Matthew 18. Matthew 18. I started to title this Church
Discipline, but that just doesn't sound... I just didn't have the
right sound to it. I think the best title is the
Healing of Differences. That's a little bit kinder, to
put it in a better light. Our Lord has been speaking of
His little ones and that lost one and how we are not to offend
any of His little ones. He takes it very personal if
any of His little ones are offended. He takes it very personal, just
as you would if your little ones were offended by someone. He
says their angels do always behold the face of their Father which
is in heaven. It's serious business. He's their
Lord. He's their Redeemer. They are his children. And he
takes it very personal when they are mistreated or mishandled.
And if you'll notice, I didn't think about this until I brought
this a couple of weeks ago. The disciples were all Jews. They were all Jews. And they
are going to preach to some Gentiles. And you know how prejudiced they
were against the Gentiles. And the Lord is telling them,
I have some little ones among those Gentiles. And don't you
slight them or mistreat them. You remember when Peter was going
to preach to Cornelius over in the book of Acts, and the Lord
gave him a vision, a dream, and he sent down this sheet and it
had some unclean food on it. And Peter said, not so, not so. He said, I've never touched my,
nothing as unclean as ever touched my lips. He couldn't say it about
his heart. You know, they wonder what a
pig tastes like. Guarantee. And the Lord said, what I have
cleaned, don't you call unclean. And then he sent him to that
Gentile, Cornelius, to preach the gospel to him. And so that
gave me a little more light on that after I preached and I realized
who he was talking to. And that's the same way with
us. Well, I'm not prejudiced. You'd
be surprised. Let someone cut you off out there in the street or jump
in front of you with their car. of a different race, you'd be
surprised what's left in you. You'd be surprised what's in
you. So our Lord, He's talking to them about these little ones.
However, this does not mean that correction
is never used when necessary. That doesn't mean, well, I'll
just leave it alone. No. No, He says you don't leave
things alone. I'm not saying that. We have
to use correction when necessary. James said, in all things we
offend. And it would do us well to remember
that word, we. We offend in all things. Sometimes
we offend or trespass unknowingly. Sometimes that happens unknowingly. How are we to handle such times?
Our Lord so wisely and tenderly instructs us on how to handle
such times and persons, or brothers. He says in verse 15, and you'll
notice as we go down through here, no law is mentioned. He's
not saying take them before the law, whether it be a civil law
or any law. He doesn't say take them before
a law and we'll get this settled. No. If thy brother, the key word
here is this, thy brother. Remember who you're dealing with. First, remember He's thy brother.
Don't say, well, He can't be a brother. He wouldn't act like
that. Oh, He said, thy brother. Even
a brother or sister can trespass against us. That's why the Lord
said, forgive them their trespasses. Now, how are we going to handle
it? First of all, we handle it in a spirit of forgiveness. Desiring to forgive, wanting
to forgive, wanting to put this matter out of the way. This is
not trivial stuff he's talking about here. We're not talking
about just trivial differences. He's talking about things that
are more serious. Handle it in a spirit of ready
to forgive. Ready to mend that which has
been broken. And secondly, keep it private. You mentioned that. Keep it private. Oh, I tell you, when I began
to read this, and as I sat and I read it and I thought about
it, I thought about the grace of God here in this. Instructions. Listen to the grace and the love
of God, how He instructs us to deal with each other. Keep it
private. Don't go about telling everyone
else about it. Don't do that. Love covereth
a multitude of sins. Don't let your sins become bigger
than His. Don't let your sin here become
bigger than the one that you're having trouble with. It may be, like I said, that
He may be. He doesn't even know He wronged
you. It may be. Much can be done by private communication. Much can be done. And thirdly,
go in the spirit of love. And we heard this morning. Go
to that brother in the spirit of love, truly desiring to settle
the matter privately. I mean keeping it hush-hush,
quiet. Don't harbor ill feelings in
your heart that leads to more sin. You know, that's what sin
does. You just keep harboring that
and chewing on that. It just leads to a bad spirit.
Next thing you know, the whole body is affected. In Leviticus
19, 17, it says this, hate not your brother in your heart. What if our Lord made all our
trespasses known? What if He made all our trespasses
public? We wouldn't be able to show our
face if He made all our trespasses public. And here's the blessing. Here's the blessing. The Lord
said, go to Him in private. Deal with this matter privately.
