Response to Specific Sins, Part 1

The Supremacy of Brotherly Love and its Evidences

0:03 In the course of our verse-by-verse studies in Ephesians, these Lord's Day mornings, we arrived several weeks ago at verse 15 in chapter 1, which is the first verse in the second major paragraph in the book of Ephesians. And in that particular verse, the Apostle Paul underscores the two great Christian graces of faith in the Lord Jesus and love to all the saints, and indicates that the news of these graces present and flourishing at Ephesus

0:41 were to him the strongest indications that grace was present and flourishing. And so we extracted the principle from the text that the presence, development, growth of faith and love are the two great evidences. Of the presence and growth of the grace of God in the hearts of his people. And taking my trigger from that text and some other matters that have arisen in my pastoral dealings, I felt it warranted to digress, or if you want to think of it in terms of amplification rather than digression,

1:25 to focus upon this principle of brotherly love, what it is and how it will act, at the grassroots of imperfect saints living in the presence of other imperfect saints. And so last Lord's Day morning, I read to you about 30 passages from the New Testament indicating the supremacy of the grace of brotherly love. And I trust you were convinced, as I am, that the weight of scriptural evidence clearly indicates that brotherly love is the queen, of all Christian graces.

2:05 At least if you're thinking in terms of graces expressed in a horizontal way. Of course, love to Christ is supreme and is the mother of all other graces. But as far as the graces of a horizontal nature, brotherly love is queen above them all. You can see I'm no male chauvinist.

2:25 I didn't say it was king. I said it was queen. And after reading the passages and making the assertion, of the supremacy of this grace, we drew four very necessary conclusions. He who is not loving his brethren is guilty of gross sin.

2:45 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.

3:09 The presence or the absence of love to the brethren is demonstrated in the concrete realities of your interaction with them. And then the fourth principle, the growth and expression of brotherly love do not come automatically. If they did, we would not have these dozens of exhortations to love one another. Secondly, we would not have these dozens of descriptions of how love will work.

3:38 And though it is a Christian grace, like so many graces, it is caused to blossom by means of pointed exhortation and detailed description. And the Christian who feels he needs neither exhortation nor detailed description is a fool, for he has put himself outside the circle of the whole mentality of, of the Scriptures. Then with that broad overview and those four conclusions before us, we began to treat the subject so practical and so needed, love in the presence of the sins of my brothers and sisters.

Fervent Love Covers a Multitude of Sins (1 Peter 4:8)

4:19 And our focus, of course, was upon 1 Peter 4 and verse 8. Above all, Peter says, have fervent love among yourselves, for love shall cover a multitude of sins. And what Peter is talking about, are those many failures, errors, mistakes, and shortcomings, the things of which James speaks when he says in his own letter, chapter 3 and verse 1, in many things we all offend. That's James talking.

4:49 Great pillar in the church. In many things we offend all. And so, we as God's people, must learn what it is to deal with these many evident imperfections, and to deal with these many evident imperfections, in one another. If there is not fervent love, we will magnify those sins.

5:09 We will amplify them. We will mark them. We will broadcast them. But fervent love will veil them.

5:17 Fervent love will hide them. Fervent love will cover them. Now, if I did not make it sufficiently clear last week, I thought I did, but in case I did not, let me say two things, and this finishes our review. This is sort of an appendage to last week's message.

5:35 1 Peter 4.8 is not a directive to me when I have sinned against my brother. Peter is not saying, when you've sinned against your brother, you should then think in your mind, oh well, he's to have fervent love to cover my sin, therefore I don't need to make it right. No, no.

5:52 This is a directive to me as to what I am to do as I behold the faults, the many failures, the many mistakes, the many shortcomings of my brethren. I am to have that love which covers. God's directives to me when I'm conscious that I have sinned against my brother we're going to consider this morning. The second thing I want to say if I didn't make it sufficiently clear, this is not a directive given with reference to specific wrongs done to me which demand rebuke, which demand censure, which demand admonition.

6:30 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.

6:56 Love doesn't go around with its little ledger book saying, aha, what can I see in you to put on the debit side? What can I, what can I see in you? Love does not do this. Love, if it finds anything written there, pulls the page out.

