May 24, 2025 • 38 mins
As Christians we can walk by the Spirit rather than being consumed by sin and its destructive influence on our lives and communities.
• Sin is what happens when separated from God, leading to a lack of peace, love, and fulfillment
• Walking by the Spirit means being guided by God rather than turning to ourselves
• Sexual immorality receives particular emphasis in Paul's teachings as it involves sinning against our own bodies
• Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, not our own possession but bought with a price
• Christians are called to a higher standard, but from freedom rather than legalistic obligation
• Within the church, attitude toward sin matters—pride in sin requires correction while struggling with sin deserves support
• Repentance (changing our mind about sin) naturally leads to behavior change
• The fruit of the Spirit comes from freedom in Christ, not from following rules
• Our union with God cannot be broken, improved, or changed—Christ is our rock
Share what's on your heart and enjoy free study resources on our Episodes Page at wakinguptograce.com: https://wakinguptograce.com/055-sinners-will-not-inherit-life-romans-1-29-32/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
announcement (00:01):
Hello and welcome to the Waking Up to Grace
podcast, where we celebrate andexplore the finished work of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Tune in to the Waking Up toGrace podcast on every major
platform.
You can also listen to ourepisodes and read our full
transcripts atwakinguptogracecom.
And now here's Lenny.
Lenny (00:22):
Welcome back to the podcast everyone.
We left off our last Romanstudy with Paul saying they were
filled with all manner ofunrighteousness, evil,
covetousness.
They are full of envy, murder,strife, deceit, maliciousness.
They're gossips, slanderers,haters of God, insolent, haughty
(00:42):
, boastful inventors of evil,disobedient to parents, foolish,
faithless, heartless, ruthless.
Though they know God's decreethat those who practice such
things deserve to die, they notonly do them, but give approval
to those who practice them.
That's Romans 1, 29-32.
(01:03):
And before Paul laid out allthese sins on a silver platter
he began with.
Therefore, god gave them up, inthe lusts of their hearts, to
impurity, to the dishonoring oftheir bodies among themselves,
because they exchanged the truthabout God for a lie and
worshipped and served thecreature rather than the Creator
, who is blessed forever Amen.
For this reason, god gave themup to dishonorable passions For
(01:27):
their women, exchanged naturalrelations for those that are
contrary to nature, and menlikewise gave up natural
relations with women and wereconsumed with passion for one
another, men committingshameless acts with men and
receiving in themselves the duepenalty for their error.
And since they did not see fitto acknowledge God and that was
(01:51):
in Romans 1.24-28.
, we determine in our lateststudies that these passages are
about non-regenerate mankind,not Christians, but Paul
certainly writes these things toand for Christians for a
purpose.
Understanding sin is part ofthe gospel, and the better we
understand sin, the more we notonly understand grace at a
(02:13):
deeper level, but the more wecan live by grace and experience
true thankfulness to ourHeavenly Father.
We learn from Paul that whenseparated from Yahweh, man
becomes consumed in sin.
There is no true peace, love,fulfillment apart from the Lord,
only temporary satisfactionthrough sin that always leads to
(02:33):
ruin and death.
When the Lord is not in thelife of man, he naturally turns
to him or herself for guidance.
Christians have a superioralternative to turn to, don't we
?
We have a higher calling.
Yahweh is our God now.
But in order to fullyappreciate this and be guided in
the right direction, paul doesnot hold back on teaching sin.
(02:57):
We need to know darkness beforewe can see light.
Did you know that this isn'tthe only letter that Paul uses
this approach?
Let's look at some otherexamples so we can gain an even
better idea of the ApostlePaul's view on sin.
In Galatians 5.19,.
Paul writes Now the works ofthe flesh are evident sexual
immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity,
(03:22):
strife, jealousy, fits of anger,rivalries, dissensions,
divisions, envy, drunkenness,orgies and things like these.
I warn you, as I warned youbefore, that those who do such
things will not inherit thekingdom of God.
In our Romans passage we readthat because of their unbelief,
(03:43):
yahweh handed people over to sin.
Would you say that handing overto sin in Romans is similar or
the same as not inheriting thekingdom of God?
Is in this passage?
I think it's the same thing.
So in this passage, are thosewho will not inherit the kingdom
of God Christians?
Are these Christians who fellinto these sins?
And the answer is no.
(04:04):
That's not what's going on inthese passages.
He's talking about godlesspeople.
If we look at the context, he'stalking about godless people.
Why does Paul refer to sinnersas godless people?
Think about a Romans passage.
And what happened when mankindrejected the Lord?
When mankind rejected the Lord,he handed them over to sin and
(04:27):
they became utterly sinful,didn't they, apart from God,
where they have nobody to turnto, no glory to turn to.
That's what's happening tomankind, according to our
scripture.
So does Paul again refer tonon-regenerate man here in this
passage?
And I say absolutely.
That's exactly what he'stalking about.
He's not telling Christians whofall into one of these
(04:51):
behaviors for a moment or findthemselves in sin, he's not
telling them they're notinheriting the kingdom of God.
Is it not scary to imagine thatmany Christian doctrines apply
these passages directly toChristians?
You know, you put them up on abillboard or on the screen for
the large congregation of peopleand they read this and they
(05:15):
tell you Paul wrote this to youand this is what you have.
You're not going to inherit thekingdom of God.
But if these behaviors comefrom godless people, do we want
to allow them into our lives?
No, we see this as godlessbehavior and we shouldn't desire
to have these in our lives,should we?
These aren't pleasing to theLord.
(05:35):
These are things that the Lorddoes not like.
In fact, he hates sin.
But before writing this, paulwrote but I say walk by the
(05:57):
Spirit and you.
And then to remind them ofgrace, he adds.
And then to remind them ofgrace, he adds but if you are
led by the Spirit, you are notunder law.
In Galatians 5.18, when we seeourselves falling into godless
behavior or temptation, whatwould Paul recommend?
He'd say walk by the Spirit.
(06:17):
You know these Galatians werebeing fooled into a works-based
doctrine.
It was the law plus Christ.
Christ says he fulfills the lawand then all these people say,
no, he didn't fulfill the law.
You still got to be obedient tothe law, the law of Moses.
So what does that sound like?
(06:37):
Sounds like they didn't believeGod, doesn't it?
Sounds like they're turningaway from God's guidance and
turning to their own guidance.
Sounds like they're turningaway from God's guidance and
turning to their own guidance.
There's a law-based context tothis, but the context of the
law-based situation is that thelaw was fulfilled and Christians
were no longer pleasing God bybeing obedient to the laws.
(06:58):
The law was fulfilled in Christ.
In fact, scripture tells usthat it was by faith all along,
and the author of Hebrews reallydrives that home.
You were never made right bythe law.
You were made right by faith,said the author of Hebrews.
It was by faith all along.
Nobody was ever made right bythe law, and Paul talks about
(07:20):
that as well in his letter tothe Romans, and we're going to
dig into that.
So Paul recommends to letter tothe Romans.
We're going to dig into that.
So Paul recommends to walk bythe Spirit.
What do you believe it means towalk by the Spirit?
Have you ever considered whatthat might mean?
What are the depths of thatstatement?
I think it's actually quitesimple.
I think what he's saying is beguided by the Lord, seek the
(07:42):
Lord's guidance.
Guided by the Lord, seek theLord's guidance.
Seek to please the Lord, seekto honor the Lord, seek to give
glory to the Lord in your life.
Just like we've been readingthroughout our study on these
first passages in Romans.
If rejecting God causes mankindto become consumed in sin, what
is the solution fornon-regenerate mankind?
(08:03):
What would be their solution togetting right with God?
They'd have to believe right.
They'd have to honor God, giveglory to God, put faith in God,
stop rejecting the Lord, stoprejecting Yahweh.
Do we not have a similarsolution to sin as Christians in
our daily lives?
Solution to sin as Christiansin our daily lives Is there not
(08:30):
sort of a parallel to rejectingGod even in our Christian lives?
Do you think that Christiansfind themselves turning away
from the truth of the Lord,turning away from his guidance,
maybe even reading scripturewith their own ideas in mind and
not really seeking what theSpirit is teaching them in the
Scripture?
Maybe reading the Scripturewith the views that you already
(08:51):
have from church in your mindrather than seeking what the
truth is in Scripture.
Is that possible that maybewe're not even seeking His
guidance at all at times?
