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Welcome to Studies with Stearman. Join us as we look deeper into the Bible. Strengthen your faith with us even as we see the day approaching. And now here's Gary. We've all read all of the books of the New Testament. We've studied through the Word. So what are we really doing when we study these letters from Paul? Is this just a waste of time? Senseless exercise? Is this just some academic exercise? And you could say that you look at the Greek and the Hebrew and the history and all the things that accompany the Word, and you could say, after you get through, what have you really done? That's a good question. What have you done? Have you done anything at all? Well, I think what you've done when you study the Word is something unique. Because as we look at Corinthians, for example, which we're going to do today, and we're going to do a lot of intellectual exercises, we're going to see what words mean and we're going to see why Paul wrote to these people the way he did and said what he did. This is not an intellectual exercise. What this is, is. Is tapping into the Holy Spirit of God. Because the words of the Bible are not like the words of any other book. They are spiritual words written by the Holy Spirit himself and can only be understood by the Spirit. And so when you study the Bible, you're doing not an intellectual thing, but a spiritual thing, a spiritual activity. You are not acquiring what the world calls wisdom, which Paul refers to as foolishness. You are acquiring a wisdom that has depth, that has action. And mentioned last week that the Hebrew word for wisdom is chokhmah. Chochma in Hebrew does not mean smarts. It does not mean book learning, but it means putting what you know into action, making something happen. Biblical wisdom makes things happen. It changes things. Things it does not, as secular wisdom does. Secular wisdom tends to set you in concrete. You learn that and it's forever true, even if it's wrong. You might learn something in school and graduate with a sheaf of papers and a letter that says you're a Ph.D. and 20 years later, that Ph.D. is not going to be worth the paper it's printed on. Because things change. But what you learn in school does not change. What you learn out of the Bible is good for eternity because it is the active spirit of God. We're not looking just at a letter of Paul here. We are looking at the Holy Spirit moving through a particular time space path of activity which carries us along this pathway. In other words, we are carried along by the Spirit. And. And in so doing, we exercise what the Bible refers to as wisdom. Paul has started out this letter, First Corinthians by saying, God's chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. That's what I'm talking about. He's chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. The Bible, lest we forget, is a foolish thing. And you say, well, you can't call the Bible a foolish thing compared with what's in the world. It's foolish. Ask anybody. Most people on planet Earth today would think of this as absolute foolishness. Really, there are people out there beating down the pathways of evangelism who are thought of as just total idiots like Ray Comfort. Ray Comfort is one of the people who developed street evangelism. And Ray Comfort is thought of as a kind of a well, benign sort of an idiot. You know, a pleasant idiot, but an idiot nevertheless. Right? God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. Let's face it. That's the thesis of First Corinthians. Well, if that's true, then I want to be a fool, you know. Really? You do? Yeah. I want to be a fool in the same sense that Paul was a fool. Paul called himself a fool over and over again. This is a very difficult thing to get through your head, that what the world thinks of as wisdom is the antithesis of wisdom. And in fact, it's an entrapment. As Paul develops this letter to the Corinthians, he's writing to very hip people with it. Cool, you know, down Amen Street. They are cool people in Corinth. They dress right, they read the right stuff, you know, they go to the right temples, they go to the right amphitheaters and watch the right Greek dramas and so forth. And he's writing to these very wise people, followers of the Greek philosophers, and he is presenting himself as a fool. I'm just a fool. God's chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And then he says, the natural man receives not the things of the spirit. The man who is in the worldly mindset cannot receive spiritual things. Then he proceeds to go along chapter four, which we looked at last week. Let a man sow account of us as of ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. But with me, it's a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment. Yea, I judge not mine own self, for I know nothing by myself, or I know nothing against myself, yet I'm not hereby justified. But he that judgeth me is the Lord. And this little discourse simply means that a man in Christ is removed from the world setting and suddenly he's placed in a higher court. He is judged of the Lord. This whole idea of judgment pervades First Corinthians, and we'll see it again and again. We're going to see it today in chapter five, the idea of judgment. This is a thorn and a sticking point in the mind not only of Christians, but in the mind of the people of the world. Remember, Jesus said, judge not that you be not judged. How many times have you heard that little phrase used against Christians? Don't shake the bony finger at me. Judge not lest ye be judged. Jesus actually said those words? Well, what did he mean? Mean, you can't judge anything. Paul, on the other hand, comes along and says, oh, you can judge many things. In fact, this chapter we're going to look at today is based upon the