And here's the blessing. Thou hast gained thy brother.
I tell you what, if you just jump up and make it public, boy,
you just built a wall. You just built a wall that's
hard for anyone to get over. Thou hast gained thy brother.
What's that worth? What's that worth? As that commercial
says, priceless. Thou hast gained thy brother.
We're trying to gain him, not lose him. And the Lord is telling
us how to deal with him. But if he'll not hear you, if
he's obstinate, And he's really adamant about whatever this problem
is. Whatever it is. And he'll not
hear you. Then take two or three witnesses
from the church now. Don't go out here and just get
two or three other people. I mean people that are known
leaders of the church. That you have some real confidence
in that they know God and understand the Scriptures. He said you get
two or three witnesses from the church and you go and speak to
him about this matter. Don't give up on him. That jumped
out of me. Don't give up on him. If it's
not settled between you and him, don't give up on him. Don't give
him up. Scripture says, let everything
be established in the mouth of two or three witnesses. Scripture
says this, Solomon said that in the multitude of counselors,
there's what? Wisdom. Maybe one brother has
more wisdom in this matter than I have. Maybe he has more influence
than I have. He says take two or three witnesses.
The rule is still try to keep it private as possible though.
Just take two or three. Just keep it as private as possible.
And never accuse a brother, this is important, never accuse a
brother without witnesses. Never do that. And don't disturb
the whole body of Christ when it just takes maybe two or three.
Oh, and don't you see the grace of God here in dealing with this? He's saying keep it as quiet
and as private as possible. This is how our Lord deals with
this. I can see the tender mercy of our Lord in dealing with sinners. I thought of this last night. Everything, pretty much everything
that the Lord has dealt with me over has been privately. You don't know my past. I don't know your past. He's
dealt with it in the heart. And He's kept it private. He's
not made public everything we've ever thought, said, or done,
has it? Oh, and He's saying you do it
the same way. You handle your brother with the same tenderness
that I have handled you. Same kindness. Same love. Same
tenderness. Handle it the same way. Remember, we're all sinners saved
by the grace of God, liable to do the same things. Just liable
to do the same thing. And I assure you, somewhere down
the road, if you live long enough, even if you don't live long,
you're going to offend somebody. That's just this old nature we
have. It's still with us. But now, did you notice who went
to whom? Did you notice this? The offended
one is to go to the offender. I'm not going to deal with him.
He offended me. No, he says the offended one
is the one to go to the offender. The best way to get over something
is deal with it. Deal with it. Deal with it as
privately as possible, but he says deal with it. Don't ignore
the offender and salt. Don't do that. You take the initiative
and you go to your brother. Grace, listen to this, grace
always moves first. Grace always takes the initiative. Who moved first, God or you? Who moved first? Who sought,
who first? God, I was found of them that
sought me not. I was made known unto them that
asked not after me. Grace always makes the first
move. It always makes the first move. Then be merciful as your
Father which is in heaven is merciful and go, he said, and
settle this matter as graciously and privately and lovingly as
possible. Don't let pride keep you from
gaining your brother. Don't let pride keep you from
gaining your brother. Grace will reign where or in
whom it is found. It will come out. It will come
out. But if he neglected here then,
then go tell it to the church. Keep it private. If that doesn't
work, just get your two or three witnesses. If that does not work,
Then go tell the church, but don't give up. Isn't this something? Don't give up on Him until all
proper avenues are exhausted. Don't you give up on your brother
or your sister. Don't do it. Now you write this
down, or you make a mental note of this. Never, never lose a
brother or a sister easily. Never lose one easily. It may be that the voice of the
whole church will cause him to hear, cause him to repent, and
come to his spiritual senses. It may be. That's why the Lord
says do this. And I thought of this proverb. It says, He that winneth souls
is wise. And here's some wise counsel
of winning back the brother. As I said, these trespasses are
more than trivial differences. He's speaking here of some serious,
serious matters. But if he'll not hear the church,
you've exhausted all these avenues. Then treat him as a heathen man
and a publican. If he insists on acting like
one, And there comes a time when he must be treated like one.
