Brethren, let's turn to 2 Corinthians
7. My subject this morning is the
motive of rebuke, the fruit of repentance. The motive of rebuke
fruit of repentance. Let's go to verse 12, 2 Corinthians
7, 12. Paul says, Wherefore, though
I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the
wrong, nor for his cause that suffered wrong, but that our
care for you in the sight of God might appear unto you. Therefore, we were comforted
in your comfort. Yea, and exceedingly the more
joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed
by you all. For if I have boasted anything
to him of you, I am not ashamed. But as we spake all things to
you in truth, even so our boasting, which I made before Titus, is
found a truth. And His inward affection is more
abundant toward you, whilst He remembered the obedience of you
all, how with fear and trembling you received Him. I rejoice,
therefore, that I have confidence in you in all things." Now, let
me remind you that this problem at Corinth Paul is talking about,
it was a rare case. This was a rare exception. It
needed rebuke and it needed strong rebuke because the church at
Corinth was just letting it go. They were not saying anything
about it. They were not doing anything
about it. And this was a very rare case of a grievous sin. Paul described it in the first
letter like this. He said it was such fornication
as is not so much as named among the Gentiles. He said among ungodly,
worldly unbelievers, they don't even name this sin, much less
perform it, that one should have his father's wife. So we're not
talking about the sins that believers struggle with every day in our
life. We're talking here about outward
flagrant sin where this man had no care whatsoever that he was
giving the world a reason to to speak evil of the gospel and
of the church and of Christ. He didn't care about that. He
had no care that he was drawing the focus away from Christ to
himself. This man had no care that he
was causing a disruption in the public worship of Christ. That
didn't matter to him. And so this sin and the way it
had to be dealt with is the exception. It's a rare case. It's not the
norm. It's not how we would normally
deal with the lesser sins that believers struggle with daily.
So long as it's not disrupting the service, so long as it's
not bringing reproach on the gospel, so long as it's a private
matter, Rebuke may be necessary from somebody close that can
do so when the Lord has opened the door, but the point is we're
not going around looking for reasons to rebuke one another.
We're not going around looking for reasons for the church to
discipline people. That's not the purpose here.
Men will take a rare exception like this, like Corinthians,
and build a whole doctrine of church discipline on it, and
so then they go to practice in it. If you have some bylaws that
say that this is how we're going to deal with any kind of discipline,
you'll find some way to use them, to execute those laws. And then
you'll create a greater disruption from Christ than it would have
been if you would have handled it in love. So you see what I'm
saying, this was a rare thing. But when rebuke is necessary,
the motive for rebuke is love. Look at verse 12. Paul says,
though I wrote unto you, I did not for his cause that had done
the wrong, that is the person that was guilty of incest. He
said, nor for his cause that suffered wrong, this was the
father whose wife his son had committed fornication with. He
said, I didn't do this just for their sakes only, but that our
care for you, for the whole church, our care for you in the sight
of God might appear unto you. We wanted you to know that we
love you, Paul is saying. Now Paul's object in all this
rebuke that he gave, his object in it was not merely to deal
justly with the offender and to issue justice to the one offended. Although that's very important
because you think about the whole reason Christ came. Why did Christ
come? Christ came to manifest what?
The righteousness of God. Our gospel is concerning how
just God is. That's our gospel. How righteous
God is. How that He will not He will
not pour out justice upon an innocent man and He will not
acquit the wicked. The man is guilty. He won't acquit
him. This is perfect righteousness. That's why Christ came. That's
why we say when Christ went to the cross, it was necessary that
He be without sin because otherwise He could not be. the substitute
of his people. That's why he was born of a virgin
and not born of Adam's corrupt seed. He was holy. So he was
fit to take the place of his people. That's why we say it
was necessary that he made him sin for us. Because God is showing
you, I will not deal with men unjustly. I will not pour out
justice upon somebody unless they, by some prior act, have
been made to deserve justice. And the prior act was not that
Christ sinned. He would not sin. He knew no
sin. It was God made him sin. And so then God could justly... He spared not His own son. And
now the good news is I wouldn't have as much confidence in God
if He punished Christ without first making Him sin. Because
if He ever did that, then He could also pour out justice on
one of us whom Christ redeemed. If He did it once, why couldn't
He do it again? You see what I'm saying? So He made Him sin
and justly, justly, dealt with Him, so now we know the Judge
of all the earth will do right. He will deal with us justly because
Christ put away the sin of His people, God will deal with us
in perfect righteousness. He will not, He will not behold
iniquity in His people because Christ put it away. He blotted
out our sins. So the whole purpose for which
Christ came was to manifest righteousness. And to you who love His righteousness,
because He's quickened you, given you life, you love His righteousness.
