If we're honest with ourselves,
when someone reads the Word of God, a chapter or a passage,
the truth is Most of it just kind of goes
by in a blur. Our mind just can't pick up everything.
We're so limited in our thinking and our understanding. But the
Lord is gracious to make things jump out once in a while. Different
things when the same scripture may be read at different times.
What impressed me when Ken read that was this. Paul said we were
allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel. What a blessing that is. What
a privilege that is. Allowed of God to be put in trust
with the gospel. That's everybody who supports
this gospel here in this place and everywhere the gospel is
preached. What a blessed privilege it is. And I pray that the Lord
would enable us this morning to apply our hearts. Solomon
talked about applying your heart unto wisdom. You know the difference
between just being along for the ride this morning and applying
your heart to what's said. Be in the message. And I pray
the Lord will give us all that grace this morning to apply our
hearts to the gospel. In Matthew 18 verse 15. We'll cover quite a bit of scripture
this morning and I'll try to do it Briefly as I can because
I know what I just got to say and it's true. We just we just
can't contain much I'm like you and worse than you in that I
can't I Can't contain too much. I can't really apply my heart
to a whole lot but let's look at the whole passage because
it all I has a bearing on the rest of it, if that makes any
sense. These words go together. Verse
15 of chapter 18, all the way through the end of the chapter. The Lord said, Moreover, if thy
brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault
between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast
gained thy brother. Now the reason he says, moreover,
he'd been talking all through this chapter about offenses and
offending one another and being an offense to one of my little
ones. And if somebody does offend you or something offends you,
put a stumbling block in the way of you entering into the
kingdom of God, cut it off. That's the context here. But
he says, moreover, if your brother trespass against you, go to him. Talk to him about it. Tell him
what happened. And if he hears you, you've gained
your brother. That's worth doing, isn't it?
That's worth doing. But if he will 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 unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the
church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man, and a publican. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever
ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatsoever
ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. You know
what that tells me? That the Lord's going to guide us in things
like this. It's not loosed in heaven because
it's loosed by you. You know what I mean? But what happens in God's church
is certified and ordained in heaven. It's going to play out
the way God has ordained it to do so. And so we're to do things
the way He instructs us to do them, and we trust Him in that.
However it ends up, here is the way God ordained it. Is that
what He's saying there? Whether you lose a brother or
gain one, it's God. Unless it's you. You see what
I'm saying? If we do what God said, if we
do it the way God instructed us to, And verily I say unto
you, let's see, again I say unto you, verse 19, 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.
Because who is the one that caused that? Who's the one that brings
agreement on things like this? The things of God, matters that
are vital to the worship of Christ. It'll be done for them of my
Father which is in heaven. That's why he brought you to
that place is to do it for you. For where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. You see
the context of that verse and how often that's kind of used
without really explaining the context. But then look at verse
21. Then came Peter to him and said,
Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me? And I forgive
him till seven times. Even that much? That would take
a lot of patience, wouldn't it, to forgive somebody seven times?
Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee until seven times,
but until seventy times seven. Forgiveness doesn't have any
limit. True forgiveness has no boundaries. Don't you know what
true forgiveness is, Peter? And me, and you guys this morning? You have any idea what real forgiveness
is? You ought to know if you're His,
you do. If you're His, you know what forgiveness is, and you
know it has no limits. How many times has the Lord forgiven
me than you? How many times? Seventy times
seven wouldn't even come close, would it? It wouldn't even come
close. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven
likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his
servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto
him, which owed him ten thousand talents. That's millions of dollars
back then. But for as much as he had not
to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and children
and all that he had and payment to be made. That was the right
thing to do according to the law. But the servant therefore
fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with
me and I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of that servant
was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the
debt. But the same servant went out and found one of his fellow
servants, which owed him an hundred pence. And he laid hands on him
and took him by the throat saying, pay me that thou owest. And his fellow servant fell down
at his feet and besought him saying, have patience with me
and I will pay thee all. And he would not, but went and
cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when
his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry
and came and told unto their Lord all that was done. And then
his Lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked
servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desirest me. Shouldest not thou also have
had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on
thee? And his Lord was wroth and delivered
him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto
him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye
from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. How many of them? All of them.
