totally.
And then the workers were like, but they did really good.
I mean, for no warning.
I mean, they did good.
And then when we told them that we were coming back
the next day, it was like, so.
But they took over us again the next day.
So it was really nice.
So I just figured we'd do that and make it easy.
But what really makes it easy is everybody shows up and gets
in line at the same time, because then people
jump in between.
And then I'm just like buying other people's meals
and stuff like that.
So they got some people hit the lottery last at the marathon.
So they got their food paid for free.
So anyway, and then the next day we're
starting a church plant in Seattle.
And that is going to be in Renton.
So it's like 10 miles south of the heart of Seattle.
We have a church building.
We've already paid the lease.
So we're good to go.
And we're going to start having church services at 6.30 PM.
So we're starting off with two services a week.
So the first service will be at 6.30 PM Sunday nights,
and then Wednesday nights at 6.30 PM also.
And we have the sowing times listed there for the area.
And there will be sowing on Sunday nights
before the church service, and Wednesday nights
before the church service, and Saturdays at 11 AM.
So I think brother Neb leads the Saturday sowing time.
And I thought he said he was going to do this Sunday also,
but if he's not there for whatever reason,
we can have someone else fill in for him.
But Wednesday's brother Robert is going to go up,
and he's going to lead the sowing every Wednesday,
without fail, no matter what.
No, I'm just kidding.
So I appreciate brother Robert doing that.
And maybe some of you are surprised to hear this,
but this is what's happening.
So I'll be preaching there every Wednesday
for at least the next three months,
unless I have something that I have to do,
and they'll just have somebody else preach for me.
But that's my plan.
Only two services a week,
so it's not too much on our church to handle.
But if you're a man in here,
and you're used to being in the preaching class,
I might ask you to preach.
I've already asked a couple people to go up there and preach.
And so if you're interested in going up,
or just filling in a slot on a Sunday night,
I'll be preaching up there this Sunday night.
We had already planned, this is the fifth Sunday,
so I'd already planned to do Psalm 28,
a so many marathon before,
but we kind of changed it from Salem to this.
So can I get a show of hands of who's planned
on going to the so many marathon?
Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.
All right, cool.
Did I overlook you?
10?
No.
So cool, well that's great.
And then who's planned on maybe going
to the first service on Sunday night?
All right, that's a good amount, that's perfect.
So, because our, so it's already set up as a church,
so when you walk in, the chairs are already there,
the pulpit's already there.
I haven't actually physically been in the building,
or physically looked at how it's all laid out and stuff.
So, but I did make a sandwich board,
so that we could kind of guide people in.
But I didn't put an arrow, because I wasn't sure
which way the arrow was supposed to go, so.
But I got invites, they're supposed to be here the 28th,
and that board's supposed to be here.
And the thing is, so we're renting time slots,
so we don't have the building all the time,
we just have them on Wednesdays from six to 10,
and Sundays from six to 10 at night.
So we can plan extra activities within that time if we want,
or have a double preaching service if we want.
I was gonna have Pastor Mahia,
I was gonna do this like a couple weeks ago,
but Pastor Mahia, his wife is, I'd ask him to come,
but his wife is due any time now,
and he didn't wanna leave her,
so we'll have him come up here pretty soon,
probably on a Friday night or a Saturday to preach for us.
But hopefully you're excited about that,
I mean, I'm definitely excited about it,
so I'm sure the people that have been driving hours and hours
to come to our church all the time are excited about that.
And Brother Neb kind of reminded me a couple weeks ago,
he said, you know, we've been soul-wining up there
for five years, like he's been steadily and faithfully
leading a group of guys up there
to do soul-wining for five years.
He said since 2018, and I was like, that's faithful.
So I appreciate that, and so I'm glad that we're doing this,
I'm excited, and I hope you guys are all for it and all in.
And if you're ever up there and you just wanna see
how beautiful Seattle is or something,
you can stop by the church up there and attend or whatever,
on your way to see the Space Needle that costs like $75
to go up into it or something now.
I remember going up to the Space Needle
and it was like 13 bucks or something,
I had dinner up there with my cousin,
the thing just spins around or whatever,
but now I don't think you can even hardly get up there,
especially since the pandemic.
But anyway, so excited about that,
that's all happening next weekend.