concept of Christian judgment or judgment within the house of the Lord. Chapters 5, 6 and 7 of First Corinthians go deeply into this idea of judgment, how it is to be used, how it's to be thought of, not from the world's perspective, but from the spiritual perspective. It is reported commonly 5:1 that there is fornication among you, and such fornication is not so much as named among the Gentiles. Now we're getting into, may I say, a 20th century, 21st century subject, right? Anybody ever been on the Internet and had those weird things pop up? Do you know what I'm talking about? Porn. P O R N is a Greek word. Porneia. It's been brought right into the English. And guess what? It is the most pervasive and profitable aspect of the Internet. Everybody knows that, right? Hideous perversion of God's intended view of that which should be regarded as sacred. It's a problem, A problem everywhere. Would you believe it's a problem in the church? Yes, it is. I had an experience as a teenager that drove me out of the church. I was raised, or would have been raised as a Christian and not a rather unseemly thing happened within the congregation. I said, if this sort of stuff goes on, I don't want to be in the church. I'm leaving. And I did for something like, oh, I don't know, 15 years or 17 years haven't really counted. But I was driven out by Porneia in the church Paul says to the Corinthians it is reported commonly the Greek verb for reporting here is akoui. We get our term acoustics from this. A room has good acoustics. You can hear everything. Akoue means to hear a factual report, a detailed account Paul's not talking about gossip here he's talking about an acknowledged situation which had no need of proof it was going on in the congregation. Paul would not have brought this up if it were hearsay or rumor and he says and such fornication as is not so much named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife incest. What was the reaction of the congregation? They're proud of it says and you're puffed up. That's amazing to me ye are puffed up and have not rather mourned to be puffed up with pride. That's what this word means by the way not only here but other places does Paul use this phrase. Go back to 4, 6 concerning Paul's ministry. These things I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes that you might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. Or look at 4:18 now some are puffed up, proud as though I would not come to you if you turn over to chapter 8, verse 1 Paul is talking about the principle of Christian liberty here and he says now, as touching things offered to idols we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up or makes you proud. In other words, possession of certain kind of knowledge can make you very proud if you think you really have a better handle on things than your neighbor it puffs you up. It kind of fascinates one of those Greek words I love these onomatopoetic Greek Greek words. To puff up in the Greek language is. I mean it's just exactly like blowing on something. Would you say that word fuseo? You know, that's where we get our English word phooey to express the breath Phoe. You'd be amazed how many English words come out of the Greek. For example, I mentioned this in passing but it's a good Greek lesson to expectorate commonly called spitting. Guess what the Greek word for that is patui. So we get all kinds. We get all kinds of Greek words coming into English Phuseo being puffed up. This is a Greek word for pride and you know, you think of somebody arrogant, they are just kind of puffed up sometimes we call them gas bags, hot air. You know, all the expressions that we use in modern English. But I say all that just to say this. Paul says that the Corinthians had this going on in their midst. What was their reaction? They were proud. Why would they have been proud? Well, I'll tell you why. Because we don't judge. We rather embrace all of these things. Why? Whatever you want to do, it's okay in the eyes of God. Cause you're forgiven. Right? Don't tell me what I can't do. Right. Really? Ever see that happen? The antithesis, by the way, is difficult. And that's what Paul is getting at here. The antithesis of being puffed up is to swallow your pride and take action against something that God cannot bless or honor. This is hard. Been there, done that. You've probably been there and done that yourself. This is hard. To stiffen up your back and do what's right is often the most difficult thing in the world. You're puffed up, he says, for I, verily as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already. As I'm sitting over here in Ephesus, writing to you people in Corinth and I'm hearing what's going on, I've judged you as though I were present concerning him that hath so done this deed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. When you're gathered together in my spirit with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Have you ever seen a congregation or heard of a congregation in which sin was being committed and it was allowed to go on? Have you ever heard of such a thing? I have. Oh, yes. And I'm not going to go into any detail anywhere, anytime. But you know and I know this sort of thing goes on. What are some examples of it? A young woman might get in trouble. A young man might get in trouble. That young man might be sniffing some kind of substance that he's not supposed to sniff. Imbibing some kind of beverages in excess. I don't want to get graphic. I could get very graphic. I'm not going to do it. You know what I'm talking about. There are things that happen. And what if they do? Do we just sit here and let them happen and just kind of go mumbly, mumbly, mumble? Well, I'm not going to get mixed up in. No, it has to be confronted. I've confronted things in the past and believe