Building on the Foundation

  From time to time, you’ll hear a Christian say something along the lines of, “I know I’m a sinner,” “We’re all sinners,” or “Everyone is a sinner.” You and I and many others have probably all said something along these lines at some point. The problem is, these statements contradict the Word of God! To see how, we need to see how the Bible uses this term. We need to see exactly who the Bible describes as sinners, and what it says about them. Who Is a Sinner? First, God’s Word repeatedly contrasts sinners with the righteous. For instance, Psalm 1 tells us, “Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous” (Psa. 1:5). Again, in Prov. 13:21, we find, “Evil pursues sinners, but to the righteous, good shall be repaid.” The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, 8 But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, 9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungo...

  Today’s topic is not a pleasant one, but it is a critical one, and the Word of God has much to tell us about it. It is a matter of spiritual life and death for all of God’s people! It is about putting the wicked, the unrepentant and wanton sinners, out of our congregations. Paul exhorted the Corinthians, “put away from yourselves the evil person” (1 Cor. 5:13). Paul sternly rebuked the Corinthians for their tolerance of wickedness in their midst, telling them, “You are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you” (1 Cor. 5:2). Many of us in the congregations of God today are no better than the Corinthians. We have tolerated wickedness in our midst just as much as they did. We have kept company with and befriended those whom God told us to shun, and have not rather mourned, that those who had done those deeds might be taken away from among us. Many times in the Old Testament, God commanded that the wicked be purged from...