How to Mend the Unity of the Spirit

Introduction: The Manifesto and Grieving the Holy Spirit

0:05 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, April 5th, 1992, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let us turn this morning again to Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians chapter 4, and I shall read the first three verses and verse 30 of that chapter, Ephesians 4, verse 1.

0:36 I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Verse 30.

1:10 Now let us again plead with God for his blessing upon the preaching of his word. Our Father, we have sung together the essence of the truths of the parable of the sower, and this has made us conscious afresh that wherever your word is preached, the devil is also present. Sing.

1:45 Seeking to snatch away the seed sown in the heart, we pray therefore that you would bind the strong man here in this place this morning and spoil his good. Cause your word to take root in every heart. O Lord, remove the weeds that would choke it. Plow up any heart that would be but shallow soil.

2:13 Make our hearts good soil. To bring forth the fruits of righteousness thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. O God, send the Spirit upon us, we pray. May the dew of heaven descend to make your word profitable to every heart.

2:35 We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Our studies in the word of God this morning comprise the fortieth message in a series. Which I began in March of 1991, which I have entitled, A Manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church.

3:01 As we approach this year, the year of our twenty-fifth anniversary as a church, it was and continues to be the focused purpose of this series of messages, basically to accomplish two things. First, to identify and explain. Second, to expound from the word of God those major biblical convictions which have shaped and governed our life together over the course of these twenty-five years.

3:35 It has been my concern that these principles and convictions be identified and expounded so that in the language of Peter, those of you who know them and are established in them, may have your pure minds. And that those of you who have never had these issues spelled out in a focused, concentrated way would, in the language of Ephesians 4, become rooted and grounded in these truths.

4:11 But then I've had a second purpose throughout this entire series, not only to identify and expound these biblical convictions, but to call all of us to a renewed commitment to these things. A renewed determination that they shall continue to be held as present living Spirit-wrought convictions in our hearts so that whatever future God intends for this Church these truths may continue to exert a powerful molding influence upon our lives. And it is only in our hearts through Jesus to use those principles so that it would reach us for our future. And we may have come to those principles more than ever.

4:51 Amen. Mr. Rulies. life and our witness. The first affirmation in this manifesto set the tone for all that

5:00 has followed. In that first affirmation, I said in your hearing that we are determined that Jesus Christ shall have his rightful place of unrivaled preeminence in every facet of the life of this congregation. From there, we moved on to touch on such vital issues as the place of Scripture in the life of the church, a climate of God's centeredness in the life and ministry of the assembly, the centrality of the church as an institution in the purposes of God, the necessity of striving for a truly regenerate church membership,

5:46 setting the the biblical standard for church officers, and being committed to the life-out-of-death principle that is dominant not only in the procurement of redemption, but in its application to us and in the work of communicating the gospel to others. Now, for a number of Lord's Days, we've been opening up and applying the eighth tenet in the manifesto, and this will be the last manifesto. The first tenet is that we are determined to maintain the presence of an ungrieved Holy

6:27 Spirit in every facet of our life and ministry. Since we are commanded in Ephesians 4.30, as I read in your hearing, not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, it is incumbent upon us as the people of God to know how to grieve the Holy Spirit of God. We are determined by the grace of God in the strength of the Spirit to avoid the things that grieve Him.

6:57 Therefore, we've been addressing a number of things which can and do grieve the Holy Spirit in the life of the individual believer, but even more fully in the corporate life or congregational life of a church. And among these things that grieve the Holy Spirit, we have determined that the Holy Spirit of God is the only one who can grieve the Holy Spirit of God. And we have determined from Ephesians 4, verses 1 to 3, that failure actively to pursue the maintenance of the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace can only lead to a grieving of the Holy Spirit. And I have set before you that this can be done in three ways, by

Analogy: Maintaining Spiritual Health

7:41 indulging the particular sins which will rupture the unity of the Spirit, secondly, by failing to cultivate the graces essential to the maintenance of the unity of the Spirit, and thirdly, and this is our focus this morning, by refusing to implement the means ordained by God for the mending or restoration of that unity when it has been fractured. And as I tried to think of an illustration that would help you to hold these things in your mind as a working framework and sphere of reference for your own walk before God and your walk among your brethren,

8:23 I thought of the simple principle of what is essential in the sovereign will of God, of course, to maintain good health. If you were to ask anyone who has any acquaintance with the patterns that are the ordained means for the maintenance of a healthy body, they would tell you, number one, avoid the following. Avoid the foods, beverages, and activities which erode good health. That's what they'd tell you.

8:52 Don't eat too much. Don't eat the wrong things. Don't drink too much. Don't drink the wrong things.

8:59 Don't be a couch potato.

9:03 Avoid the foods, beverages, and activities which erode good health. But then they would say in the second place, if you're to have good health, you must engage in a pattern of eating, rest, and exercise, which promote good health. You've got to know something about the purposes of foods and what a balanced diet is, and how much to eat, and what kind of exercise, in your case, is most suited to secure optimum health. But then you would also be told you have a responsibility to use proper medical assistance when you get sick.

9:41 Now, you want to have good health? Avoid the things that erode it. Do the things that promote it. And go to a good doctor when you've lost it.

9:50 Now, that's how we can hold together this vital issue of not grieving the Holy Spirit. We must avoid the sins that in a peculiar way grieve Him.

