern California pastors. This week we're pleased
to bring you the Bible teaching ministry of Andrew Carter,
lead pastor of Royal City Church in Inglewood. Royal City
Church meets each Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. at 226
South Market Street in Inglewood.
For more information about them, visit their website at Royal Church.org.
(00:25):
Today on Pastor Spotlight, Andrew Carter will be looking at
1 Corinthians chapter 5. Paul addresses a serious sin problem
that his Corinthian church plan is not taking all that seriously.
Here's Pastor Andrew with today's study.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Chapter 5 of 1 Corinthians. So just a quick recap
to get you guys up to speed. Corinthians is a letter.
It's a letter from Pastor Paul to one of his
church plants. He's writing back to them because he's an Ephesus.
So if you guys read the book of Ephesians, that's
where he's at. It's another one of his church plants.
He gets word that the church in Corinth.
is going crazy. There's some weird stuff taking place, and
(01:03):
we're gonna actually uncover some of the weird stuff that's
going on. And so he's writing a letter to address
some of the issues that are taking place. And what
I love about the book of Corinthians is that the
things that they were going through are very similar to
the things that we're going through in the church in
the United States. So in chapter 5, verse 1,
(01:23):
It says this, 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. Let's just talk about that for a second, right?
It sounds like an episode of Jerry Springer. He's writing
back to 1 Corinth to the Corinthians, and he's saying
(01:43):
there is something going on in your church that the
world ain't even doing.
And you guys are OK with it. So we're sitting
here saying, I'm getting word that there is a man
sleeping with his dad's wife.
Let that sink in.
There's some crazy stuff going on in the church and
we're OK with it.
(02:03):
In verse 2, he says, and you are puffed up
and have not rather mourned that he has done this deed,
that he who has done this deed might be taken
away from among you. For I indeed, he says, as
absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged
as though I were present, Him who has done this deed.
(02:23):
So we're saying, and you guys aren't even upset about it.
In fact, you're kind of prideful about it. You're celebrating it. You,
you aren't worried that this is an issue. This is
something that's just OK in the church. And he goes
as far as saying,
For indeed, I'm not there. I'm present in spirit, but
I've already judged that. Now, hold on a second. Doesn't
(02:45):
the Bible tell us not to judge, right? Judge not
lest ye be judged.
And this is an argument that you hear a lot
in church. Oh, well, you're not supposed to judge anybody.
You're supposed to just love everybody. You're supposed to just
be all right with everybody. There's not supposed to be
any judgment, and that, my friends, could not be further
from the truth. That is a scripture that is taken
(03:07):
out of context. And we're going to unpack that. You
guys have the, you guys thought we're gonna talk about
fathers today. No, we're talking about dudes sleeping with their
father's wife. We're talking about judgment inside the church. We're
about to get with it. OK?
So here he is in Matthew chapter 7. I want
you guys to turn there for just a moment. Matthew
chapter 7, because this is an example of what Jesus
(03:29):
is talking about when it comes to judging. And I'm
not gonna get on some holy high horse and start
judging every single one of you, but I want you
guys to understand that there should be a certain level
of judgment, there should be a certain level.
Of like understanding that we aren't of this world. And
so therefore we should not be living like this world.
The things that are OK in the world should not
(03:50):
be OK in the church, and it's our duty to
call that out amongst the fellowship and amongst the family
of believers. Just like the great prophet, Kendrick Lamar would say,
they not like us.
Right? We're heavenly, right? And some of you guys are like,
who is this Kendrick Lamar? What book is this? No, listen. I'm.
(04:12):
They, they, they're not like us. The way that the
world operates is not the same way that we should
be operating. So when we see something that doesn't line up,
we got to get it gone. Matthew chapter 7 says this,
and excuse me if I'm fired up. Hey, if you're
a first-time guest, welcome. Uh, this is kind of how
we do things around here.
Grab your seat belt.
And if you don't know Kendrick Lamar, look him up.
(04:33):
It's a fantastic beef taking place that I enjoy. It's
been fantastic. Chapter 7, verse 1 says, Judge not that
you be not judged. So that's where we take that.
We hear Jesus says, judge not unless you're gonna be judged. So,
you know what, I don't do anything. I don't judge anybody.
But if you continue to read, he says, for with
what judgment you judge, you will be judged. And with
(04:54):
the measure.
you use, it will be measured back to you. And
then he says in verse 3, why do you look
at the speck in your brother's eye but not consider
the plank in your own eye? He's not telling us
not to judge, period. But what he's saying is you
need to have a measure of righteous judgment. Make sure
that if you are judging somebody, that you are ready
to receive the same amount of judgment that's gonna come
(05:15):
right back at you. So if that's the case, if
you're going to judge, and you're going to receive.
