Church Discipline & Forgiveness

Here we are now. The last sermon in the series x positions, through Matthew chapter 8 all the way through 18 titled Kingdom power, where we seen, Jesus has great Authority.

Where we seen his power started. All the way back in October of last year, the 23rd and final. Sermon hear the series, if you look in your bulletin, you can see the series outline. If you're interested in looking back on any of the sermons and all those outlines are now on our church website, for all the series to be to be able to see. But last week, I left us with an uncharacteristic Cliffhanger. If you remember Like Stallone and the cheesy rock climbing movie, had you kind of hanging on with one hand. Usually, I tried to resolve as many questions and problems and implications of a passage during each sermon. But of course, in this case, we had to wait a week and here we are a week later. But if you recall from our last message, last week, the Good Shepherd, remember goes after his straying sheep, he doesn't leave them. And we should go after people as well, right? However, the Good Shepherd has an advantage on us. Doesn't he, as we saw from John chapter 10, because he knows who are his, he knows who are his. And the problem that we have is that, we don't This Side of Heaven, always know who are genuine, Believers and, who are fakers? Don't we, we have that problem because we're not God. We can, of course, observe the fruit or lack thereof, but what do we do in the church, as Believers when we seek To reach out to someone who is strayed wandering and what do we do when they failed to come back to the space that they once professed? They fail the continued one of the Christian Life. They just completely go down a different. Place. That's where we left off last week. I'll let you hang in there. And I know that we have all had friends and fellow church members who have, and I quote kind of just fallen off the deep end in life. And though, they once profess, they profess faith in Christ, they used to act like Christians, dad touring with you new one, but you even served with a potentially now they just abandon ship and there's no signs anymore of genuine Christianity. I know that we have examples like that was practical for us, but how do we think about them? What should we do in these cases? This leads us now to are taxed and point number one to see the four steps of church discipline book with me now in your Bibles to Matthew 18 and verses 15 through 17. What does it say? It says if your brother sins against you Go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If you listens to you you have gained your brother. But if he does not, listen, take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three Witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church and if he refuses to listen, even to the church, let him be to you as a gentile and a tax. Collector. God knows who are his And he pursues them. Doesn't let them go, he brings them back. And you know what? He often times regularly uses Believers, believe it or not in local churches to do it. Last week. Maybe you were here and you got all sentimental about how God pursues is. Straying sheep and maybe in your heart and even out loud, you were shouting out a men all day long about it, but maybe you've committed completely missed the fact that maybe you, or we have Our own. Responsibility towards those who strayed and maybe in our own unbiblical, actions failed to participate and what God calls us to pursue. In terms of his straying sheep.

Anyone here in this room? Who has witnessed clear sin and another brother or sister professing brother and sisters life, or church member. And if you just turned a blind eye to it failed to confront it biblically, Failed to help a Wandering stray potential sheep, the God intended for you, to confront in the send that you just witnessed but you just ignored them. If if that describes scenarios in your life This is a, this is what this passage is talking about. We can amen and pay lip service to seeking Strays, but if we don't ever longingly lovingly, caringly go to them and call them out in the send that we may be observing. And warn them of the path that they're going down. Did, you know, we are complicit in their wandering ways and the consequences that follow. We are guilty of hating, not loving these wandering sheep. If we ignore these warning sign, you might say, it's none of my business. Yes, it is. You sound like Kane asking. Am I My Brother's Keeper? We just voted rice God to receive two new members to our church. That means all of us here as members are responsible for their Christian discipleship and growth. As they are also responsible for yours because we help each other grow. That's the Christian Life. That's the church, including confronting. One another's, sin. You see in this first point and this sermon titled and mentioning the big scary topic church discipline you saw that and your bull attends our church discipline and it may scare you. But did you know the likely most of us has been apart? A church discipline probably even this current year or the last several months, it in a certain sense. What do I mean by that? Mark, Dever, helpfully points out that there are two kinds of church discipline both formative discipline and corrective. Discipline corrective discipline is the one that we normally think about when something gets removed or excommunicated from from a church. But what about those formative discipline? Well, that's any time that you ever heard a Biblical sermon, for instance, about Sin and its convicted you and it's moved you to change those formative preventive measures that God is using to redirect you away from the cliff and your destruction towards sin. Or any time you've ever confronted another fellow church member kindly, of course, with some kind of conflict and send that you had even if it was just minor and you quickly, just worked it out together as friends, which is how it normally would happen. That is stuff that is going on in the church.