10:04 We must cultivate the graces that in a special way promote it. And then we must use the divinely prescribed medicines to get it back when we've lost it. And it's that third issue. That I want to address this morning.

The Bible's Realism: Sin in Saints and Churches

10:22 Our responsibility before God to use those divinely ordained means for the restoration of the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace if it has been fractured, if it has been ruptured, if it has been disturbed. Now, by way of introduction, let me state that the Bible is at times shockingly realistic in its teaching. It does not hide the sin. The sins of the most eminent saints.

10:52 The same Bible that says that when God looked down upon a wicked world, right for judgment prior to the flood, that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And yet the same Bible that marks out righteous Noah records the tragedy of his subsequent drunkenness and immoral behavior. The same Bible that describes David as a man, the same Bible that describes David as a man, The same Bible that describes David as a man, after God's own heart, and has given us in the book of the Psalms many of the expressions of the various dimensions of his devotion to Jehovah, records the sordid tale of his

11:34 lusting, of his carnal, illicit sexual intercourse with Bathsheba, his wretched plotting for the murder of noble Uriah. I say the Bible is at times shockingly realistic in its teaching. It does not hide the sins of some of the most eminent saints, nor does it hide the sins of some of the most eminent churches. Ephesus was an eminent church, eminent in usefulness, and yet the Lord Jesus said, I have somewhat against thee, thou hast left thy first love.

12:14 Remember, repent and do. Or else I will come and remove thy candlestick out of its place. And how thankful to God we should be for the realism of the Bible. Because this Bible that has set before us in recent weeks this noble ideal of giving diligence, conscious, deliberate, constant activity to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and this Bible that sets that.

12:46 ideal before us, highlights the graces that will contribute to it, underscores the sins that will fracture and undermine it, also gives us clear directives as to what we are to do when it has actually been fractured.

13:09 And I want us to consider three specimen passages, each one from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ this morning, which are not all in God's apothecary shop with regard to divine medicines to help a church that is sick with the loss of the unity of the Spirit. These are just three of the potent medicines in God's vast array of medicinal aids to help restore the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. But he that is faithful in little is faithful in much, and if we won't take these three

13:51 straightforward passages to heart and in a new way begin to live in a principled commitment to do what they say, then it will not matter if someone were to open up the whole medicine chest in your hearing today. Let us then consider these three passages, specimen passages, which must be taken to heart and in a new way be taken seriously by us as a congregation, or sooner or later we will surely grieve the Spirit by failing to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Medicine 1: Matthew 5:23-24 – Immediate Reconciliation

14:31 First of all, consider with me the words of our Lord Jesus in Matthew 5, 23 and 24. Matthew 5, 23 and 24. In what we have commonly designated as the spiritual life, we have the words of our Lord Jesus in Matthew 5, 23 and 24. In what we have commonly designated as the spiritual life, we have the words of our Lord Jesus in Matthew 5, 23 and 24.

14:51 Matthew 5, 23 and 24. In what we have commonly designated as the spiritual life, we have the words of our Lord Jesus in Matthew 5, Ready, Set, Perform. According to that word, we will simply talk of our Lord Jesus to those who will be united in the bond, about our Lord Jesus was chosen as a calling one to see as his witness, the Lord God was giving His good Father Jesus. He was gathered among his two family members in a row and arranged them together when they were together。 In a particular sense, this is how we are beingぎ And go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

15:33 Now, just a word, first of all, about the setting of these verses. You will notice that in verse 21, our Lord identifies the precise area of concern. You have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment.

16:04 The setting is this. Our Lord has been teaching that the commandment which says, Thou shalt not kill, is not fulfilled when we merely keep, from plunging the dagger into someone's breast. He is saying that the commandment, Thou shalt not kill, or thou shalt do no murder, is not fulfilled when we merely refrain from pulling the trigger that would release the bullet from a loaded gun and blow out someone's brains. No, he is saying that we are only keeping that commandment when by his grace our hearts are suffused,

16:48 with love to all men. That's what that commandment demands. Thou shalt do no murder. God is commanding us that our hearts shall be free of ill will that would even make us speak in a derogatory, demeaning way of another human being.

17:11 And God is condemning even the feelings that would give birth to such demeaning speech. Now it is in that setting, that he says, If therefore thou art offering thy gift. So the setting is the whole matter of the disposition of our hearts to our fellow men. A disposition which is to be one of positive love which desires their well-being, and that will not even speak a demeaning, derisive word concerning them.

17:48 That's the setting. Now then, what is the situation envisioned by our Lord? If therefore thou art offering thy gift at the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee. And here our Lord moves from the second person plural to the second person singular.

18:10 To bring it home to the conscience of every individual. That's one of the benefits of the old Elizabethan English. You'd say thee for the one and you for the other. And our Lord is now moving from the second person plural to the second person singular saying, Lay this to heart.

18:29 This situation that I'm envisioning, I want you and you and you and you and you and you to lay it to heart. Here's the situation. You are in the midst of actually engaging in concentrated religious devotion. For the Jew, that would find expression in the bringing of his offering at God's appointed place and God's appointed time.