And what's the solution?
Seek his guidance right, prayfor his guidance.
Paul writes again on sin.
(09:11):
In his letter to the Corinthianchurch.
He writes do you not know thatthe unrighteous will not inherit
the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived.
Neither the sexually immoral,nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor men who practicehomosexuality, nor thieves, nor
the greedy, nor drunkards, norrevelers, nor swindlers will
inherit the kingdom of God.
(09:32):
Ouch, that passage could comeoff quite intense, couldn't it?
That's 1 Corinthians 6, 9through 10.
It's really important to realizethat Paul is writing to
Christians about these things.
Why does Paul keep tellingChristians about godless people
and their behavior?
Why might Paul want them tounderstand that those people
(09:54):
will not inherit the kingdom ofGod?
I think he's talking aboutgodless people and their
behavior so that we canunderstand as Christians that we
have a higher calling.
If we see ourselves diving intothese things, if we see
ourselves doing these things andtaking pride in these things,
maybe we should be taking a stepback and think, hey, I don't
(10:15):
think I'm following the Lord'sguidance here.
I think maybe I'm turning tothe flesh, turning to my own
ways.
That's a godless lifestyle.
What am I doing?
Why would I want to live thatway when I have a higher calling
?
I am God's holy temple.
Now I'm a new creation.
I'm a child of God.
I've been reconciled to God bythe blood of Christ.
(10:38):
I should be living thankfullyright.
So when we ask ourselves, whymight Paul want them to
understand that those peoplewon't inherit the kingdom of God
?
I think there's a few reasons.
I think number one it would beto help them understand that
they've been set apart fromthose things, they've been
sanctified, in other words, setapart from the rest of the world
(10:58):
.
And number two could be so theyrealize that godless people
need the Lord.
They're slaves to sin, they'reconsumed in sin.
You might help them out.
If you share the gospel, godwilling, their eyes might be
open.
You just never know.
When you go to share the gospelwith somebody, do you?
And then number three could beso that they realize the
(11:19):
damaging consequence of notwalking by the Spirit.
There's going to be sufferingwhen we live godless lives as
Christians.
There's going to be sufferingwhen we live godless lives
either way, but as Christians,we have the spirit of God inside
of us that we're grieving whenwe do these things.
It wants us to do the rightthing.
It's concerned about us.
You can bet that God's going tobe up there doing work in your
(11:43):
life.
And when it comes to opening upthe eyes of stubborn humans, it
tends to take a lot and it'sprobably not going to be
pleasant, is it To have to haveour eyes open to be shamed by
something?
I mean that's not going to becomfortable.
But we often see this passagequoted, leaving out the next
part and the next part'simportant After.
Paul says all that about thesin and the non-regenerate.
(12:05):
He says and such were some ofyou, but you were washed, you
were sanctified, you werejustified in the name of the
Lord, jesus Christ and by theSpirit of our God.
That's at 1 Corinthians 6.11.
Unlike many very legalisticteachers of Scripture, paul
constantly reminds believers ofwho they are in Christ.
(12:26):
Paul's agenda was not to makethem think they were truly
godless or unsaved or out offellowship with God.
But if our identity in Christis in these behaviors, should we
not make every effort to ridthese things from our lives?
Should we not despise when wefind these godless behaviors in
our lives and seek guidance ifwe're stuck in something, seek
(12:49):
guidance to get out of thosethings so that we can be blessed
with the fruit of the Spirit.
But who must we first turn tofor guidance?
We got to turn to the Lord.
I'm not sure if you noticed itor not, but in our Romans
passage, as well as Galatiansand Corinthians, paul mentions
sexual immorality first on hislist of sin.
(13:10):
Is not all sin the same in theeyes of our Lord?
I think that depends on context.
When teaching his churches,paul does not seem to see sexual
immorality the same as othersin.
This becomes very clear in hisletter to the Corinthians who
were struggling with this sinand probably every other sin
imaginable.
To the Corinthians, paul wroteAll things are lawful for me,
(13:33):
but not all things are helpful.
All things are lawful for me,but I will not be enslaved by
anything.
Food is meant for the stomachand the stomach for food, and
God will destroy both one andthe other.
The body is not meant forsexual immorality but for the
Lord and the Lord for the body.
And God raised the Lord andwill raise us up by his power.
(13:55):
Do you not know that yourbodies are members of Christ.
Shall I then take the membersof Christ and make them members
of a prostitute?
Never.
Or do you not know that he whois 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 theLord becomes one spirit with him
(14:16):
.
Flee from sexual immorality.
Every other sin a personcommits is outside the body, but
the sexually immoral personsins against his own body.
Or do you not know that yourbody is a temple of the Holy
Spirit within you, whom you havefrom God?
You are not your own, for youwere bought with a price.
So glorify God in your body.
(14:38):
1 Corinthians 6, 12-20.
This passage is very loaded withinsight, but I think upon
reading it we quickly see howthe Apostle Paul viewed sexual
immorality.
Does Paul promote thatChristians are their own people
or God's people?
He actually says you are notyour own, for you are bought
(15:01):
with a price.
So glorify God in your body.
Our God is Yahweh.
We were born into his kingdom.
We were adopted into hiskingdom.
We were adopted into hiskingdom.
We were adopted into hiskingdom.
We were adopted as his children.
He chose us to be part of hisheavenly kingdom.
Our bodies are temples.
He says so.
Glorify God in your body, don'tuse it for sexual immorality.
(15:23):
Paul's saying so.
Why does this matter?
And how does Paul want hischurch to see their bodies?
I think it's very critical thatwe understand the higher
calling that we have as God'schildren.
Paul wanted us to see ourbodies as holy temples, so we
take care of them and we usethem for good.
A lot of people think that ourbodies are sinful and we just
(15:44):
have these sinful, wretchedbodies.
In scripture, our bodies areseen as holy temples.
But a good tool can be used forgood and bad.
You could take a hammer and useit to build up, or you could
take a hammer and use it todestroy, can't you?
Especially for young andunmarried Christians?
I wanted to mention a messagefrom Matt McMillan that I
discovered a while back.
(16:05):
It showed a lot of heart forhim to make a bold message like
he did.
I think it could really helpbelievers who are trying to
manage sexual desire in a waythat is pleasing to the Lord and
even see things from adifferent perspective.
It's really good.
The episode is called the TruthAbout Masturbation.
I made a clickable link to thathere in my study guide at
(16:26):
wakinguptogracecom on theepisodes page.
As always, you can find theepisodes page linked in the
description section of thisepisode in your podcast app or
just by visiting my podcastepisodes page at
wakinguptogracecom.
Now in our last study we readPaul saying I appeal to you,
therefore, brothers, by themercies of God, to present your
(16:47):
bodies as a living sacrifice,holy and acceptable to God,
which is your spiritual worship.
That's Romans 12.1.
Does Paul seem to describesexual immorality as the polar
opposite of the worship we seein this Romans 12 passage?
Going back to Corinthians, whatdoes Paul say to do in regards
to sexual immorality?
He says to flee from it.
(17:08):
Doesn't he Flee from sexualimmorality?
What do you flee from it?
Doesn't he Flee from sexualimmorality?
What do you think Paul means by?
You were bought with a price.
Do you think that he'sreferring to the price that
Christ Yeshua had to pay on thecross with his blood so that you
could be made right with God?
I definitely think that's theprice he's talking about.
(17:28):
Earlier, in Paul's letter to theCorinthians, we see Paul coming
down hard on sin.
In 1 Corinthians 5, paul writesit is actually reported that
there is sexual immorality amongyou, and of a kind that is not
tolerated even among pagans, fora man has his father's wife,
and you are arrogant.
Ought you not rather to mourn?
(17:49):
Let him who has done this beremoved from among you?
I go over these passages inmore detail, along with other
difficult passages that seempunishing to Christians in
episode number 17, if you wantto check that out later.
But the question is, what wasPaul's charge against the church
here?
His charge against the churchseems to be their mindset, their
(18:13):
mentality, their arrogance andtheir boasting, their pride in
this sexual sin.
They saw no problem with it, itdidn't just happen, and they
were ashamed about it and theywere like, oh, shouldn't have
done that, they were proud of it.
They were ashamed about it andthey're like, oh, shouldn't have
done that, they were proud ofit.
(18:33):
Can you imagine a group ofpeople here pumping up this
guy's ego while he boasts aboutwhat he had done?