me, I've been public enemy number one. But that's okay. But what Paul's talking about here is the common human tendency to gloss over sin by putting it under the rubric of God's grace and saying, God is love. He'll overlook this. It's okay. Let's just look the other way for a little while and it'll all be okay. Paul says this guy ought to be delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Whoa, man. Can you actually do that? Can you deliver somebody to Satan for the destruction of the flesh? Well, there are many characters in Bible history. Remember King Saul? King Saul had the talent, he had the physical presence. He had the divine unction. The prophet gave divine unction to the rule of Saul. The only thing that Saul didn't have was spiritual obedience. And eventually he was delivered over to Satan and his flesh was destroyed big time. In fact, he fell on his own sword. In the end, Solomon, wisest man who ever lived, sinned in the flesh and in the end was delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Ruled for 40 years and destroyed the kingdom of Israel in the process. Solomon had everything. How about Job as an example? Now here's Job, a righteous man with great lands and possessions and a wonderful family. All of that was taken away from him. And he was given a terrible, loathsome disease. His flesh was destroyed. And from human perspective, he didn't deserve it. But God used Job in a particular way. Why? Because Job stands as an eternal example of human pride. He does. Job had every reason. I'm a righteous man. I own cattle, sheep, lands, possessions. I'm rich, I'm on the major trade route, and God loves me. And he's just blessing the socks off of me. I'm so great. And in the end, it was just little Job. And God appears to him and says, job, were you there when I created the world? Job has. Well, no. Were you there when I lit the sun, stored the treasuries of the energy patterns in the heavens? No, not really. God, Job stands as an eternal example of humility. Did he deserve what he got? No way. Not from a human perspective. He's a righteous man. But did he deserve what he got? Yes, because we all deserve judgment only by the grace of God that we're not judged moment by moment, only by the blood of Christ, that we're not judged moment by moment. The point is, you're going to be puffed up because the grace of God, that's in you. Or are you going to live in a Spirit and do the right thing. That's always the question. This idea of delivering someone to Satan. In First Corinthians 11, we've all read those words that we usually associate with the communion where we drink the cup, we eat the bread, and we do this to remember the coming of Jesus and to remember the communion that we have with him. And then in 1 Corinthians 11:30, it says, when you take this communion, you need to examine yourself for this cause. Many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep. Says Paul. Self examination, improperly taking the cup of Christ can result in sickness, weakness, death. You know, remember John writes and he says, there is a sin unto death. So here I'm standing up here this morning and I'm giving you all this wonderful, encouraging news. Hey, isn't it great to be a Christian? Well, yes it is, but if you're going to read the Word, you simply must read all of it. Have to read all of it. And I'd rather not be teaching chapter five this morning, but it's there and I'm going to teach it. Romans 6:16 says, don't you know that when you yield yourself as servants to obey his servants, ye are to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death, or on the other hand, obedience and righteousness. It's your choice. First John 5:16. If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, he shall give him life for them that sin, not unto death. There is a sin unto death. I do not say that he shall pray for it, knowing that there is such a thing as a sin unto death. We are moved not toward arrogancy, you know, we're free in Christ. We're not under law anymore. All things come to us through the blessing of the Lord. And there's a real opportunity there to get really pumped up and puffed up in arrogant. Oh man, I'm living in grace, I'm living in style. I'm a real blood washed Christian and nothing can touch me. Satan can't touch me. Boy, you know I'm going to dance on Satan's head. Hallelujah. Look out. You're just about to be in trouble at that point, just about to be in deep trouble. Arrogancy is not where you're supposed to be moved. If you are truly being led along by the Spirit of God, you won't be led into the field of arrogancy. You'll be led into humility at the grace of God. Paul suffered incredible opposition during his earthly Ministry. There are several people who really tried to put Paul out of business. And some of them are named, for example, Hymenaeus and Alexander. Hymenaeus and Alexander stood up and preached against Paul. And Alexander was a Jew, apparently a Jew of Ephesus, who attempted to deprecate Paul's ministry and to get him in trouble with the Jewish aristocracy. Ephesus. They had a great riot in Ephesus when Paul was there. Alexander attempted to get up and whip the people up against Paul. And there's another Alexander in Ephesus, apparently a different Alexander called Alexander the coppersmith. Now, it may well be the same man, but in second Timothy 4:14, Paul writes to Timothy saying, alexander the coppersmith did me much evil. May the Lord reward him according to his works. He just, all right, Lord, give him what he deserves. Well, you know, that's death. Alexander was not a saved man. Paul didn't say, I pray for Alexander that he might receive Christ. No, he says, alexander the coppersmith did me much evil. May the Lord reward him according to his works. Probably the worst thing you could do to another human