Well, good morning. If you care
to open your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 18, we'll continue
our study in Matthew chapter 18. Before we begin, let's bow
before our Lord in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
that you've given us another opportunity to meet together
to worship your matchless name. Father, I pray that you would
enable us to do that this morning. to worship you in spirit and
in truth. Father, I pray that you give
us a spirit of worship that you would speak to us, speak to our
hearts by your spirit, enable us to hear and believe our Lord
Jesus Christ. Let his name be exalted and magnified
in everything that we say and do. Father, we pray that you
might show us your glory this morning, your redemptive glory,
saving your people keeping them, preserving them. Father, we pray
for our children's classes this morning. We pray for your people
who everywhere are meeting. What we pray for ourselves, we
pray for everyone who's meeting together today to worship you
with a heartfelt desire and need to hear word from thee. Father,
cause your gospel to run well, we pray. For those who are sick
and can't be with us and who are in deep waters, Father, we
pray for them. Continue to pray for Aaron, and Barb, and Ron,
and Lynn. For those who are heartbroken,
those who are sick, and need you especially, we pray that
you give them a fulfillment of your promise that your grace
will be sufficient, that you'll never leave and forsake your
people. And all these things we ask in that name which is
above every name, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen. The title of my lesson may surprise
you this morning. The title of the lesson is Church
Discipline. Last night, Jan asked me about the lesson this morning.
I told her I'm going to bring a lesson on church discipline.
She said, oh, you are not. What are you really teaching
on? I said, no, I really am. Church discipline. And I kind
of hesitated to use that title, but it is good that we be well
taught in this matter so that we don't make a mess of God's
church by our judgmental, self-righteous attitudes. And it's good that
we be taught what God's word, what our Lord has to say about
this matter, because this is something that you hear a lot
about in religion. It seems to me that people want
to make a denomination and an occupation out of church discipline. I mean, it seems like that they're
looking for excuse to kick people out of the church, to kick people
out of the kingdom of God, like they can somehow make God's kingdom
pure. You know, they just purge, purge
God's kingdom of all this, this bad behavior. You know, our God
does not need us to make his kingdom pure. Lord Jesus Christ
did that by himself. And all we do, we try to have
that kind of church discipline and keep people out that are
not behaving up to our standards. All we're doing is messing up
God's church. We're making it impure, not pure. And it seems like folks enjoy
having the opportunity to kick somebody out of church. It makes
them feel good, I guess. It makes them feel righteous.
But if I'm not mistaken, the goal of God's church is for sinners
to come to Christ and to stay in Christ. The goal of God's
church, I'm just sure of this, is that we gather together in
unity to worship Christ, not be separated from him, separated
from each other. The church, if I understand scripture
correctly, is to meet together in peace and unity, to seek it,
seek it, seek unity, not discord and division. So if this kind
of what people refer to as church discipline is to put people on
public trial and kick them out of the church and so forth, unless it's for these matters
that we'll look at here in a moment, if that's our goal, I'm afraid
we're the ones that need to repent and change. I think if we're
going to look at how people need to act and how they should change,
we got enough looking at our own selves, don't we, rather
than looking at others. But let's look here, beginning
in verse 15, what our Lord has to say about this. He says, moreover,
if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him
his fault between thee and him alone. If he should hear thee,
thou hast gained thy brother. Now this trespass that the Lord's
talking about here, it's not a matter of indifference. It's
not just, oh, somebody hurt my feelings or something. That's
a matter of indifference. And our Lord, we looked at this
a couple weeks ago, taught us how to handle these matters of
indifference and religious tradition and so forth. What our Lord's
talking about here is a, is a trespass that is a matter of serious doctrinal
error, or it could be serious erroring in conduct. The word
that the Lord uses here, trespass means to air in doctrine. It
means to wander from the path of righteousness, wonder from
the truth, and we're not to allow these kinds of, uh, of errors.
to continue in God's church because they can harm God's children.
Uh, you know, a serious doctrinal error can, can take people's,
well, what it always does, it takes people's eyes off of Christ,
puts, puts, usually puts our eyes onto ourselves and that's
always bad. There's no salvation there. There's
no hope there. There's no peace there. There's no righteousness
there. You cannot allow serious doctrinal error to continue in
God's church because it can damn those that believe Look at Galatians
chapter two. Here's another reason that the
church is not to not to tolerate these serious doctrinal errors.