I'm definitely seeing that.
That's definitely what I'mseeing in this passage.
Then, in verse 6, paul writesyour boasting is not good.
Do you not know that a littleleaven leavens the whole lump?
Some translations use the wordyeast, but they didn't have
yeast in those times.
For them, leavened bread wastraditional sourdough.
(18:56):
The leaven was a bit offermented dough that, when added
to the dough, would act similarto yeast, working its way
through the whole batch andmaking it rise.
Leaven works fully through thedough as it settles into it, so
much that you can now simplytake a small piece of the dough
and it has become leaven for thenext batch.
Christ Yeshua used the analogysaying beware of the leaven of
(19:19):
the Pharisees.
Leaven is describing influence.
The Pharisees had a lot ofinfluence, just like people at
the podium have today had a lotof influence, just like people
at the podium have today In theCorinthian church.
Pride and sin was the negativeinfluence.
Leaven would not have to benegative, but in these instances
(19:41):
the influence was negative.
Paul mentions this after sayingtheir boasting isn't good.
It was their attitude thatconcerned Paul the most.
Their attitude would influenceothers into error and cause
other people to stumble.
I also want to mention the wordrepent, as it certainly applies
here.
We often see the word repent inour Bibles.
Properly defined, the wordrepent means change your mind or
(20:02):
change of mind.
Do you see a problem here?
That would require a change ofmind?
Do you think this even wouldhave gone to this level if their
minds were in the right place.
What was it that needed to bechanged in their minds?
From my vantage point, they wereturning to godless ways.
They weren't following theguidance of the Spirit.
They weren't walking by theSpirit of God.
(20:23):
They were walking by their ownself-motives, their own sinful
desires.
If they realized how shamefultheir behavior was, would Paul
have had to rebuke them?
I don't think so.
Paul was trying to get them tochange their mindset, to come
back around to the truth.
So were these guys being guidedby the spirit of the flesh?
(20:44):
Definitely the flesh.
These are all the fruits of theflesh.
And would this sin have anegative effect on anyone?
Absolutely it would.
Next thing, you know, you havethe whole church promoting
sexual immorality.
I mean that's crazy.
So then, in 1 Corinthians 5.9,he continues I wrote to you in
(21:05):
my letter not to associate withsexually immoral people, not at
all meaning the sexually immoralof this world, or the greedy
and swindlers or idolaters,since then you would need to go
out of the world.
So does Paul judge people'sbehavior outside of the church?
Do you see him bringing thesesame values to the non-believing
, non-regenerate people thatreject God, reject Christ.
(21:27):
No, he's not trying to improvetheir behavior.
He said that's not our focus,but we got to take care of
what's inside of the church.
We are the ones that have beensanctified.
We're the ones that have ahigher calling.
What do you think Paul focusedon teaching people outside of
the church instead of goodbehavior?
He was sharing the gospel,wasn't he?
(21:47):
And he was doing that insideand outside of the church.
But inside of the church theyhad some behavior problems
oftentimes, didn't they?
And they were contagious.
It was no good.
It would all come from a poormindset.
They would have to go back tothe gospel, go back to an
understanding.
Why are they not appreciatinggod?
Why are they being godless?
(22:07):
What's going on here?
Is there a similar change ofmind that needs to take place in
believers and unbelievers whoare consumed in sin?
Sometimes it seems like evenbelievers need a big wake-up
call, don't they?
Our eyes are open at salvation,but then sometimes we get
distracted by the world, don'twe?
(22:28):
And we need another eye-openingexperience.
Sometimes we need to be broughtback to the world, don't we?
And we need another eye-openingexperience.
Sometimes we need to be broughtback to the beginning.
Don't we that moment ofregeneration where we saw sin
for how it truly was and wedidn't like it and we wanted a
Savior and we wanted to pleasethe Lord?
Do you think Paul wants hischurch to not associate with a
Christian who is struggling andneeds help with sexual
(22:49):
immorality or one who iscommitting these acts without
shame?
I think he's definitelytargeting the mindset, the
shameless mindset, of thisbehavior.
They were proud of it.
Their mind was in the wrongplace.
They were willingly notpleasing the Lord with their
behavior.
They were willingly rejectinghis truth and living out error.
(23:10):
Is there a difference in sinunder the right mindset and sin
under error?
In other words, would Paul takethis thing so seriously if they
were sorry for it versus ifthey were taking pride in it?
I think the whole point herewas that Paul was trying to help
them to understand and realizethe severity of the sin.
(23:33):
Don't you Now?
Do you think the apostles'teachings seem a bit radical in
comparison with the generalviews of our day today?
Do you think people would seethese things so severely like
the apostles did?
I think most people would seethis as very radical and then
other people would see this asessential for salvation,
(23:53):
essential for fellowship, andtake it to a whole other extreme
.
But they misunderstand theseverity of the Lord when they
start turning it into legalism,when you start turning it into
fellowship with God requiresthese things because you're
going to make mistakes too.
So by your own standard, youplace yourself out of fellowship
(24:14):
completely.
On knowing when you couldpossibly be in and out, you
could only pretend you know.
So do you think that we canfully apply these principles to
ourselves and in our situationtoday?
I think that's a really goodquestion.
Can we apply these principlesto ourselves and in our
situation today?
Probably going to depend on howclose of relationships you have
(24:37):
in your church, what yourchurch looks like.
These guys were tight-knit.
These guys were close and theyall believed.
They had the apostles teachingthem, they believed in the
correct doctrine.
Essentially, even though theywould fall away and they were
constantly being misled, theyhad the doctrine of the apostles
.
They had that foundation going.
(24:58):
It's going to be a little bitharder today, with all the
misguidance that we have outthere.
It's going to be a little bitharder today to even be that
close with people because we'reso surfacy in church
environments today Nobody'sreally digging into the truth,
because if you go away from whatthe institution teaches just a
little bit, you're going to findyourself most of the time in a
(25:19):
dangerous place, a place whereyou either have to kind of be
quiet or get asked to leave.
So Paul continues.
But now I'm writing to you notto associate with anyone who
bears the name of brother if heis guilty of sexual immorality
or greed or is an idolater,reveler, drunkard or swindler.
Not even to eat with such a one.
(25:41):
For what have I to do withjudging outsiders?
Is it not those inside thechurch whom you are to judge?
God judges those outside.
Purge the evil person fromamong you.
1 Corinthians 5, 11.
So would this statement confirmthat the one who committed the
sexually immoral act was in facta Christian?
He's saying not to associatewith anyone who bears the name
(26:03):
of brother If he is guilty ofsexual immorality or greed or is
an idolater, reveler, bears thename of brother.
He's talking about Christianshere.
If these guys are bearing thename of brother and they're in
deep with these sins and theygot no problem with it, they're
not looking for repentance.
He's saying don't associatewith them.
(26:25):
That would most certainly beapplying to the man he was
talking about earlier, wouldn'tit?
So Paul again adds other sinhere.
Do you think he kicked someoneout of the church every time
they drank a little too much oracted a little stingy with their
money?
Or do you think he kickedsomeone out of the church every
time they drank a little toomuch or acted a little stingy
with their money?
Or do you think he's talkingabout people that are in deep,
people that are just turningaway from the Lord's guidance in
(26:45):
these areas?
All together, the apostles had avery radical view on sin.
They didn't take it lightly.
They didn't take it lightly,but they also didn't take grace
lightly and they also didn'tpreach legalism.
Legalism is something that wepull out of Scripture because we
misinterpret it.
They were just promoting,pleasing the Lord.
They were all about it.
(27:06):
Would it have been moreimportant in their time than
ever?
Yeah, I mean, it's hard to putourselves in their time.
You know, they were living atthe end of the age.
They were suffering majorpersecution in many of these
churches.
They had difficulties.
They were supporting each other, they were living amongst each
other.
They were outcasts.
They got cast out of thetemples, which would have been
(27:29):
the main sources of trade andfood.
Everything happened there.
They were getting cast out.
So could you have room forpeople that were greedy?
Did you have room for revelers,drunkards?
It was really important inthose times, but is it any less
important in these times?
We may be in a differentsituation, but these passages
(27:50):
can still help us to betterunderstand how radical the
apostles saw sin, and why.
Because they wanted the bestfor everybody.
They wanted them to have thepeace and the grace that the
Lord gives when we're pleasinghim right.