So what do you want to do in your daily dealings with one
another? You want to deal righteously. You want to deal righteously.
We want to be merciful. We want to be kind. We want to
do that not at the expense of what's right though. To do that,
to show mercy and it not be just would not be mercy as God shows
mercy. God shows mercy but it's a holy
mercy. It's in accordance with His justice.
All the way God can be merciful to me and you because He's already
dealt with our sin. We died when Christ died so He
can be merciful to us and do it justly. So yes, we love righteousness. So it wasn't... Paul's not saying
that it wasn't important that he that he deal justly with this
offender and that he acquit this man who was innocent because
that was just, that was righteous and God's people love righteousness.
So he's not saying that at all, but what he is saying is his
greater motive in this was to prove to the whole church at
Corinth what great love he had in his heart for the church.
He said, that our care for you in the sight of God might appear
unto you. It's okay to want to show fellow
believers that you love them. That's what he's saying here.
I wanted you to see that we love you. He wrote back in chapter
2, he said, Out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote
unto you with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but
that you might know the love which I have more abundantly
unto you. When you love somebody, you tell
them you love them. And that's what he's doing. He
said, I love you. But he's not just doing it in word, he did
it in deed too by rebuking the offender. And he rebuked the
whole church of Corinth. He said, this man's got to be
put out. You've got to turn away from
this man. Because if this continues, it's going to divide the whole
church. It's going to disrupt the worship service. You're not
going to be able to worship Christ. See, that's when a man has to
be dealt with, when he's disrupting God's people from worshiping
the Lord. So that's a rare exception. But the constraining love of
Christ working in our hearts will make His people deal with
a brother that's fallen into such a grievous sin. That's love
to deal with him. Proverbs 27.5 says, Open rebuke
is better than secret love. You get that? It's better to
openly... That's open love and open rebuke. But secret love
that just says, I love you, but it doesn't ever show it? That's
not love. Faithful are the wounds of a
friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. You don't
just overlook it. In fact, God says it's to hate
a brother, not to rebuke him. Listen to this. Thou shalt not
hate thy brother in thine heart. Thou shalt in any wise rebuke
thy neighbor and not suffer sin upon him. That's from Leviticus
19.17. He says, you don't hate your
brother by overlooking the sin, but you love him by rebuking
him. Whom the Lord loves, what does He do? He chastens. Whom
the Lord loves, He chastens. You have forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not
thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou are rebuked
of Him. For whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth. And He scourges
every son whom He receives. If you endure chastening, God
dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father
chasteneth not? If you have a child, and you
never discipline that child, you never chasten that child,
that child is not going to think you love them. That's a great
big part of the problem these days with children is when they
get to do everything they want to do and they never have any
chastening from their parents. They try their best to do something
to get you to discipline them. Show me you love me. Please,
that's the cry that you see when kids get in trouble so much.
Just show me you love me. Discipline me. Because that's
what love does. God our Father gave His only
begotten Son to save His people from our sins. That's why He
gave Him. And so, because He gave such
a weighty price, His only Son, He will not allow one of His
children to be turned from Christ and perish. That's what it is
when we need rebuke, we need to be turned, we're needing to
be turned back to Christ. And God, because He paid such
a price in sending His Son, He won't allow us, one for whom
Christ died, to go out of the way and perish. He'll turn you
back to Christ. The Lord Jesus laid down His
life for His people. He, by His blood, purged the
sins of His people. And so Christ is our all-powerful
head over all the universe. He has power and He will not
allow one of His own to fall away. He will not do it. He has
the glory to call us. He has the glory to keep us.