7:11 Love spills ink on the page. Love taketh no account of evil. And so Peter's directive is a most necessary one and I trust you'll see as we open up some other Scriptures today that unless we experience what Peter's talking about, we cannot rightly obey the directives of Matthew 5, Matthew 8, Mark 15, Mark 11, and Luke 17. Anything we do in the way of rebuking our brethren for their specific sins against us, anything we do in exhorting them about their own particular aggravated sins, which we must point out to them, unless it is couched

7:55 in the setting of fervent love that is willing to cover the multitude of sins, will simply become a house full of people picking at one another. One another's warts and loathes. So I preached on 1 Peter 4, 8 first because that is the larger context of the specific directives to which we shall turn this morning. Alright?

Reconciliation Precedes Worship (Matthew 5:23-24)

8:17 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

9:02 if you've seen a mosaic, that, the piece that goes up here in the left-hand corner that may form, if it's some kind of a scene that may form a part of a cloud and part of the sky, that piece is not the whole. And you may be impatient as the man puts it in place saying, ah, yeah, but that's only part of the sky. When are you going to...

9:20 Well, just give us time. You've got to set that piece first. And just be patient as the man then sets the next piece. Finally, you'll have the whole picture.

9:29 Now, one of the temptations you're going to face is when we turn to the first passage, you're going to anticipate all the things it doesn't speak to. Now, don't do that. Or at least try not to. All right?

9:40 Try not to. And if you're tempted to, just hold off because these six or seven key passages, and I've been amazed at how comprehensive they are and how beautifully they dovetail together. All together, they form the mosaic. Any one of them by itself does not tell the whole story of what love does in the presence of the sins of its brothers and sisters.

10:03 Well, the first passage then is Matthew chapter 5. Will you turn, please, to the fifth chapter of Matthew as we consider our Lord's directives for love in the presence of a sinning brother or sister. And the way we're going to approach this passage is the way we'll approach every passage we treat this morning. We're going to say a word about the context and then the situation contemplated in the passage.

10:32 Thirdly, the directives given. By the passage. And fourthly, the lessons derived from the passage. Context, situation contemplated, directives given, lessons derived.

10:47 Matthew chapter 5, the directive is verse 23. If therefore thou art bringing thy gift, thou art offering thy gift at the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way. First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Now the context of this passage is very easily discerned by a reading beginning with verse 21.

11:23 It's one of those sections in which our Lord is stripping away the veneer laid over the law of God by the scribes and Pharisees and by their traditional interpretation of the law of God. And by their traditional interpretation of the law of God, of the law of Moses. Ye have heard that it was said, but I say unto you. And in this particular context, he is dealing with the false understanding of the sixth commandment, thou shalt do no murder.

11:48 And our Lord is showing that the thinking of the scribes and Pharisees was terribly shallow and woolly with reference to the sixth commandment. This commandment forbids all unjust anger. And it's in the context of dealing with unjust anger in the interrelationship of one man to another that our Lord treats the subject that is before us this morning. So much for the general context.

12:18 Now notice the situation contemplated. Verse 23. If therefore thou art offering thy gift at the altar. Here the situation is one that is bounded by Jewish custom and practice.

12:33 You are a good Jew. And you're coming up with a sacrifice or a thank offering to the appointed place of worship. Just as you've come to present that particular gift, whether it's a lamb that is to be slain by the priest and you're just about to lay your own hand upon it, symbolically transferring your sins to it, or whether it was some kind of a thank offering. At that point, in the act of bringing your gift, when your mind was most sensitive to your fellowship with God,

13:10 one of the results, one of the side effects of that conscious approach to God was the sensitizing of your conscience. Just there, as you were offering this offering, bringing it to the altar for the priest to receive it and present it to God, either a thank offering or a sin offering, at that point, Jesus says, you remember that your brother has ought against you. That is, he has a just complaint against you. At that point, you remember in the exercise of vertical worship that there was something wrong at the horizontal level.

13:50 And there is brought sharply to your mind that you wronged your brother, wronged his person, wronged his property, perhaps wronged his name, but whatever it is, at that point, the conscience becomes acutely sensitive of the horizontal, unarmed unto your brother. And notice how careful our Lord is to indicate that. And there, right before the altar, thou rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee. Well, at this point, you've got a problem.

14:18 Shall I go through with my offering, presenting it to the priest as an act of worship and having him present it to God? Well, the Pharisees would say yes. The Pharisees had set up a rule which says once you begin the act of offering, you must never break it off under any circumstances. In other words, their concern was maintaining ecclesiastical form and ceremony.

14:42 Jesus said, no, if the law of God impinges upon your conscience in an act of worship, there's something more important than sacrifice. Obedience is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams. And so he says, at that point, you say to the priest, excuse me, excuse me, I've got something I've got to make right. Would you mind just keeping my altar, my gift over there on the side of the altar?