And it's usually the end of the matter right here in the first step that we're going to see here as it relates to the steps of discipline. What, what is that step step? Number one, we're going to go through the four steps. Hear the first one is that you must confront your fellow church member and send that you witnessed from them. Let's see it. In Matthew 18:15 again, if your brother sins against you go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother, these things are so simple. But they're rarely practiced in churches. Simple truth. Ignore by so many.

Hurt. Not too were good but you are hurt so simple. But please note here, right here up front. I just want to point out that some manuscripts of word omit. The word against you there in the passage, kind of leaving it to General sends. Even that you witness if your brother sins. But even if this passage is just specific specifying, personal individual cuz stand against you interpersonal, send we know that there are other passages that really speak to all types of sin that we may observe and our Brothers and Sisters in Christ. We recently seen it, an organization Series in Galatians 6:1. It says Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual, should restore him in a spirit of gentleness, keep watch on yourself. Let's do to be tempted. Notice here and that the spirit of gentleness, as well as what we see in verse 15 here. This first step involves and all the steps involves not harboring, bitterness against people who sinned against us or judgmentalism. Against the setting church member or gossiping about them to others. But what humbly going directly to them for their good. Think of the Matthew 7, sermon that we looked at about the the speck in our brother's eyes of the plank or login, our own eyes, we need to deal with and be humble about our own soon before we trying to seek to help anybody else with their sin. It's it's it's humility. Glacier 6, humility. Matthew 7, humility. But also please note in this first step that this passage is dealing with interpersonal sins between two people but an individual either witness directly against him or just personally witnessed in the other church members life. So just to be really clear here, this step does not apply to Publix in Witness by all. So, for example, if you have a church member show up in the news for embezzling money and then kind of convicted for a crime and was guilty and course was unrepentant. A man going to jail for a decade. It is in that situation not an individual thing that you just witness personally. It was a Publix in publicly aware. It's not like you have to kind of go to them privately first time it's all over the news everybody knows about it's a public send, of course. Now the church is aware and multiple people can be aware and you can kind of skip over this interpersonal type of Step. Now it's public everybody saw. Everybody is aware of it. It's right in in everybody is aware we better dress probably still BC, an example of this, just just to be especially clear the multifaceted nature of church. Discipline is in 1st Corinthians. 5 for instance, where there was a man who was sleeping with his father's wife is on stepmother, for crying out loud. And everybody knew about it. Everybody was kind of boasting about. It was almost like their personal pride month, so to speak to church. This is so good, that we have somebody doing this and we're just accepting of them. And they all knew about it, everybody was aware of of of the stand and they were boasting in it. Not not in mourning over, not repenting of it. But this, this sexual immorality was a kind of Scandal for the Church of Corinthians at the Corinth that it said, not even the Gentiles put up with that kind of thing until the Apostle. Paul didn't say go to this person in private, everybody knew what was going on. And so what did you do? Because it was a Publix in and because Publix and must be dealt with, at the level in which the send was Witten. Known publicly. And should be called out. because all I have are aware of it, all should be calling out all or involved in that way and where But we see here with interpersonal, send Kate back to Matthew 18. So that First Corinthians 5 is an example of a public setting up. Matthew 18 back here. We see interpersonal sin that you now, this is very practical practical witnessed think about times that you've been sinned against, or you've witnessed sin. What does it say? You must go and that situation directly to the person who send

that is so scary, isn't it? I get that, it's hard to go to somebody in a confrontational manner to deal with sin, but this is scary. But I want you to see according to God's word, it's healthy and so need it. If we're going to be a faithful church and faithful Christians, I fear that our church has gotten into the Habit overtime of overlooking each other sins. And are in a fact sailing to love fellow church members out of fear of, man because you wonder what they're going to think or what other people might say. Because if we feared God over, man, we would not Overlook clear sin. We would confront it for the good of that person. Sending in for the good old entire church. Did you see that?