And He will because He paid dearly to do this for us. So the motive
for true rebuke is not revenge. It's not just anger. over being
offended. The true motive for rebuke is
love. It's not to embarrass. It's to
love. It's for spiritual growth in
Christ. It's not for one's personal benefit
only, but it's for the whole edifying of the whole church.
By the Spirit of God working in the heart, a believer considers
the rebuke of a brother to be love. You get what I'm saying? By the love of God working in
the heart, A true believer, though it may be offensive at first,
it's going to go against your flesh at first, it may puff you
up in your flesh at first, but a true believer in that new man,
God's going to constrain him to realize, my brother is rebuking
me because he loves me. He loves me. A wise son heareth
his father's instruction, but a scorner heareth not rebuke. The believer realizes this is
my... When a brother rebukes a believer,
the Spirit of God teaches us, this is my father's instruction.
Not that that brother is my father, but God's using my heavenly father's
using that brother. And it's my heavenly father that's
speaking to me. He's the one that's rebuking
me. He's the one doing it. And a believer by the Spirit
of God working in his heart not only receives that rebuke, he'll
love you for rebuking him. Listen to Proverbs 9.8, Reprove
not a scorner lest he hate thee. And that's a man that professes
to believe Christ. If you rebuke him and he gets
mad and departs from the gospel or won't speak to you anymore
or whatever, you know what that man's proven? He's proving he
don't know God. He's proving God's not working
in his heart. He's proving he's a scorner. A scorner hates rebuke. You rebuke a wise man, he will
love thee. He will love thee. So if a brother
rebukes me, it's enough. If one brother rebukes me, it's
enough for me to consider, this is God my Heavenly Father speaking
to me. But now listen, if the whole
church together rebukes me. If the whole church separates
from me for something I've done, and the whole church is treating
me this way, I would be wise to consider God speaking to me. God speaking to me. I'd say that
to any brother that's suffering, don't act like You're standing
for justice and you're going through the fire. Now, if the
whole church is rebuking you, God's rebuking you, God's speaking
to you, it'd be wise to take heed and consider that. That's
so. And it's done in love and it's
done to correct us. We ought never let the pride
of our old sinful flesh puff us up and keep us from hearing
rebuke. The fleshly heart is deceitful above all things. It's
desperately wicked. And if I have this many brethren
that are saying that what I'm doing is wrong, then I better
pay attention. I better pay attention and not
listen to my deceitful heart that's saying, Oh, you're right.
You're justified in what you're doing. You're standing for God
and truth. You're a maverick. I better listen
to God. There's a reason that happened
the way it has and I need to listen to God. And it's Christ
working this. He's always working in each member
in us individually and He's doing it to edify the whole body. Remember
Ephesians 4.15 says, We speak the truth in love, that we may
grow up into Christ in all things, which is the head. And it says,
And it is from Christ that the whole body fitly joined and compacted
by that which every joint is supplying. Just like every member
of your body is being used to transport nourishment to every
other part of your body. You need it. You need every member
to be able to carry what you need to every part of your body.
Well, Christ has fitly joined His church together so that through
each member, He's working to carry that nourishment to that
wounded brother, that brother that needs rebuke, that needs
to be turned. He's working in every member
to bring that nourishment of love and rebuke to that one brother
to turn him back. And by doing that, He not only
grows that one brother in love, He's growing every member in
love. That's what He says. He supplies it through every
joint according to His effectual working in the measure of every
part and so He makes increase of the whole body unto the edifying
of itself in love. And if a brother, a professed
brother proves that he is a scorner and he won't hear rebuke and
he won't be turned back, God is not working in his heart,
God is not turning him and he won't be turned, God's still
working in every member of His church and growing us in love
and teaching us to never look away from Him. He's not going
to fail to edify His church through even our troubles that we have. Even the sins of brethren that
causes trouble in the church. He's working in every member
to turn us to Christ and grow us in Christ. Now secondly, I
want you to see here, Christ produces fruit in us when He
blesses the rebuke, He produces fruit. That first point was the
motive of rebuke. Now here's the fruit of repentance.
When Christ works in us and effectually brings us to repent, He creates
fruit in our hearts and in the hearts of our brethren. Now watch
this, the first fruit is comfort. Comfort in Christ, verse 13.