being is to say, concerning that human being, may the Lord reward him according to his works. That's about the worst thing you can do to somebody. Seriously, think about it. If I were rewarded according to who I know I really am inside. But so long, folks, I'm going to spend eternity in hell. I'm not going to be rewarded according to what I really deserve. I'm going to be rewarded according to that which has been given to me through Christ. And I'm not puffed up about it either. I reexamine myself all the time, and that's what Paul is driving at here. So let's move on past this idea of delivering one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. You don't want anybody to go through the day of the Lord judgment. That's Condemnation, verse six. Paul says, you're glorying. That is your feeling of confidence. Your ebullience at the grace of God says, your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened for even Christ. Our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, but with neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Boy, there are A lot of thoughts in this. He says, glorying, that is, being proud of your salvation is like sprinkling, leavening into the flour. And the reference is to the unleavened bread of Passover. When you look at the feasts of Israel, the seven major feasts of Israel, Passover is the first one. Christ is our Passover. He's the Lamb of God whose blood was shed. But on the very next day after Passover is the feast of unleavened bread. This is when the body of Christ was placed in the tomb and then raised again on firstfruits. That's the next feast is firstfruits. And then 50 days later comes Shavuot or Pentecostal. And then come the fall festivals after that, the Feast of Trumpets, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Tabernacle, Sukkot. You have the seven feasts of Israel. And they all tell of the process of redemption, starting with Passover, the shedding of the blood of the lamb. But, you know, Passover begins with the search for leavening. Anyone who has studied the Jewish Passover knows that before Passover, it is traditional in Jewish households to go through the house and search for chometz or anything ritually unclean, which is then removed from that house so that the house is clean in preparation for the coming Passover. In other words, you purge out the old leaven. Alfred Edersheim, a Hebrew Christian of the 19th century who wrote several really interesting books, said Jewish tradition sees a reference to the searching for the leaven in Zephaniah 1:12. God says in Zephaniah 1: 12, and it shall come to pass at that time. And that time, of course, is the day of the Lord, that the upcoming, the onset of the great and terrible day of the Lord. Zephaniah says, it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles and punish the men that are settled on their leaves, that is, who have depended on their own flesh, that say in their hearts, the Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil. In other words, what they're really saying is the Lord will not search out the leaven and destroy it. This is the rabbinic teaching on the leavening. The idea of the leavening. Paul, being not just a rabbi, but a high rabbi, understood all of this. And he says, purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, unleavened bread, basically a lump of flour. Essentially. Unleavened bread is fresh ground flour and water. That's it. Nothing else. And it's baked quickly so that there will be no opportunity for any yeast to grow in it, so that it can be ritually impure. It's very quickly made, patted out, and put into a hot oven. And you get it out, and it's just there. It is flour and water. It's the symbol of purity. Purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that may be a new lump as you're unleavened. For even Christ, our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore, in other words, the leaven has been searched out, the passover has been kept. It's all been done already. And if you merely acknowledge that, then you can keep the feast. Therefore, let us keep the feast not with the old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, purity. Christ is risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. He is the unleavened bread. Even Jesus talked about the leavening of the Pharisees. You remember that? Matthew 16:6. Jesus said, Beware of the leavening of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. What was their leavening? Well, to traditional Mosaic law, they added a number of their own inventions and sprinkled these all through the law. So the law became corrupted with their own leavening. Remember, Jesus gave a mystery parable at one point. He said in Matthew 13:33, he's talking about the kingdom. And he said this, which is very mysterious. He said, the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened. Now there's a mysterious statement. The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven. Leaven is a principle of evil. Jesus is saying, the kingdom of heaven is just like leavening, which a woman takes and secretly adds to the flower in the flower bin, so that after a while, the whole flour bin is leavened. Who's the woman? Everybody should know who the woman is, right? She's Solomon's strange woman. She is mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots. She is the whole principle of false religion. The woman busily sprinkling in leaven. Have you ever seen a church or a denominational movement into which leavening has been sprinkled? I ask. Sure you have. Jesus said, that's the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is like leavening. Well, I thought the kingdom of heaven was pure. No, the kingdom of heaven is to be, as Jesus put in another parable, like wheat and tares growing up together. Until