18:56 So the Lord takes the circumstances of religious devotion in that setting and he puts this situation in the concrete circumstances that would register in the understanding of every one of his original hearers. He said, If you are engaged in this concentrated act of religious devotion and in the midst of it you bear at that place and at that time remember that your brother has something against you. The English translation hath ought is an attempt to translate the neuter. He has something against you.

19:36 Some indefinite thing against you. Now there are two schools of interpretation with regard to what this problem is. Some say this refers only to a just cause of complaint. Hence it is your own sin against another which is brought to your remembrance in your more concentrated period of devotion to the Lord.

20:02 You are thinking upon the mercy of God as you come to bring your sacrifice. Either a sacrifice which symbolizes the basis on which God accepts sinners, His own mercy extended in the death of another, or a sacrifice that is a thank offering for the mercy of God received but the mind and heart are engaged with God. Thoughts of sin and of grace are dominant. And he says, There in the midst of bringing your gift you remember there is someone else perhaps even worshipping at the same time with you who has a legitimate complaint against you.

20:42 You are seeking to bring something to God but you remember your hand took something from your brother. It withheld something that you owed to your brother. Maybe you kept back his just wages. Maybe you took something from him and did not return it.

20:58 There may be in the theater of your own conscience an accusation based upon the realization you sinned against your brother. You have forgotten it in the busyness of life. It's been pushed under the rug of forgetfulness but in the intense act of devotion it's brought to the level of a present activity of your conscience. That's one way to understand it.

21:22 Others say no. It's referring to any awareness of fractured unity. Any awareness your brothers ought against you the something he has against you may not be rooted in fact. It may not be rooted in a legitimate complaint.

21:38 But if you remember that your unity with your brethren is in any way and in any instance been fractured by real or perceived evil. And the debate could go on which is accurate but this much is clear. It's in the midst of that more intense concentrated devotional exercise of the soul in the presence of God that the conscience is brought to a heightened awareness of horizontal relationships. And there the Lord says you remember not before you came to the temple and to the altar but it is precisely there

22:22 that you remember your brother hath ought against you. Now that's the situation envisioned by our Lord. Now then what is the directive mandated by our Lord? And I chose my words deliberately and carefully.

22:36 The directive mandated by our Lord they are all imperatives. They are not suggestions. They are regal commands of the King of Grace. To all of His servants who have been made His servants by grace.

22:56 What's the first? Look at the text. Verse 24. Leave there thy gift before the altar.

23:06 Suspend your acts of devotion immediately. Immediately. The thing to do. Someone might come and take my gift and offer it in my place.

23:24 What if what? Leave there thy gift before the altar. The moment conscience accuses and brings to remembrance your brother has something against you. Either a just cause or a perception of a just cause.

23:43 Here's the Lord's directive. Suspend your act of devotion immediately. Secondly, mend the fractured relationship with your brother. 24b.

23:54 Go thy way. Another imperative. First, be reconciled to thy brother. Suspend your act of devotion immediately.

24:07 Secondly, mend the fractured relationship with your brother. First, be reconciled to thy brother. Whatever this is, a real wrong or perceived wrong, a barrier has come between you and your brother. Do not rest.

24:28 Do not rest until that barrier is dismantled. Then thirdly, resume your acts of devotion. Then, an adverb of time, then come and offer thy gift. Now strip away all of the circumstances that have to do with making this directive, this mandated directive, peculiarly flavored with the firmness of the first century Jewish context.

25:02 Strip that away, and the Lord's mind in this matter is very, very clear. When in any intense act of devotion, when conscience is heightened in its activity, and we become aware that there has been a fracturing of the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace with even one brother, what are we to do? We are to suspend our acts of devotion, mend the fractured relationship, and then resume our acts of devotion. We are not simply to say

25:45 in the midst of the acts of devotion, Lord, my heart is so warm in this act of devotion to the thought of your mercy and grace. It's unthinkable. I wouldn't do what I ought to do. Lord, accept the willingness for the deed.

25:58 No, he doesn't say promise to do it. He says stop your acts of devotion, because we are never more likely to be deceived into thinking that holy notions are equal to holy actions than when our feelings are most intense in religious devotion. You hear what I'm saying? We are never more likely to be deceived, and to think that desires and intentions are all that God wants, when the heart is most intensely engaged in expressions of religious devotion.

26:42 And the Lord says it's precisely at that point your acts of religious devotion. Go, first be reconciled to thy brother, then come and offer thy gift. Notice he doesn't say, if you remember your brother had thought against you, then it's hypocritical for you to worship. Just go off and slink in the shadows somewhere and forget the whole dream.

27:05 Go there and forget the whole business. No, that's a cop out. He doesn't say go and pray about it. He doesn't say go and talk to half a dozen people and start a prayer chain about it.

27:17 He says very simply, leave thy gift, go thy way, be reconciled, then come and offer thy gift. Now I know, you're already thinking, ah yes pastor, but what if? We are masters of the but what if. To neutralize the most explicit, directives of the Lord Jesus Christ.

27:42 My friends, my task as a preacher of the gospel is not to answer all the but what ifs. Jesus has given a commission to his church in Matthew 28 that says this, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Triune God, teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you. Now this is what Jesus commanded his own. And I'm to teach what he commanded.

28:08 And he has commanded saying, if you are breaking your gift, and there rememberest that thy brother has something against thee, leave thy gift, go thy way, be reconciled, then come and offer thy gift. Yes but what if? You take your yes but what ifs and sort them out with God. It's amazing how many of them vaporize if you just start doing what God says.