The motive of discipline even church discipline is love. It's for the good of the person sending. If no one ever tells you. That you were spinning, then you might just continue on and sinful patterns of rebellion. What? Because we are, so prone, to minimize our own sin maximize other people send these out to sea. Be blind like a last person often times to see the sin in the patterns. No one ever tells you owe? You're going to be in trouble cuz I can take them for you. This is why church discipline is a Grace to all of us. Every single member of our church. As we just witnessed. We recently, just right now, received two new members who even in the membership interview process said that they were looking for a church just like this, but there would be accountability. They be able to people to watch out for and none of them and care about what was going on. Turner. Good is thawed is good. That is humble. That's how it should be for all of us.

Dr. Sam Parkinson. If you read his newsletters, if you've been reading those, the one that he was talking about becoming a member of his church in Abu Dhabi, he pointed out in an article in that newsletter about this topic of church discipline. Those of you come tomorrow night to the round table Q&A with them. I think you're going to be able to hear about that. And I'm bringing it up, because he argues, for Annie sez in his newsletter, he's so glad that he's a member now, he's so glad for the blessing of now being discipline tble.

Sky. He was a pastor this guy who's going across the world to serve the Lord is happy to be a church member because now he is disappointed, but he's got accountability and he knows he needs it meaningful. Church membership. You see with actual accountability and expectations. That we might actually believe what we say that. We believe in live in light of a Christian ethics that we say that we're going to uphold even at a church. Covenant. It's oh, so needed for all of us because if not, let me warn you, we're just going to be self-deceived and never change. Never grow never repent of sin. If you want to be a loving and faithful church member, stop listening to gossip and start calling out your friends who try to gossip to you, not to send that they're doing right in front of you. The passage.

If not around and around the gossip train goes, who will it affect next? Nobody,

And he will tear a church apart. It has hurt our church in the past, I believe it's hurting our church right now, even in the present, Pastor Heath Lambert, clay exposed the ludicrous idea that hearing gossip is somehow not gossip. And he said that he's witnessed as a pastor and just to clarify, he is the pastor of the historic, First Baptist Church of Jacksonville Florida which is a huge Flagship Church in the SPC. This is what he said. He's realized that people have been hurt and damaged by gossip more than any other sins in the church. I think is right.

but he points out that the difference between one perpetuating gossip by their words and others, listening to gossip with their ears is the difference between and he says the drug Pusher and the drug addict Let that sink in. Those are bad. Both are gossips. If you don't believe me, look at Proverbs 26 22 in the csb. It says a gossip words are like Choice food that goes down into the into one's innermost, being the hero is revelling in it. They're sending their responsible for hearing in perpetuating and listening to gossip. It's into to hear or Proverbs 11:13 that says a gossip goes around revealing a secret but a trustworthy person keeps a confidence.

Now, you can help. What someone might try to push on you with their words at the the drug Pusher of Gossip comes your way. I don't understand it. Sometimes people just come your way, but what you can do is redirect and refuse to go along with their sin to see It's not gossip at all and it's not send to accidentally hear a person pushing their negativity and gossip in that way. If you redirect it, if you were direct and correct them, that's just faithful confrontation of sin. It's what we see here in this first step. Praise God. If you do that, that'll help kill and stop. Sit right at the start. Don't be a hearer of it. because if you don't redirect it and ask your fellow church member, To stop sending and do the right thing by going to address the issue with the person that they want to complain and gossip about. Then if you don't, then, that just means you yourself for a gossip. Give it to me, give me more come to me. I want to hear it when he eat it up when I eat it up, like buttered popcorn.