All of them. The Lord had just talked concerning
offenses, and that anyone who lays or becomes a stumbling block
in the way with regard to entering the kingdom, they got to be cut
off. But now he's talking about a brother and trespasses. In
verses 8 and 9, he says, an eye or a hand or a foot has to be
cut off. Of course, we know that means
anything about ourselves that would hinder us. If your own
eye offends you, it's got to go. But also, as we said last
week, Paul speaks of other people in Galatians 5-7 when he asks,
who did hinder you? Who did put a stumbling block
in your way? Who did offend you that you should
not obey the truth? And in verse 12 of that same
chapter, Galatians 5, he said, I would that they were even cut
off which trouble you. Whoever hindered you, they need
to be cut off. And so he's talking about the
same thing. So we know he's talking there, our Lord is talking about
anything about us, however dear, it's got to go if it prevents
us from entering into the kingdom of God. The cares of this world
can't be allowed to choke out the seed. And then, of course,
others who would trouble, would hinder. We should desire, as
Paul, that they be cut off. No relationship, no matter how
dear, is worth missing Christ. And if your own baggage is contrary
to the gospel, do you know what that is, religious baggage? Stuff
that you carry now that you were carrying before you met the Lord.
I'd say most of us have some of that. If it's weighing you
down, if it's hindering you, jettison it. Get rid of it. If anyone is an evil influence
upon you, it's got to be dealt with, no matter how you dread
it. And in some cases, you're gonna dread it. If I found out
I had to cut my hand off in order to save my life, Oh, that would
be painful, wouldn't it? Not just physically painful.
That would hurt me in my heart to have to lose my hand. But
it wouldn't be a hard decision to make, would it? If it's going
to save my life. That's what our Lord's talking
about. I don't want to die with two hands. If I could live with
one. But here in verses 15 through
17, we're talking about a brother. Did you notice the difference?
A brother, a brother. That word's not used before.
And I know the questions that come into your mind, because
I have them too. How do you really know if someone's
your brother? That's the first thing we start thinking when
somebody offends us. Well, he must not even be saved. That's
pretty easy to say. I'd be a lot more careful about
it in reality than that, though. Do I know you? I know me, so
I'm pretty sure I know you. That's the first thing that we
start thinking when somebody really, really riles us up. They probably don't even know
the Lord. Be careful about that now. He just got to say it, don't
you offend one of my little ones. How do you really know if someone's
your brother? Well, there's a real easy answer to that. You assume
that they are until you can no longer do that. Is that simple
enough? You assume that they are. unless
there is overwhelming reason, unless it comes to the place
where our Lord said, they're a heathen to you from that point
on. As far as you're concerned, they're a publican and a heathen.
You can treat them like that from that point on. Until it
gets there to that place, you assume that they're one of his
little ones. I think that's pretty clear in
this text. And we remember what he said about offending one of
his little ones. And the word here trespass is not the same
as offend. This is not a stumbling block
with regard to the kingdom of God. This is an error, a mistake. Have you ever made one of those?
It's a lot bigger deal when somebody else makes one, doesn't it? It means something different
to you than it does when you make one. You probably don't
even notice if you make one. But if somebody else does, boy,
it's not going to get past us, is it? Our Lord gives us clear
direction and instructions regarding what to do when somebody does
trespass. They make a mistake. They err.
And first, understand this. We've got to understand this
right off the bat. Now, not anybody in this room who has time or
enough breath even to point out every error that everybody they
know has. You don't have time for that
and I don't either. A whole bunch of it's just going
to have to be let go. Do we get that? There's a whole
bunch of things that are going to make me upset about you and
vice versa, make you upset about me. They're just going to have
to be let go. You're just going to have to understand that I'm
flesh and you're flesh and we're going to have to get on with
it and let it go. Remember those three words. I
try to remember them. My pastor taught me these three
words and what they mean. Let it go. Let it go. If it can be let go,
it needs to be let go. All right. What our Lord's talking
about here in this text, it may be necessary, it may not be necessary. Sometimes the thing to do, and
most of the time the thing to do, is let it go. Love covereth
a multitude of sins. Love does that. The flesh doesn't
do that. The flesh ain't never covered
up a sin yet. Have you noticed that about your
flesh? But love does. The fruit of the Spirit is love.