So was the mentality and mindsetthat produced the behavior most
(28:11):
important here, or the sinitself?
And I think it's a mentality,it's a mindset that turning away
from the Lord's guidance that'smost important.
I believe this is what Paul wasfocusing on here.
It wasn't just the actsthemselves, it wasn't just
somebody got drunk or somebodywas greedy in this moment.
(28:32):
This was something that theywere really deep in in a godless
way.
Is true repentance or changingour view on sin, the best way to
change our behavior?
Yeah, if we agree with God,when we take God's view, we take
his lead, don't we?
Does repentance always lead tochange in behavior?
(28:53):
There can most certainly bestruggles, right.
Sometimes it's a long-term gain.
Getting out of a sin.
Right, you've just got to keepfaith, you've got to keep
praying, you've got to keepletting the highway guide.
If we read Paul's second letterto the Corinthians, this man
seems to have been welcomed backin once.
His mindset was changed, or, asPaul used the term throughout
(29:15):
his first letter, his spirit wassaved.
As I mentioned in episodes 17and 29, we have to be careful
how we define the word spiritwhen we see it in scripture.
It's all too easy to make thisword mean salvation in our minds
when this is not at all theintended meaning of the word in
many cases.
In 2 Corinthians 2.5, we readNow, if anyone has caused pain,
(29:59):
he has caused it, not to me, butin some measure.
In 2 Corinthians 2.5, we readso I beg you to reaffirm your
love for him, for this is why Iwrote that I might test you and
know whether you are obedient ineverything.
Anyone whom you forgive, I alsoforgive what I have forgiven.
If I have forgiven anything hasbeen for your sake, in the
presence of christ, so that wewould not be outwitted by satan,
for we are not ignorant of hisdesigns.
What did paul not want to happento the man who sinned.
(30:20):
He didn't want him to beoverwhelmed with excessive
sorrow.
Would this statement show thatPaul did want his mind to shift
to sorrow?
Yeah, I think so.
He wanted him to be sorrowful.
He wanted him to feel bad aboutwhat he did and not feel good
about it.
Right, that would have been theproper response.
(30:40):
Would this occur in a naturalman apart from the spirit?
No, natural man's not going tofeel bad about that.
They were proud about it,weren't they?
That was the concern that paulhad.
What are you guys doing?
You're acting like godless man.
Do we see the church working asa body here to do what is right
?
Yeah, the church was allworking together, taking care of
(31:01):
this thing, trying to get thiscorrected amongst themselves.
And why do you think that Paulmentions Satan here?
Being outwitted by Satan?
Do you think that it might havea connection to pride?
It was a pride problem, wasn'tit?
Satan was like the ambassadorof pride, all things pride.
If you looked up pride in thedictionary, you'd probably find
(31:25):
Satan there, wouldn't you?
Would this confirm that thecore issue was pride and a
mindset that was rebellingagainst Yahweh Absolutely?
It was when the change of mindoccurred.
Did Paul completely change histone towards this guy and the
church?
Yes, he did.
Didn't he Welcome him back withopen arms and full forgiveness?
(31:46):
Throughout life, we oftenencounter gray areas or have to
make choices that are not alwaysthe choice we may desire.
This is why it's so importantto understand our right standing
with our Heavenly Father.
We can always turn to Him andknow that he will guide us.
Even when we ignore Hisguidance, yahweh continues to
guide us.
He is always shaping us for thefuture.
(32:07):
He is always teaching us, evenwhen we don't listen.
We are His children and he isalways working in our lives,
even when we don't see it.
The Apostle Paul certainlyexperienced the peace and joy
that goes with following thelead of the Holy Spirit and saw
that as the purpose for allChristians.
We also see over and over thatmany did not automatically take
(32:30):
to this understanding or chooseto follow what Yahweh was
guiding them to do.
We are blessed when our Lorddisciplines us in love, aren't
we?
It may not be pleasant all thetime, but if we are to run a
good race, as Paul says ofhimself at times, we must be
trained to endure.
Later, in Romans, paul writesmore than that.
We rejoice in our sufferings,knowing that suffering produces
(32:53):
endurance, and enduranceproduces character, and
character produces hope.
And hope does not put us toshame, because God's love has
been poured into our heartsthrough the Holy Spirit who has
been given to us.
That's Romans, chapter 5, verse3.
But are we always going to makeeveryone happy as Christians?
Can we always be what peopleexpect us to be in our lives?
(33:15):
Should we allow ourselves tolive based on other people's
opinions, in the church oroutside of the church?
It's easy to be taken advantageof in life when people know you
are a Christian.
We want to be a light to others, but let's face it, we may have
people judging us based on whatthey would do in certain
situations.
We can't be everything toeveryone, can we?
(33:37):
If we spread ourselves too thin, we fall apart.
To this point, paul writes inGalatians 5.21,.
Do not be guided by thepressure of people.
People-pleasing.
Be guided by the Father.
Is he saying be guided byyourself?
No.
Is he saying be guided by otheropinions?
No.
(33:58):
Where do we go for guidance?
The Father?
Did Paul have authority in thechurch beyond what we have today
?
I believe he did.
He had apostolic authority.
He was sent directly by Christ.
He was sent out.
He was an apostle chosen byChrist for this message, chosen
to be building these churchesand writing these letters that
(34:20):
we still have today.
So can we look to Paul forinstruction in its proper
context?
Absolutely we can.
Should we pretend Paul wrotedirectly to us when we're
reading?
No, don't do that.
We don't want to go there.
We have to keep things incontext.
Audience relevance is alwaysgoing to be key.
(34:40):
It matters when it was writtenand who it was written to.
Paul continues in Galatians butthe fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness,goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control.
Against such things there is nolaw, and those who belong to
Christ Jesus have crucified theflesh with its passions and
(35:02):
desires.
That's Galatians 5.22.
The church in Galatia was beingswayed to mix law and grace.
They were being misguided byfalse teachers that Christ
Yeshua was not enough.
Fellowship and salvationrequired the law.
Still, it was based on works.
According to this view, christdidn't finish anything.
Why would Paul say there is nolaw against the fruit of the
(35:25):
Spirit?
Because the fruit of the Spiritcomes from freedom.
It comes from the heart.
When we're no longer under lawand we're free to serve.
We can produce the fruit of theSpirit when we serve.
This is a benefit of being aChristian.
This is a purpose of being aChristian.
You're right with God now.
Now we can serve God from apure heart.
(35:47):
No more guilt, no morecondemnation.
We're free of that.
If we can walk by the flesh,still as Christians, why, would
Paul say and those who belong toChrist Jesus have crucified the
flesh with its passions anddesires.
He actually teaches thisearlier in his letter, right
before this passage.
This is why context is soimportant.
(36:10):
We have to be careful isolatingpassages.
In Galatians 5.16, he wrote butI say walk by the Spirit and
you will not gratify the desiresof the flesh.
When we walk by the Spirit,which is to follow the lead of
the Spirit in our lives, weembrace the finished work of
Christ Yeshua, we live by Hisgrace and we please our Father
(36:31):
in our lives.
What greater peace do we get asChristians when we please our
Father?
Again in Galatians we read andbecause you are sons, god has
sent the Spirit of his Son intoour hearts, crying Abba, father.
We have the Spirit of his Sonin our hearts, crying out, abba,
father.
It's crying out to the Lord onour behalf.
(36:53):
Let's end our study withinstruction from Paul at the end
of our Romans letter.
Later, in Romans 12, paul saysLet love be genuine, abhor what
is evil, hold fast to what isgood.
How can our love be madegenuine?
It has to come from the freedomof grace.
It has to come apart from lawand rules and regulations.
(37:15):
Genuine love would come fromthe heart.
We love because we were loved.
It's as simple as that.
There's no law that can stopthat.
Only by the grace of our Lordand Savior can we be set free
from sin, made right with Godand choose to do what is right,
not from fear of punishment, butfrom a genuine desire that
(37:36):
comes from the heart.
When we are born into thekingdom of our Lord, our spirit
is now in union with his.
This union cannot be broken.
It is for the purpose ofspiritual guidance.
Although we don't always follow, the spirit does not stop
guiding based on our behavior,and Yahweh always has a plan for
you as a child of God.
(37:56):
Your union with him cannot bebroken, it cannot be made better
, it cannot be changed in anyway.