Make no mistake about it. If you participate in Gossip, either with your mouth, pushing it out, or with your ears, receiving at both are, since I just got to warn us all about that because if we just follow Matthew 18:15, we will help all the gossips out around with their bad and sinful practices. Their habits. You can save them in the church from the Insidious consequences of their sins. If you remember in Galatians, the Christian cannibalism, the Christian cannibals biting and devouring and consuming each other. It's bad for us. It hurts us, these things kill churches.

And if you would rock that, you see you're participating in this form of church discipline to help your brother and sister out so that they might turn from their sins. And if you confront their sin, you show that you actually love them like your kids when you have to correct them for the past and send that they're going down. It's for their good. When you fail to confront you show that you really hate your friends and fellow church members and Only love yourself and hate them. By not telling them the truth.

That's what's at stake here. You must confront your fellow church members in sin and step number two. You must humbly involve other fellow church members to go with you to help the sitting member If they don't reply in the first step, let's see it in verse 16. It says this. But if he does not, listen, take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three, Witnesses. Now it must be made clear at this point that the Senate question is not some minor quibble, but a verifiably, serious, simple action or pattern of actions, we shouldn't be. So picky enough time that we are just confronting each other all the time. For preferential opinions to be clear or minor offenses. Sometimes we could see things differently or have personality clashes, and sometimes people can be overly sensitive, like the Pharisees and scribes being offended at Jesus is teaching remember that earlier in the series and we are not to bend over backwards. For preferential legalistic expectations of people, we've already seen that in the series. For instance, we aren't going to proceed down the path of corrective church discipline for someone who supposedly gave you a bad? Look in the hall, right? You get that or because you got your feelings hurt, but not getting involved. Invited to some party or because you just don't like the person. I just don't like when we should discipline you, just can't do that. That's not what we're talking about here. or because of your man-made laws, like, the Pharisees had and accused Jesus of breaking, their man-made laws, and Jesus is like, Those are men weight loss. I'm not accountable to that.

And we certainly cannot demand Perfection and send listening because we all have sinned. I have sent. We all have sinned. The Perfection were a requirement here we should and would all be formally disciplined by the church. So, of course not, I'm not looking for Perfection is not. If anybody said, no, not for those reasons, but as Jonathan Lehman wisely, put it formal church, discipline should occur with sends their outward serious and unrepentant outwards serious unrepentant. So no. Hate to break it to you but you cannot discipline me for being a Los Angeles Chargers fan. Okay. We're talking about real. Since real objective Sirius sends known by others. Hence the whole point of bringing in Witnesses so that they can hear the story and work together with the offended and the offending party to establish The credibility of the accusation or lack thereof. Sometimes, the wise Witnesses are counselors who might be brought in, can put an end to the whole thing. And tell the person who thinks that they have been sinned against that they're actually calling out preferences rather than sense, or that it is inappropriate to seek to go down the road of corrective, discipline, for minor offenses or differences of opinion in areas, where people might have to agree to disagree those. A counselors those people to come along that actually help. The person who's kind of, been out of shape of the situation Lehman saying that, the sin has to be serious is important and helps us to realize As One Pastor jokingly put it, you can't bring your spouse before others in church discipline for taking the last scoop of the ice cream.