Paul says, therefore we were comforted in your comfort. We
were comforted in your comfort. Do you remember how he began
the letter? And you remember now when he began this second
letter, Paul already knew they had repented and that they had
dealt with his brother and it appears I think that this brother
actually repented and so everybody involved repented and they told
Titus about it. and Titus was comforted by their
being comforted, and when he told Paul, Paul was comforted
by it. So when Paul started this letter, he already knew they
had repented and they had been comforted. And so he began the
letter saying, Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort, who comforted
us in all our tribulation, so that we may be able to comfort
them which are in any trouble with the same comfort wherewith
we ourselves are comforted. For as the sufferings of Christ
abound in us, so our consolation also abounds by Christ. See there
what he said? He said we were comforted in
your comfort. And who comforted us? It was
Christ. Working in them. and comforting
the church and all those members involved, and comforting Titus
and Paul and the other ministers through their comfort. And their
comfort was Christ. He's our consolation. That's
one reason that the Son of God was made like unto His brethren.
It was not only that He might be a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for
His people, but it was also so that in that He's been tempted
in all things like we're tempted. Yet he was without sin. He was
tempted in all ways like we are so that now we can go to our
high priest and seek comfort in time of need. We can seek
comfort. For in that he himself has suffered
being tempted, he is able to succor, to comfort them that
are tempted. He is able to do that. That's
why He was made flesh. We have not a high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in
all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore
come boldly unto His throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. I would say to any brother
who's rebuked, any sister who's rebuked, the first thing to do is flee
to Christ. Go to Christ. Go to Christ. You know that scripture that
says when Christ was speaking on the Sermon on the Mount, He
said if you come off your gift and you remember that you have
a brother that has aught against you, you first leave your gift
at the altar. You go and be reconciled to your
brother first. If my brethren have something
against me, who's the first brother that has aught against me? Christ.
And He's the first one I need to go to. I need to go to Him
first. and be reconciled to Him. Quit trying to war, quit trying
to fight, quit trying to prove myself right. Surrender and go
to Christ. And then go to my brethren. That's
how He works His comfort. So that's the first fruit. Then
through repentance Christ produces the fruit of joy and refreshing
in our brethren. Verse 13. Yea, and exceedingly
the more joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit
was refreshed by you all. Titus was a minister to Corinth. And I'm telling you, when I hear about a brother that's
fallen and stumbling into sin, I tell you, my heart goes out
to that brother. But I tell you who my heart really
goes out to above that, is that brother's pastor, his minister. Because that's breaking his heart. It's breaking his heart. But
when Titus came there, he saw they had actually heard the Word
and received the Word and been obedient to the Word and it proved
Christ working in them. And so Titus' spirit was refreshed
by the Lord and he was rejoicing and when he went and told Paul
and the other brethren, the same thing happened to them. Their
spirit was refreshed, they were rejoicing. That's the fruit of
our Lord. Why? Whether one member suffer,
all the members suffer with it. And when one member be honored,
all the members rejoice with it. You know, in the past when
a brother has fallen into sin, I can't tell you how many phone
calls I get, how many emails I get. It's not necessarily a brother
in this church. It can be a brother in another congregation. And
when it's known throughout the church. I've got so many phone
calls and so many emails. Brethren confused, brethren hurt,
brethren troubled. But when God works repentance
in the brother, oh, He refreshes your spirit. He makes you have
joy because you see Christ working. You see Him working. And it makes
you rejoice. Gives rest to your spirit, calm
to your spirit, quietens your spirit. Here is another fruit.
When a brother receives a rebuke and he repents, it gives us confidence
in our brethren. Confidence that they are truly
children of God. Verse 14, For if I have boasted
anything to him of you, I am not ashamed. But as we spake
all things to you in truth, even so our boasting which I made
before Titus is found to be a truth. Now, a believer ought never brag
on ourselves. We ought never brag on ourselves. But there's nothing wrong with
bragging on our brethren. Because we're not just bragging
on the brother, we're bragging on Christ who works in the brother. Because you and I don't have
anything but what we receive from God. We can't glory in ourselves
in anything. Everything we have we got from
God. So when brethren brag on another church and their love
and their spirit and their unity, we're bragging on Christ who
worked that in them. And when you brag on a fellow brother
or sister, you're bragging on Christ who worked that in them. When John said this, he said,
"...hereby know we that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he
has given us." John's not talking about this is how I know that
I'm in God and God's in me because of the Spirit He's given me.
