Well, hello friends. Thank you so much for joining us yet again here at the Everlasting Truth broadcast, where we give you everlasting truth in an ever-changing world. My goal in this broadcast is to be biblical, first and foremost, to give you Bible passages and scripture and some things that I hope and I pray will be a help and a blessing to you. But I also want to give you some things that are relevant to you as a believer. You know, the Bible says that we ought to know that the same afflictions are accomplished in our brethren, which are throughout the world. 1 Corinthians 10.13 says, There is no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. And so there's some comfort in knowing that there's other people going through what we're going through. And sometimes we go through things in our Christian life that We don't feel like anybody can relate to and we feel like we're just kind of alone on and I want to help you today and give you something that I think is relevant to every believer and something that you can relate to. And that subject is what I would put in a couple of different words. There are times where unfortunately we get so far away from the Lord that we don't even feel bad about it. I wish I could tell you that I have never experienced this myself, but unfortunately I have, and it's just the truth, and I just want to be real about the subject because surely there's somebody else who's really going through this, and I hope I can be a help to you. Sometimes in our Christian life, we just get so complacent, and we get so satisfied with the status quo, and we just get so used to where we're at. and we just kind of drift away, and we do it so subtly and so slowly that we don't realize it's happening, but progressively we are killing our spiritual senses until we come to a place to where we're far from God, sin has crept in our life, and we don't even feel bad about it. Have you ever been there? I'd like to ask you, have you ever been so hardened that you can't hurt anymore? You ever been so far from God that you don't even feel guilt anymore? You ever been so calloused that you don't even feel convicted? And it's possible to happen. And the Bible tells us that a byproduct of sin, Hebrews says, to not be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. And sin in itself will harden the heart. And the longer that sin remains there, the more it will harden the heart, the more numb that you will grow in sensibility to the Lord and to conviction and to the Holy Ghost. And so if you have something and it's a continual progressive drifting that has much time wrapped up in it, guess what? By the time you've realized where you've drifted, you may not even be at that place where you feel remorse because so much time has passed in that sin and that sin has hardened your heart. But I wanna tell you there's a way out of it. And I hope this will be a help to you. I have been there and I've had God reawaken and revive my heart, if you will. I don't want to sound mystic, but revive my heart several times, just getting to a place where I don't care like I should. I'm just being honest with you. I want to be relatable, and I've been there. And surely somebody listening today has been there as well. And I want to give you a text in which I see a group of people that got there, but praise be unto God, they came back from that. So I want you to join me today, 1 Corinthians chapter number 5. And I want us to look at 1 Corinthians chapter 5, mainly right now the first two verses, but we'll get into some more stuff about it here in just a moment. And I'll say this, 1 Corinthians 5 is a text that many people don't like to deal with because it is so heavy. It is so serious and it's so strong, but over these last couple of days, I have seen it in a reality that is very relatable. And I'll show you what I mean by that in a minute, Lord willing. 1 Corinthians chapter number 5, let's read and we'll discuss it as we go along. 1 Corinthians 5.1, it says, It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication, as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. It's believed in this passage that there was a gentleman in the Corinthian church who was actually sleeping with his stepmother is what the text seems to indicate. Now, we don't know for a fact it was his stepmother, but it says his father's wife, and if it was his mother, it seems that it would say mother, but instead it says his father's wife, which to many people would imply stepmother or something of that nature. The thing is, he's living in open fornication and open sin, and that is what's going on in the Corinthian church. And I want you to know, the Corinthian church was a mess, and they were in a state of severe spiritual decline. In chapter number one, they had a lot of disunity. Paul said it had been declared unto him of the house of Chloe that there was divisions among them. For every one of you who say, I'm of Cephas, I'm Paul, And Paul says in verse 13, I believe it is, is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? He says, no, no, no. He says, listen, we're unified in the cause of Christ, and we ought not to be dividing over our favorite ministers. And then you get in chapter number three, and they were carnal. He says, for ye are yet carnal. For whereas there is among you envying strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men? And we go to verse number four. I'm sorry, not verse number four, but chapter number four and chapter number five, and we end up with where we're at now with this man living in fornication in chapter number five. Chapter