They take the glory away from Christ. They take the glory away from
Christ and nobody in God's church ought to want to add Galatian. I'm in the wrong book. Galatians
chapter two verse one, Then 14 years after, I went up again
to Jerusalem with Barnabas and took Titus with me also. And
I went up by revelation and communicated unto them that gospel which I
preach among the Gentiles. But privately to them, which
were of reputation, lest by any means I should run or had run
in vain. But neither Titus, who was with
me being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And that because
of false brethren, unawares, brought in, who came in privileged,
privately, they're working around secretly, you know, to spy out
our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might
bring us into bondage. And this is a serious doctrinal
error. They're trying to mix grace and works, put people back
in bondage to the law. And Paul says in verse five,
to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour. We didn't
tolerate that for a minute, that the truth of the gospel might
continue with you. That's why they didn't tolerate
that kind of serious doctrinal error, mixing grace and works,
that the gospel may continue with you, that Christ may continue
to be preached, that you might continue to believe him. And these matters come up. They
came up in the early church and it still happens today. You remember
when Paul wrote to Timothy, he warned him about this false doctrine
of Hymenus and Philetus saying the resurrection has already
passed. He told Timothy, shun them. Don't let them in the church.
Don't let them be preaching and things. Their doctrine will eat
away as a canker. It'll kill people, like a gangrene
slowly kills people from the extremity into the heart. Paul
warned Timothy of Alexander the coppersmith. The apostle Paul
turned him over to Satan. He told Timothy, you shun him.
You stay away from him. Just don't be around him, because
what you're doing when you do that is put your seal of approval
on him. God's little children are going to think it's okay
and they're going to be harmed by this. And there can be such
a, an error of conduct that the church simply cannot have it
in their midst. Now, obviously that doesn't mean
all sin, you know, you can't have any sin in your life. If
that were true, this place would be empty from the pulpit to the
pew. This place would be empty. If
you couldn't be here, if you had, if you had any sin in your
life, The example that that comes to mind, you know, these things
are very rare, but there is an example in scripture, the man
in Corinth who was living with his father's wife. Paul said,
don't let him in the worship service. He's bringing reproach
upon the gospel. That kind of behavior can harm
God's little ones who don't know the difference of don't know
that's wrong. It can, uh, they can just tarnish the whole reputation
of the gospel being preached there. See, these are very serious,
serious matters. They're not matters of indifference.
And don't be looking to make a mountain out of a molehill
now. Don't be looking for excuses. These things have to be matters
that are central to the gospel. And these things coming up are
very rare. This is about the only place
in scripture this topic is dealt with, other than Paul talking
about that man there in Corinth. but they're very rare and I hope
that we don't have to deal with these things ever. But if we
do, if these kinds of problems do come up, our savior gives
us four ways to handle this matter of church discipline. And generally
speaking, it's this, we're to deal with these matters like
the church is to deal with everything by looking to Christ, by preaching
Christ, by seeking Christ's glory, not our own. So number one, when
handling a matter of this serious error like this, handle it in
this manner, seeking to restore a brother, not kick him out. See how religion has got this
backwards. They're seeking a way to kick
somebody out. Our Lord tells us to handle this
matter this way, seek to restore a brother and do it privately. Look again here at verse 15.
He says, if I brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him
his fault between thee and him alone. Just do it privately. And if you hear the thou has
gained thy brother. See, that's the, that's the goal
of this thing is to gain a brother, not kick somebody out. And they
have to remember this is a brother in Christ. We're talking about
it is someone who has given evidence of knowing Christ, of trusting
Christ. And this can come up even with believers. Even believers
can get pulled off on a tangent. They can err in doctrine, in
a matter of doctrine for a while. And you know why that can happen?
It's easily done. You know why? Because we're still
in the flesh. This flesh is just so prone to
that, it's easily pulled off on a tangent. So if we have a
brother who's erred in this matter of doctrine or conduct, Our goal
in talking to him is not to punish him. It's not to humiliate him. It's not to kick him out or embarrass
him. Our goal is to win the brother, to win him, to help him see his
error and return to trusting Christ alone, to conducting himself
like a child of God and do it for his good and the good of
the whole church. That's the goal. Look at Galatians again,
chapter six. And when we approach this kind
of matter, Do it privately, you do it in
a way that you're trying to win your brother. Approach him lovingly
with a spirit of humility. Galatians 6, verse one. Brethren,
if a man be overtaken in a fall, ye which are spiritual, restore
such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burden,
and so fulfill the law of Christ, For if a man think himself to
be something when he's nothing, he deceiveth himself. So go to
that brother carefully, lovingly, privately with a spirit of humility,
not like you're all this qualified person, you know, to go set this
brother straight in humility. And if that erring brother won't
listen to, you know, to someone privately, then back in our text
for 16, then, If he'll not hear thee, then take with thee one
or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every
word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear
them, tell it under the church. But if he neglect to hear the
church, let him be under thee as a heathen man and as a, as
a publican. Now, if this Aaron brother won't
listen to one privately, take two or three to talk to him.