28:37 It is in the course of the simplicity of resolute principle principle obedience that 98% of our questions get resolved. Dear people, if we are to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, if we are to strive to maintain it, remember that vigorous Greek verb, spoudanzo, striving, earnestly, to keep the unity of the Spirit, then this medicine, this medicine to help heal the sick body that has been ruptured by disunity,

Medicine 2: Matthew 18:15-35 – Confronting Sin and Forgiving

29:19 this medicine must be medicine with which we are very familiar and are prepared to take no matter how bitter it may taste and no matter how much it may work as it were at the horrible remnants of pride within our hearts. But then there's a second specimen passage, Matthew 18. Matthew 18, beginning with verse 15. Now before we take up the passage, let me just briefly address a textual concern.

30:00 What exactly did our Lord say? You may have a Bible that says, If thy brother sin, go show him his fault. Or you may have one that says, If thy brother sin against thee. Well, what did our Lord say?

30:11 Did He say, If thy brother sin, or if thy brother sin against thee? Well, there are a couple of the older manuscripts that do not have the words, against thee. But there is a very powerful, what we call internal argument for believing that this is what the Lord said. And if He did not explicitly say it, it's clear that that's what He meant.

30:31 If thy brother sin against thee. And how do we know that? Well, because He uses the words in verse 15, Thou hast gained thy brother. It's obviously a case where one brother has a complaint against another individual brother.

30:50 It is a personal grievance. Furthermore, when Jesus is done with this segment of teaching, notice how Peter responds in verse 21. Then came Peter and said to him, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him. So Peter understood that what Jesus was talking about was resolving personal offenses between brethren.

31:16 So I'm going to read the passage with the inclusion of those words. Alright? What then is the situation here envisioned by our Lord? The situation envisioned is this.

31:30 If thy brother sin against thee, go, show him his fault between thee and him alone. And if he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he hear thee not, take with thee two or three more, that at the mouth of two witnesses, or three, every word may be established. What is the situation envisioned by our Lord?

31:55 Well, it's one in which within the fellowship of his church, and we know that's true because he says in verse 17, if he refused to hear them, tell it unto the church. So this is within the fellowship of his church. Here's the realism of Jesus. He knows that his people are still going to sin.

32:14 And their sins are not only going to be against God, but they're going to sin against one another. That's the realism of Jesus coming through. The very church which he said in Matthew 16, that he would build and the gates of hell should not prevail against it, is a church within which there will still be sin, and there will be offenses between brethren. So here's the situation envisioned.

32:34 Within the fellowship, one brother has sinned against another. Now, it is clear that what he has said or done is something which misses the mark of God's love and God's law. It's a real bona fide sin. And the word in the original that is used is the standard word for sin, missing the mark.

32:57 And what is the mark? God's law. Something so clearly sin that when you lay out the facts, two or three impartial brethren listening on can have their judgment convinced that the guy really sinned. Now, can you imagine trying to prove to two or three mature adult Christians that someone's sinned against them against you because when you passed them in the foyer, they didn't turn around 180 degrees and face you square on, but they just glanced over the shoulder and winked?

33:28 You've sinned against me by not giving me a proper greeting. You try to convince someone that that's breaking the law of God? No, this is not talking about people who are nitpickers and who would find fault with Michael the Archangel where he could come as their guest and stay longer than 20 minutes. He's talking about a brother who has sinned.

33:55 He's violated the law of God as that law is to regulate interpersonal relationships between brethren. If thy brother sinned against thee and the result is a distance has been placed. The unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace has been fractured. That's why the Lord says if you do this, you have what?

34:18 Gained your brother. You temporarily lost him. There's been alienation. A wall is there.

34:26 Listen to Lenski, the Lutheran commentator, commenting on these words. It is necessary, however, to note that only a real sin is referred to. One that is apparent as such when one or two other brethren are called in the case and when the whole congregation considers the matter, they are convinced that it is sin. This excludes what a sensitive brother may deem a sin without due warrant that it is such.

34:52 The context, furthermore, supplies the directive that the sin is of such a nature that it cannot be permitted to pass as a weakness and a fault such as we all commit, sometimes daily. They may call for a word of rebuke and are then allowed to pass. This occurs often enough, especially where these lesser faults are mutual. Run one brother, perhaps, provoking another to act faultily.

35:21 Brotherly patience and forbearance heal this little scar. Jesus has in mind graver sins such as all brethren would be compelled to consider too serious and too dangerous to allow them to pass without plain evidence of repentance. Sins of this kind often involve more than the offense against one brother. They may wrong several brethren, all of them seeing and knowing about the deed.

35:49 Or the sin may be altogether public, at once involving the entire congregation, such as some open scandal or some crime. Jesus takes up the least serious case, leaving it to us from it to draw the proper procedure to be followed in the more serious cases. If one brother who is sinned against must take action as Jesus directs, then likewise must several, if the sin be committed against a larger number and the church as such, if the sin be public from the start. Very, very wise, balanced, perceptive comments.

36:30 So there's the situation in vision. One brother has sinned against another. In a very specific way, he has missed the mark of the obligations of the law of God in such a way that it has raised a barrier. Now then, what is the directive mandated by our Lord?