If all these avenues of grace and mercy and tenderness and
kindness, if all of them have failed, then treat him like a
heathen and a publican, a tax collector. And you know how they
felt about tax collectors. They just didn't go around them.
Didn't invite them home. They just left them alone. You've
gone that second mile with your brother. You counted him as a
brother, he's made a profession, and you counted him as a brother.
You've gone that second mile with him. You owe him no more.
Our Lord says you owe him no more. You're not obligated to
keep up the fellowship with him. For it's evident, at this point,
it seems evident, he needs salvation. This one needs to be saved. Remember, we've already gone
over this, that the kingdom of heaven has tares and wheat in
it. He said that the wheat and the
tares grow together. You remember when they cast the
net out, the kingdom of heaven is like a man fishing, cast the
net out, and they brought the net in full, and it was full
of what? Good and bad fish. There's some bad ones in there
as well as good ones. So he's saying here it's evident.
You've exhausted all these, it's evident he's a heathen. He's
like a heathen and a publican. But I tell you this, make him
prove he's not a brother. Make him prove it. Make him do
it. And our Lord is a good example
here. He was ill-treated by his brothers. He was mistreated by them. He
was despised and rejected of them. Hated! They despised Him. Hated Him. And yet He said, O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered you together.
He wept over them. He wept over them. How often
would I have gathered you together as a hen doth gather her brood,
but you would not. You would not. However, he finally
did turn to the Gentiles, didn't he? And turned them over to judicial
blindness and left them alone. And to this day, they're still
left alone. They're still being treated as a heathen and a puppet.
He's left them alone. And here in verse 18 is the seriousness
of this discipline. Here's the seriousness of it.
Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and
whatsoever ye loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. It's
serious business. You know, people play with this
thing of church discipline, and for the most part, it's just
wrong. The way it's dealt with, it's
just wrong. They deal with it so unscripturally. But he says here, whatever you
loose here is loose there. Whatever you bind here, if you
cast this brother out, it's bound in heaven. Now, these are not
easy verses to deal with. These are not easy verses to
deal with. But this shows the unity of the Lord and His church,
His body. The head and the body are one. They are one. And this shows
here that the Lord and His church cannot be separated. They're
not separated, not even in judgment on matters. And this does not
mean that the Lord is to follow our lead. He's not saying now,
whatever you bind here, I'll bind in heaven. It really should
be read like this. Whatsoever you bind on earth
is already bound in heaven. It's already settled in heaven.
We are just coming to the conclusion it's already been drawn. He does
not follow our lead, we follow his. We follow his lead. And when we follow his instructions,
then the following outcome is the same as in heaven. That's
what he's saying. You follow my words, my instruction. And whatever this outcome is,
it's already that in heaven, it's already settled. In heaven
the matter is already settled. When we follow His instructions,
we come to that same settled conclusion that's already in
heaven. He's not saying whatever you,
like He's subject to us. He's not saying whatever you
bind, I'll bind it, I have to bind it. No, He says it's already
settled. It's just you're being brought
to the same conclusion. Then here in verse 19, and again
I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching
anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of
my Father which is in heaven. If two, oh our Lord takes notice of two. If there were just two people
here this morning, just two. that are in full agreement on
a matter. The Lord said, it shall be done.
It shall be done. We never pray to get what we
want. That's not why He's saved. Here's what we do. But we pray
to receive what God wills in this matter. He's still on this
subject of this offender. There must be union and harmony
and agreement in a matter of prayer, or else God's not going
to be in on it. He's not going to answer our
prayers. Not if you have division. He said He's not going to answer.
There's got to be full agreement in the matter. Got to be full
agreement. You know, I've always thought
it's so strange that we pray to football games. When we were in the Little League,
they asked me one time, Bryce, I'm not going to do that. I want
us to win. I want them to just knock the
daylights out of those kids out there. I'm serious. Lord, we pray that nobody will
get hurt. And they try to knock the quarterback out. Whoever
the best one is, they try to put him out. Now, if you don't
believe that, you're just fooling yourself. You know, I told, when
I was on the wrestling team, I told Jeremy, I said, now son,
I'm not going to tell you all I told him, but I said, you go
out there and you go out there and whip that kid because he's
trying to embarrass you in front of me. I said, he's trying to embarrass
you in front of your father, in front of his classmates, in front of
all these, you better put up a fight, son. And I, there was,
I let it go with that. You're going to win, you're going to win. So after saying that,
Matthew Henry said this, pass no sentence which we cannot ask
God to confirm. Write it down. Pass no sentence on a brother
or a sister, whatever the offender, pass no sentence on them that
you will not ask God to confirm it. That's good advice. If the church
is going to ask God to bind or loose, see how serious this is?