And then also as we see more clearly in the last point, we don't move forward with corrective discipline for a person who has repented of their sin, if they're repentant, that's good. That's just pretend like we all have to repent of sin if they're humbly seeking to help turn from their scent, even after struggling, or they need counseling. And and I just don't even feel like I just keep struggling that's getting disciplined because their struggle with sin, if you're a professing Christian here and you don't have any struggles with sin and sin isn't difficult that you're probably just, you're deceiving yourself. You're not being honest. Know if someone's discipline you don't, don't do that for someone repenting of sin. But for example, the adulterer for instance who doubles down when they're caught and basically leaves their family to pursue their new lover, and doesn't listen to the church's Direction, teaching Council and pridefully continues in that sin is someone we should be continuing down through the steps of church discipline that we're seeing. You wouldn't disappoint someone who's agreeing with you about his or her sin and seeking help in Repentance and mourning over the mess that they made even serious. Since help me help me, help me I'm there. I'm so sorry. You don't you don't discipline someone in that case someone was serious and even in that situation there will be consequences but drastic consequences in their life and family and marriage, maybe all these things. But if they're repentant, they should not be disciplined from their Church, okay? Just to be clear. but you might be like, everyone says, sorry if they get caught, right? Well, not so.

Some people actually double down and just continue on and they're sent even when they're caught in their sin. We need to be able to see that, and if that's where somebody's not, then you can do your continuing down these steps. I've known somebody is double down in their sin of adultery even and left their family left, their grandkids left it all to pursue a completely different way after being married for over 20 years.