36:48 Again, all imperatives. All imperatives. These are the whatsoever things he commanded. Look at the language.

36:58 Go! That's an imperative. Now, show him his fault is a very weak translation. Nowhere else, as I check the usages of this Greek verb, is it ever translated merely show.

37:14 The word elecho means to rebuke someone, to rebuke someone. To rebuke someone, to con- to convince the conscience. Rebuke him of his sins would be a far better translation. It's the verb used in Luke 3.19.

37:33 I want to use several other usages to con- to convince your judgment. But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved", there's our word, reproved by John for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things which Herod had done, and that he had brought his conscience to conviction, is evident that he shut him up in prison.

37:57 It's the word used in John 3.20 that those who love the darkness will not come to the light lest their deeds should be, here's our word, reproved. They don't want to come to the light of God's Word, the light of God's law. Why?

38:13 Because before that blazing light, their evil deeds are shown for what they are. They are wicked, evil deeds of rebellion against God. So Jesus said, but he that loves the darkness will not come to the light. He won't bring his deeds to the light of God's law, to the light of God's Gospel.

38:37 He won't bring them to Sinai or to Calvary because there his conscience will be persuaded that his deeds are evil, but he loves his evil deeds and therefore he's a spiritual mole who lives in the dark.

38:52 That's the word used. Lest his deeds should be reproved, they should be convicted, it's what elders are supposed to be able to do with those who speak against the truth. Titus 1.9 Holding fast to the faithful word that he may exhort in the sound doctrine and, here's our verb, elecho again, and convict the gainsayers.

39:15 So handle the Word of God that he nails the conscience of someone who speaks against the truth, nails it to the wall with God's Word. Now that's the directive. What are you to do? What do you do when your brothers sin against you?

39:30 Go and convict him of his sin. Now you see, that'll keep you from dealing with little piddling issues. If you aren't prepared to go armed with the Word of God, with the case that you believe will bring that brother's conscience under conviction and will do the same with the impartial judgment of mature believers who might go the next step, then drop it. Have the love that covers a multitude of sins.

39:58 Same. The Word used multitude of sins, not false sins. Sins. And some sins between brethren are to be covered with the blanket of love.

40:10 But other sins that raise a barrier and righteously raise the barrier, what are you to do? The mandate of our Lord is go. Convict sin. Show him what portion of the Word of God, what facet of the Law of God he has violated in his dealings with God.

40:31 Convict sin. Show him what portion of the Word of God, what facet of the Law of God he has violated in his dealings with God. Convict sin. Show him what portion of the Word of God, what facet of the Law of God he has violated in his dealings with God.

40:33 Go, show him his fault between thee and Him alone! Doesn't say, go. Tell 20 other people, so they can pray for you, while you then tell him. No.

40:47 You're to go and tell him alone. You're to keep the knowledge of his sin as limited and restrained, as righteousness will allow it. Go! Convict him of his sin.

41:00 If he hears you. What does that mean? That means if he comes to the center of a hugechlalla , to own his sin seeks for forgiveness you extend it and what happens look at the text it says thou hast gained thy brother the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace has been restored that word gain is the standard word in the New Testament what shall it profit a man if he gained the whole world it's the word used in Philippians 3 that I may gain Christ that I may acquire it's a beautiful picture you've lost your brother he's a precious possession in has raised about you've gone and convicted him by the Word of God and the

41:43 help of the Spirit he's owned his sin he's heard you he's heard God through you he's asked God's forgiveness and the tears of mutual thankfulness you embrace one another you've got your brother back where in the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace you've got him back you got him back well suppose he won't hear you what are you to do the Lord is very plain he says not only to the end that no hardened obstinate sinner should remain in the church though that is the truth the church must not be a hold and

42:25 a a place where obstinate sinners can remain obstinate in their known sins and so the thing must be escalated to the place where he there owns his sin or he's cast out of the church. But there's another great purpose in it all. If you'll notice in verse 19, right after speaking of the authority that attaches to a valid act of excommunication, he says, Again I say to you, if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father who is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst.

43:01 And that word agree together, we transliterate the Greek word and get our word symphony. It's the picture of the church symphonizing with one heart and one voice in corporate prayer, one of its most mighty weapons. But if the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace has been fractured, that weapon lies useless in the church's hand.

43:26 You see how serious is this matter then of striving to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace? How can we bow in the same room with one heart and one voice and one corporate expression of desire and faith and lay hold of God for the advancement of His kingdom if we see out of the corner of the eye the brother or the sister who has sinned against us and we have legitimate grounds to feel the alienation which their sin has brought and we don't deal with it? How many of those fractures do you need to invalidate this promise if you symphonize, if you agree on earth as touching what you ask? You see how serious this is?

44:11 It's not just your business. In this crass individualistic age, it's amazing how people don't want to think in terms of corporate responsibilities, of the biblical concept of solidarity. No man's an island to him.