Paul said, take that incestuous man and what did he say? Turn
him over to Satan. That the body may be destroyed,
but the spirit may be saved. And that man came back. That
man came back. But the discipline had to be
taken care of. It had to for the sake of the
whole body. It had to be taken care of. And notice here, he doesn't say,
get a bunch of you together, like I said, let's go to the
courthouse. Numbers count down there. But he said it's just
two of you. Two of you, full agreement. The
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. And he says here in verse 20,
and I'll close, for where two or three are gathered together
in my name, oh, I pray that's so this morning, we are gathered
together in his name to worship him. Where two or three are gathered
together in unity and agreement And they gather together in my
name here at worship or whether it be over a matter of someone
that's an offender. And it's got to be dealt with.
It's got to be dealt with. He said, you gather together
in my name. There am I in the midst of them. That to me is one of the most
solemn statements. Here we are gathered here this
morning. and the Lord in the midst of us. He said, there are
just two or three gathered in my name. I'm right there with them. I'm
in the midst of them. Spurgeon said, His presence is
the fixed center of the assembly. Here we have a declaration of
His deity. Two or three are gathered together
here in my name. Hopefully a lot more than that.
Well, they're gathered down in Williamsburg, too, this morning.
They're gathered in Lexington this morning, in Danville, and
down in Rocky Mount. Now, if the Lord's here, what's that say about them? He's
there, too. Because the Lord's here. And notice He said this, where
two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I. They
are standing in His presence. He is declaring to them His deity,
His Godhead. I am God. This is God. This One is God Almighty. He
is omnipresent. While He was on earth, He was
in the bosom of the Father at the same time. At the same time. There am I in the midst of Him. Boy, I tell you, that shows the
oneness of his body too. Right now they're local churches
and we have to deal with our own problems and keep them as
quiet as possible. When two or three are gathered
together, he doesn't have to take a multitude. He's not impressed
with numbers. He's not impressed with numbers.
You know these singers, They can have a concert in some
town, and if they don't sell enough tickets, they don't go.
It's not worth my trip. He says, just two of you. I'll
be right in the midst of you. Right in the midst. How sweet
is this? How sweet is this? This promise. There am I in the midst of you.
How sweet is that? There am I in the midst of you.
How powerful this is. There am I in the midst of it. And how condescending is the
grace of our Lord to be where just two are. There are meetings this morning
where hundreds meet together, if not thousands. And the Lord's
not there. And there's little old places,
I mean, just little old congregations even smaller than this one, where
the Lord of Glory is. I pray that we have truly, truly
gathered in His name this morning, that our Lord is in the midst
of us, in the midst of us. And old Peter, he came to him
and said, How often? I'm going to close
here. I'll pick up here next week. But how often should I
forgive? How many times have I got to do this? If my brother
offends me time and time again, and Peter sets a number on it.
You notice Peter puts a number. If my brother, he says, how often
shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Until seven
times? Tell me what the number is. Can't you just see? Our human nature. Tell me what
the number is so after that time I can cut him off. I can switch. Oh, the Lord said He gives a
definite number for an indefinite number. He says until seven times. He said no, seventy times seven. Every time He offends thee, forgive
Him. Even if you have to treat him
like a heathen man and a publican, that you can forgive him. He
may not straighten up, but you forgive. Just because someone
else does wrong doesn't mean I'm going to do wrong. It doesn't
matter. I'm going to stand with him. I'm going to stand with
him. Not me and my wife standing together. Not me and my family. It's me. The Lord deals with
us on a personal, one-on-one basis. How many times shall I forgive
him? Every time he sins. I'll tell you, let me ask you,
here's this answer. How many times shall I forgive
him? How many times you won't be forgiven? How many times you want the Lord,
how many times you desire the Lord to forgive you, your trespasses? That's how many times you forgive
your brother.