Numbers 15:30-31 says, "But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or alien, blasphemes the LORD, and that person must be cut off from his people. Because he has despised the LORD's word and broken his commands, that person must surely be cut off; his guilt remains on him." The LORD prescribes a variety of sacrifices for different sins, but the one thing that can't be forgiven is rejection of God as shown by willful sinning. For that the Old Testament directive was the person should be "cut off" from the Jewish community, in other words put to death.
In the same way, today we are directed in Matthew 18:15-17 that if a person continues in their sin after repeated warnings, they are also to be cut off from the church--not put to death (the difference in the Old Testament was civil and religious laws were intertwined under a theocracy ruled by God himself)--but excommunicated. This is actually an act of love to show the person the seriousness of the situation in hope that he or she repents.
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