six through ten is all about their abuse of spiritual Christian liberty and how they were using their liberty to indulge in fleshly actions and activities. Chapter number 11 is about how the beginning of chapter number 11 is about how the church was out of order and the women were not being submissive to the men. And that shows forth in the case of the head coverings and what not. 1 Corinthians 11 3 says that the issue with that is that the woman was not being subject to the man. And then after that, later in chapter number 11, there's a misuse of holiness and reverence concerning the things of God. They were just plowing through the Lord's Supper, making a mockery out of it by turning it into a feast instead of a time to revere the Lord's body. chapter number 12 through 14, there's a misuse of spiritual gifts. And so we can see there's all kind of things wrong with this church. And let me just say this, they're struggling with sin, and they're surrounded by sin, and they're sinking in sin, but we all are to a degree. We all have sin that we're struggling with. Hey, if you don't have sin that you're struggling with, it's not because you don't have sin, it's just that you finally come to a place where you quit struggling to fight it off. And here we see that they've got the sin, and we all have sin, and that's not even my critique. Yes, sin should be critiqued, but the bigger issue I find here is 1 Corinthians 5, 2. And it's their response to their sin. It's the fact that they don't care. If you look at 1 Corinthians 5, 2, he says, And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. So, they're living in this open sin, and they've come to a place where they can't even mourn over it anymore. They don't even care. They're not convicted. There's not a heavy conscience about them. They're not concerned. They're not worried. They're not sincere about what they've done to the Lord. And as a believer, I hate to say it, but there's times where I have been there, where my heart has grown calloused And the conviction isn't there. My heart has grown far from God and the feeling isn't there. And we have a tendency to get so far from the Lord that things don't bother us. And that's where the Corinthian church is. He says, no, no, no. You should be mourning over this sin. And they're not. You have not mourned, he said. As a matter of fact, verse number 6 implies that instead of mourning, they're glorying in what's going on. 1 Corinthians 5, 6, he says, your glorying is not good. It's not good. They didn't feel bad about it. Not only were they living in gross, wicked sin, but they didn't care. And I'm afraid that's the condition of many churches today. All of us are struggling with sin, but let me ask you this. Do you care? Does that bother you? Does the sin that's in your life right now bother you? And does it grieve you that you are what you are? And let me just say this, there are some times it bothers me that something doesn't bother me. Have any of you ever been there? I can remember there are times where I was closer to the Lord where something bothered me then that may not bother me now. It would have offended and grieved the Holy Ghost inside of me at one point, and then later as I progress in my Christian life, that same thing doesn't bother me the way that I used to. You say, why is that? Because I'm not as close to the Lord at that point in time than what I used to be is probably the cause. And so these sins ought to bother us. They ought to convict us. This sin, like I said, we're all struggling with sin, but we ought to at least be convicted by that sin, and there ought to be a desire to get rid of it. But here at Corinth, they're missing that. There's no sorrow over what they've done. And let me tell you why there's no sorrow. And let me just say this as well. If you want to know why you're not sorrowing over your sin, 1 Corinthians 5.2, he says, and ye are puffed up and have not rather mourned. The reason they're not mourning is because verse 2 of 1 Corinthians 5 says they're puffed up. They've gotten spiritually prideful. Here's the thing. They don't think that their sin is that bad. They've got too high of a value on the way that they're living. They're putting too much esteem in themselves, and so when they sin, they don't see it as being that big, that bad, that serious. They are puffed up, and therefore they have not rather mourned. And you want to know why you have sin that you tolerate in your life? It's because you're puffed up and you really don't think it's that bad. Let me just say this, if you thought it was as bad as it actually is and you knew that it was going to drag you away from Christ, it could destroy your church, it could destroy your family, it could destroy you, guess what? You'd let go of it. The reason you're still allowing it to hang on in your life is you're puffed up. There's no easier way to put that. And Paul is abrasive with him, and he says, no, no, no, you've done got prideful, and you think that you're fine. And that's the problem. Like I said, we all have sin we're struggling with. The problem comes when we have sin, but we act like we don't, and we don't worry about it. It doesn't bother us, and it doesn't grieve us, and our consciences become seared, and our hearts become hard, and our convictions are calloused, and our feelings are gone. We just go on spiritually numb because that sin has killed our senses. And that's where Corinth found themselves. Let me ask you something, listener. Have you ever found yourself there? I'll just say that I've been number spiritually at times. And what I would like to admit, there've been times that I don't know that I've ever been this far, but there've been some times where things didn't bother me that should have bothered me. And maybe you're there now, and you say, I used to weep over sin, but I just don't anymore, and I just don't know what to do. Let me share with you the remedy, very quickly. Because if you read 2 Corinthians chapter number 7, you're going to find out that they do end up sorrowing over their sin. As a matter of fact, let's look at it very quickly. 