15:09 I'll be back in a few minutes. And so he leaves the temple and he makes his way back home into the neighborhood, finds this brother, and he says, dear brother, as I had gone into the temple to worship, my conscience smote me for those words that I spoke to you in that particular setting, and I know that it was sin against God, and I know that if my confession to him is to be genuine, it must be coupled with the acknowledgment, the acknowledgment of my sin to you, brother, will you forgive me? And he says, yes, my brother, I will forgive you. There's a shaking of the hands and probably a kiss on the cheek, and there is reconciliation, and then the Lord says, look,

15:51 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.

16:21 They may have ought against me for my tie that was a little bit too bright for British standards, but that didn't bother me. This is talking in the context of the law of God. And where there's been a breach of that law and your conscience smites you, that issue is to be made right. So the situation contemplated, it is clear, the directives given are clear.

16:42 Break off your worship, discard the normal proprieties of ecclesiastical procedure, leave the gift, be reconciled to your brother, then come and complete your act of worship. So much for the context, the situation contemplated, the directives given. Now, what are the essential lessons derived from this germane to our study this morning? Well, the first and most, the predominant one is simply this.

17:11 No acts of worship are acceptable to God if they come from a heart in which there is willfully unconfessed wrong to another brother or sister.

17:26 No acts of worship are acceptable to God if they come from a heart in which there is willfully unconfessed wrong to another brother and sister. Though the scribes and Pharisees make rules, don't interrupt your sacrifice, Jesus says, in essence, So what? The law of God is as much binding upon you in your acts of worship as it is in the place of your business, and that law demands that you deal with all wrongs at the horizontal level with reference to your brethren.

18:09 in the context of this assembly, will express itself in this sensitivity to my sins against him. If you can profess to worship God and have genuine dealings with God in a vertical way and not have your conscience made sensitive to horizontal relationships, you're kidding yourself.

18:34 You're kidding yourself.

18:37 It is utterly impossible. It is a moral impossibility. To have the heart and mind, the spirit brought into context, into contact with the God of righteousness and not have my sensitivity to ethical righteousness heightened and intensified. That's why the Bible everywhere ties the two together.

19:01 John says, now some of you people say, I love God. He says, wait a minute, you love that man out there? You don't love him, you don't love God. He says the two are hung together.

19:11 If I'm truly sensitive to the living God, I'm not just going through the motions, coming with a sacrifice and throwing it into the hands of a priest and having him go through the motions and going my way. If as I come with that gift, if as I come with worship, I'm truly coming to the living God through his Son, I'm offering the sacrifice of praise and true confession, if ever the conscience will be made sensitive, it's at that point and when it is, then in humility I must be willing to seek reconciliation. So if you say you love the brethren and you're insensitive to the wrongs you have done to them or you're too proud to humble yourself to make right those wrongs, you are not walking in love.

Forgiveness Precedes Prayer (Mark 11:25)

19:57 This is what love does in the presence of sin amongst the brethren. Now this passage, Matthew 5, must immediately be balanced with Mark 11, 25. We've put the one piece in the mosaic. The next piece that fits right next to it, it was carved perfectly to fit there and it won't fit anywhere else, is Mark 11 and verse 25.

20:25 Now again, just a brief word about the context. Beginning with verse 20, we have the record, Mark 11 and verse 20, of the amazement of the disciples when they saw that fig tree withered that Jesus had cursed.

20:42 Jesus uses that amazement rooted in the cursing of the figs, the fig tree, as an object lesson of the power of faith. Verses 22 and 23. Have faith in God. Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall say to this mountain, be thou taken up and cast into the sea and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith come to pass, he shall have it.

21:07 He uses this as a springboard to speak of the power of faith. And then he goes on in the natural connection, verse 22, verse 24, I'm sorry. Therefore I say unto you, all things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Since the greatest exercises of faith are generally found in the context of prayer, our Lord moves very naturally from this object lesson on the power of faith, buttressed by this great promise to belief, to true faith, and then this great promise of prayer in faith and in faith in God.

21:48 And what it avails under God. But, our Lord concludes the paragraph by this condition. Yes, whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe and ye shall have, and whensoever ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against anyone that your Father who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. So the context is clear.

22:17 Now notice the situation, our Lord contemplates. Here's a man who's heard the Lord's words. Whatsoever things ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And he's seeking to, not mumble some words, not simply to sad his conscience that he's had, quote, his devotions.