44:28 And in the life of the church, if I allow this sin that my brother has committed against me to be undealt with according to the mandated directive of the Lord Jesus, I am contributing to the ongoing rupture and fracture of the unity of the Spirit. Well, having looked at the situation envisioned by our Lord, the directive mandated by our Lord, then just look briefly and you can meditate upon it hopefully this afternoon. The disposition mandated by our Lord in verse 21 and following, Then came Peter and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Now, if you're telling me

45:13 that this is such important business and Lord, I think I'm taking you seriously, how many times shall my brother sin and then say to me, here it seems he hasn't even had to go to him. His own conscience has condemned him and he's come and said, will you forgive me, Peter? How oft shall I forgive him? Until seven times?

45:38 Jesus said unto him, I say unto thee, until seven times? Not until seven times, but seventy times seven. And then he gives a parable. And the bottom line of this parable is, Peter, when you're thinking in terms of numbers of times of forgiveness, you've forgotten the whole biblical principle of grace.

46:01 God's grace to sinners keeps no ledger.

46:07 Aren't you glad it keeps no ledger?

46:10 God's grace to ledger.

46:16 There's some sins, some of us who've been Christians for decades, we've had to go to God and ask His forgiveness for that very sin. Thousands.

46:28 Thank God He doesn't have a ledger where He says, oh, you're using up your pages for that sin. Only a hundred pages in the ledger for that sin. Use them up and you've had it.

46:39 God's got no ledger. There is the fountain open for sin and uncleanness that is bottomless and shoreless and is as large as the heart of a God. And God says, you reflect my heart in the way you deal with your fellow men. If you don't, I'll deal with you the way you deal with others.

47:03 You want to keep a ledger, Peter? All right. Then I'll keep a ledger with you. And I tell you, if God starts keeping ledgers with me, I've had it.

47:13 You see, sin and grace are woven into the texture of the disposition that we are to have one to another. And what a joy it is for me when people come and say, Pastor, I believe I offended you in this. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me? I said, forgiven, buried, done, behind us, is all gone.

47:35 Well, why can you forgive so quickly and so easily? Because I live as a forgiven man under the canopy of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. And if God for one day were to hold me up and say, well, I'll have to think about it. What a horrible state I'd be in.

47:59 And the whole message of this passage is if we've stood before our Sovereign, the Lord of heaven and earth, the Father, and we have and continue to receive His non-ledgered forgiveness, we will then reflect the disposition of non-ledgered forgiveness to our fellow man. No, Peter, not till seven times. Seventy times seven, that is. No ledger keeping.

48:27 Now that's the teaching of our Lord. And you see how far that will go in earnest striving to maintain the unity of the Spirit. We are going to sin again. We are going to confess one another.

48:41 And some of those sins will justly be put under the blanket of love. We must come to one another and convict one another and seek to gain one another. But oh, may God help us if we ever add to those words of Jesus the disposition of that servant that got his fellow servant by the throat and said, give me what you want. The Lord assumes that our disposition, even before we go to our brother, who's offended us, and there's a wall, the disposition of forgiveness is already there active in our hearts.

49:23 We're just waiting for His words, I've sinned, will you forgive me, that we might confer that forgiveness and gain back our brother righteous. Now that's not, oh, yes, but, forget your what-but-ifs and just start doing what Jesus said. Third passage more briefly now. Third passage.

Medicine 3: Luke 17:3-5 – Rebuke and Unlimited Forgiveness

49:50 Briefer passage, briefer exposition. Luke chapter 17. We're in the medicine chest now, looking at the medicinal aids to mend the fractured unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace among brethren, true brethren, brethren that love Christ and want to serve Him and please Him. Listen to the words of the Lord Jesus in Luke 17, verses 3 to 5.

50:16 Take heed to yourselves if thy brother sinned, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him. And if he sinned against thee seven times in the day, and seven times turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. And the apostles said unto the Lord, increase our faith. Now what is the setting of these words?

50:45 Well, look at verses 1 and 2. You've got realism and responsibility again. He said unto His disciples, It is impossible, but that occasions of stumbling should come. Given what this world is, given who the devil is, given what human nature is, it's impossible, but that occasions of stumbling into sin are going to come into this present order.

51:07 That's the realism of Jesus. And you can't get away from it by starting a Christian commune. You can't get away from it by starting monasteries, because you can't get away from yourself or from the devil. And the world is fundamentally in your heart, not out there.

51:23 World, flesh, and devil, present wherever we are. And therefore we give up all silly notions. Jesus had none. He said, It's impossible, but that occasions of stumbling are going to come.

51:38 There's the realism. But then with that, He says there's responsibility, but woe unto him through whom they come. It were well for him that a millstone, the large millstone that is drawn by the ox and grinds the grain, the large stone, millstone be hung about his neck and thrown into the sea. It's like a gangland murderer, murder where they stick a man's feet in soft concrete and when it hardens, they throw him into Lake Erie.

52:08 Jesus uses an image like that. It were better that the large millstone turned by the ox be hung about a man's neck and carry him to the bottom of the sea rather than he should cause one of these little ones to stumble. There's the realism. Sin will come, but here's responsibility.

52:30 Woe unto you if you're the occasion of causing others to sin. Yes, the sinner will be responsible for his sin, but we will be responsible if we cause others to sin. That's the setting, the Lord's realism, yet responsibility. Then He says, Take heed to yourselves.

52:50 And there's a debate. Is the Lord saying, In the light of that, pay close attention to yourselves. Same verb, same verbal form as you have in Acts 20, 28, Paul's charge to the elders, Take heed to yourselves. Does it look back to the first two verses?