2 Corinthians chapter number 7, look at what the Word of God says here. Paul writes to this same church concerning the same incident, I believe, and most scholars believe, that this is what he's speaking of. He's speaking of the young man who was committing fornication with his father's wife. And he says in 2 Corinthians 7, verse number 8, For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent. But I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now rejoice not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance. For ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death. Do you see how many times the word sorrow is there? And Paul is constantly saying that the Corinthians came to a place of sorrow over their sin. Now I want you to remember, This is the same people that in 1 Corinthians 5, verse number 2, they did not mourn over their sin. And yet we find them here in 2 Corinthians 7, and they are sorrowing over their sin. This seems they are mourning over it. Paul, as a matter of fact, verse number 11 of 2 Corinthians 7 says, In all things you have approved yourselves to be clear of this matter. Not only are they now spiritually sensible again, and they're sorrowing over their sin, and they do feel convicted when they sin, and they feel the Spirit moving in them again, but now they've got victory over this sin as well. So, child of God, if you're in a position where things don't bother you like they should anymore, and sin's having dominion over you, You're not hopeless. You're not hopeless because Corinth was there in 1 Corinthians 5, but when some time passes and you get to 2 Corinthians 7, they're no longer there anymore. Now, I wouldn't be a very good minister if I didn't tell you what they did to get out of that. And this is just simple practical stuff here this morning. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter number 5 again. Paul dealt with them about their condition. He told them about their sin. He told them about their condition. You've not rather mourned. You're spiritually puffed up. But then Paul gives them some commands here, doesn't he? He says in verse number 3, there's a couple commands that he gives them because of their condition. And the first ones, he tells them they need to get serious about sin. Verse number three, he says, For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such in one unto Satan, for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Paul just gave them something very serious to do, didn't he? While they think this sin is not a big deal and verse 6 says they're glorying in it, Paul says you need to take the man that did this and you need to get serious about this sin. You need to deliver him unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. And so Paul says basically here, let me just summarize it this way, you need to get serious about your sin. Whether you feel bad about it or not, whether you feel guilty about it or not, he says, I know you don't feel bad about it. I know you're puffed up. I know you've not rather mourned. He said, but you need to get serious about this. So child of God, if you're in this position where you don't feel the conviction like you should, but you know it's wrong, you don't feel remorse like you should, then don't get hung up on your feelings. Just go ahead and get serious about the sin that's in your life and get rid of it. He told them that they needed to get serious about the sin. He tells them in verse number six through eight they need to get sincere about the Savior. He's going to give them a parable, not a parable, but an illustration concerning the Savior here in verse number six of the Passover. He 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, for ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread," look at this now, verse number eight, "...with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." Now, all this talk about unleavened bread and Christ, the Passover, and all this, all of that was a picture of Jesus. You remember Exodus 12? the Passover lamb, and before they could go out, they had to get rid of all the leaven that was in their houses and all that. So Paul is talking about all those things. Of course, leaven is a picture of sin, and so they need to get that sin out. But then he also talks about Christ, and he says that concerning this Passover illustration, which represents Christ, he says that you need to do it with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. You need to be sincere about Christ. I would dare say that Christ was pretty sincere when He died for you. You need to be sincere about Him. Get sincere about the things of God in your life. Get sincere about loving Jesus. Get sincere about walking with Jesus and serving Jesus. You say, well, I don't feel anything. It's not about your feeling at this point. You're not going to feel anything. You have killed your senses with the sin that you're living in. You just need to get back to getting serious about your sin, getting sincere about the Savior. And then, verse number 9 through 13, he commands them that they