22:37 He's seeking to pray in his prayer. He's seeking to engage God. That's what prayer is. He's seeking to, may I use the biblical term that's often used?

22:51 He's seeking to prevail in prayer. He's seeking to really lay hold of God. So he's having unusually intense dealings with God, and he happens to be standing in this posture of prayer, apparently a posture often used in prayer. In public prayer, it would seem, particularly.

23:12 As the Scripture speaks of, I will that the men pray in every praise place, lifting up holy hands, and from what we can gather historically, this was part of the procession, but be that as it may, the situation contemplated is a man engaged in prayer, seeking to lay hold of God. Now, as he does, he is conscious that he has ought against someone else. In other words, someone has wronged him. Maybe he happens to be the man back on that street that this other brother in Matthew 5 had to come to.

23:47 He's having prayer in his own home. And as he's praying, he thinks of his brother A.B. who's up there at the temple.

23:54 And he says, boy, you know, he really did me rotten. He shouldn't have done what he did to me. And yet he's trying to pray. And he's got this spirit of resentment, of anger, of desire to get even, to retaliate.

24:07 And what does the Lord say to him? When you stand praying, here's the directive given, forgive. Now, does he say, wait till the brother comes to you and owns his sin, and then forgive? He doesn't say that.

24:20 He says, when you stand praying, forgive.

24:25 When you stand praying, forgive. In other words, there must be in your heart an attitude of forgiveness experienced. That's the opposite of ill will and anger and vengeance. The disposition to forgive must already be extended so that before that brother ever comes from the temple down to the side street to meet me and confess his wrong, or before I ever go to him to point out his wrong, forgiveness is already extended.

24:57 Then when he acknowledges his sin and owns his sin, I confer that forgiveness upon him and I declare verbally, yes, I do forgive you, but the disposition of forgiveness is to be known in the heart whenever and wherever I feel ought rising up in my heart against my brother. Whensoever ye stand praying, forgive. Forgive if ye have ought against anyone. There's the directive of God.

25:29 We are immediately to forgive and hold nothing against them. And many times this means that instead of pleading some great promise such as we have here for some great accomplishment, I must spend the greater part of my time in prayer for the Spirit of God to burn out the dross of my own loveless spirit. And I may spend the rest of my time in devotions, pleading with God to purge from me and to deal in me with this thing in me that wants to retaliate, that wants to stand off and say, no, sir, no attitude but one of judgment, no attitude but one of distance until my brother comes crawling to me. That's not the attitude of grace.

26:17 I'm a sinner, often blind to my sins and failures. He's a sinner, blinded perhaps to his sins and his failures, the directive of my Lord is that when I stand praying, forgive, the attitude of forgiveness experienced, the disposition to forgive extended, and then the act of forgiveness conferred when there is acknowledgement and repentance. Now, what lesson do we learn? Fundamental lesson from this passage in Mark 11.

26:56 Well, just as Matthew 5, 23, teaches that no act of worship is acceptable in which I've not confessed my wrongs to my brothers and sisters, so no act of worship is acceptable if I've not confessed my wrong of an unforgiving spirit unto God. And Matthew 6, 14 and 15 is the clear commentary upon this passage. After giving us the main content of all true prayer and what we commonly call the Lord's Prayer, our Lord goes, back and expands one facet of that prayer because He knew it was the one most difficult for us to deal with. After giving us that comprehensive statement

27:39 of what is involved in true prayer, then He goes back in Matthew 6, 14 and 15 and what facet does He amplify? This matter of the disposition and spirit of forgiveness. Matthew 6 and verse 14, For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive men their trespasses, give not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you.

28:05 And so if I seek to lay hold of God for forgiveness of my sins while having any other disposition than that of willingness to forgive my brothers and sisters their sins, God says my confession is not sincere, my repentance is not sincere, for while I'm repenting of one sin, apparently I'm clinging to the worst sin, a loveless spirit in the very act of confessing. Some others sin.

The Beautiful Balance of Matthew 5 and Mark 11

28:34 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.

28:48 He's going to present his gift before the altar. There he remembers that he's done something wrong to Nathaniel. He's spoken some harsh words to him over the back fence. And so his conscience, his conscience smites him.

29:04 And he tells the priest, you keep my gift there. I've got some business to take care of. At the same time, Nathaniel's gone into his closet to pray. He's gone in to have his own devotional exercises.

29:16 And while he's seeking to pray, he's conscious that he has ought against Simon. Isn't that dirty rascal the way he talked to me? Who in the world does he think he is? Then he says, but Lord, Lord, how contrary to the spirit of the gospel.

