Christ Our Passover - 1 Cor. 5

Introduction  As you remember, Paul wrote 1 Corinthians in response to a letter that some members of the Corinthian church wrote him. These members wanted Paul to settle several disputes. In the types of things that they were making of first importance, Paul saw that there were serious spiritual problems with them.  In addition to that, some people on their own had come to Paul and expressed more important spiritual concerns regarding the state of the church. This situation that Paul is dealing with was reported to them by one of these two groups, 5:1.  You also remember that one of the themes of 1 Corinthians is holiness, both personal and corporate. This is something that the Corinthian Christians were not too worried about.  I. The Problems: Three of them, 1-2, 6a  A. Sexual immorality, 1.  B. On top of that, the Corinthian church was proud of their openness and accepting attitude, 2, 6a.  C. Because of this proud attitude, they were doing nothing about the situation, 2.  II. The Danger: A little bit of unchecked sin affects the whole church, 6.  A. Paul is not saying that this sexual sin a just a little sin.  B. He is saying that even a little sin, when the church finds herself ok with it, will affect the whole body.  C. Now, this is not saying that unless everybody in church is perfect we are going to be in trouble.  D. Sin will always be present in us and among us.  E. The issue is how we think and deal with it.  III. The Solution: Purge out sin because Christ has already done that for you, 7-8.  A. The reason why sin must not go unchecked is that it doesn't have to, 7.  B. Paul illustrates this truth with the concept of the Passover celebration and significance.  C. Paul says here that all of that is fulfilled in Christ and that he is our Passover.  D. Because Christ has done all of this for us, sin no longer has to go unchecked, 7b.  E. So we purge the old leaven that is not part of who we are anymore, 8.  Conclusion  So we keep the feast. Not with a lamb and bitter herbs, but by faith in the Lamb of God. We keep the feast through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ whose blood covers us.

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