Response to Specific Sins, Part 1

The point: Understand that growth in love is indicative of growth in grace.

This analogy refutes the idea that love is merely a warm, gushy feeling, emphasizing that its presence or absence is demonstrated in concrete interactions with others.

Secondly, he who is not growing in love is not growing in grace. Thirdly, the presence or absence of love to the brethren is demonstrated in the concrete realities of our actual dealings with men. You don't go home and get in a corner like Jack Horner did, and just put your hand on your heart, and if it feels all warm and gushy, know that you must love the brethren. No, no.

2:45 - 3:09 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not mark, remember, or put in a ledger book the many failings of brethren, for love takes no account of evil.

This metaphor illustrates that love does not keep a record of wrongs, but rather erases or covers them, emphasizing the covering aspect of fervent love.

We're going to deal with that today. Peter is dealing, dealing with that thing that we must learn to reckon with and I repeat it at the point of being tedious, those many, many failings which we cannot, which we must not, which we dare not mark and remember and put in our ledger book. For the Scripture says, love taketh no account of evil. And that's an accounting term.

6:30 - 6:56 Read in full sermon

The point: When studying these passages, do not anticipate what they don't speak to, but be patient for the whole picture.

This analogy explains that each biblical passage on dealing with sin is like a piece of a mosaic; individually, they don't tell the whole story, but together they form a comprehensive picture of how love acts.

With this directive to have fervent love among ourselves, love that instead of noting and marking and broadcasting and remembering these sins and shortcomings, will cover them, let us turn today to I don't know how many we'll cover. There are six or seven that I do want to cover eventually. Key passages which put together form a beautiful mosaic covering all the general cases of brothers and sisters sinning against other brothers and sisters and how love is to act. Now, if you happen to have the particular ability of making mosaic artworks, you will know, or at least you will understand

8:17 - 9:02 Read in full sermon

The point: Understand that no acts of worship are acceptable to God if they come from a heart with willfully unconfessed wrong to another brother or sister.

Martin shares a personal anecdote about someone being offended by his tie, illustrating that Matthew 5:23-24 refers to a just complaint based on God's law, not personal preferences.

then come, then come and offer thy gift. Now, this is not speaking about a brother who may have something against me for which the law of God does not condemn me. I was preaching in Wales one time and someone had it against me that I had on a tie that was a little brighter than they thought was ecclesiastically acceptable. Well, it never bothered me when I prayed that that bothered them.

15:51 - 16:21 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin illustrates how Matthew 5 and Mark 11 work together, showing how God meets both the one who has sinned and the one who has been sinned against. He emphasizes that a spirit…

This extended narrative illustrates how Matthew 5:23-24 and Mark 11:25 work together, with Simon (the offender) seeking reconciliation and Nathaniel (the offended) extending forgiveness, demonstrating God's grace meeting both parties.

Now when you put these two passages together, can you see how beautiful it is at a practical level? Let's go back to the temple. Let's call this fellow Simon and his neighbor is Nathaniel. And Simon's coming to worship.

28:34 - 28:48 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are not sure a thing is sin, or if it's inconsequential, pray for love to cover it, and don't scrutinize others' lives.

Martin recounts a story about a pastor who would ask for accusations to be recorded, revealing that many complaints were unsubstantiated gossip, thus encouraging direct, substantiated confrontation rather than unprincipled gossip.

Oh, how much could be avoided if we would simply take seriously these directives. May I pass on something that one of the members shared with me last week? They said they knew of a certain path, a certain pastor, who, whenever a believer came to him and said, now, pastor, there's such and such an issue between me and my brother, and I've tried to set it right, or whether they had or hadn't, and I wonder if you could give me some help. And he would say, well, before you say anything more, I'd like to have a record of everything that's said, so if we sit down with the two of you, we'll be able t...

50:40 - 51:10 Read in full sermon