29:30 Have not I spoken unkindly and you've so graciously, so graciously forgiven? Lord, am I not a fallible, weak man, a sinner in need of your grace? Oh God, take that attitude from my heart. Give to me the spirit of forgiveness.

29:46 To Simon, the Lord by his spirit is gracious to grant it. And then he goes on in praying. And while he's praying, there's a knock on his door. And he goes and there's Simon.

29:58 And Nathaniel says to him, Simon, oh, how are you? I was just thinking about you. He said, well, I was thinking about you. He said, look, I'll tell you what's happened to me.

30:06 I went up to the temple to offer a gift this morning. My conscience was snipped that I could not worship God while I wronged you in this area. You have ought against me, Nathaniel. It would only be right if you were angry and miffed with me.

30:23 I sinned against you the way I spoke. Will you forgive me? And Nathaniel says, oh, I've already forgiven you in principle. God has met me here on my knees.

30:31 I hold no ill will. And now I gladly declare, there to you, you're forgiven. See how beautiful? God meets them both where they are.

30:39 And the wonderful thing is, if one or the other is stubborn,

30:44 if Simon is stubborn and not going to come, Nathaniel doesn't need to be under the burden of a vicious spirit that will choke his fellowship with God.

30:56 And if Simon's going to get right with God and Nathaniel's not and goes to him and he won't hear him and won't forgive him, thank God Simon's right if he's done what God told him and has sought to make it right. But the curse is, when Nathaniel, who stands out there and says, I know what you find, says, oh, Simon better come to me.

31:15 And here's Simon over here saying, I know what Mark says. If he's got anything against me, he better forgive me so I'm not going to him. And when you get Christians like that, what happens? The Holy Ghost is grieved.

31:30 And then you have those seeds that begin to send down their roots.

31:36 And I marvel at our Lord's insight to human nature and how balanced He is in His instruction. And so I call upon you, you as God's people this morning, to get rid of all this idea, I've got a right to have people come crawling. If you only have one right, my friend, that's to be in hell.

31:55 That's the only right I've got, to be in hell.

31:59 That's all. And when my heart is bathed in the spirit of divine forgiveness, then I can say with my Lord to men upon whom forgiveness was not conferred, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. What was our Lord doing?

32:17 And was He declaring them justified? Of course not. They were impenitent. But what He was saying is, I hold no ill will to them.

32:25 My heart extends forgiveness.

32:29 Forgiveness cannot be conferred until there is repentance and fleeing to the blood of sacrifice. But ah, there was the spirit and the disposition of forgiveness extended to them at the moment of their most vicious, impenitence and wickedness. They had crucified the Lord of glory. And He says, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

32:56 I submit that this is precisely the spirit in Stephen who reflect the attitude of his Lord when the stones were pelting down upon him, squeezing out his life. What are his last words? Father, lay not this sin to their charge. Does that mean they were justified?

33:12 Of course not. What Peter is, what Stephen is saying is, I hold no ill will to them. I hold no ill will to these, my murderers. And my friend, until that's your spirit, you have a spirit foreign to the gospel.

33:26 You have a spirit foreign to grace. And if you can entertain a spirit like that continually, a spirit contrary to that, you have serious grounds to question if you've ever understood grace.

Epistles Reinforce Forgiveness (Ephesians 4, Colossians 3)

33:39 Serious grounds to question if you've ever understood God's grace. I would buttress the exposition and application of Mark 11, 25, with two passages from the epistles. Will you look at them with me, please?

33:59 Ephesians chapter 4.

34:04 Ephesians chapter 4.

34:18 In the midst of these exhortations, in the last paragraph, the apostle says, verse 30, And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness...

34:32 What is bitterness? That's what grows in a heart that's been wronged, where there's been no...

34:39 No repentance. No confession. Someone's wronged me, and they haven't made it right. What does the flesh produce?

34:46 Bitterness. Bitterness. What is wrath? Ah, that's the same reaction.

34:51 I've been wronged. Amendments have not been made. Wrath. Anger.

34:57 And what does it produce? Clamor. Railing. What does he say with all these things?

35:01 Let them be put away from you with all malice. And what should replace them? Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, even as God in Christ forgave you. You see what he's saying?

35:20 Let your mind ever drink deeply of God's dealings with you. My friends, listen.

35:27 Long before forgiveness was conferred upon us, it was extended to us in the Gospel. God's promises in Christ were repent and believe. The door of mercy, mercy is open. God is gracious to rebel sinners who deserve His wrath and His anger.