And then here at our Vancouver location,
we're gonna have a men's preaching night.
So if you were planning on doing the men's preaching night
and you're not going up to Seattle,
will you please raise your hands
so I can see how many people are planning on doing it?
One, two, three, four, five, six.
Okay, cool.
So we'll have plenty for the men's preaching night,
so I appreciate you guys doing that.
Don't preach anything weird while I'm gone,
and that'll be great.
The Lady's Tea, our annual Lady's Tea,
is gonna be here at the church building on May 13th,
which is Saturday, the day before Mother's Day.
Now, you don't have to be a mother,
you don't have to be a daughter,
you can just be a lady, and you can come to that.
It's for all ladies.
And ladies only, all right, no dudes.
But that's the plan, May 13th here at the church building.
It's gonna be at 12 o'clock,
and I think there'll be dress-up stuff
and gloves and hats and all that girly stuff.
And I think there was a competition or something last year,
so I think my wife said that we're gonna still do that.
Speaking of my wife, would you please pray for her?
She had surgery a couple days ago, and so she's recovering.
So her right hand is the hand that she's dominant with,
and that's the one that she had surgery on.
So she's been having a lot of surgeries,
but she's recovering, she's doing well.
I thank you all for your prayers for her.
Mother's Day is the 14th,
and we'll have a gift for every mom in attendance.
And lunch will be provided by the church afterwards,
so moms, you don't have to worry about bringing anything
unless you want to.
I'll try to, if you guys wanna actually vote on something,
if you ladies wanna actually get something different,
you better let me know before the event,
because I'm just gonna start ordering.
So don't be shy if you say, I want this,
and if it's catered from Black Angus or whatever like that,
we might not be able to do that.
But we can definitely do something nice.
So give me some ideas if you want some.
But anyway, and then the last thing on the list there,
if you notice this building is starting to get transformed
as some people that are really anti-gay looked up
and are like, what is this?
No, I'm anti-gay too.
Not anti-happy, but you know what I mean.
So anyway, but this is being transformed for our conference,
so we're gonna try to make it look like a king's court.
And so we're gonna get a new banner,
and we're gonna get some,
these pillars are now marble pillars, so it's very nice.
But I appreciate anybody that's willing to help out
with the decorating.
And if you wanna help in any way for the conference,
we'd appreciate that.
So we're definitely gonna need some people,
I was thinking just maybe some families,
or maybe a couple families a night,
or during the day before the preaching services and stuff,
will be able to come in and clean up.
So it sounds like we're gonna have a lot more people
than I thought we were going to.
A lot more people have told me
that they're gonna come to the conference.
So at first I was like, oh yeah,
maybe we'll have an extra 50 people or something,
but we're gonna be bursting at the seams, folks.
So we're gonna get more chairs and stuff like that.
I also wanna put some monitors in the back room,
so if we have to have an overflow back there,
that people can still watch and listen to the conference
and things like that.
So it's gonna get busy around here,
and we'll need some help just tidying up.
And so usually at the end of the night,
some people just wanna do it and then go home or whatever,
if they were to clean like that.
But it might be easier to just come in
before things start, or whenever you want.
But I'm looking for some families to sign up for,
make sure it looks good on Thursday night
before we have our services here,
Friday and Saturday and Sunday.
So that's a lot to do,
but like four families or maybe whatever.
However many people wanna come on those days
and just bust it out really quick,
I'd be really thankful if we could do that.
The schedule, I've released the schedule
on our WhatsApp group, but I just put it in the bulletin
so you can see what nights, what pastors are coming.
I spelled Pastor Shelley's name wrong, good night.
I know how to spell it, so don't come up to me.
Don't email me, no, I'm just kidding.
But yeah, so that's the,
and all the pastors are preaching at seven at night
on Thursday and Friday.
Saturday is 1030 a.m., Sunday morning, 1030 a.m.,
that I'll be preaching in the evening.
So sorry about all the upcoming events there,
but I just wanna make sure everybody knows what's going on.
And we're a family integrated church,
that means the children and infants
are welcome during the church services.
Please make sure that you're taking them
to the mother-baby room or dad-baby room,
whichever one you need.
If they become really distracting or disruptive,
screaming or crying really loud,
and just take them back there.
And when they're good to come out,
just bring them back out.
