1 Corinthians 5
6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Paul reprimanded the church of Corinth very sharply. There were two young people living in adultery, while the church looked the other way. So the whole church was under God’s judgment.
Firstly Jesus reprimands us today in these verses too. A little yeast works through the whole dough. The old leaven must be removed from our midst.
In verse 11 we read, “But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.”
A person who does these things while called a brother is not to be tolerated. Some excuse the sin by saying that they want to show love to such people. No, you’re going against God’s word. Such love is not godly love. God’s Word teaches you to confront such a person with his sin, and if he doesn’t listen to you, you must take a brother with you and lastly you must bring the matter before the church.
Humble yourself today and be obedient to His Word.
Secondly, we can rejoice today, because Christ, our Passover Lamb, Who is without spot or blemish, has been sacrificed for our sin. We are forgiven and cleansed by His precious Blood.
Jesus was born of Mary, but in an unusual way. She was a virgin when the Holy Spirit overshadowed her, and Jesus was miraculously implanted in her womb. There was no father involved. His Blood is Divine and precious (Medical science teaches us that a baby does not get a drop of blood from the mother). If you trample His Blood underfoot, your judgment will be very severe. He bought us not with silver or gold, but with the precious Blood of Jesus. In that Blood is the life of God, and you are saved through that precious Blood.
When the Jews were enslaved by the Egyptians, God sent Moses to deliver them. God told Moses that every Israelite family should take a lamb without spot or blemish, slaughter it, and put the blood on their doorposts. That night the angel of God passed throughout Egypt and killed all the firstborn of the houses without the blood.
Our Passover Lamb, Christ, was slain for us to save us from our sin, so that we shall not die, but live eternally. If you grieve and mourn over your sin, and confess it then God forgives and He forgets your sin.
You can truly rejoice and be glad if you have experienced Christ’s precious Blood washing your sins away.
Thirdly the fruit of the previous two points is holiness. Do not leave one stone unturned until all of your life is in the light, lest in the end you return to the sins you were delivered from and lose everything.
Your outward appearance reveals what you are like on the inside. When you clean the inside the outside will become clean as well. God doesn’t need the outside to see what it’s like on the inside, but people look at the outside to see what the inside looks like.