This is something to all through scripture. Let every word be
established by the mouth of two or three witnesses. And I hope
we'd all have the wisdom, I hope, to listen to two or three witnesses.
And then, our Lord says, tell it to the church. The Lord's
not telling us here, have a public trial, air all of our dirty laundry,
you know, and then all of us should come confess our sins
before the whole church. That's a bad idea, a bad idea. That can destroy a church, it'll,
We'd never come back from that, confessing all of our sins publicly
like that. We're so self-righteous, we'd
never come back from that, never. This tells you about our nature.
It's hard for us to remember the gospel that's being preached
to us, different points of the message. If we were all up here
confessing our sins, we wouldn't forget one, we hardly would we?
Now that's a bad idea and that's not what the Lord's saying. What
he's saying, let this matter be settled privately between
this erring brother, the pastor, the elders, and handle it in
such a way that the whole church doesn't get its focus off what
it's supposed to be doing. Preaching Christ, worshiping
Christ, learning of him, being comforted in him. And if that
brother is still just insisting If he's still just insisting
on continuing in this error, the Lord says, treat him as a
heathen. Don't have anything to do with him. And you're not
doing this to punish him. You're not doing this to humiliate
him. Don't have anything to do with him. That he might learn
the error of his ways. The goal in this is that he might
repent, that he might turn. If we just keep on, you know,
seeing this brother socially and just act like everything's
okay, He's never gonna learn. That's the way the Lord just
said, just handle him like a publican. You know how the Jews felt about
publicans, and you and I might not understand that. The best example I can think
of in our day is a heroin dealer. You know somebody that's a heroin
dealer? You gonna hang out with them? No, it's not okay what
they're doing. It can be dangerous. Our Lord
says, handle this brother that's in the serious doctrinal error
the same way. Look on here, verse 18. Verily
I say unto you, whatsoever you shall bind on earth should be
bound in heaven. And whatsoever you should loose
on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Now, you know, the Lord here
is not giving any son of Adam. He's not giving his, the disciples,
the future apostles, he's not giving them the power to put
somebody in heaven or take them out of heaven. He's not giving
them the power to give somebody eternal life or take it away
from them. That's absurd. That power is all in Christ.
The only way we can be made righteous is in Christ. The only way we
can awaken his likeness and glory is by the power of Christ. So
here's what the Lord's saying. Handle this matter privately
and humbly because an erring brother, just be patient, an
erring brother, If he's a brother, if he really knows Christ, he's
going to return from this error and he's going to return to trusting
Christ. Eventually he'll return to the gospel. He just won't
be able to stay away. He won't be able to live in this
error forever because God won't let him. God won't let him. He's
already bound to Christ in heaven. So he'll be bound to him on earth
too. That's what the Lord's saying. Whoever is bound to Christ and
to his people here on earth, they'll return from that error.
They will, because they've already been bound to Christ in heaven.
Anybody who believes on Christ now, you know why they believe
on him right now? It's because they're already bound to Christ
in heaven. It's by the power and will of God. And anybody
who does not believe on Christ now, they're not going to return. They won't, because they're loosed
from Christ. They're separated from Christ now, and they will
be in eternity too. So our goal in dealing with an
erring brother is always to restore them, never to punish them, never
to embarrass them, but to restore them. And just wait. The goal is to restore them,
not to separate them. The Lord is going to separate
the sheep and the goats. It's not our job to separate
the wheat and the tares and the sheep and the goats, is it? That'll
be done by the Lord in time. I second, we handle these matters
privately in humility. Second, handle these matters
of serious error by prayer. Verse 19 again, I say unto you
that if two of you shall agree on earth is touching anything
that they shall ask, it should be done for them of my father,
which is in heaven. Now, Lord's not saying here that
his people can gang up on him. You know, a bunch of them can
gang up on the Lord and pray and, and, uh, and make the Lord
change his will. He's not saying that. But at
the same time, he is saying this, God answers the prayers of his
people. When two or three, just two or three meet together, or
believers in a congregation, and they all have the same heartfelt
prayer, our Lord says God's gonna answer that prayer. And here's
why that's true. God is the one who put it in
the hearts of that group of people to have the same prayer, to have
the same desire and to pray about it. Now that's the way God works. Now God has his will, a will
that that has been established from all of eternity, a will
that shall be carried out. God has a time and a place for
everything in creation to happen before he created anything. But
here's how God works. When he's ready to do something,
when he's ready to fulfill part of his will that's been established
from all of eternity, before he does it, often he puts it
in the hearts of his people to pray for it. And when they pray
for it, then he does it. Remember the Lord told Abraham
about his descendants. They're going to go down in Egypt
for 400 years and then God said, I'm going to bring them out.
Well, they went down to Egypt, didn't they? They were there
400 years. And God put it in the hearts of his people to pray.