And love will cover them up. Cover them up. But when fellowship is broken
over something, when you've lost your brother, the Lord makes
this so clear, doesn't he? When do you not have to let it
go? When you've lost your brother. You can't gain somebody that
hadn't been lost. So it's when you've lost your
brother that you've got to do something. Something's got to
be done about it at that point. It can't be ignored. And then
we know what to do because the Lord's told us what to do. And
this has been good for me. I hope, I pray the Lord will
teach us this. I've often wondered about this
and worried over it. Hadn't you? Should I say something? Should I not say something? I
think this is real clear. And this is to be dealt with
in the church. You notice the word church in our text. A brother You go to your brother. And then you take two or three
more with you. Not people outside the church, in the church. And
then if he won't hear you two or three, then the whole church. This is dealt with in the church.
In 1 Corinthians 6, 1 through 8, Paul talks about that to the
Corinthians. He said, you're taking one another.
Somebody doesn't pay you back or something or commits some
kind of a of a trespass against you, and you're taking them to
a court of law with people that don't know God? You need to deal
with this yourself. Let's look at that. This is important.
1 Corinthians 6. So I want you to look at it,
and I don't want to take too much time this morning, but I
want to take enough time. Look, he said, dare any of you
having a matter against another go to law before the unjust and
not before the saints? He just assumes that they're
unjust because if they're not in the church, that's a pretty
safe assumption, wouldn't you say? Oh, we can't judge anybody. If somebody doesn't worship God,
what does that tell you about them? Those who know God worship
God. Okay? Not before the saint? Do you not know that the saints
are going to judge the world? God's people are going to judge
the world. We're going to be smarter then
than we are now. But we already know some things
that this world doesn't know. We know what justice is and we
know what forgiveness is. We know an equal measure when
we see one. And we know something about sin.
We know something about restitution. About satisfaction. And we know
something about grace. We know something about that
love that covers sins. The world's going to be judged.
The world be judged by you. Are you unworthy to judge the
smallest matters? You're going to have to take
them down to the courthouse. No, this is to be dealt with. Our Lord taught in our text this
morning in the church. Even a legal matter like that
should be dealt with among the people of God. Know you not that
we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain
to this life? If then you have judgments of
things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least
esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it
so that there is not a wise man among you? Know not one that
shall be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goeth
to law with brother, and that before the unbeliever. He said,
that's shameful. That's shameful. This needs to
be dealt with among God's people. And he said this, if your brother
trespass against you, insomuch that you've lost your brother,
go to your brother. We get so confused about things
that we want to talk to somebody else about it, and everybody
else in the world knows about it except your brother. Go to
your brother. Don't go to everybody else behind
his back. Go to your brother. Don't avoid
him. Don't look for ways to get even.
Go to him. It's so simple, isn't it? Nobody
else needs to know about it. It's between you and the person
who has erred. Between thee and he alone is
what it says in the text. Alone. That's the first step. And what do you say? What do
you say when you tell him it's his fault? Don't hem-haw around
about it. Don't insinuate things. Tell
him the problem. Be direct about it. Be honest
about it. Is that hard to do? I've had somebody tell me one
time that they like to, when they have a problem with somebody,
they'll wait until there's several people sitting around and that
person is one of them and they'll say something to this person
over here when they're really saying it to him. Don't ever
do that. Don't pull that one on me and
I won't pull it on you. That's dishonest and foolish.
Go to your brother and tell him the problem. Be direct and honest
about it. You say, well, he knows what
he did. Not necessarily. I've made a lot of big mistakes.
I didn't even realize I made until somebody pointed it out
to me. Have you? Don't assume. And that may be
the end of it right there. They may not have even realized
that they'd offended you. And when they do, they'll apologize
and say, I won't do that again. If I can help it, I didn't mean
that. That's not what I meant. Or maybe it is what I meant.
I was just, I was in a state that you never have those days
when you do things you regret later. Perhaps what happened
was intended another way than what it was taken. Maybe it was
done or said in anger, and maybe they've been wishing that they
hadn't done it. but didn't want to bring it up.