35:50 And when by His grace, that grace working in us, subduing our rebel will, our disinclination to repent and to believe, overcoming that in sovereign power, we embrace the Gospel in repentance and faith, then was forgiveness conferred to us in Christ, but extended, long before it was conferred. Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other. When? Only when my brother asks my forgiveness, and until he does, allowing anger, wrath, malice, suspicion, alienation.

36:33 No, no. No, no. By God's grace, saying from the heart to those who would most viciously abuse me, even as did Stephen, lay not this sin to their charge. And then Colossians chapter 3, a parallel passage, verses 13, beginning with verse 12 through 14, put on therefore as God's elect, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, long-suffering.

37:09 Suffer long with your brother's shortcomings, some of which you will feel the brunt of, forbearing one another and forgiving each other. Now notice, if any man have a complaint against any, even as the Lord forgave you, so also do ye. He says, do you have a complaint? Forgive.

37:32 He doesn't say, forgive when your brother acknowledges the complaint. If you have a complaint, forgive. Have the disposition, the attitude, have forgiveness, have kindness extended. Then if it's the kind of thing that we'll deal with now in Matthew 18, where I must go to my brother and point out his fault and seek to get him to acknowledge it with a view to repenting and confessing it, I go in the spirit of Mark 11, Ephesians 4, and Colossians 3.

38:07 And I submit if Matthew 18 is wrenched loose from that, it becomes vicious self-vindication. You've wronged me and I'm going to set you straight. And until you own up to it, then you and I have had it. I say that's foreign to the spirit of the gospel and the overriding weight of the biblical teaching.

Confronting Specific Sins (Matthew 18:15-17)

38:26 Now then, turn please to the last passage we'll have time to look at this morning. It's another piece in the mosaic. It's not the whole thing yet. Matthew chapter 18.

38:37 The context, our Lord has been giving general warnings and duties regarding sin and its effects, both in the spirit of God and in the spirit of God. And it's not the whole thing yet. Both in the world and amongst the people of God. He's told us that we're to be cautious that we ourselves do not cause others to sin.

38:54 This idea of causing offense and stumbling He's been treating in Matthew 18 and beginning with verse... Let me get the right reference.

39:09 Matthew 18 and the first six verses He's talking about this stumbling business and woe unto those who sin. Woe unto those who are in occasion of stumbling. Verse 7. Woe unto the world because of occasions of stumbling.

39:22 Be cautious that you don't cause someone else to sin. Second admonition is be very cautious that you don't expose yourself to sin unnecessarily. Cut off right hands and pluck out right eyes if necessary. Then He admonishes them to receive the person who has sinned.

39:41 The parable of the lost sheep in this context seems to be the attitude we have toward a returning bride. A brother who has sinned. But then our Lord goes on in verse 15 to contemplate a situation in which the brother sins against another brother. So the general context is directives about the problem of sin.

40:01 How to deal with it. How to avoid being occasion of sin to others. Now notice the situation contemplated in verse 15. If thy brother sin against thee go and show him his fault between thee and him alone.

40:17 He who sinned against thee Here a Christian has committed a specific act of sin against another Christian. And the tense of the verb indicates that this is not those many faults that we bear with. Here is a specific probably a gross act of sin. If thy brother commit a specific act of sin against thee.

40:40 Not the many sins that we are to pass over in Christian love. This is a specific sin. So specific and clear enough that it can be substantiated before witnesses. Can you imagine bringing some witnesses to help substantiate an issue based upon suspicion?

40:59 Based upon reading motives? You can't substantiate that in any kind of a court of law. Can you imagine bringing someone and saying well I believe that when so and so passed me at church they looked at me with a very very very angry look.

41:16 Well how should we recapture the look and bring out the facts? You see how ridiculous it is. The situation contemplated here is the kind of thing we dealt with with Simon and Nathaniel.

41:29 Where some vicious angry words passed or maybe he threw a stone through his window and he can produce the pile of broken glass and the stone with his fingerprints on it. Here is a specific act of sin that can be substantiated. Secondly, it's serious enough to warrant excommunication if it won't be dealt with. Now that's pretty serious.

41:49 If he won't hear the church the final step let him be unto thee as the heathen and the publican. You can no longer regard him as a brother if he persists in this sin. So then as one commentator has said Jesus has in mind the graver sins such as the majority of the brethren would consider too serious and too dangerous to pass over without evidence of repentance. That's the situation.