And God came to Moses there at the burning bush. He said, I've
heard the cry of my people. Now you go down there and tell
Pharaoh, let my people go. It was God's will. He said, then
he put it in the hearts of his people to pray for it. And he
accomplished his will exactly on time. It's God's eternal will,
but he brings it to pass through the prayers of his people. Look
back up at verse 14. Even so, it's not the will of
your father, which is in heaven, that one, even one of these little
ones should perish. Now here we're talking about
this erring brother. Well, you know, one of the ways that the
Lord could accomplish his will, he's not going to let this erring
brother perish. If he's one of God's little ones,
God's not going to let him perish. But one of the ways that the
Lord may return him is through the prayers of his people. It's
God's will he not perish, and so he's not gonna perish, but
God may accomplish that, his will, through the prayers of
his people. And when we have an erring brother
like that, I tell you one of the very first things that we
should do, even long before we ever go talk to him privately,
pray, pray, pray that us talking to him is not gonna really solve
the issue, is it? No, it's prayer. He might use us talking to him
to do it, but it's through prayer. Let's remember, pray for each
other all the time. Pray for each other. All right,
number three. Handle these matters of serious
error by public worship. Verse 20, for where two or three
are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Now, our Lord promised to bless his people where they meet together
in public worship. That's his promise. And the size
of the congregation doesn't matter. It could be two or three. I've
met in folks' living rooms before and preached to three or four. The size of the congregation
doesn't matter. It could be a real big crowd. And out of that big
crowd, there's two or three. That's all it takes for the Lord
to, he promised he would bless his people in public worship. And the Lord promises he personally
is going to be where his people meet together in public worship.
That might be the only place I know of that he promised he
would be where his people meet together in public worship. Now,
if the Lord's going to be here, I sure want to be here. You've
heard people talk uses the illustration before that. If you knew that
the Lord Jesus himself in the flesh was going to be here this
morning to preach and talk to his people. Would you miss it? You know what? He's here. He's not not in the flesh, but
he's here. He's meeting together where his
people meet together. Then I want to be here. I want
to be here. But here's how this public worship
takes care of this matter of serious error. You know almost
all of our questions will be answered in public worship through
the preaching of the word. And you think, really? You just
would be amazed how often something will come up in your life, how
often you'll have a question the preacher knows nothing about.
And yet your question is answered through the preaching of the
word. How's that happen? Well, God knows, doesn't he?
God knows. That's how, this is how God feeds
his people and teaches his people. It's in public worship by the
preaching of the word. And almost all of our errors
are going to be corrected by the preaching of the word. We
have errors in attitude. How often do you get an error
in attitude? You know how God corrects that?
Through the preaching of His word. Brother Wayne Kendall talks
about the Wednesday night service being an attitude adjustment.
You know how you get an attitude adjustment? Preaching of the
word. It just settles the matter. It
teaches God's children. That's the way God does this.
In public worship, through the preaching of His word. This is
how God feeds his sheep. This is how he saves them. He
reveals Christ to them. This is how he feeds his sheep,
causes them to grow in grace. It's in the public worship service,
by the preaching of Christ. It is just amazing how much we'll
learn if we just sit still, how much we'll stay corrected if
we'll just faithfully sit and listen. It's amazing. The public
worship service is an honor. It's a privilege that we should
never despise and never take for granted. Never. Look at Hebrews
chapter 10. I'd say that's a good warning
for us who all our life long, all of our parents' life, maybe
your grandparents, have lived in a place where the
gospel is preached, where we can meet together and worship
God. By God's grace, it's a long time he's kept it here in this
town. Don't take it for granted. Hebrews 10 verse 23. Let us hold
fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he's faithful
that promised. And let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting,
encouraging one another, and so much the more, as we see the
day approaching. These matters will be handled
well through just the consistent preaching of God's word in public
worship. And here's the fourth thing.
Handle these matters of serious error with a forgiving spirit.
God's people should live being ready to forgive. If a brother
errs and he repents and he turns, you quickly forgive him, quickly
forgive him. That erring brother in Corinth
we talked about earlier, he's living with his father's wife.
And he eventually quit that. He learned, he learned and he
came back and he was received joyfully. The erring brother
repented and he was forgiven, forgiven quickly. And just remember
that forgiving quickly, handling with the spirit of humility and
remember this, The only reason that you and I aren't doing the
very same thing is God's grace has kept us from it. That's exactly
right. Look at one more scripture. Ephesians
chapter four. So always be ready to forgive. We need to be forgiven. Always
be ready to forgive. Ephesians four verse 31 Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you
with all malice and be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another. Now, why should we do that? Even
as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. If you belong to
God, that answered the question, didn't it? That answered the
question. All right, I hope the Lord will bless that too.