I've experienced most of these possibilities at one time or
another. Maybe they didn't realize it
was bothering you. Whatever it is, he may hear you. That's the
next thing, if he hear you. You know what he means by that?
If you have a problem, an issue with somebody and you go to them
and tell them what it is, just honest and straightforward, have
the guts to do that. You're going to know pretty quick
whether he's hearing you or not. You know what that means. I've
experienced this, I've experienced the other too, where they're
not going to hear you. No matter what, no matter how clear the
matter is, and how well you explain it, and how just black and white. I mean this is obviously something
you shouldn't have said, or shouldn't have done, and they're just not
going to hear you anyway. That can very well happen. even
among believers. If they're not hearing you, you're
going to know pretty quick. If they do, the Lord said, if
they hear you, you've gained your brother. Oh my. And as I've already said, this
tells us the kind of things, first of all, that we should
be talking about to begin with. If we let it go, unless it's
going to cost you your brother, then you've got to do something,
don't you? Can you just dismiss a brother so easily? If you can possibly gain your
brother, you got to do that. Don't you? Gaining him is worth
the effort and it may not be easy. Sometimes it's real hard
to do. The last thing you want to do
is confront somebody about something. But if it's the difference between
gaining your brother or losing your brother, This is the object
to have in mind when you go. You're not going there to set
the record straight. That may be the result of it.
You're not going there to rebuke or to avenge yourself. You're
going there to gain your brother. That'll change the tone of the
whole thing. If there's any way to gain your
brother, don't you walk away until that's what happens. Now
if it goes badly, and it can, If this person is angry about
being confronted or unapologetic or absolutely disagrees with
your assessment of the whole situation for whatever reason,
and they won't hear you, then it's time to bring in some witnesses,
some unbiased witnesses. Now, don't get your buddies together
that are going to agree with everything you say and just gang
up on him. That's not what the Lord's talking about here. He's
saying whatever dispute that you have with him, It needs to
be so clear and obvious that he's the problem. And everybody
else is saying, no, yeah, he's right. You need to make this
right. It can't just be you having a
grudge against somebody or something. It's time to bring some more
people in. One or two, he said, and let
every word be established. In other words, it's not just
your opinion against his. It's an established fact that
there's a problem here. What the problem is, and what
needs to be done about it. It wasn't just the way you perceived
the matter, but in reality it's a problem. And it should be received
as such. If not, it still may not work. But usually it won't ever even
get that far. Usually. By far usually it won't
get to that place. And the next step is to let everybody
know about it. The church. So that there's no
misunderstanding that can that can be a problem, a division
among the folks, so that there can be a consensus about it.
Again, it's clear that this shouldn't be done unless it's absolutely
necessary. Two other attempts have already
been made first to set this matter right. This is only if it's an
ongoing problem that's affecting the worship. If the church is
affected by it, then they need to know about it. The matter
needs to be clarified and open and honest. We worship as a family. And if fellowship is lost, then
the worship is affected. You've all surely experienced
that at one time or another. If it is important enough that
the church, the assembly, needs to know about it, then likely
most of them already know about it. And they may not know the
truth about it. You're just going to be clarifying
the matter at that point anyway, usually. But they need to know
about it at that point. And notice that the purpose of
it is that the church might convince him of the problem. That he might
see overwhelmingly that he's the problem and not you or the
other two that you brought with you. He's the problem. If the whole church is clear
on the matter, then he ought to be clear on the matter. You
see what he's saying here? And if not, if he neglects to
hear the church, if he neglects to hear the church and remember
again Paul's instruction to the Corinthians here this is a matter
among brethren among the people of God if it comes to that then
there's no other recourse fellowship is cut off you got to be cut
off at that point he becomes what our Lord was talking about
while ago if you're an offender of the brethren you got to be
cut off unless and until there's a change of heart Because as
we've already seen, forgiveness is without limit. And this mistake,
though, has become an offense at this point. And it's time
to cut them off. They're as a heathen to you.