What we do when sin is outward like that and unrepentant like that leads us now to our next step because if that's the situation we have to continue to go on down this different steps ahead. And step number 3, you must tell it to the church if they don't repent. So every member of the whole congregation can also join and confronting and calling them to repentance. Remember, this is good. This is a great this is for their help. This is for the restoration, what does it say? In Matthew 1817a, it says this, if he refuses to listen to them, this is the group. I'm now tell it to the church. That's the next step there. I just want to point out the gracious multi-step approach. That Jesus is revealing here in his sermon. About helping unrepentant and pursuing unrepentant. Sinners Helping them see their own blindness. It's not one step or two but three steps before getting to the final step of your Discipline. Do You See Most of us. Think about that. Last step of church discipline. It's so many steps before it even gets to that. This is gracious by God. It's slow with patient, loving at each step Jesus teaches his disciples back then as he's teaching them. And then us here even today in this very church building, all the multifaceted ways Christians should pursue straying professing sheep in their sin for their good. How they may be genuine sheep that you're pursuing or they may be wolves in sheep's clothing but either way, you see, we pursue them in the steps if we're going to obey God's way and not our own opinions. And see the grace in it, it's not one strike and you're out. Kind of harshness would have loved to help when they're brother and sister going down. A path of sin and destruction. It's help. It's a Grace so good. I hope you can see that and the telling the whole church part, kind of brings an extra weight, upon the shoulders of the sitting member who's being obstinate and unrepentant that wasn't fully there. Any other steps. And thankfully, most repent before it ever gets to that step. But if they continue down with their religious hard hearts and their ways just so blinded and just doubling down, continue, I don't care. I'm leaving my family, I don't care. I'm not listening, I'm going to continue this way. Don't tell me what to do. If you can't tell me what time, it's going to keep going. If they're not going to budge and repent, in this serious public, send at their unrepentant. I hope you can see here that the church is the final Arbiter. It's brought before the whole church to try to persuade every person here. So that members can have a chance to call their friend or fellow church member to repentance about church membership. He says, church membership is the church's public, affirmation of an individual Christians profession of faith in Jesus. And it's also the individuals decision to submit to the oversight of the church. But sadly, do you see sometimes professing Christian church members? Even after being confronted about serious sin over and over again, they still won't repent big hard-hearted leads us to the final step of church discipline. We're a church, must act to remove its public affirmation. As we saw in that definition of the individual member, what do to unrepentant? Sin is inconsistent with the Christian Life. It's it's off, and it's right here in the scriptures. Let's see it. And step number for the church must act and using the Keys of the Kingdom to excommunicate. The unrepentant member who is Warped in their minds by their serious, sinful actions. See it in all of Matthew 18, 17. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen, even to the church, let him be to you a gentile and a tax collector. These are Jesus's words. And this, fourth step of excommunication is really just that a removal of membership. Not any kind of membership list update that we're doing to remove people who we find out or and other churches are in different states or who are in different churches in our town know. That's that's not that's just updating our membership list, two more actual accurately reflect, who are the real members here at our church that we are actually gathering with week in and week out. No, that's not excommunication, removing them in that way. Excommunication is the action of removing them from membership and an active church discipline, which includes excomunion thing. Them is Mark Dever or Jonathan, Lee Manor, Bobby Jameson of 9marks ministry helpfully point out so they are no longer welcome to the Lord's table until they repent. What? Because the Lord's Supper is a family meal that we always talk about when someone is living and unrepentant. Open, since we don't just act like everything's okay. I'm kind of seeing Kumbaya and it's all good enough. That would be speaking wrong things to them and it wouldn't be good for them. It wouldn't be good for us as a church to do that. They're to be treated like I'm Believers why? Because they're acting like unbelievers when they're not repented Believers when confronted by sin eventually come around every pet, right? We all know that we none of us are perfect and we set up and over and over again, it in our marriages, in our friendships, in our church, think about King David. When he repented, when Nathan came to him and said, you are the man, as he calls him out for send, he's confronted for his serious external. Unrepentant sin and thankfully, David did repent, and we see that repentance and Psalm 51, and Psalm 32, But unbelievers, who were just fakers will not repent. They can't because I don't have a spirit. They say that they do but they can't repent their office and hard-hearted that they will never admit that. Don't double down. Make excuses blame shift and it's possible that even people who are genuine Believers. May be so deep in their sin that the Lord even uses this final step of excommunication to bring them to their senses. Got splashed cold water so they could see it. Oh, oh. I see it. I need to repent. This is waiting. Actually. Leave them to repentance similar to the situation that we see in the man in 1st Corinthians 5 who ended up being restored back in the fellowship went in 2nd Corinthians as the church received them back as he was repentant. Nobody. This man was a Believer before is debatable, but discipline. You see, was used to bring him back. It's good for their good as for their laws for love. So whether he got saved through the process or maybe was already saved, either way, the last step of discipline and excommunication was for his good and it's actually also for the good of others as well. Because we love them. Because not only do friends, not let friends drive drunk. But friends and fellow church members, do not let professing Christian friends and church members continued in unrepentant sin without lovingly confronting and even excommunicating them, if they are persistently unrepentant in there, since you see this is what this is teaching us. We teach them as tax collectors and sinners which Jesus Remember thankfully model love and care for them. So just to be clear, we can share the gospel with them, we should and who knows? They may still decide even to hear the gospel to churches that they're their communion. Do not remember, but they need to hear the gospel. Unbelievers need to hear the gospel and someone who's excommunicate. You could still hear the gospel. So long as they're not device. Epic intentions or false teachers or dangerous to be around other church members for various reasons. If they're not hurting someone in that way, then they can hear the gospel even so, for example, in the case of some heinous crime that might endanger the church, like, for instance, if they, they hurt a child and are Mets, they would not be welcome in any church that I pastor