That same measure of judgment, you better make sure you're
walking a walk that is filled with integrity. You better
make sure that the life that you're living is filled
with righteousness. This isn't where you're calling out other people's sins,
but he's saying, look, stop worrying, like, some of you
need to not judge because your stuff is in such disarray.
(05:36):
You need to take that to somebody else so that
they can address it. But he's not saying that you
should not judge inside the body.
Verse 5 says, hypocrite, first remove the plank from your
own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove
the speck from your brother's eye.
So what is he saying? Not to judge, or he's saying,
(05:57):
get your stuff together so that then you can do
a better job of helping. He says, remove the one
from yours so that you can still do what? Judge
righteously within the church. So we hear this in First Corinthians.
He said, I'm here, this is Paul, the church planner, right, saying,
I'm judging this. I'm in a position, a situation as
the leader, as the
Church planter to judge this sin. He's like, I can
(06:19):
see it from Ephesus. This ain't right. And somebody needs
to call this out. We need to do something about this.
So before we get in this place where we're like,
oh well, we're not supposed to judge, that is not true.
There was a level of judgment inside this group, this
family of believers that needs to take place because we
need to hold each other accountable and call each other higher.
Thank you. John chapter 7 verse 24.
(06:43):
Take it to there for just a second.
He says, when the people, this isn't gonna be on
the screen, when the people are beginning to wonder who
Jesus is, uh, and instructs them, he says, do not
judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. John 7:24.
You guys there? When the people are beginning to wonder,
(07:06):
they're trying to figure out who this Jesus is because
he's there teaching with wonder. They've never seen anything like this.
They've never seen anything like that. And he's asking them,
he's telling them, hey, I want you guys to do this.
I want you to judge for yourselves. Do not judge
according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.
Judge with righteous judgment.
(07:28):
Sitting here telling us that we need to judge in
a way and in a manner that is righteous. And
so we can't just think that we come to church
and we see things that are OK and we just
smile at sin and we just dust it under the rug,
and we just hope that the Holy Spirit is going
to fix it. There has to be a level of accountability.
There has to be a level of leadership in the church,
and we have to be at a place where we're
(07:49):
OK to call sin, sin, exactly what it is, and
to call people higher and out of that.
Verses 4 through 5 of 1 Corinthians chapter 5, as
we continue on.
He goes on to say, in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Again, this is Paul writing to him,
when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, he's like,
I'm with you guys, with the power of our Lord
(08:11):
Jesus Christ, Deliver such a one to Satan for the
destruction of the flesh. That's heavy. He's like, the guy
who's sleeping with his dad's wife, you guys need to
let him go. When you gather together, you need to
call it out. You need to address it, and you
need to let him go. Where is he gonna go? He,
they want him to surrender him.
To Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Why? That
(08:32):
his spirit may be saved in the day of the
Lord Jesus. Too many of us.
Allow sin to sit among us and we enable people
to continue in that lifestyle.
How many of you have dealt with an enabler? I
grew up in a family that's filled with addicts, drug addicts, alcoholics,
people who struggle and wrestle with these, these diseases. They're
(08:53):
real things. And my grandmother would enable my mom. She
would give her money. She would watch me while she
went out and turned tricks. My grandmother would enable my
mom rather than calling out the sin, turning her back
on her.
Putting her out to the streets, she would refuse to
do so because she loved her and she cared about
her and enabling people, it's not done out of evil.
You're not trying to hurt the person, but you don't
(09:14):
realize that by not calling things out and sometimes handing
them over, you're actually making the situation worse because you
are enabling them to continue in their sickness and in
their disease, and in this case, in their sin.
And so he's saying, hey, you gotta call this guy out,
and you've got to deliver him to Satan because in
doing so, you're going to set him up to potentially
get his heart right. But if you let him continue
(09:36):
to sit in the church, living in this way that
is contradictory to the scripture and what Paul taught him,
he is going to continue. And then what happens next?
is in verses 6 through 8. It talks about how
that little bit of sin is like 1, and it
gets into the body, and now it starts to become OK.
(09:56):
And now it starts to become a lifestyle, and then
it permeates throughout the entire fellowship. But before we get there,
I want to talk about this. The goal of the
action by kicking this guy out, it's not retaliation. It's
not because he doesn't love him or he doesn't care
about him. It's for rehabilitation.