But let me point out something here and now because it bears
upon this. Peter asked the Lord there in verse 21. Let's skip
down to that. How often should I forgive my
brother? If it's not this way, if it's
not come to the point where they're just not going to hear you, they're
not going to hear you. They're not going to hear you
and two witnesses. They're not going to hear everybody in the
church. If they tell them, you know, this can't stand what you've
done or doing or whatever it is. And we'll talk about some
different kind of errors that, that, uh, Paul addressed in the
church in a minute here. If it's continuing or it's something
that you're just not going to hear, you can't stand. And there's
got to be a cutting off. But if it didn't get to that
point and your brother's asking you for forgiveness, that's what
happened in the parable. He's saying, forgive me. Forgive
me for not paying you before. Give me some time. I'm going
to do everything I can to pay you back. And I will pay you
back. It'll take me a while. And I'm ashamed of that. And
I'm asking your forgiveness. I should have paid you back when
the time was. But forgive me for that. And bear long with
me. And I'll pay you back if I possibly
can. You don't ever turn somebody away like that. Ever. Ever. And it don't have to have to
do with money like it did here. Anytime your brother does anything
that doesn't sit right with you, and he says, forgive me, it's
done. It's done. How oft? Well, we make a lot of mistakes,
don't we? And they are to be forgiven one another. They are
to be forgiven, period. And this parable that our Lord
tells here, it completes these sayings. Chapter 19, verse one said, when
our Lord had ended these sayings. So these sayings are chapter
18. And having told these sayings, having finished this parable,
Our Lord has shown all sides of this matter of offenses, trespasses,
cutting off, and forgiveness. You think about this. There's
a time in this chapter for cutting off, and there's a time for forgiveness. There are deep and irreconcilable
offenses. Treat him like a heathen from
that point on. He's a goner. He's dead to you.
This world is dead to me and he's one of them. There's a time
for that. There's also a time for forgiveness. But wait a minute, Chris, if
we're to forgive without limitation, then when would we ever treat
anyone as a publican? Well, the difference is in the
scenario in verses 15 through 17 and the parable our Lord told,
there's a difference. In that scenario, In verses 15
through 17, all there is on the part of the one who did the offending,
all there is is a refusal to hear. In three different instances,
there's a refusal to hear. In the parable our Lord told,
the one who committed the offense is saying, have mercy on me. He's worshiping and saying, I
acknowledge my error. You're right. You're absolutely
right, I owe it to you. And if there's any way I can,
I'm gonna pay it to you. You see the difference? It's
not hard to see, is it? It's not hard to see. He's saying, be long-suffering with
me. That's the original. Be long-suffering with me. Can
you do that? The Lord said, if you can't do
that, then you've never experienced my grace. Not in your heart. In verses 15 through 17, three
times space is given for repentance. And there's nothing but refusal.
He will not hear. He will not. But let me just
point out this for your consideration. Let me say this. It doesn't say
anywhere here in this chapter 18, woe unto him that forgives
too much. It never says, woe unto him who
fails to treat someone as a publican when they ought to be treated
as a publican. Never does it say that, but it does say, woe
to him that offends one of my little ones. I'll just say that
for your consideration and mine. If you're going to make a mistake
in your judgment of these things, make it in the direction of mercy.
Is that clear? Now there's a time when it's
necessary and the Lord gives us instruction and discernment
in these things. Sometimes it's a personal matter,
sometimes it's a moral matter, and sometimes it's a doctrinal
matter. Listen to some verses of scripture where these things,
this kind of thing happened in the Word of God that we can take
as examples. Titus 3.9, Paul said, Avoid foolish questions and genealogies
and contentions and strivings about the law. If you and somebody
else are arguing about the word of God, then something's not
right. That's just normal to some people.
It's not normal. Paul said, avoid that. Avoid
that. We're not here to contend about
the word, are we? We're here because we agree on
what God said. That's why we're here. If you
don't, then what are you doing here? Avoid contentions. And listen to this. Verse 10,
Titus 3, a man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition,
reject. knowing that he that is such
is subverted and sinneth being condemned of himself. He's his
own worst enemy. He's the enemy of God and reject
him. But even there, even when there's
heresy involved, you don't reject him until you've admonished him
once and twice. Do you see that in God's word? We're so quick that somebody
says one little thing that doesn't jive with our doctrine, away
with him. Condemn a man for a word. Paul
said, you admonish him twice before you reject him. Believers
are capable of being wrong, believe it or not. Does that shock you?
