Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs chapter 18. Proverbs 18. We've been going verse by verse
through this precious book. And I'm always reminded every
time we're in the book of Proverbs how the scripture sets forth
that the Lord taught in parables, proverbs. And taking the next
verse, Proverbs 18, 19, the scripture declares a brother offended is
harder to be won than a strong city. and their contentions are
like the bars of a castle. A brother, a brother offended,
one transgressed against, is harder to be won than a city
that's built on a strong rock. That's what it means. And the reason for this is because
of sin. Oh, how we need God's deliverance
here. 1 Peter 4.8 says, and above all things, have
fervent charity, love among yourselves for charity shall cover the multitude
of sins." By the grace of God, forgiveness,
reconciliation, appeasement between divided parties because of corruption. And that's the only reason there's
alienation between parties. By the grace of God, reconciliation
is made. And only by the grace of God.
Because of God's grace, because of His mercy, there's forgiveness
with the Lord. Now, there is a fact that there
is contention. Scripture bears that out. A brother offended. So there
is offense. But the point that is so striking
is that it's a brother that is offended. It's not talking about
strangers. I want to be honest here and I want to be forthright. If I don't care, if I don't care,
I'd like to say that I just have the same love and affection for
everybody, but I don't. We're commanded to love our enemies,
but I'm going to tell you something. There's just a nature in me that enemies of this country, enemies
of my family, enemies. I'm just like you are. I don't have the same love and
affection for all men without, you know, any distinction. I
just don't. And you don't either. But I do have a brother. And
my brother is my brother. And we don't have the same loves,
we don't have the same affections, but he's my brother and I love
him and I care about him. And I don't want there to be
strife, you know, contentions. I talk to him, not very often,
But when I talk to him, I want there to be some peace, I want
there to be some comfort, you know. But a brother in the Lord? A
brother in Christ? A brother, spiritual brother,
offended? Oh! If there's two people that don't
care about each other, that's one thing. But when there's an
offended brother, trust has been abused. Back in Tennessee there was two
sisters that I knew both, knew them both well. And I never even dreamed that
there was a problem. As far as I knew, there was no
problem. But her dad passed away. And after he passed away, it
became evident immediately that one of the sisters had had some
things changed as far as the will was concerned. And buddy,
I'm telling you, there was separation between those two sisters and
as far as I know it still isn't the same. Two sisters. Our Lord, Psalm 55, look at this. Our Lord speaking, now this is
our Lord speaking. In Psalm 55, this is a prophetic
quote of our Lord. Psalm 55 verse 12, He said, For
it was not an enemy that reproached me, then I could have borne it. Neither was it he that hated
me that did magnify himself against me. Then I would have hid myself
from him. But it was thou, a man mine equal,
my God, mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together,
walked into the house of God in company." You know who he's
talking about. by one of his disciples. And as horrible as it is to see
a breach in an earthly relationship between brethren, I want us to
consider for just a moment the original cause of all contentions. Romans chapter 5 and verse 19.
Here's the problem right here. You want to know what the problem
is. If it's an offended brother, here's the problem. Here's the
problem of all contention right here. Romans 5, 19. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. According to this scripture,
many were made sinners, that is, all men fell in Adam. By one man's disobedience, by
man's one disobedience, by one sin, by one bite, one bite. But in that many, The scripture
sets forth that there were some that Almighty God is going to
show mercy. Many shall be made righteous. Out of the mass of
humanity, out of the mass wherein all were spiritually dead, there
were some vessels of honor and some of dishonor. Some that God
showed mercy and some that the Lord left to himself. Many are
going to be made righteous. The Lord told Moses, when Moses
asked to see his glory, he said, I'm going to have mercy on whomsoever
I will. Those to whom he would show mercy
were his sheep, his bride, his brethren, Even before they were
called out of darkness, they were His people. The Lord said
in John 10.16, Another sheep I have, which are not of this
foal, them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice.