So you have to understand that sometimes the hardest things
that we have to do is let somebody go. And
(10:18):
it's not because we don't love them or because we
don't care about them. It's not out of retaliation. It's
because unless we do so, they will never be rehabilitated.
Sometimes we have to let them have their way, right?
You gotta give them like Burger King, man. Let it,
let them have it their way.
You gotta just let them go. And this is what
he's doing. It's not because he doesn't love them. It doesn't,
it's not because he doesn't care about him or because
he's not a vital piece of their ministry. He understands
(10:39):
that sometimes you gotta let them go, have their way,
so that they can work out their own salvation with
fear and trembling.
The reason why is he wanted to convict this man
of his sin or allow the Holy Spirit to do so,
to encourage repentance and restoration. He even says, give him
over to Satan, right? For the destruction of his flesh.
(11:02):
I don't know what that looks like. Maybe his plans
get blown up, maybe some of the things that he's,
he's going after, maybe his, maybe there's doors that shut,
maybe relationships fail, maybe he gets sick. I don't know
what that looks like.
But he hands them over to Satan for the destruction
of his flesh. Why? That his spirit may be saved
in the day of the Lord Jesus. He's doing so
for repentance, rehabilitation, and for restoration.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
You're listening to Kwave's Pastor Spotlight featuring the Bible teaching
ministry of Andrew Carter, lead pastor of Royal City Church
in Inglewood. You can learn more about Pastor Andrew's Church
at Royal CityChurch.org. Now here's Pastor Andrew with more of
his study in 1 Corinthians chapter 5.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
And so you're like, well, what does this mean, pastor? Like,
I'm not sleeping with my dad's wife. Uh, I don't
know where you want me to go with this. Um,
and that's a good thing, or maybe you are. I
don't know. Uh, it's 2024. I wouldn't be surprised because
the things that we see these days are so out
of pocket. It's crazy. Um, wouldn't have thought 2030 years
ago that you would see some of the things that
you see.
(12:06):
But I'm gonna say this, maybe that's not you, but
maybe you know somebody like that, or maybe your sin
just looks different. Maybe you're claiming and professing to be
a believing Christian, a follower of the Lord Jesus, but
you're living in a way that is opposite to what
it is that we're preaching and that we're sharing. And
this isn't, again, not because I'm on some high horse.
Looking down at people. This isn't judging, but the reason
(12:29):
why you have to call sin out is so that rehabilitation, repentance,
and restoration can take place, or else we're gonna continue
this toxic cycle of people being in this church, getting
a word that tickles their ears and then going right
back out to the same sin that God has rescued
them from. My heart for this.
Is, is this, right? I preached with this passion because
Jesus changed my life. I was the worst. I, I
(12:51):
promise you there probably was not a person who sinned
worse than I have in this building.
And we, I mean, we could have a competition. I
could share my rap sheet, like my actual rap sheet
of prison, of jail, of the things that I've done.
I've done some horrible things. I've been a very, very
terrible person. But the, but Jesus, Jesus changed my life,
changed my life. And so that's why I'm up here. I'm,
(13:12):
I'm trying to call out sin. I'm trying to preach
the word. I'm trying to bring a conviction because like
I said, we
We are not of this world. We are in this
world but not of this world. We are foreign or
foreigners in this place. We have a mission. There is
a plan, there is a purpose for each and every
one of your lives. Each and every one of your
stories has purpose, and there's people, souls attached to what
(13:33):
it is that you carry. People need to hear what
you've gone through. They need to hear your story. They
need to hear how you've lived and how God has
carried you through the darkness.
This is so, so in first, I'm gonna stop. I'm
gonna get too crazy.
I'm gonna get crazy. We'll get there. Some of you
are like, you already are crazy, bro. Um, the three
(13:54):
crucial purposes of church discipline, there's reasons why these things
are in place. And, and just so you know, I'm
not thinking about any one of you guys. I don't
know what it is that you're doing. So if you're like, man,
he's reading my diary, like he's opening my business. Like
he's been watching my stories on Instagram. I haven't. I
really haven't. I don't know what like secret.
Life you're living. I don't know what you've got going
(14:15):
on in the recesses of your apartment. I don't know.
I'm literally just preaching. We were supposed to preach chapter 5.
So if this lines up with something that you're going through,
so be it. That has nothing to do with me.
We did 4 last week, we did 5 this week.
Next time it's gonna be chapter 6. So if it
lines up, talk to God about it.
The reason why we talk about church discipline is because
(14:37):
it's a very real thing. First, it's necessary in order
to convict and correct others so they're not fooled about
their spiritual state. There's nothing worse than living life thinking
that you're good or that you're in alignment and you
couldn't be further from the truth. Like we have to
call those things out in a righteous way. Again, with truth,
with love, with honor, with kindness, with gentleness, all of
(14:59):
those things are key.