42:17 Not some little thing here and a little thing here but a situation that is not a specific thing. Now what directive does Jesus give? Well the first thing he says is go to your brother alone. Show him his fault.

42:29 And that's a weak translation. It literally means go convict him of his sin. It's the word used in James 2.9 Thou art convicted by the law.

42:38 Titus 1.9 Convince or convict the gainsayers. It means to go and to lay the case before him and to indict him for that particular sin. Now that's what you're to do.

42:51 But what do you have in mind when you do it? Well look at our Lord's words. If he hear thee thou hast gained thy brother. You're not going to vent your spleen on him and find a scriptural justification for it.

43:06 You're not going to rub dirt under his nose. What are you going for? You're going to gain your brother. This sin is of such a magnitude that it has put a barrier not only in your fellowship to one another but you're going to gain your brother.

43:19 You're going to gain your brother. You're going to gain your brother. But you're going to have to You know that this is crippling his fellowship with God. For the same word gained used here is the one in 1 Corinthians 9.19

43:28 where Paul uses it as a synonym with save. To rescue from sin and its consequences. So the whole concern that our Lord gives in this directive is a concern that our brother be restored to fellowship with God and fellowship to me. I want to gain my brother for God and for the fellowship of the saints.

43:52 I am not going because I think I'm better. I am not going because he's gotten me so upset that I'm going to let him have it and I'm going to hide behind a screen of Matthew 18. No, no. No, no.

44:04 That's not the directive that our Lord gives. I'm to go and seek to gain my brother. Point out, convict, indict him for his sin. Showing him that if he'll but acknowledge, acknowledge it, I am more than willing to forgive him.

44:19 Already the spirit of forgiveness, God, is worked in my heart by sovereign mercy and grace and the indwelling of his spirit. But he won't hear me. He won't acknowledge. He won't own up to the sin.

44:33 Then painfully, what do I do? Jesus said, verse 16, But if he hear thee not, take with thee one or two more, that at the mouth of two witnesses or three every word may be heard. It may be established. You see, I still love him too much to expose it to everybody.

44:50 I don't immediately come back to the prayer meeting and say, look, brother so-and-so is doing such-and-such and it has particular reference to me and he won't... No, no.

44:59 Love wants to keep it covered. Doesn't want the sin to become open scandal. Wants to spare the brother. And so the two or three witnesses are taken.

45:08 In most cases, it would be the elders. But I don't think necessarily. Circumstances may be such that others are closer to the situation and are...

45:16 That's sufficient spiritual maturity and sufficient stability in the life of the church that their witness would be accepted by the body of God's people if it must come to the congregation. Then if he doesn't hear them, what are you to do? If he refused to hear them, that is, accept the indictment, confess the sin, tell it unto the church, the gathered assembly of the people of God. And I cannot read into here, tell it to the elders or tell it to the church representatively.

45:46 Whatever functions the elders may have, I see in this passage a concept of congregational activity. And if he refused to hear the church, all of the people of God entreat him to acknowledge his sin, to repent of it and to deal with it. But he will not do it. The sin is of such a nature that for the purity of the church, he can no longer maintain the status of a member in the visible family of God.

46:14 Let him be unto thee as the Gentile and the publican. That is, you excommunicate him from the fellowship of the people of God. Now, listen closely. How do you treat unconverted people who are outside the church?

46:29 Well, you don't treat them like brothers and sisters, but I hope you love them for Christ's sake. I hope you're kind to them. As the Father sends His reign upon the just and the unjust, when Jesus says treat them as publican and heathen, He does not mean write them off, have no more dealings with them, have no...

46:47 Have no compassion to them. No, no. No, no. It's been compassion that drove you to speak to your brother privately.

46:56 It's been compassion that drove you to still regard him as a brother and bring two or three witnesses. It was compassion that brought him to the church. And now that his sin is not dealt with and you can no longer regard him as a believer and you must put him outside the pale of the visible community of the saints, your compassion is not cut off. The difference is, you no longer regard him as a sinning brother.

47:21 You regard him as an unconverted man.

47:26 But I hope you love the unconverted. I hope you have compassion upon them. I hope you're seeking to win them to the Savior. And how much evil has been hidden behind the perversion of our Lord's words that being publican and heathen meant that you ostracized, laid the axe upon him and all kinds of foolishness.

47:47 No, no. No, no. Not at all. It is just that we no longer give him the privileges of the warm fellowship of the community of the saints.