Don't condemn a man for a word. But if they will not be corrected,
than there to be rejected. Is that clear? If you admonish
somebody and say, you said this, then they say, I did? I said that? If I did, my tongue
got twisted or something, I don't believe that. That's not what
I meant by what I said. Then that's the end of it. He's
not a heretic in your eyes from that point on. I know people
that have directly violated that clear teaching from God right
there. But if he won't be correct, if
he says, yeah, that's what I said, that's what I believe. And it's
contrary to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in vital matters
of gospel truth, then you got a problem. You might want to
bring those one or two with you and say, did I understand you
right? I want to make sure I understood you right. I want to admonish
you a second time now in the mouth of two or three witnesses.
This is what I heard you say. Do you believe that? Absolutely. Well, then you've got a problem.
Reject. Reject them. What we have here,
I've talked about all that's got to happen for this to happen.
What does happen here is too precious to let anything disrupt
it. Anything or anybody. It don't
matter who they are. Paul said to Timothy in 2nd Timothy
2 17 and 18 concerning those who err Regarding the truth. He said their word doth eat as
a canker And that word there means game green You see how
that goes right along with what we're talking about The Lord
said if your hand is a problem You're gonna have to cut it off
you have to amputate it Paul said, I would, they were even
cut off, which troubled you. And now he's talking about those
in 2 Timothy 2, 17 through 18 who err regarding the truth.
If they don't believe the gospel that we preach and they're just
here to argue or to disrupt or to maybe try to win some converts
their way or to prove I'm right and you're wrong or some nonsense
like that. And they can't just sit and be
satisfied and rejoice in gospel truth that the Lord has given
us. then they're like a gangrene in one of your limbs. There's
no cure for that. Did you know that? Once gangrene
has set in, there's just one thing to do. It's got to be cut
off. And that's what our Lord's talking
about, and that's what Paul was talking about. That's why Paul
said in Galatians 5.12, I would that they were even cut off,
which trouble you. God's people are to be comforted, and a false
gospel destroys that. And there's just one cure for
gangrene. It can't be tolerated. It can't be just ignored. It's got to be dealt with. But
if forgiveness is possible, if you can admonish somebody and
determine that they believe the truth and just flat made a mistake,
just like every one of us have so many times, if forgiveness
is sought, it must be given freely and without limit. And the reason
is given in the parable. Then his Lord, after that he
had called him, said unto him, You wicked servant, I forgave
you all that debt, because you desired me to. Shouldest not
thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as
I have pity on thee? Look how much we've been forgiven.
Look how God has dealt with us. And you're going to deal harshly
with your brother? That's not possible. You know, that's why
the Lord said treat him as a heathen. You know why? Because he is a
heathen. The Lord's not going to ever tell you to treat a true
brother in Christ as a heathen. You understand that? It's been
proven that he is a heathen, if it comes to that point. I
was going to look at Ephesians chapter 4, and this is what I've
been worrying about all morning, as far as us taking a little
bit too long. Turn over there, and I won't
read the whole chapter like I was going to. Ephesians 4 is so clear,
so clear on this. It's almost as though Paul wrote
Ephesians 4 with Matthew chapter 18 in mind. He said, I beseech
you, the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy
of the vocation wherewith you are called. With all lowliness
and meekness, with long-suffering, Forbearing one another in love.
Let it go. That's a good word for letting
it go. Forbear. Don't even talk about it. Don't
even address it. It's only got to be addressed
if you're going to lose your brother over it. Everything,
every little thing don't have to be addressed. We don't have
to confront one another with all of our mistakes. Have you
got that kind of time? Me neither. Forbear one another
in love. Only love is going to do that.
Endeavoring. You see that word? Endeavoring. Endeavoring to keep the unity
of the Spirit in the bond of peace. That should be our goal
and we should be willing to work at it. We should be willing to
suffer a little bit because of it. Paul said, why don't you
suffer being defrauded instead of going to this point. to the
Corinthians. It'd be better if you just took
the wrong and be wronged than to disrupt the worship of Christ.
