Do unbelievers belong in the assembly?

[Esaias]

http://cnview.com/text_sermons/unbel..._in_assemb.htm

Please read the article and tell me your thoughts. The question is 'Do unbelievers belong in the assembly?'

Here's a few quotes from the article, but please read the whole thing.

1 Cor 5:6-7 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:

This is what Paul is talking about here.

1 Cor 5:1-2 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. And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.

The logic that the church has been using for decades is that, "We need to bring the unsaved in, to hear the Gospel." But in church is not where they are to hear the gospel. The Gospel needs to be taken to them.

It is alright to talk with the unsaved in your place of work or wherever you may come in contact with them, but they do not belong in an assembly of believers that meet together to worship God and exhort each other.

...

Until the lost are saved, they don't belong in the assembly! In the O.T. God's direction was absolutely dclear about keeping the profane out of God's presence. And they had the gatekeepers so that the unclean could not go in.

2 Chr 23:19 And he set the porters at the gates of the house of the LORD, that none which was unclean in any thing should enter in.

Preachers need to be "sent" to the lost, to bring (take) the gospel to them.

The Gospel must be taken to the lost, going to the highways and hedges to compel them to come, so that God's house may be filled. (Luke14:23) That means, going to where the lost are with God's WORD.

...

These modern church people always say, well, look at Jesus. He ate with publicans and sinners. And the Pharisees complained to Him, just like you complain to us.

But notice WHERE Jesus ministered to people. When he was eating with tax collectors and sinners, He has just asked Levi to follow Him. And He was in Levi's house. (Mark2: 14-15) When He spoke with the woman of Samaria it was necessary for Him to go to Samaria. (John 4:4) He sat in fishing boats to teach. (Matt13: 2) And He often went into the wilderness, where the crowds came to Him. (Mattt14: 13) When He called to Zaccheus, He said, "I'm coming to your house". (Luke19: 5)

JESUS WENT TO THE PEOPLE or THE PEOPLE CAME TO HIM, OUTSIDE OF THE TEMPLE.

But when it came to the temple, the place that represented God's Holy presence, you can notice that He drives the filth out. The merchants and money-changers and swindlers (Matt 21:12-13) because it was a "house of prayer".

Also, a typical argument is that since our bodies are the temple of the Lord (1Cor 6:19), the physical building (or location) no longer matters. And, to a certain extent, this is true. Jesus said:

Matt 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Where Christians are gathered for worship, exhortation, study, prayer, and whether it's a living room, garage or barn or the fancy building with the sign out front--that gathering represents the Lord's presence. It is a special time of fellowship with the Lord that the unregenerate have no part in. When Paul writes to Timothy about the workings of the Church gatherings, he has this to say about prayer:

1 Tim 2:8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

Now if the unregenerate are in the assembly imitating what they see, the hands they lift are not holy, are they?