the harvest, at which time they'll be separated. In other words, the whole idea of living in Christ, according to Paul, is remembering that Christ is our Passover. The search for leaven has already been completed. The perfect sacrifice has been completed. Jesus has been placed into the tomb as unleavened bread. And he rose again on the third day, absolutely pure. And therefore we can live in Christ in purity. Verse 8. Therefore, let us keep the feast not with the old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Now, that image, there is no pride in that image. There is no arrogancy in that image. There is no I did it my way. There is no I did it. There is just Christ. He did it all. You know the old hymn, Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Well, the idea is, and you notice how Paul weaves this into the idea of discipline. He's talking about this man in the congregation. He's doing something horrible. And the congregation is saying, well, that's okay. We're all under God's grace. It's okay to sin a little bit on the side. No, says Paul. No, you have to live in the knowledge that the sacrifice has been completed and there is no room for the arrogancy of acceptance of sin. And I have seen congregations in which sin is routinely accepted. Believe me, I have, and many of you have. I'm not naming any names. I'm not naming any congregations. I'm just saying, you know. And I know what goes on out there when pride infiltrates a congregation. This was Corinth. Now, very interesting additional thought here. Verse 9, verse 9 has to do with separation. This is a very difficult issue. By the way, I wrote unto you in an epistle. Now, this epistle does not exist. This is First Corinthians, and there must have been another Corinthians before this one, but it hasn't been preserved. Now, there was a third epistle to the Corinthians which Paul refers to in Second Corinthians, which would have been the real Second Corinthians had it not been lost. So there must have been four letters to the Corinthians, two of which we have today, the first of which he's apparently referring to in verse nine. I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company or associate with fornicators. The idea of separation. What are those? Well, the Greek word for fornicator is pornois, and it has to do with those who. It has to do with two things. One is those who in one way or another condone pornography and or those who make money in pornography. This pornois is a term that refers to both classes of those people, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with covetous or extortioners, or with idolaters. For then must you needs go out of this world. Out of the world. Very interesting statement there. What Paul is saying here in verse 10 is. Let's see if I can put it into very plain language because this is a complicated statement. He said, I don't want you to be in any way associated with such people. But on the other hand, he says you're going to rub elbows with them, otherwise you wouldn't be alive. The whole idea is you're living in an environment here that's composed of covetous extortioners, idolaters. He says, but now verse 11, I've written to you not to keep company. If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, covetous, idolater, railer, drunkard, extortioner. With such an one not to eat. Now, the idea of eating with people means communion or fellowship. Eating, in fact, and I probably should have kind of detoured to mention this here, eating is a very important human activity. When you sit down to eat with someone, it's a time that you're really close and sharing something vital. And I believe, and many rabbis believe this, by the way, this is historically taught that God gave the rules of kosher to the Jews in order to separate them from the Gentiles. Because if you keep the laws of kosher, there is absolutely no way you can sit down and eat with Gentiles. No way in the world. Well, and if you can't eat with somebody, that's going to keep you separate as a culture, you're going to have to wash a different way, prepare the food a different way. You're going to have to observe different rules, regulations, and to be considered ritually unclean within the the context of Judaism is to be an outcast of society. Therefore, the rules of kosher kept the Jews and still keep the religious Jews separate to this day. And why did God want to keep them separate? Because they are a separate people with a separate mission. And to this day they have a separate destiny. And they are separated by their forays, their culture, and particularly by their kosher patterns. Eating is real communion. For what am I to do to judge them also that are outsiders? Don't you judge those that are insiders he says, but them that are outsiders, God judges. Therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person. He lists the wicked fornicator, covetous, idolater, railer, drunkard, extortioner. Those are all fairly clear cut activities. And he's saying they really should be outside the congregation, which brings a. What are the rules for excluding somebody from a congregation which is an open congregation? Believe me, you can get into some heavy debates about that. You say, well, you really ought to minister grace to people. And you know, Paul really develops this in chapter six as we go on. He develops the idea of just how to minister grace to people. There's something else that needs to be said here concerning verses 10 through 13. Corinth was absolutely overrun with immorality. Overrun probably. There was more immorality per capita in Corinth than there is in modern America, unless you choose certain locales. In America, there are certain cities, probably sin cities, if you will, where, and I can name one or two, you can think of a couple, where licentiousness is