So long as I was there to protect the vulnerable even if there were repented her showing some signs of repentant. Why? Because we're not going to Danger children. In a situation like that, why I think about the millstone principle of seriousness of caring for that. Sometimes there's consequences for sins and in those cases it would be prudent to act someone. In that case, it was going to potentially have a threat or harm the church to leave to find another congregation maybe with with no children in it, where where that could be a better fit for them. But at the same time, I want you to see you in a lot of different cases that wouldn't fit. Their we want unbelievers to hear the gospel so we don't need to shun or being mean and our church discipline but to evangelize and call decisively to repentance that's part of it. And even allow some of them to gather if they're not going to endanger the church or just to be clear. If we're a family member of someone who's been disciplined from a church, we still Meet our familial duties, even if they're excommunicated. So, if you're in a marriage, your husband or wife or parent to them, not not shunning, but evangelizing calling to repentance having gospel Salt and Light in their lives. But with all that, make no mistake about it. Churches, do a Bagon in to be healthy. They will practice church discipline, if needed for the good of the center and to protect the flock in the guard. The witness testimony of Christ in the world and Sunday school. We even looked at the Holiness of God, I mean, a lot is at stake here, but even in that testimony, let me just say this, there's no worse witness to the church can be than to be known for the hypocritical. Hard-hearted unrepentant prideful church members who are just allowed to run rampant in the congregation in town. Without every anybody ever calling sin out, A church that doesn't practice discipline like this. When needed is an unhealthy church with a bad netwitness in the world and confuses unbelievers about the gospel. Because they may say, if that is Christianity, I don't want anything to do with it and sadly for some Churches. I wouldn't blame them for that estimation. Why? Because if practice correctly church discipline guards against that bad witness, and this leaves us now really, really quickly to our next Point showing the actual Authority that Jesus has given to local churches to practice church discipline. Now in point number to the Keys of the Kingdom and church discipline. Look at me and Matthew 18 verses 18 through 20 this is God's word. It says truly I say to you, whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on Earth. Shall be loosed in heaven. Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on Earth about anything, they ask it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. for where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among Them. now, I'm have to really speed up here because Guy got a lot more to cover. So just a quick description here of what I believe that. This passage teaches. If you read my church newsletter this month, you can get more on this. But the Keys of the Kingdom are what? Jesus brought up in Matthew 16 to Peter. If you recall that before, and it's that Authority is to bind and loose, loosing relates to the positive gospel, proclamation in Ministry, like preaching at a new church members. Like we saw today, administering, baptism in the Lord's supper and then binding. All the other hand relates to the authority and decision-making. Have on the negative side and protective side that we see here in church discipline In this passage. Because who would we think we are, too just assigned to discipline someone from our church without actually having Authority and Direction given by God, that would be crazy. It would be presumptuous, what would we be doing in that case? But you see here, we do have that given to us because we seeing Matthew 16 and 18 and even the Great Commission and Matthew 28, that Jesus does give the church a 40, not just to Peter and the apostles that we saw in Matthew 16. But also to the congregation who was given the final say in matters of church discipline that we see here and Matthew 18 to tell it to the church. And the local church is the last step, right before excommunication, the church is the last one who It mentioned individuals, don't alone decide to excommunicate. You got a problem with somebody walk around, you're excommunicated, you're asking me, can't do that. You can't do that and not even church leaders can decide to act them out. Why they don't have that Authority. Know, the whole congregation had to act in these ways, Paul appeal to a decision that the congregation in Corinth would have to make on their on their own themselves. The next time they gathered or as we saw in Galatians, he expected them to remove the false teachers. It was on the church to act because they had the Keys of the Kingdom. Not individuals, not even leaders alone. The church has that those keys, our church. If it's faithful to do with the crisis commanded us. And if we were truly preaching, the true gospel, which I believe we are. It means that we to have the keys. And when we receive new members, like we did today, or administer the ordinances or remove members, do the dishes, Fun. Then that just means we're being obedient and that we have the stamp of approval from Heaven from God. So long as we are doing, what we have been commissioned to do as a church, as one commenter Tater. Put it, it's a power which the community exercises with a Divine endorsement, not that we have the power, of course to Grant salvation and or take it away. If you don't have that kind of power, like the Roman Catholic Church falsely claims to have that's not what the keys are here. We don't have that power but the keys specifically. We do have the authority given by God to preach the gospel. And if people trust the true gospel, we can tell them that they have believed the truth. That saves. Praise God. But God has given us this message to preach, and if they live in consistently with the gospel than we, as a church, have the authority and responsibility, not