Christ Yeshua is the rock ofour salvation and fellowship.
He cannot be moved.
We are links in a chain thatcannot be broken.
Hope you guys have a good restof your day out there and I'll
see you guys next week.
announcement (38:17):
Thank you for listening to the Waking Up to
Grace podcast brought to you bythe finished work of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
If you enjoyed today's episode,we would love to hear from you.
You can send encouragement ourway right from our episodes and
transcripts page or reach Lennyprivately from the contact form
at wakinguptogracecom.
Hello and welcome to the Waking Up to Grace
podcast, where we celebrate andexplore the finished work of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Tune in to the Waking Up toGrace podcast on every major
platform.
You can also listen to ourepisodes and read our full
transcripts atwakinguptogracecom.
And now here's Lenny.
Lenny (00:22):
Welcome back to the podcast everyone.
We left off our last Romanstudy with Paul saying they were
filled with all manner ofunrighteousness, evil,
covetousness.
They are full of envy, murder,strife, deceit, maliciousness.
They're gossips, slanderers,haters of God, insolent, haughty
(00:42):
, boastful inventors of evil,disobedient to parents, foolish,
faithless, heartless, ruthless.
Though they know God's decreethat those who practice such
things deserve to die, they notonly do them, but give approval
to those who practice them.
That's Romans 1, 29-32.
(01:03):
And before Paul laid out allthese sins on a silver platter
he began with.
Therefore, god gave them up, inthe lusts of their hearts, to
impurity, to the dishonoring oftheir bodies among themselves,
because they exchanged the truthabout God for a lie and
worshipped and served thecreature rather than the Creator
, who is blessed forever Amen.
For this reason, god gave themup to dishonorable passions For
(01:27):
their women, exchanged naturalrelations for those that are
contrary to nature, and menlikewise gave up natural
relations with women and wereconsumed with passion for one
another, men committingshameless acts with men and
receiving in themselves the duepenalty for their error.
And since they did not see fitto acknowledge God and that was
(01:51):
in Romans 1.24-28.
, we determine in our lateststudies that these passages are
about non-regenerate mankind,not Christians, but Paul
certainly writes these things toand for Christians for a
purpose.
Understanding sin is part ofthe gospel, and the better we
understand sin, the more we notonly understand grace at a
(02:13):
deeper level, but the more wecan live by grace and experience
true thankfulness to ourHeavenly Father.
We learn from Paul that whenseparated from Yahweh, man
becomes consumed in sin.
There is no true peace, love,fulfillment apart from the Lord,
only temporary satisfactionthrough sin that always leads to
(02:33):
ruin and death.
When the Lord is not in thelife of man, he naturally turns
to him or herself for guidance.
Christians have a superioralternative to turn to, don't we
?
We have a higher calling.
Yahweh is our God now.
But in order to fullyappreciate this and be guided in
the right direction, paul doesnot hold back on teaching sin.
(02:57):
We need to know darkness beforewe can see light.
Did you know that this isn'tthe only letter that Paul uses
this approach?
Let's look at some otherexamples so we can gain an even
better idea of the ApostlePaul's view on sin.
In Galatians 5.19,.
Paul writes Now the works ofthe flesh are evident sexual
immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity,
(03:22):
strife, jealousy, fits of anger,rivalries, dissensions,
divisions, envy, drunkenness,orgies and things like these.
I warn you, as I warned youbefore, that those who do such
things will not inherit thekingdom of God.
In our Romans passage we readthat because of their unbelief,
(03:43):
yahweh handed people over to sin.
Would you say that handing overto sin in Romans is similar or
the same as not inheriting thekingdom of God?
Is in this passage?
I think it's the same thing.
So in this passage, are thosewho will not inherit the kingdom
of God Christians?
Are these Christians who fellinto these sins?
And the answer is no.
(04:04):
That's not what's going on inthese passages.
He's talking about godlesspeople.
If we look at the context, he'stalking about godless people.
Why does Paul refer to sinnersas godless people?
Think about a Romans passage.
And what happened when mankindrejected the Lord?
When mankind rejected the Lord,he handed them over to sin and
(04:27):
they became utterly sinful,didn't they, apart from God,
where they have nobody to turnto, no glory to turn to.
That's what's happening tomankind, according to our
scripture.
So does Paul again refer tonon-regenerate man here in this
passage?
And I say absolutely.
That's exactly what he'stalking about.
He's not telling Christians whofall into one of these
(04:51):
behaviors for a moment or findthemselves in sin, he's not
telling them they're notinheriting the kingdom of God.
Is it not scary to imagine thatmany Christian doctrines apply
these passages directly toChristians?
You know, you put them up on abillboard or on the screen for
the large congregation of peopleand they read this and they
(05:15):
tell you Paul wrote this to youand this is what you have.
You're not going to inherit thekingdom of God.
But if these behaviors comefrom godless people, do we want
to allow them into our lives?
No, we see this as godlessbehavior and we shouldn't desire
to have these in our lives,should we?
These aren't pleasing to theLord.
(05:35):
These are things that the Lorddoes not like.
In fact, he hates sin.
But before writing this, paulwrote but I say walk by the
(05:57):
Spirit and you.
And then to remind them ofgrace, he adds.
And then to remind them ofgrace, he adds but if you are
led by the Spirit, you are notunder law.
In Galatians 5.18, when we seeourselves falling into godless
behavior or temptation, whatwould Paul recommend?
He'd say walk by the Spirit.
(06:17):
You know these Galatians werebeing fooled into a works-based
doctrine.
It was the law plus Christ.
Christ says he fulfills the lawand then all these people say,
no, he didn't fulfill the law.
You still got to be obedient tothe law, the law of Moses.
So what does that sound like?
(06:37):
Sounds like they didn't believeGod, doesn't it?
Sounds like they're turningaway from God's guidance and
turning to their own guidance.
Sounds like they're turningaway from God's guidance and
turning to their own guidance.
There's a law-based context tothis, but the context of the
law-based situation is that thelaw was fulfilled and Christians
were no longer pleasing God bybeing obedient to the laws.
(06:58):
The law was fulfilled in Christ.
In fact, scripture tells usthat it was by faith all along,
and the author of Hebrews reallydrives that home.
You were never made right bythe law.
You were made right by faith,said the author of Hebrews.
It was by faith all along.
Nobody was ever made right bythe law, and Paul talks about
(07:20):
that as well in his letter tothe Romans, and we're going to
dig into that.
So Paul recommends to letter tothe Romans.
We're going to dig into that.
So Paul recommends to walk bythe Spirit.
What do you believe it means towalk by the Spirit?
Have you ever considered whatthat might mean?
What are the depths of thatstatement?
I think it's actually quitesimple.
I think what he's saying is beguided by the Lord, seek the
(07:42):
Lord's guidance.
Guided by the Lord, seek theLord's guidance.
Seek to please the Lord, seekto honor the Lord, seek to give
glory to the Lord in your life.
Just like we've been readingthroughout our study on these
first passages in Romans.
If rejecting God causes mankindto become consumed in sin, what
is the solution fornon-regenerate mankind?
(08:03):
What would be their solution togetting right with God?
They'd have to believe right.
They'd have to honor God, giveglory to God, put faith in God,
stop rejecting the Lord, stoprejecting Yahweh.
Do we not have a similarsolution to sin as Christians in
our daily lives?
Solution to sin as Christiansin our daily lives Is there not
(08:30):
sort of a parallel to rejectingGod even in our Christian lives?
Do you think that Christiansfind themselves turning away
from the truth of the Lord,turning away from his guidance,
maybe even reading scripturewith their own ideas in mind and
not really seeking what theSpirit is teaching them in the
Scripture?
Maybe reading the Scripturewith the views that you already
(08:51):
have from church in your mindrather than seeking what the
truth is in Scripture.
Is that possible that maybewe're not even seeking His
guidance at all at times?
And what's the solution?
Seek his guidance right, prayfor his guidance.
Paul writes again on sin.
(09:11):
In his letter to the Corinthianchurch.
He writes do you not know thatthe unrighteous will not inherit
the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived.
Neither the sexually immoral,nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor men who practicehomosexuality, nor thieves, nor
the greedy, nor drunkards, norrevelers, nor swindlers will
inherit the kingdom of God.
(09:32):
Ouch, that passage could comeoff quite intense, couldn't it?
That's 1 Corinthians 6, 9through 10.