There shall be one foal and one shepherd. These are His brethren. These are His family. Turn to
Matthew 12. Matthew chapter 12. Matthew 12,
verse 46 to 50. Matthew 12, 46, while he yet
talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood
without, desiring to speak with him. That was his family. His family. He had some after
the Lord Jesus Christ was born. Mary was said she had other kids
after he was born. Then said one unto him, behold,
thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with
thee. But he answered and said unto them that told him, who
is my mother and who are my brethren? He stretched forth his hand toward
his disciples and said, behold, my mother and my brethren. For
whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven,
the same is my brother and sister and mother." Here's what the
Lord is saying. I have a spiritual family. Those that the Father has everlastingly
loved and has given me, that's my family. You that know Him. You're my
family. We're brethren. We're one. In the next service,
I'm going to be in John. Lord willing, John 17 is talking
about the same exact thing. The oneness of God's people. We're one. We're bought with
the same blood. We're loved with the same love. He laid down His life for every
one of His sheep. We are brethren. Brethren. Brethren saved by the grace of
God that will live forever together with Him. Together. We're brethren. This is my mama. This is my brother, this is my
sister. Those that the Father has given me, these have always
been His family. They've always been His body,
His bride, His elect. He's always loved them, always
cared for them. But in the fall, they fell. Just
like all men. Therefore, it's truthfully said,
we, God's elect, as His family, offended Him. We transgressed
against Him. We alienated ourselves from Him. He hasn't gone anywhere. I read
something the other day talking about somebody said they found
the Lord Jesus and the one writing the article said well the only
problem is that the Lord's never been lost. No, he found you. You found him? No, we want to use our terminology,
let's get our terminology right. The Lord's not been lost. Sin
has separated between us. We offended Him. Isaiah 59.2,
but your iniquities have separated between you and your God. Your
sins have hid His face from you that He will not hear. Why? Habakkuk 1.13 says, Thou
art of pure eyes and to behold iniquity, evil, and canst not
look on iniquity. A brother offended. It's harder
to be one than a strong city. You know, a strong city, I was
looking at a picture the other day and it showed this, it was
like a mountain. I mean, a steep mountain. And up on top of it was a city. And I got to looking at that
picture and I thought, man, that thing would be I'd be hard to
take that city. I mean, if you didn't have modern
warfare, if you couldn't call in an airstrike or something,
trying to get up that mountain, that's a fortified city. That's a city built on a rock.
Steep, steep. A fortified city would be nothing. Nothing. Nothing. For one man
to take, a fortified city would be nothing for one man with his
bare hands to take by his own effort and power compared to
reconciling himself back to the Lord Jesus Christ. The one who
has eternally stood for his people. Taking a city would be nothing. Child's play. Because this is
impossible. A brother offended. Harder to
be one than a strong city. It's impossible. Impossible. Why? Because we are dead. A dead man, a dead man, cannot
do anything. An impotent dead man. I mean,
how dead? Well, Scott's a graveyard dead. He's just dead. Totally incapable. Spiritually
impotent. And besides that, not only is
he impotent, The spiritual impotence is evidence is that he doesn't
care. Man left to himself to reconcile
himself back to God. Now tell a man that he can do
something and establish a righteousness for himself by works, free will
works. Now you know that appeals to
a dead man. You tell a dead man that. But the only problem is
that it's a lie. That's the only problem. You
cannot bear that out in Scripture. Not by works of righteousness
that we've done. Not by the will of flesh, not
of blood. Man's will is totally impotent. He's dead. A brother offended, and it being
A brother, the Lord Jesus Christ. A brother offended is harder
to be one than a strong city. And their contentions are like
the bars of a castle. Not only are we incapable of
being reconciled by our own power, we have no interest in it. And
here's what's keeping us out. We're dead. in trespasses and sin. And the
contention, the sin, the trespass, the contentions, the problem
is us. Like the bars of a castle. Our
sin is what keeps us from Him. That's what's being said. A brother
offended is harder to be won than a strong city. And their
contentions are like the bars of a castle. What keeps a man
separated from God? His sin. It's sin. Isaiah 64, 7 says, there's none
that calleth upon thy name. You know, when you read scripture, and you see how incapable a man
is, you think, Lord, you just read it. Pat, where you are?