All of those things are important, but we have to
call them out. Second, we do church discipline because it's
necessary for spiritual health of the other believers. You guys
have to understand that your leader is leading from a
place of like, I'm not OK with certain things. There's
things that we can't just turn a blind eye to.
And then third, it's necessary to prevent the unbelieving world
(15:20):
from having legitimate reasons to criticize the body of Christ.
We can't give the world another reason to hate Christianity.
We can't.
We're already notorious for mismanaging funds, right? Pastors in private
jets taking up, going all over the place, finding money
in the wall. Pastors wearing million dollar chains. Like that's crazy.
(15:40):
We've already given them enough reasons. Pastors touching kids, pastors
falling from grace, pastors having extramarital affairs. Like we, we
keep giving the world reasons to run from Christianity, but
that's not Jesus doing those things. Those are men who
are poor representations of Jesus doing those things.
So we must discipline the sin inside the church so
(16:01):
that the world can't keep saying these things. What happens
is that we get so comfortable, they don't want to
offend anybody. They're more concerned with keeping people in the
seats than preaching the truth, because when you preach the truth,
it makes people uncomfortable, and what do they do? They
don't come back. And so they'll, they'll soften the word,
and they'll say things that tickle your ears and make
you feel good and.
Fuzzy, and they might give you 10 ways to be
(16:22):
successful in the business place, but that's not the word
of God, that's not the scripture. And so what I'm
preaching is not popular. Church discipline is not popular, but, but,
and what it doesn't do is it doesn't fill the seats,
but we gotta be true to the word. I'd rather
have a handful of people on fire for the Lord
than this place filled to the brim with lukewarm believers.
(16:46):
I feel like I'm running for office. I just like.
You guys voting for me or what?
Mayor of Ingle, my, my felonies actually disqualify me for
running for office. So that will, that is not in
my future unless they expunge those. Um.
First Peter chapter 2, we talk about this is where
we get the idea and the, the direction for Royal
(17:08):
City Church, uh, verses 9 and 10. But 11 and
12 speak to church discipline and why we discipline. But
in chapter 9, you know, or verse 9, it says,
but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, his own special people. Why? that you may
proclaim the praises.
of him who called you out of darkness into His
marvelous light, who once were not a people but are
(17:30):
now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy,
but now have obtained mercy. That's Royal City Church is like,
that's our foundational verse. We are a chosen people, a
holy people, a royal priesthood. We've been called out of
darkness to proclaim to the world around us the goodness
of God and the light that he rescued us out of.
But verses 11 and 12 say this. Again, this is,
(17:52):
this is Peter speaking, beloved, I beg you as sojourners,
that's another word for like temporary residences. He's like, hey,
y'all are only here for a little bit. And pilgrims, right?
Basically travelers or adventurers. You guys are here for just
a moment. It says, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war
against the soul. And here's why, verse 12, having your
(18:13):
conduct honorable.
Among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as
evil doers, they may, by your good works, which they observe,
glorify God in the day of visitation. Um, Gentiles is
another word for people who aren't of the, the holy
lineage of God. So Gentiles is like, we'll just consider
them the world. So we're saying, hey, watch the way
(18:33):
that you live your lives and make sure that it's
done in a good way. Make sure that there's church discipline,
make sure that there's order, make sure.
That people are preaching the gospel and not just words
that will tickle their ears, so that when they speak
against you, all they see is the good works in
the way that you live your life. And so as
a pastor and as a leader, I, there's gotta be
church discipline. We've got to call people higher. So 1
(18:55):
Corinthians chapter 5 verses 6, we're gonna work our way,
we're gonna keep moving our way through this.
He's writing to them and he's saying, your gloryan is
not good. Is this on the screen? Yeah.
Do you not know?
That a little leaven, leavens the whole lump.
He says, therefore, purge out the old leaven, that you
(19:16):
may be a new lump since you truly are unleavened. Uh,
who here has ever baked bread, knows anything about yeast
and leavening agents, right? I'm gonna need a loaf of
that sourdough, uh, at the next service.
Cause bread is good. I actually don't because I'm trying
to lose a little bit of weight, that bread, boy. Boy,
that bread. Um, talk about bread, the Red Lobster, you
(19:39):
guys ever been to Red Lobster? They got those cheddar biscuits?
My God. So good.
When it comes to leaven, leaven was used in making bread.