He's talking about this is how we have confidence in our brethren.
This is how we know that the Spirit of God abides in them
and they abide in God by the Spirit He's given to your brethren.
You see it in your brethren. If you start seeing that in you
and you start thinking you're standing, The devil has deceived
you. If I start seeing that about
myself, and thinking that about myself, and thinking, oh yeah,
I'm standing, I'm a child of God, I see, I've got a good spirit.
I've fallen. I'm in need of rebuke. But to
see it in your brethren, that's where you see it. You see it
in your brethren. And it works confidence. Look
down at verse 16. He said, I rejoice therefore
that I have confidence in you in all things. See there, you
know God's working in them. Now here's the last thing. When
Christ causes a brother to receive rebuke and He grants him repentance,
Christ increases our love for our fellow brethren. Look here
in verse 15. And His, talking about Titus,
and His inward affection is more abundant towards you, whilst
he remembereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and
with trembling you received him." Again now, Titus was their minister
and by making them obedient, Christ increased Titus' love
for them. He made it more abundant in that
inward man. And the love in all our brethren
grows toward one another. You know, right after you've
come through a great trial together and the Lord, you know, you were
worried, you were concerned, you were troubled in your heart,
you thought the work was in jeopardy or something, you know, and what's
fixing to happen? And the Lord works repentance
and He brings you through that. When He's done that, there is
a bond there that's stronger than it was before you ever went
through that. The Lord works that. He increases your love
for one another. That's what the Lord's doing
right now in His church. With all the churches around,
He's increasing that bond right now. He's bringing us through
trial and He's working that in the hearts of His people. His
people are never going to be in jeopardy. His people are never
going to be in trouble when there's any kind of trouble within the
church or anything that happens. It's not going to move His church. His church is on the rock. What
God's going to do through it is increase the love of our brethren
and unite His church the more. That's what He's doing. So brethren,
and when you think about these reasons here, is this not reason
enough for me to receive rebuke and to repent from my error? My brethren will be comforted
by Christ. They'll cease being troubled,
they'll be refreshed in their spirit. They'll cease being sorrowful,
they'll be filled with exceeding great joy. Their confidence in
me will be increased as they see Christ work effectually in
me. And their love toward me will be increased. Now, if I'm
in need of rebuke and in need of repentance, is that not reason
enough to repent? To receive the rebuke and repent? And that's what the Lord is going
to use to make a believer come to himself and realize, I need
to quit justifying myself. I need to quit making my boast
and exalting myself at the expense of my brethren. I need to repent
because I see these things. how it's hurting my brethren
and how it's dishonoring my Lord. And I see how my Lord is going
to be honored and my brethren are going to be comforted and
grown through this repentance and this turning back to Christ. And He'll bring you to yourself.
He'll make you see that. He'll make you see it's for God
and for your brethren. and you'll repent willingly.
You'll want to. That's the power of Christ. Remember
we quote that scripture, His people shall be willing in the
day of His power. It's not just Him coming to you and turning
you around. It's Him working this love in
your heart, this comfort, this spirit working in the heart that
He makes you willing. He melts that hard heart and
mortifies that rebellious fleshly spirit and makes you willing
in that inward man to turn to Christ. That's what He does. I pray any brother or sister
needing rebuke, needing repentance, I pray God will work that in
them. That's my prayer. Alright, let's stand together. Father, we pray for Your people
everywhere. Pray for those that are in error that you would work
this rebuke in love, make it effectual to them and work repentance
in their hearts. Our motive is never to see a
brother perish. Our motive is to reclaim a brother,
to see him restored, brought back to the faith. Lord, make
us to remember these things, make us to review this anytime
that we need to rebuke a brother or sister and make us go and
take some time and think about these things and meditate on
these things so that we might not ourselves fall into a fault. Forgive us, Lord, of our sins
and forgive those that right now may be offending You. We
ask it for the name of Christ, for His precious blood. It's
in His name we pray. Amen.