It's really important to realizethat Paul is writing to
Christians about these things.
Why does Paul keep tellingChristians about godless people
and their behavior?
Why might Paul want them tounderstand that those people
(09:54):
will not inherit the kingdom ofGod?
I think he's talking aboutgodless people and their
behavior so that we canunderstand as Christians that we
have a higher calling.
If we see ourselves diving intothese things, if we see
ourselves doing these things andtaking pride in these things,
maybe we should be taking a stepback and think, hey, I don't
(10:15):
think I'm following the Lord'sguidance here.
I think maybe I'm turning tothe flesh, turning to my own
ways.
That's a godless lifestyle.
What am I doing?
Why would I want to live thatway when I have a higher calling
?
I am God's holy temple.
Now I'm a new creation.
I'm a child of God.
I've been reconciled to God bythe blood of Christ.
(10:38):
I should be living thankfullyright.
So when we ask ourselves, whymight Paul want them to
understand that those peoplewon't inherit the kingdom of God
?
I think there's a few reasons.
I think number one it would beto help them understand that
they've been set apart fromthose things, they've been
sanctified, in other words, setapart from the rest of the world
(10:58):
.
And number two could be so theyrealize that godless people
need the Lord.
They're slaves to sin, they'reconsumed in sin.
You might help them out.
If you share the gospel, godwilling, their eyes might be
open.
You just never know.
When you go to share the gospelwith somebody, do you?
And then number three could beso that they realize the
(11:19):
damaging consequence of notwalking by the Spirit.
There's going to be sufferingwhen we live godless lives as
Christians.
There's going to be sufferingwhen we live godless lives
either way, but as Christians,we have the spirit of God inside
of us that we're grieving whenwe do these things.
It wants us to do the rightthing.
It's concerned about us.
You can bet that God's going tobe up there doing work in your
(11:43):
life.
And when it comes to opening upthe eyes of stubborn humans, it
tends to take a lot and it'sprobably not going to be
pleasant, is it To have to haveour eyes open to be shamed by
something?
I mean that's not going to becomfortable.
But we often see this passagequoted, leaving out the next
part and the next part'simportant After.
Paul says all that about thesin and the non-regenerate.
(12:05):
He says and such were some ofyou, but you were washed, you
were sanctified, you werejustified in the name of the
Lord, jesus Christ and by theSpirit of our God.
That's at 1 Corinthians 6.11.
Unlike many very legalisticteachers of Scripture, paul
constantly reminds believers ofwho they are in Christ.
(12:26):
Paul's agenda was not to makethem think they were truly
godless or unsaved or out offellowship with God.
But if our identity in Christis in these behaviors, should we
not make every effort to ridthese things from our lives?
Should we not despise when wefind these godless behaviors in
our lives and seek guidance ifwe're stuck in something, seek
(12:49):
guidance to get out of thosethings so that we can be blessed
with the fruit of the Spirit.
But who must we first turn tofor guidance?
We got to turn to the Lord.
I'm not sure if you noticed itor not, but in our Romans
passage, as well as Galatiansand Corinthians, paul mentions
sexual immorality first on hislist of sin.
(13:10):
Is not all sin the same in theeyes of our Lord?
I think that depends on context.
When teaching his churches,paul does not seem to see sexual
immorality the same as othersin.
This becomes very clear in hisletter to the Corinthians who
were struggling with this sinand probably every other sin
imaginable.
To the Corinthians, paul wroteAll things are lawful for me,
(13:33):
but not all things are helpful.
All things are lawful for me,but I will not be enslaved by
anything.
Food is meant for the stomachand the stomach for food, and
God will destroy both one andthe other.
The body is not meant forsexual immorality but for the
Lord and the Lord for the body.
And God raised the Lord andwill raise us up by his power.
(13:55):
Do you not know that yourbodies are members of Christ.
Shall I then take the membersof Christ and make them members
of a prostitute?
Never.
Or do you not know that he whois 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 theLord becomes one spirit with him
(14:16):
.
Flee from sexual immorality.
Every other sin a personcommits is outside the body, but
the sexually immoral personsins against his own body.
Or do you not know that yourbody is a temple of the Holy
Spirit within you, whom you havefrom God?
You are not your own, for youwere bought with a price.
So glorify God in your body.
(14:38):
1 Corinthians 6, 12-20.
This passage is very loaded withinsight, but I think upon
reading it we quickly see howthe Apostle Paul viewed sexual
immorality.
Does Paul promote thatChristians are their own people
or God's people?
He actually says you are notyour own, for you are bought
(15:01):
with a price.
So glorify God in your body.
Our God is Yahweh.
We were born into his kingdom.
We were adopted into hiskingdom.
We were adopted into hiskingdom.
We were adopted into hiskingdom.
We were adopted as his children.
He chose us to be part of hisheavenly kingdom.
Our bodies are temples.
He says so.
Glorify God in your body, don'tuse it for sexual immorality.
(15:23):
Paul's saying so.
Why does this matter?
And how does Paul want hischurch to see their bodies?
I think it's very critical thatwe understand the higher
calling that we have as God'schildren.
Paul wanted us to see ourbodies as holy temples, so we
take care of them and we usethem for good.
A lot of people think that ourbodies are sinful and we just
(15:44):
have these sinful, wretchedbodies.
In scripture, our bodies areseen as holy temples.
But a good tool can be used forgood and bad.
You could take a hammer and useit to build up, or you could
take a hammer and use it todestroy, can't you?
Especially for young andunmarried Christians?
I wanted to mention a messagefrom Matt McMillan that I
discovered a while back.
(16:05):
It showed a lot of heart forhim to make a bold message like
he did.
I think it could really helpbelievers who are trying to
manage sexual desire in a waythat is pleasing to the Lord and
even see things from adifferent perspective.
It's really good.
The episode is called the TruthAbout Masturbation.
I made a clickable link to thathere in my study guide at
(16:26):
wakinguptogracecom on theepisodes page.
As always, you can find theepisodes page linked in the
description section of thisepisode in your podcast app or
just by visiting my podcastepisodes page at
wakinguptogracecom.
Now in our last study we readPaul saying I appeal to you,
therefore, brothers, by themercies of God, to present your
(16:47):
bodies as a living sacrifice,holy and acceptable to God,
which is your spiritual worship.
That's Romans 12.1.
Does Paul seem to describesexual immorality as the polar
opposite of the worship we seein this Romans 12 passage?
Going back to Corinthians, whatdoes Paul say to do in regards
to sexual immorality?
He says to flee from it.
(17:08):
Doesn't he Flee from sexualimmorality?
What do you flee from it?
Doesn't he Flee from sexualimmorality?
What do you think Paul means by?
You were bought with a price.
Do you think that he'sreferring to the price that
Christ Yeshua had to pay on thecross with his blood so that you
could be made right with God?
I definitely think that's theprice he's talking about.
(17:28):
Earlier, in Paul's letter to theCorinthians, we see Paul coming
down hard on sin.
In 1 Corinthians 5, paul writesit is actually reported that
there is sexual immorality amongyou, and of a kind that is not
tolerated even among pagans, fora man has his father's wife,
and you are arrogant.
Ought you not rather to mourn?
(17:49):
Let him who has done this beremoved from among you?
I go over these passages inmore detail, along with other
difficult passages that seempunishing to Christians in
episode number 17, if you wantto check that out later.
But the question is, what wasPaul's charge against the church
here?
His charge against the churchseems to be their mindset, their
(18:13):
mentality, their arrogance andtheir boasting, their pride in
this sexual sin.
They saw no problem with it, itdidn't just happen, and they
were ashamed about it and theywere like, oh, shouldn't have
done that, they were proud of it.
They were ashamed about it andthey're like, oh, shouldn't have
done that, they were proud ofit.
(18:33):
Can you imagine a group ofpeople here pumping up this
guy's ego while he boasts aboutwhat he had done?
I'm definitely seeing that.
That's definitely what I'mseeing in this passage.
Then, in verse 6, paul writesyour boasting is not good.
Do you not know that a littleleaven leavens the whole lump?
Some translations use the wordyeast, but they didn't have
yeast in those times.
For them, leavened bread wastraditional sourdough.
(18:56):
The leaven was a bit offermented dough that, when added
to the dough, would act similarto yeast, working its way
through the whole batch andmaking it rise.