47:58 When we shake his hands, it's no longer as a brother in Christ, but someone whom we hope shall be one to Christ. And I say that this interpretation is supported by the subsequent passages dealing with the subject of discipline. Even when there's been no excommunication. 2 Thessalonians 3, 14 and 15.

48:20 The apostle says, when you've had to discipline a brother, don't count him as an enemy, but admonish him. Demonstrate that loving concern. So then, our Lord's directive when there are these kinds of sins is very clear. Go alone.

48:39 If you cannot gain the brother, take the witnesses. If he will not repent, then it must be brought to the church. And if he turns a deaf ear to those entreaties, then he must be cut off. From the fellowship of the people of God.

Lessons and Practical Application of Matthew 18

48:53 Now, what are the essential lessons we learn from this passage? Well, I've already mentioned some of them. Though many questions are not answered, I think what is clear from this passage is most demanding. If there is a case of clear sin, don't speak to another person until you've gone to the individual involved.

49:14 Now, if you're not sure that the thing is sin, if it's that inconsequential, then just pray for, if you love to cover the multitude of faults, if it cannot be substantiated from the law of God, from the preceptual elements of Scripture that the brother has clearly sinned, then don't feel that God's appointed you, his chief inspector, to go around scrutinizing the lives of the people of God. Generally speaking, such people have a terribly blind eye to their own imperfections. No, no. But where there is this case of clear sin, you go, and if you're not heard, then come, please, to the elders and seek directive, and they may give directive

49:59 to take some people who are closer to the situation with whom there is a more natural entree of friendship previously established, and the elders may direct you. You take brother and sister so-and-so, and you go and you face brother and sister so-and-so with this particular thing. And you go again with that entreaty that they would be gained for Christ's sake and for the sake of the church. And then if it must come to that final and dreadful step, this person will have, thundering into his conscience, the visible demonstration that he was loved and that the people of God did all within their power to call him back from his wayward path of conduct.

50:40 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 to substantiate everything.

51:10 Now, would you please proceed with your accusations?

51:14 Well, I, and they begin to hem and haw, and the testimony of this pastor was that the book that he pulled out is still blank to this day.

51:24 Now, what did this reveal? It revealed a pious form of gossip, an unprincipled,

51:32 an unprincipled form of gossip. Now, that, brethren, we're to avoid at all costs. Now, if your path is not clear in an issue, then veil the facts and the names and say, pastor, in such and such a situation, what should I do? Don't mention names.

51:50 Don't mention it. Give the framework. If it's a matter of knowing what directives apply, then by all means, come to your pastor. Come to your elders for directive.

51:59 But if the directive is clear, then do what he says. Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And so often, so often, we fear the worst in this type thing, and the Lord surprises us time after time when we finally go to the brother and fear in trembling, and we're welcomed as an angel of God. Time after time, I found it in pastoral experience, and there was this reluctance on our part, and this assumption that there will be the negative reaction.

52:31 So, time has gone from us. I can't treat the other passages. The mosaic is not complete, but I hope you see enough of it this morning that you'll realize that love of the brethren is not some kind of saccharine sentimental slush, as is so often thought of in our day, but it is a principled affection that causes us to walk deliberately in the directives of Holy Spirit, deliberately in the directives of Holy Spirit, for the good of our brothers and to the glory of God. And if we are to fulfill the mandate to be kind, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, then, brothers and sisters, we must feed upon gospel principles.

53:13 Feed upon gospel motives. Feed upon the magnitude of God's mercy to you in Christ. Don't feed yourself at the foot of Mount Sinai. Feed yourself at the foot of Mount Calvary.

53:27 See Sinai through Calvary's eyes. Don't forget Sinai. Calvary is meaningless without Sinai. But don't you read Sinai, read Calvary through Sinai.

53:40 You read Sinai through Mount Calvary. That's the perspective. Constantly remembering God's mercy to me in Christ. Even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven me.

53:53 And in that spirit, then we shall have that fervent love one to another. Covering a multitude of sins. Enabling us to be sensitive that when we come to worship and we know our brothers have ought against us, we'll go. Knowing that when we would pray and there is ought against our brother, we shall forgive.

54:13 Knowing when necessary, the sin must be dealt with. For it's a hindrance to the purity of the body of Christ. And a genuine fellowship will tell that fault between ourselves and him alone. And these directives of God's word.

54:28 Will be obeyed by his people. And in this way, we shall demonstrate that we are his disciples. As we have love one to another. Biblical love.

54:39 Principled love. Obedient love. Love that walks the pathway marked by the word of the living God. May we thus be marked by that kind of love.

54:51 Let us pray.