53:04 In the light of this, be constantly on your guard. Watch out for those who might be an occasion of stumbling to you and watch out for yourself lest you be an occasion of stumbling to others. It could mean that. Or it could point forward to what follows.

53:19 In the light of the fact that this is a world in which sin is going to occur and in which people who are the occasion of sin will be active, take heed to yourselves. Watch. Take seriously your vulnerability, your danger. If thy brother sin, rebuke him.

53:41 And if he repent, forgive him. Having looked at this setting, look at the substance of the words now. They begin with this general command of personal and mutual concern relative to sinning. I've already touched that.

53:54 But now, here's the situation envisioned by our Lord. A brother is guilty of sin. Again, it is sin that he's guilty of. If thy brother sin, he breaks the law of God.

54:08 And say, if thy brother wears a tie and you don't like the color of it, or you think it's out of style and you feel uncomfortable, go rebuke him. Frankly, that's none of your business. Unless you feel that the shape and the color of this tie could undermine his testimony, in which case, if he's your friend, you might take him aside and say, now, Henry, John, Pete, whatever your name is, whatever your name is, are you aware that that tie is a little bit funky? I know you want to be a good witness.

54:36 And I know you want to have a good testimony. But the tie is about an inch and a half behind times in its width. Or three inches wider than and the colors, really. Do you have a problem with being colorblind?

54:52 Has anyone ever suggested that maybe you ought to be tested? Brother, I know you want to be a good testimony. And I think maybe you better get out of here. Get rid of that rag and put it somewhere else.

55:03 Well, that may be your responsibility. But that's in another area. That's not your brother sinning. If thy brother sinned, that is, he's violated the law of God.

55:14 It could be sin in general or it could be sin against you personally because look at verse 4. If he sinned against thee seven times, and it would be unlikely that the Lord were introducing a new subject. Sin in general now, if he sinned against thee, it's more likely that it's a unit of thought. So we have a similar situation as we have in Matthew 18.

55:38 The brother is guilty of sin, but it is sin against you. And what are you to do? Here's the directive mandated by our Lord. All imperatives.

55:49 First of all, he says you are to rebuke him. Here we have a different Greek word. Not elekho here, but epitimao. And this is the word used when Jesus rebuked the winds and the waves and they were still.

56:05 This is the word used of the one felon to the other. He rebuked him saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing we are in the same condemnation? Luke 23 and verse 40. It's what Paul tells Timothy he's to do in his preaching.

56:24 Preach the Word. Reprove elekho. Convict people of their sin. And now reprove them.

56:32 Point out their sins, though it may not be effectual. Nonetheless, point them out. It's a weaker word, but it still has the overall flavor of pointing out the sin specifically, whether effectual or not. If he repents, that is, if he owns his sin, seeks your forgiveness, what do you do?

56:55 You are to forgive him. You are to remit the sin. You are to let it away. Away into the sea of God's forgetfulness.

57:06 You are to put it where God's put it. If he's repented before God, God says, I've cast their sins behind my back. I've buried them in the depths of the sea to be remembered against them no more. And we are to do the same.

57:21 And if seven times in one day he sins against you, and some say, Well, that can't mean the same sin because the repentance wouldn't be real. Well, wait a minute. I know married couples in their early days of adjustment would fall into the same sin seven times in a day when they began to feel for the first time the pressures upon remaining sin in the multi-leveled intimacy in the marriage relationship. It could be that a husband would have to say literally more than seven times in one day to his wife, Honey, forgive me for speaking sharply.

57:59 Forgive me for being insensitive. I don't want to set limits on here that God doesn't. Some suggest, Well, this is seven different sins. Well, I just see the text saying, If he sinned, whether the same or different or any combination of things, seven times in the day and seven times turn and say, I repent, thou shalt forgive him.

58:22 What's the Lord doing? He's just gathering up the same emphasis as he gave in Matthew 18, 21 and following. Grace keeps no ledger. A disposition of forgiveness keeps no ledger.

58:37 Why? Because if I am a forgiven sinner, I know that I must reflect in my dealings with my brethren the way God deals with me. Isn't that woven into the very fabric of the Lord's Prayer? After this manner, pray ye, our Father, who art in the heavens, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

59:01 Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. See the parallel? Lord, forgive! And, O God, I'm bold enough to pray, make the measure of your forgiveness that which I use with my fellow men.

59:22 Do you want God to use your measure with you? For some of you, you'd be in bad shape. You'd be in real bad shape. You'd be in real bad shape.

59:37 Because you keep your little secret ledger, and you're ready to throw off all the past things supposedly forgiven. When a person falls in that same area, you throw it up in their face. Jesus went on to amplify only one petition in the Lord's Prayer in verses 14 and 15 of Matthew 6. Which one was it?

59:59 The very one I've just quoted. For if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses. With what measure ye meet, it shall be measured unto you. I find it unthinkable, and I'm using my words carefully, unthinkable, that a man or woman can be living consciously in the world of spirit and daily is God and Father for the heart that is hard in the matter of giving forgiveness to his fellow sinners.

60:42 If God the Almighty, the ineffably glorious, the majestically holy One of Israel, whose angels are not even considered clean in His name, is that God for the sake of His Son, then forgive me with no limits. Should not I, a worm of the dust, a sinner who ought to be roasting in hell, forgive my fellow worms of the dust who with me ought to be roasting in hell? If your brother sinned, rebuke him.