Leaven works fully through thedough as it settles into it, so
much that you can now simplytake a small piece of the dough
and it has become leaven for thenext batch.
Christ Yeshua used the analogysaying beware of the leaven of
(19:19):
the Pharisees.
Leaven is describing influence.
The Pharisees had a lot ofinfluence, just like people at
the podium have today had a lotof influence, just like people
at the podium have today In theCorinthian church.
Pride and sin was the negativeinfluence.
Leaven would not have to benegative, but in these instances
(19:41):
the influence was negative.
Paul mentions this after sayingtheir boasting isn't good.
It was their attitude thatconcerned Paul the most.
Their attitude would influenceothers into error and cause
other people to stumble.
I also want to mention the wordrepent, as it certainly applies
here.
We often see the word repent inour Bibles.
Properly defined, the wordrepent means change your mind or
(20:02):
change of mind.
Do you see a problem here?
That would require a change ofmind?
Do you think this even wouldhave gone to this level if their
minds were in the right place.
What was it that needed to bechanged in their minds?
From my vantage point, they wereturning to godless ways.
They weren't following theguidance of the Spirit.
They weren't walking by theSpirit of God.
(20:23):
They were walking by their ownself-motives, their own sinful
desires.
If they realized how shamefultheir behavior was, would Paul
have had to rebuke them?
I don't think so.
Paul was trying to get them tochange their mindset, to come
back around to the truth.
So were these guys being guidedby the spirit of the flesh?
(20:44):
Definitely the flesh.
These are all the fruits of theflesh.
And would this sin have anegative effect on anyone?
Absolutely it would.
Next thing, you know, you havethe whole church promoting
sexual immorality.
I mean that's crazy.
So then, in 1 Corinthians 5.9,he continues I wrote to you in
(21:05):
my letter not to associate withsexually immoral people, not at
all meaning the sexually immoralof this world, or the greedy
and swindlers or idolaters,since then you would need to go
out of the world.
So does Paul judge people'sbehavior outside of the church?
Do you see him bringing thesesame values to the non-believing
, non-regenerate people thatreject God, reject Christ.
(21:27):
No, he's not trying to improvetheir behavior.
He said that's not our focus,but we got to take care of
what's inside of the church.
We are the ones that have beensanctified.
We're the ones that have ahigher calling.
What do you think Paul focusedon teaching people outside of
the church instead of goodbehavior?
He was sharing the gospel,wasn't he?
(21:47):
And he was doing that insideand outside of the church.
But inside of the church theyhad some behavior problems
oftentimes, didn't they?
And they were contagious.
It was no good.
It would all come from a poormindset.
They would have to go back tothe gospel, go back to an
understanding.
Why are they not appreciatinggod?
Why are they being godless?
(22:07):
What's going on here?
Is there a similar change ofmind that needs to take place in
believers and unbelievers whoare consumed in sin?
Sometimes it seems like evenbelievers need a big wake-up
call, don't they?
Our eyes are open at salvation,but then sometimes we get
distracted by the world, don'twe?
(22:28):
And we need another eye-openingexperience.
Sometimes we need to be broughtback to the world, don't we?
And we need another eye-openingexperience.
Sometimes we need to be broughtback to the beginning.
Don't we that moment ofregeneration where we saw sin
for how it truly was and wedidn't like it and we wanted a
Savior and we wanted to pleasethe Lord?
Do you think Paul wants hischurch to not associate with a
Christian who is struggling andneeds help with sexual
(22:49):
immorality or one who iscommitting these acts without
shame?
I think he's definitelytargeting the mindset, the
shameless mindset, of thisbehavior.
They were proud of it.
Their mind was in the wrongplace.
They were willingly notpleasing the Lord with their
behavior.
They were willingly rejectinghis truth and living out error.
(23:10):
Is there a difference in sinunder the right mindset and sin
under error?
In other words, would Paul takethis thing so seriously if they
were sorry for it versus ifthey were taking pride in it?
I think the whole point herewas that Paul was trying to help
them to understand and realizethe severity of the sin.
(23:33):
Don't you Now?
Do you think the apostles'teachings seem a bit radical in
comparison with the generalviews of our day today?
Do you think people would seethese things so severely like
the apostles did?
I think most people would seethis as very radical and then
other people would see this asessential for salvation,
(23:53):
essential for fellowship, andtake it to a whole other extreme
.
But they misunderstand theseverity of the Lord when they
start turning it into legalism,when you start turning it into
fellowship with God requiresthese things because you're
going to make mistakes too.
So by your own standard, youplace yourself out of fellowship
(24:14):
completely.
On knowing when you couldpossibly be in and out, you
could only pretend you know.
So do you think that we canfully apply these principles to
ourselves and in our situationtoday?
I think that's a really goodquestion.
Can we apply these principlesto ourselves and in our
situation today?
Probably going to depend on howclose of relationships you have
(24:37):
in your church, what yourchurch looks like.
These guys were tight-knit.
These guys were close and theyall believed.
They had the apostles teachingthem, they believed in the
correct doctrine.
Essentially, even though theywould fall away and they were
constantly being misled, theyhad the doctrine of the apostles
.
They had that foundation going.
(24:58):
It's going to be a little bitharder today, with all the
misguidance that we have outthere.
It's going to be a little bitharder today to even be that
close with people because we'reso surfacy in church
environments today Nobody'sreally digging into the truth,
because if you go away from whatthe institution teaches just a
little bit, you're going to findyourself most of the time in a
(25:19):
dangerous place, a place whereyou either have to kind of be
quiet or get asked to leave.
So Paul continues.
But now I'm writing to you notto associate with anyone who
bears the name of brother if heis guilty of sexual immorality
or greed or is an idolater,reveler, drunkard or swindler.
Not even to eat with such a one.
(25:41):
For what have I to do withjudging outsiders?
Is it not those inside thechurch whom you are to judge?
God judges those outside.
Purge the evil person fromamong you.
1 Corinthians 5, 11.
So would this statement confirmthat the one who committed the
sexually immoral act was in facta Christian?
He's saying not to associatewith anyone who bears the name
(26:03):
of brother If he is guilty ofsexual immorality or greed or is
an idolater, reveler, bears thename of brother.
He's talking about Christianshere.
If these guys are bearing thename of brother and they're in
deep with these sins and theygot no problem with it, they're
not looking for repentance.
He's saying don't associatewith them.
(26:25):
That would most certainly beapplying to the man he was
talking about earlier, wouldn'tit?
So Paul again adds other sinhere.
Do you think he kicked someoneout of the church every time
they drank a little too much oracted a little stingy with their
money?
Or do you think he kickedsomeone out of the church every
time they drank a little toomuch or acted a little stingy
with their money?
Or do you think he's talkingabout people that are in deep,
people that are just turningaway from the Lord's guidance in
(26:45):
these areas?
All together, the apostles had avery radical view on sin.
They didn't take it lightly.
They didn't take it lightly,but they also didn't take grace
lightly and they also didn'tpreach legalism.
Legalism is something that wepull out of Scripture because we
misinterpret it.
They were just promoting,pleasing the Lord.
They were all about it.
(27:06):
Would it have been moreimportant in their time than
ever?
Yeah, I mean, it's hard to putourselves in their time.
You know, they were living atthe end of the age.
They were suffering majorpersecution in many of these
churches.
They had difficulties.
They were supporting each other, they were living amongst each
other.
They were outcasts.
They got cast out of thetemples, which would have been
(27:29):
the main sources of trade andfood.
Everything happened there.
They were getting cast out.
So could you have room forpeople that were greedy?
Did you have room for revelers,drunkards?
It was really important inthose times, but is it any less
important in these times?
We may be in a differentsituation, but these passages
(27:50):
can still help us to betterunderstand how radical the
apostles saw sin, and why.
Because they wanted the bestfor everybody.
They wanted them to have thepeace and the grace that the
Lord gives when we're pleasinghim right.
So was the mentality and mindsetthat produced the behavior most
(28:11):
important here, or the sinitself?
And I think it's a mentality,it's a mindset that turning away
from the Lord's guidance that'smost important.
I believe this is what Paul wasfocusing on here.
It wasn't just the actsthemselves, it wasn't just
somebody got drunk or somebodywas greedy in this moment.
(28:32):
This was something that theywere really deep in in a godless
way.
Is true repentance or changingour view on sin, the best way to
change our behavior?
Yeah, if we agree with God,when we take God's view, we take
his lead, don't we?