a way of life. It's actually advertised. Come to this city, you know, what you do in this city stays in this city, so to speak. That was Corinth riddled with immorality, but not just secular immorality. They had religious immorality as well. The temples of Venus, the temple of Aphrodite were operated by a hieratical priesthood, the Babylonian mystery religion. And the ministers of their congregations were called temple virgins. Well, they were not virgins. There's just no other word for them than prostitutes. And they were considered to be a high and extremely acceptable form of religious practice. So Paul is writing here to a group of people who are saying it's okay to have just a little sin in the congregation here and there. And Paul is saying, no, no, no, you are not to associate yourself with these people. On the other hand, you're going to be walking with them. The critical thing that you have to keep in your mind, he says, is the idea of judgment. Verse 12. For what have I to do? To judge them also that are outside? Do you not judge them that are inside? In other words, you do walk among these people, but for them there is a different kind of judgment that's reserved. Those who walk in your congregation, you look at in a slightly different way. Those outside God's going to judge, those inside must be judged by you. Uh, oh, you mean you're going to be called upon to judge somebody occasionally? Yes, you are. This leads us into chapter six, which we're not going to have time to finish. In fact, we'll just barely start it. He says, dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust and not before the saints? I'll bet you've read this chapter many times and you've said to yourself, well, this is Paul speaking on the matter of litigation, legal recourse. This is Paul's judgment on how we should address ourselves to state courts, to secular jurisprudence. Not true. This is not what Paul's talking about at all. What Paul's really talking about here is that the believer has to make a distinction in his mind between that which is secular and that which is is sacred. Paul's not at all condemning secular justice, but what he is doing is saying, you must make a distinction in your mind between secular justice and sacred justice. And he proceeds here in chapter six, then to develop this idea. Dare any of you, having a matter against another, to go to law before the unjust and not before the saints? Roman society was litigious. That's another way in which it resembles 20th century American society. We have become a litigious society. You just look at somebody crooked and he says, I'm going to sue your socks off. I'm going to get $10 million out of you. You know, whatever. And we have the image of the shark lawyer floating around in our mind. You know, beware the shark lawyer. We've become a very litigious society. Roman society prided itself on law, had a very highly developed law. And Roman society, Greco Roman society, took everything to court. I mean, lawsuits were a dime a dozen in ancient Rome. You can read about it in the histories. And so in this litigious world, Paul is saying, check this out. On the matter of judgment, dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, not before the saints? Do you not know that the sin shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more are the things that pertain to this life? Wow. Judging angels. Who would those be? Well, those would be the angels that are locked up in Hades right now awaiting judgment. We read about them in Second Peter and Jude. And actually in first and Second Peter and Jude, he refers to the idea of judgment in a multitude of ways. But bottom line, Judgment Day is coming and you have to insert yourself into the picture of Judgment Day. Do you ever do that? Do you think of yourself in your resurrected body at some future time as sitting in judgment of those who are now imprisoned, awaiting judgment. That's a staggering thought. You know, at the second coming of Christ, heaven's going to open up. Jesus is going to ride out on a white horse. In Revelation 19:14 it says, and the armies of heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth goes a sharp two edged sword. He's coming as judge and I think we're going to be with him in the. I think we're going to be part of that heavenly army. He's coming to judge the world. And in some way we can't even possibly understand, we're going to be there judging with him. The point is, the point that Paul is making. Do you have this mindset or not? Have you incorporated this into your thinking? Do you now see yourself as one of these people who's going to actually judge angels? Do you now see yourself as someone who is going to judge the world? That is the world system, the cosmos, the fallen world system, and that would include everything satanic, false religion, commercial Babylon, the corrupt world system and every aspect of it, and the angelic hordes who fell with Satan. Do you see yourself in your resurrected body as judging this evil system? Paul is saying, in effect, get used to it, because this is who you are. You are going to preside with the judge of the universe at some future time. Can you wrap your mind around that? And if you can, it's going to change the way you currently live. I guarantee it. It will change the way you look at the life you have today. It would change the mind of the most corrupt Corinthian. And you know, that's what Christianity is all about. That's why we read the letters of Paul, to get our minds prepared for what we're going to be in the resurrection. That's what this First Corinthians is all about. It's to get you into that frame of thinking of yourself as a sinless, glorified, immortal, resurrected being acting in the will of Christ. Can you think of yourself in that way? That's what it's all about.