You just read it, Psalm 110. Verse 3, Thy people shall be
willing in the day of that power. We're commanded to call upon
the Lord. But I'm going to tell you something. God's going to
have to give a man a new heart first. He's going to have to
deal with this impotent sinner first. He's going to have to
give me life. He's going to have to give me a new heart, a new
mind. He's going to have to give me a new will because I'm not
born with one. There is none that calleth upon
thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee." Man, given life, he comes in
heart to embrace by faith the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because God's given him a heart
to do so. For thou hast hid thy face from
us, and hast consumed us because of our iniquities. I was reading
that scripture this morning, and I looked at that word consumed. Thou hast consumed us because
of our iniquities. You know what the word means?
Disappeared. The word consumed, that means
you've disappeared. Why? Because of our iniquities. For God Almighty to show mercy
to us is a miracle of God's grace. For God Almighty to reveal Himself
to us, I'm going to tell you, justice is going to have to be
satisfied. I'm a just God. For there to be reconciliation
because of this offense, a brother offended, for there to be reconciliation,
God's going to have to do something, Brother Scott used to say, for
Himself. before he can do anything for us, he's going to have to
satisfy his justice. Soul that sinneth is going to
die. The Lord Jesus Christ was made
sin. Yesterday at the men's meeting
we dealt with these two subjects, the anger of God and the wrath
of God. And in that study, It was pointed
out, we made manifest what Almighty God is offended at, and every
man is sinned. You know that. And God's angry
with the wicked every day. And the word angry, when it says
God is angry with the wicked every day, the word means to
foam at the mouth. Almighty God is just. And for
God to show mercy to one such as I, born in sin, He's going
to have to deal in absolute judgment. And He poured out that judgment
without mixture. No mercy! No mercy! The Lord
Jesus Christ Himself crying forth, My God, My God, why hast Thou
forsaken Me? Because He was made sin. And
bore the guilt of His elect, that's what He said, I lay down
My life for the sheep. He was made sin for His people,
forsaken of the Father, and died under the judgment of God Almighty,
that we might be received and reconciled in Him, unto the Father,
accepted in the Beloved. And now, by the grace of God,
there's therefore now no condemnation. to them that be in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Last three
verses. In light of this, a brother offended,
harder to be won than a strong city, their contentions are like
the bars of a castle. Sin. Sin that God Almighty must
deal with. Colossians chapter 1. And here's
the whole ball of wax right here. We offended Him. We offended
Him. He has reconciled us back to
God in His own body. Colossians chapter
1 verse 20 to 22. And having made peace, if you
have a margin there, you may have it, that where it says in
having made peace, the word having right there is actually making. And making peace, that blood
that ever liveth, that blood that ever speaketh, that blood
that ever answereth. and making peace, having made
peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all
things unto Himself. By Him, I say whether they be
things in earth, things in heaven, and you, that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled
in the body of His flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in His sight." Ephesians 2, Ephesians
2, 15-16. Having abolished in His flesh
the enmity, even the law of commandments, contained in ordinances for to
make in himself of twain one new man, Jew and Gentile, what
Paul had been dealing with, that he might reconcile both unto
God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. And last verse, Matthew chapter
19. Matthew 19, verse 23 to 26. Then said Jesus unto his disciples,
verily I say unto you that rich man shall hardly enter into the
kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, it's
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for
a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples
heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, who then can
be saved? But Jesus beheld them and said
unto them, with men, this is impossible. Salvation? Salvation? Who can be saved? The Lord said,
with men. This is not hard, not a real
difficult thing, it's impossible. With men, this is impossible. With men, this is impossible. With men, this is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. A brother offended. It's harder
to be one than a strong city. Lord, have mercy upon us. May we, as you've forgiven us,
Lord, may we forgive each other. There is absolutely no reason
for brethren to be in contention. None. As God, for Christ's sake,
has forgiven us, may we forgive one another. Lord, bless these
words, for Christ's sake.