So if you don't know, a bit of risen aged
dough from the previous batch would be stored away as
a starting point for the next batch of dough. You
work this tiny little piece of dough into the new batch,
(20:01):
and you introduce it as a leavening agent, and it
spreads into the new batch. And so now it starts
to rise. If the leaven was bad, then it infects
the rest of the dough, the rest of it. It
won't rise. It won't do what it's supposed to do.
So when he's writing this, Paul, the readers would understand
what leaven means, adding a little bit of leaven to the,
(20:22):
to the bread, they understand that.
The idea here is that sin of this nature, left unaddressed,
not talked about, would be like care carelessly throwing rotten
leavening agents into the bread, allowing that kind of lifestyle,
allowing that kind of sin to just take place and
then turning a blind eye. Oh, well, we just gotta
(20:44):
love everybody here and we just gotta go with the flow,
like just like, but turning a blind eye to that.
It ruins the entire ministry. It ruins the entirety of
the church, because now you're turning a blind eye to
specific things. You're gonna let that go, but you won't
let that go. But then you're gonna turn a blind
eye on that, but you're not gonna call that out.
Now you're starting to pick and choose, you're starting to
(21:04):
play favorites.
And so here he's saying, you got to purge out
the old Levin verse 7, that you may be a
new lump since you truly are unleavened, for indeed, Christ,
our Passover was sacrificed for us. Verse 8. Therefore, let
us keep the feast, not with old Levin, nor with
the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened
bread of sincerity and truth.
(21:26):
Now before you guys think that I'm gonna start calling
you out, um, and giving you the boot, I want
you to understand this. There is a difference between a
believer who sins and somebody who's living in sin.
There is a big difference. And I wanna give you
guys 12 differences that really, really make a difference because
you might be like, well, Pastor Andrew, I'm, I'm struggling
(21:47):
with this sin. Does that mean you're gonna kick me out?
I don't have a place in this church? That's not
what I'm saying. But there's a difference between again, struggling
or dealing with sin, and then blatantly living in sin.
And the big thing is the spirit of rebellion.
So the first thing, the believer enjoys fellowship with Christ
and His redeemed people. So if you're a believer,
(22:07):
You might struggle with sin, but overall, you're going to
enjoy the fellowship of other Christians and being in this place.
You probably wouldn't be here, you know, for the most part,
you're probably not in church. The second thing is that
believers walk in the light, not in the darkness. Remind
yourself that, hey, I might be struggling with this, but
I'm gonna walk in the light. I'm gonna do the
best that I can. I'm gonna try my best to
(22:28):
make decisions and choices that lead that way. Number 3,
the believer admits and confesses the sin.
So when you're living in sin, you're probably not repenting
or confessing about it. You're rebellious about it. You're, you're
in people's face with it. Then there's a pride about
your sin that you're living in, like you're in people's
face with it. There's no repentance. There's no hiding it.
(22:49):
The fourth thing, the believer obeys God's word. You do
your best to read, you do your best to devote,
you do your best to pray. You do your best
to follow suit.
Number 5, the believer loves God rather than the world.
Number 6, the believer's life is characterized by doing what
is right. That doesn't mean that everything you do is right,
but it's characterized by what is doing right. For the
(23:11):
most part, you try your best to do what's right
in the sight of God. That's the difference between struggling
with sin and living in sin. The believer's life, uh,
seeks to maintain a pure life.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
And with that, Pastor Andrew Carter brings our study for
today to a close. We invite you to join us
right here at the same time tomorrow as Pastor Andrew
looks at Galatians chapter 5 right here on Kwave's Pastor Spotlight.
Pastor Andrew Carter is the lead pastor of Royal City Church,
which he helped to found in October of 2021. Royal
(23:45):
City Church stands on 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9,
which says, But you are a chosen people, all royal.
Priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession that you may
declare the praises of Him who called you out of
darkness into His wonderful life. The church focuses on teaching
and preaching the word of God so that those who
(24:05):
attend start to understand who they are and begin walking
in the fullness of their identity, which will inspire them
to tell others about the good news of Jesus. You
and your family are invited to come and worship this
next Sunday morning at Royal City Church. The Sunday service
time is at 10.
They're located at 226 South Market Street in Inglewood. For
more information, visit their website at royal Church.org. Well, that's
(24:29):
all the time we have for today on Pastor Spotlight.
We invite you to join us right here tomorrow at
the same time for more of the Bible teaching ministry
of Pastor Andrew Carter, lead pastor of Royal City Church
in Inglewood. Pastor Spotlight is a production of Kwave Radio,
sharing life, delivering truth, giving hope.
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