There's one body and one spirit even as you're called in one
hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
whatever problem we have with one another is a lot weaker and
more vain and petty then all of that, look what we have in
common. What we don't have in common is not even worth talking
about. One God and Father of all, who is above all and through
all and in you all. And that ought to cause some
unity, shouldn't it? It does. And that unity is going to involve
you letting it go quite a bit, and me too. But unto every one
of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of
Christ, Wherefore, he saith, when he ascended up on high,
he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. He talks
about why he gave the gifts that he gave to men were men. He gave some gifts of the Spirit,
but also he gave some apostles and prophets and evangelists
and teachers, verse 11, for the maturing of his people. for the
work of the ministry, verse 12, for the edifying, the building
up of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the
faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. He talks about
how when that happens, because of these gifts that God has given,
we won't just be tossed with every wind of doctrine. We'll
grow up in the truth, we'll be established in the grace of God. And then look at some instruction
toward the end of this chapter, verse 26. Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon
your wrath. If you're going to lose your
brother, if this situation arises, how long should you let it go? Not long. Before the sun goes
down, you deal with it. The Lord's given me a little
bit of experience in this. Some happy and some not so much. I thank God for having gained
a brother or two, though. And it's not always me having
a problem with it. Sometimes it's them having a
problem with me. But a brother is gained. And
that's cause for celebration. Don't give place to the devil.
You know who's behind this. He's the father of lies. He's
trying to disrupt the worship of Christ. That's what he does. That's what he does. Don't give
place. Let him that stole steal no more,
but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which
is good that he may have to give to him that needeth. We talked
about that a while ago. Why does God give you the job
he gave you and the skill and the energy to do what you do?
Well, to take care of your family, of course. A man that won't feed
his own family is an infidel in the sight of God. But it's
not just for you. It's so you have something for
somebody else when they need it. Isn't that beautiful? Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use
of edifying. Let everything we say build up
and not tear down. that it may minister grace unto
the hearers. That would eliminate a lot of
what we say, wouldn't it? What I say. And don't grieve
the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of
redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor
and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. That's the negative side. Everything
like that. Be angry with yourself about
it and with the devil about it. and don't allow it. And here's
the positive side, be you kind one to another. How many people would you characterize that way
in your life? That person is just so kind and
tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Is that not the
parable our Lord told? He said, I have forgiven you
all this day. Have you ever heard anybody quote Matthew 18, 20?
Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am. Do you
understand it in this context? Where two or three are gathered
in my name. Let's look back at it, Matthew
18, verse 18. this two or three being gathered
in his name, or maybe it's 10, maybe it's 20, but even if it's
just two or three, however many, I know some places where it's
not much more than two or three, but the Lord's blessed us here.
Maybe there's more than that here, but this is what we cannot
allow to be forfeited by any discord, by any transgression
that arises between us. This is what we cannot allow
to be disrupted. Verse 18, whatsoever you bind
on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you loose on earth
will be loosed in heaven. 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. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there
am I in the midst of them." That's what he said right after he told
you how to deal with a brother that's trespassed against you.
That's what we can't forfeit right there. The unity of the
Spirit, the blessing of God, His presence among us. That's
what's at stake here. That's why Paul said, endeavoring
to keep the unity of the spirit. That's why our Lord said, go
to him three times in order to gain your brother. Don't just
dismiss it. Don't let it fester. Don't let
it become a problem. Don't let it become discord.
Don't let it disrupt the worship. The worship is precious. the
Lord meets where His people are agreed with one another. He meets
with them and blesses them and teaches them. In Matthew 5, 23,
He said, if you come to God's altar with a gift, and that's
anything, if you're going to worship Him at all, and you remember
that your brother has ought against you, you set your gift down,
whatever it is, You're cleaning, you're singing, you're teaching,
you're whatever it is, you're offering and go to your brother
and be reconciled to him and then come bring your gift to
God. Is that clear? Thank God for the worship of
Christ. This all has to do with his glory
and his honor and his worship. That's why it's so important.
May God give us grace to understand and to count it as vital. Let's bow together.