to doomed them to hell because she doesn't do that. But to say how you are living is not in step with the gospel and we're going to remove our Commendation of you that we once had given. That's what church discipline is in. We're calling you in that situation. The church is calling this person with tears to repent and come back to stop going down that way. God bless us and endorses these decisions as true biblical churches on Earth as it is in heaven. To see that. I think that's what Jesus is getting at here and no person or church is a hundred percent, certain didn't ride and know exactly where somebody's at spiritually in this Fallen World. But we can see fruit or lack thereof and doing the right thing before God's eyes is following the steps because that is what he's called, local churches to do. We can't just punch on this. We can't just say, I see what you're saying. But I'd rather not do that because that's going to offend my friends. Oh, I see what you're saying. But that's kind of controversial. We're just going to just erase that or cross that out of our Bibles. You can't do that to bind and loose in obedience is the command given in the authority given by Christ to his church. And those To have this Authority is Jonathan Leeming? Another 9marks authors have. So helpfully explained is not just two or three, random Christians gathering together in a room for a whatever or service or just doing their own thing and they're going to have the authority to make all these decisions know. But we're two or three or three thousand Christians Covenant together as a church to actually be at church and use the Keys of the Kingdom given by Christ to local churches, only, churches have that. So, even small churches with only a few two or three members, if they have come together to form a church, they're giving the Keys of the Kingdom to use for the glory of God. In the good of that. Church is more to be said here, if we move on to point number three. And number three is forgive. We must forgive Don't discipline the repentant, but I'm going to go through it quickly because I want us to see the context here. Going from the wandering sheep that we saw last week. The church discipline of the unrepentant this week because context you see, as we moved here to this, forgiveness portion of it is key to understanding the Bible. Now, I realize that some people might not care much about all this and might just say, come on, Daniel just get it over with already. But let me just remind everybody that I have a job to do as a pastor and I need a carefully Cheech and truthfully teach, so that I may be an unashamed Workman accurately handling, the word, which is why expository preaching, is one of Center, commitments of our church. And I want us to know that Bible teaching and Bible Understanding and Bible obeying is good for us. Why? Because it's the word of God God in Spartacus. So let's be excited. Even here in a longer sermon to hear what he has to say for us in this last point. And number 34 give don't discipline the repentant. It says, now in verse 21, then Peter came up and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me? And I forgive him as many as seven times. Jesus said, I did not say to you seven times, but 77 times there, for the Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a King who wished to settle accounts with the servants. When he began to settle one, was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay his master ordered him to be sold with his wife and children and all that he had and payment to be made. So the servants fell on his knees, imploring him have patience with me and I will repay you everything out of pity for him. The master of that servant released him and I forgave him the debt, but when that same servant went out. He found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred and Airy and seizing him. He began to choke him saying it was fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him. Have patience with me. And I will repay you he refused and went and put him in prison, until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants, saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that he had taken place, then his master summon him and said to him. You Wicked servant. I forgave you all that debt because you played it with me. And should not. You have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you and an anger. His master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly father would do to everyone of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.

Wow. Do you see? So far we've explored the importance of confronting the serious observable external, unrepentant, sin of fellow church members. Do you see how the context of this famous parable of the unforgiving, servant directly relates to all this that we've been seeing? Not forgiveness of those who are unrepentant, which necessitates that continuing process of the steps of church discipline. No, this is about those who are repentant. We've been exploring what we should do with professing sheep who stray but won't repent and come back now. Jesus turns the corner to the issue of, not a strain sheet, but one who is on his way or her way back in Repentance. All of this prompted by Peters question as it appears, he was trying to find a loophole in Jesus's argument here about dealing with sin and the church is like this is just this is classic Peter. I hope you get some classic Peter by the way like a child, he's responding here but with the kind of thought bubbles in his head wondering and getting all bent out of shape, not about the need to confront unrepentant, members of the church. He was fine with the confrontation part, that's Peter Wright. What? Peter had a hard time with year was the forgiveness and restoring part of the church member who was won over by that confrontation. So within the first step they repent or the second step when two or three go they repent or the third step. After the church calls them out they repent. Peter was more concerned about how many times he had to forgive a church member who sinned against them and those cases of their repentance.