need to be separate from sin. He said, verse 9, I wrote unto you an epistle not to company with fornicators. He says you need to be separate from that. Verse number 10, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetousness, or extortioners, or with idolaters, for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such in one know not to eat. Paul makes it very clear you need to be separate from this. You need to be separate from those things. Those are ungodly, and I don't want you to have fellowship with that. You need to be separate from sin. So he gives them three basic commands here. He told them in the beginning they need to be serious about their sin. He told them secondarily they needed to be sincere about their Savior, and that they needed to be separate from sin. Now bear in mind, this whole time they don't feel anything, not that the text illustrates or indicates anyways. They're still, as verse number two says, they're not mourning. They're puffed up. They're prideful. So Paul says, don't worry about your feeling. Just do what you know you're supposed to do. You know you shouldn't be living in that sin, so get serious about it. Get rid of it. You know that you shouldn't be surrounded by sinful people, and you ought to be separated from them, and that's going to make it worse for you. So guess what? Separate from the sin. You know you ought to be more sincere with the Lord. You know you ought to be more sincere about reading your Bible, and fasting, and praying, and walking with God, and serving, and witnessing, and going to church faithfully. You know you ought to be sincere about all those things. So go ahead and get sincere with the Savior. And He commands them to do these things. And He leaves the subject alone for the rest of 1 Corinthians 5. And we don't find Paul referring to the subject again, to my knowledge, at this point anyways, until 2 Corinthians chapter number 7. And when Paul deals with it in 2 Corinthians 7, guess what? He's got a bunch of people who are sorrow, sorrowing over their sin. They're sorry for their sin. They have that feeling again. They have that sensibility again. So you say, what are you telling me, preacher? I'm saying if you're in a position where you don't feel that conviction, you don't feel that guilt, just go ahead and do what you know you are supposed to do. That's what Corinth did. And after a period of time, they're now sorrowing over their sin. They now have victory over their sin. Their sensibility is back. Their power is back. And they didn't sit and wait around for a feeling before they started to get right. They just said, you know what, feeling or not, we know we need to get right. And they began to pursue it. And the devil so often will have us hung up on our feelings and our affections. Say, we'll get upset because we don't love the Lord like we ought to. And we'll say, well Lord, And we'll just sit there and wait for God to make us love Jesus. But you know what you need to do? Just go love Jesus. Jesus said, if you love Me, keep My commandments. If you want to love the Lord because you don't feel like you love Him enough, then go do something for Him. And as you do those things, guess what? It'll generate affection in your heart. And I'm going to give you one example, one more example rather, before we finish up here for today. Revelation chapter number two, verse number one through seven, we know that we have that wonderful church, Ephesus. And we know that they've been commended for doing a lot of good things. And then we are very well acquainted with the fact that in verse number four, Jesus drops the hammer on them. In verse number four, he says, That first love, doesn't that imply their affection, their care, their desire for Jesus? And he says they've left that. It seems to me that they, like the church at Corinth, had lost their affection. They had lost their feeling. They had become kind of seared in their conscience about things. They just lost that inward emotional response to the Lord that one desires to have. And Jesus did not tell them to sit around and wait until they got their feelings back. What did Jesus tell them to do? Much like Paul told the Corinthians to do. He told them just to do the right thing. Verse number five, after they left their first love, verse number five says, remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works. Jesus' response to those that fell out of love with him, he said, go back and just do what you're supposed to be doing. And child of God, I want to tell you the same thing. I believe that if you come to a place where your conscience is hardened, and you don't feel things from the Lord like you used to, and you say, well, I want to feel that way again. Number one, stop waiting on your feeling. and just go ahead and do what you know you're supposed to do. If there's sin in your life that you know has hindered you from your walk in the Lord, go ahead and get it out of there. If you're hanging out with people that are bringing bad influence into your life, go ahead and get separated from that. If you're not following and serving the Lord like you're supposed to, then go ahead and get sincere about serving Him. As you do those things you will find that God will restore that affection for him God will put that in your heart again But you're gonna have to start seeking him and coming back to him before you have feelings Before you you feel this or before you feel that you're just gonna do what you know you're supposed to do whether you feel it or not God bless you friend. I hope it's been a help to you. We'll see you next time