Does repentance always lead tochange in behavior?
(28:53):
There can most certainly bestruggles, right.
Sometimes it's a long-term gain.
Getting out of a sin.
Right, you've just got to keepfaith, you've got to keep
praying, you've got to keepletting the highway guide.
If we read Paul's second letterto the Corinthians, this man
seems to have been welcomed backin once.
His mindset was changed, or, asPaul used the term throughout
(29:15):
his first letter, his spirit wassaved.
As I mentioned in episodes 17and 29, we have to be careful
how we define the word spiritwhen we see it in scripture.
It's all too easy to make thisword mean salvation in our minds
when this is not at all theintended meaning of the word in
many cases.
In 2 Corinthians 2.5, we readNow, if anyone has caused pain,
(29:59):
he has caused it, not to me, butin some measure.
In 2 Corinthians 2.5, we readso I beg you to reaffirm your
love for him, for this is why Iwrote that I might test you and
know whether you are obedient ineverything.
Anyone whom you forgive, I alsoforgive what I have forgiven.
If I have forgiven anything hasbeen for your sake, in the
presence of christ, so that wewould not be outwitted by satan,
for we are not ignorant of hisdesigns.
What did paul not want to happento the man who sinned.
(30:20):
He didn't want him to beoverwhelmed with excessive
sorrow.
Would this statement show thatPaul did want his mind to shift
to sorrow?
Yeah, I think so.
He wanted him to be sorrowful.
He wanted him to feel bad aboutwhat he did and not feel good
about it.
Right, that would have been theproper response.
(30:40):
Would this occur in a naturalman apart from the spirit?
No, natural man's not going tofeel bad about that.
They were proud about it,weren't they?
That was the concern that paulhad.
What are you guys doing?
You're acting like godless man.
Do we see the church working asa body here to do what is right
?
Yeah, the church was allworking together, taking care of
(31:01):
this thing, trying to get thiscorrected amongst themselves.
And why do you think that Paulmentions Satan here?
Being outwitted by Satan?
Do you think that it might havea connection to pride?
It was a pride problem, wasn'tit?
Satan was like the ambassadorof pride, all things pride.
If you looked up pride in thedictionary, you'd probably find
(31:25):
Satan there, wouldn't you?
Would this confirm that thecore issue was pride and a
mindset that was rebellingagainst Yahweh Absolutely?
It was when the change of mindoccurred.
Did Paul completely change histone towards this guy and the
church?
Yes, he did.
Didn't he Welcome him back withopen arms and full forgiveness?
(31:46):
Throughout life, we oftenencounter gray areas or have to
make choices that are not alwaysthe choice we may desire.
This is why it's so importantto understand our right standing
with our Heavenly Father.
We can always turn to Him andknow that he will guide us.
Even when we ignore Hisguidance, yahweh continues to
guide us.
He is always shaping us for thefuture.
(32:07):
He is always teaching us, evenwhen we don't listen.
We are His children and he isalways working in our lives,
even when we don't see it.
The Apostle Paul certainlyexperienced the peace and joy
that goes with following thelead of the Holy Spirit and saw
that as the purpose for allChristians.
We also see over and over thatmany did not automatically take
(32:30):
to this understanding or chooseto follow what Yahweh was
guiding them to do.
We are blessed when our Lorddisciplines us in love, aren't
we?
It may not be pleasant all thetime, but if we are to run a
good race, as Paul says ofhimself at times, we must be
trained to endure.
Later, in Romans, paul writesmore than that.
We rejoice in our sufferings,knowing that suffering produces
(32:53):
endurance, and enduranceproduces character, and
character produces hope.
And hope does not put us toshame, because God's love has
been poured into our heartsthrough the Holy Spirit who has
been given to us.
That's Romans, chapter 5, verse3.
But are we always going to makeeveryone happy as Christians?
Can we always be what peopleexpect us to be in our lives?
(33:15):
Should we allow ourselves tolive based on other people's
opinions, in the church oroutside of the church?
It's easy to be taken advantageof in life when people know you
are a Christian.
We want to be a light to others, but let's face it, we may have
people judging us based on whatthey would do in certain
situations.
We can't be everything toeveryone, can we?
(33:37):
If we spread ourselves too thin, we fall apart.
To this point, paul writes inGalatians 5.21,.
Do not be guided by thepressure of people.
People-pleasing.
Be guided by the Father.
Is he saying be guided byyourself?
No.
Is he saying be guided by otheropinions?
No.
(33:58):
Where do we go for guidance?
The Father?
Did Paul have authority in thechurch beyond what we have today
?
I believe he did.
He had apostolic authority.
He was sent directly by Christ.
He was sent out.
He was an apostle chosen byChrist for this message, chosen
to be building these churchesand writing these letters that
(34:20):
we still have today.
So can we look to Paul forinstruction in its proper
context?
Absolutely we can.
Should we pretend Paul wrotedirectly to us when we're
reading?
No, don't do that.
We don't want to go there.
We have to keep things incontext.
Audience relevance is alwaysgoing to be key.
(34:40):
It matters when it was writtenand who it was written to.
Paul continues in Galatians butthe fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness,goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control.
Against such things there is nolaw, and those who belong to
Christ Jesus have crucified theflesh with its passions and
(35:02):
desires.
That's Galatians 5.22.
The church in Galatia was beingswayed to mix law and grace.
They were being misguided byfalse teachers that Christ
Yeshua was not enough.
Fellowship and salvationrequired the law.
Still, it was based on works.
According to this view, christdidn't finish anything.
Why would Paul say there is nolaw against the fruit of the
(35:25):
Spirit?
Because the fruit of the Spiritcomes from freedom.
It comes from the heart.
When we're no longer under lawand we're free to serve.
We can produce the fruit of theSpirit when we serve.
This is a benefit of being aChristian.
This is a purpose of being aChristian.
You're right with God now.
Now we can serve God from apure heart.
(35:47):
No more guilt, no morecondemnation.
We're free of that.
If we can walk by the flesh,still as Christians, why, would
Paul say and those who belong toChrist Jesus have crucified the
flesh with its passions anddesires.
He actually teaches thisearlier in his letter, right
before this passage.
This is why context is soimportant.
(36:10):
We have to be careful isolatingpassages.
In Galatians 5.16, he wrote butI say walk by the Spirit and
you will not gratify the desiresof the flesh.
When we walk by the Spirit,which is to follow the lead of
the Spirit in our lives, weembrace the finished work of
Christ Yeshua, we live by Hisgrace and we please our Father
(36:31):
in our lives.
What greater peace do we get asChristians when we please our
Father?
Again in Galatians we read andbecause you are sons, god has
sent the Spirit of his Son intoour hearts, crying Abba, father.
We have the Spirit of his Sonin our hearts, crying out, abba,
father.
It's crying out to the Lord onour behalf.
(36:53):
Let's end our study withinstruction from Paul at the end
of our Romans letter.
Later, in Romans 12, paul saysLet love be genuine, abhor what
is evil, hold fast to what isgood.
How can our love be madegenuine?
It has to come from the freedomof grace.
It has to come apart from lawand rules and regulations.
(37:15):
Genuine love would come fromthe heart.
We love because we were loved.
It's as simple as that.
There's no law that can stopthat.
Only by the grace of our Lordand Savior can we be set free
from sin, made right with Godand choose to do what is right,
not from fear of punishment, butfrom a genuine desire that
(37:36):
comes from the heart.
When we are born into thekingdom of our Lord, our spirit
is now in union with his.
This union cannot be broken.
It is for the purpose ofspiritual guidance.
Although we don't always follow, the spirit does not stop
guiding based on our behavior,and Yahweh always has a plan for
you as a child of God.
(37:56):
Your union with him cannot bebroken, it cannot be made better
, it cannot be changed in anyway.
Christ Yeshua is the rock ofour salvation and fellowship.
He cannot be moved.
We are links in a chain thatcannot be broken.
Hope you guys have a good restof your day out there and I'll
see you guys next week.
announcement (38:17):
Thank you for listening to the Waking Up to
Grace podcast brought to you bythe finished work of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
If you enjoyed today's episode,we would love to hear from you.
You can send encouragement ourway right from our episodes and
transcripts page or reach Lennyprivately from the contact form
at wakinguptogracecom.
Popular Podcasts
Cold Case Files: Miami
Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides. Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.