61:26 Rebuke him. But it's evident your rebuking him is not bending your spleen to have a restoration of fellowship or at least peace in your own heart that if it's a sin in general he's not putting himself into a way of danger and into a course that will be self-destructive. If he repents, forgive him. That is, joyfully, freely confer upon him the assurance of your forgiveness.

61:59 And it's interesting, you say, how does this really apply to grieving the Spirit? Look at verse 4. If he sinned against thee seven times in the day and seven times turn again to thee. That word, turn again, is the standard word for conversion in the New Testament.

62:21 It's used in Matthew 13, 15 in our Lord's interpretation of the parable of the sower. Lest they should turn again, I'm sorry, quoting from Isaiah, lest they should turn again and be converted and I should heal them. Acts 3, 19. Peter is preaching and says be converted so that your sins may be blotted out.

62:44 Acts 26, verse 20. Paul says he preached in all of his ministry that men should repent and turn to God. There's the word. The word for conversion.

62:56 Turning again. The clear indication being, you see, that when your brother sinned against you, he turned away from you. Now in his repentance, he turns again to you. You're back in face-to-face fellowship.

Conclusion: The Simplicity and Necessity of Obedience

63:13 Now, dear people, there's nothing much complicated in these passages, is there? Nothing much complicated. It's their very simplicity that's a stumbling block to us because we can't avoid facing the reality that we simply do not do what God prescribed when the unity of the Spirit has been fractured. I say in conclusion, dear people, if we are indeed determined, determined to maintain the presence of an ungrieved Holy Spirit, we must be committed not only by God's strength to avoid indulging in the sins

63:56 that will undermine that unity and in union with Christ and in the means of God's appointment, cultivate the graces that promote that unity. But we must be prepared to take God's prescription medicine as to what we are to do when that unity has been fractured. We need to implement these means ordained of God for the mending of it. No wonder the disciples then, the apostles, verse 5, said, Lord, increase our faith.

64:33 If we're to have a disposition like this, Lord, increase our faith. Faith in the necessity of these issues being dealt with. Faith in your mercy that it will so suffuse our hearts that it will be reflected in our dealings one with another. You see, my unconverted friend, if you've learned nothing else this morning, I hope you've learned this much.

64:58 True biblical religion as envisioned by Jesus is a religion where sin and grace are always at the forefront. You hear that? I've given you the words of Jesus this morning from Matthew 5, Matthew 18, and Luke 17. And what issues are dominant in sorting out the practical matters of keeping the unity of the Spirit?

65:23 Sin and grace. Grace and sin. Sin and grace. And my friend, if your understanding of the Christian faith does not have those two commodities central, front and center, you've got a misconception of the Christian faith.

65:39 It's a religion of sinners who even after they are forgiven, accepted, pardoned, sinners, are still sinners. And though the dominion of sin is broken, the remains of sin will be active enough to fracture the unity. But how do they deal with it? You don't have another principle.

65:58 As grace brought them into the family of God, so grace operates to keep the family at home with one another. And if you're not a Christian, my friend, I say to you in the name of Christ, face the reality of your sin. For Jesus said, I came not to call the righteous but sinners. Maybe you thought, well, that group of people meets there, they're a bunch of super saints, I can never be at home with them.

66:23 No, friend! We're a company of sinners who have a great and a glorious Savior. Go to the Savior who has taken us in all our vileness and washed us in His own blood. It's a religion of grace.

66:39 We don't keep ledger books here. We don't keep accounts. Well, I've been giving you so many times. No, I live under God's continuous mercy.

66:51 Therefore, I will reflect that by His Spirit in being a merciful man, a merciful woman, quick to forgive, tenderhearted, delighting. It's a joy to say to a brother who says, will you forgive me? Brother, I freely forgive you and step to Him in awe. What a joy it is!

67:08 What a joy it is! If nothing else, it brings a fresh kiss to my own cheek that I'm not acting according to what I would do and be in Adam. I must be a new creature in Christ. Longing, joyfully conferring forgiveness one to another.

Call to Prayer and Lord's Supper Preparation

67:28 Oh, my brothers and sisters, may God help us to take the medicine. Go, then come! And as we come to the Lord's table tonight and think of the Lord's dying love, what better time, if there needs to be some going and mending, then coming, what better time than in preparation for our sitting together around the table of our Lord Jesus this night. Let us pray together.

67:59 Our Father, we're so thankful for the Holy Scriptures that they are indeed a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway. And how we pray that You would help us to take the portions of our Lord's words we have studied this morning and to lay them to heart. Oh, that we may keep them in the strength of His Spirit, out of love to Him and out of love to You, our gracious God. Oh, may the unity of the Spirit be mended in this place wherever it is presently fractured by sins that need to be dealt with after the pattern of these passages of Scripture.

68:40 Lord, give us that spirit of obedience and submission that we will run in the way of Your commandments. Thank You for Your presence. Thank You for Your grace. And for those who sit here strangers to that grace, oh, God, may they come to know that Christ indeed is the Savior of sinners.

69:02 And may they throw themselves into the sea of Your boundless grace and there find acceptance in the Beloved. Seal Your Word and continue to bless us this day in Your courts, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.