Those rooms are for whatever you need,
changing, feeding, all that stuff.
They're supposed to be for training.
We don't want people going wild in there.
We don't want older kids in there running around,
throwing stuff and things like that.
So just keep all that in mind.
And then, no unattended children
in the area of the building, please watch your children.
And please no food in the assembly area.
Silence your cell phones.
Escorts are available by the ushers to your vehicles.
If you're a single lady or just a lady
here without your husband,
they'd be happy to do that for you.
Our donations are at the bottom of the page there
and will come in so far for the month of April.
And then Alina Ritchie, she's not here,
but it's her birthday.
So happy birthday to Alina.
And that's all we have for announcements.
Let's sing another song,
and then we'll receive the offering.
All right, our next song will be song number 365,
our new song, Jesus and Me.
This was recommended by brother Steven Bauman.
So if you like it, you can thank him.
If you don't like it, you can be mad at him, I guess.
And if you guys have recommendations,
I'm open to hearing them, if they're good.
If they're not, I'll probably tell you
that I'm praying about it or something like that.
So song 365, Jesus and Me.
Song 365, let's sing it out together on the first.
I've traveled alone
upon this lonesome way.
My burdens were heavy
and dark was my day.
I looked for a friend
not knowing that he
had all of the time
been looking for me.
Now it is Jesus and me
for each tomorrow,
for every heartache
and every sorrow.
I know that I could depend
upon my newfound friend
and so to the end
it's Jesus and me.
The road may be long
to heaven's curly gait.
I know that it's narrow,
I know that it's straight,
but Jesus is there
through eternity.
We'll travel along
just Jesus and me.
Now it is Jesus and me
for each tomorrow,
for every heartache
and every sorrow.
I know that I could depend
upon my newfound friend
and so to the end
it's Jesus and me.
Forever I'll sing
of his great love to me.
Forever I'll tell it
on land and on sea.
I'll stay by his side
contented I'll be
for all of my life.
It's Jesus and me.
Now it is Jesus and me
for each tomorrow,
for every heartache
and every sorrow.
I know that I can depend
upon my newfound friend
and so to the end
it's Jesus and me.
Amen. Good singing.
Brother Robert, could you bless the offering for us?
Brother and Father, Lord, thank you for a great day in church, Lord.
Bless all those that came, Lord, and that we bless this offering, Lord,
and that we help you give us the truth from heart. Bless the services and the faith in the Lord Jesus.
We pray. Amen.
Amen.
All right, go and open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 5.
1 Corinthians 5,
if you don't have a Bible, there should be a Bible under the seat in front of you.
1 Corinthians 5.
The Bible reads, It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you,
and such fornication as is not so much is named among the Gentiles,
that one should have his father's wife. And you are puffed up,
and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken
away from among you. For I verily, as absent in body,
but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present,
concerning him that hath so done this deed.
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered
together, and my Spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh,
that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven
hath the whole lump? Purge out, therefore, the old leaven,
that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened.
For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore,
let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice,
and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
I wrote unto you in an epistle not to keep company with fornicators,
yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world,
or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters.
For then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you
not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator,
or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard,
or an extortioner, with such and one know not to eat.
For what have I to do to judge them also that are without?
Do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without,
God judgeth. Therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
Brother Bill, will you pray for us?
Amen. We're in 1 Corinthians chapter 5,
and we're not going to dwell there too long this morning,
but I wanted to go through this passage.
The title of the sermon this morning is Biblical Forgiveness and Restoration.
Biblical Forgiveness and Restoration. Before I get into it,
I just want to have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, so much for the
scriptures, and Lord, that they teach us how to operate in our
lives, in our environment, our work,
Lord, with our families, and Lord, as Christians. And Lord, I pray that we
would have ears to hear what the Spirit says to the church this morning,
and Lord, let the scriptures speak to the people, and I pray that you would fill me,
Lord, with your Holy Spirit, as I preach this message in Jesus' name, I pray.
Amen. Well, I want to preach about biblical
forgiveness and restoration, because a lot of times,
you know, we'll read through these passages and we'll be like, yeah, you know,
kick those people out or whatever. And we have a
day where Christianity, we're living in a day where Christianity
is just really milquetoast and weak, and people won't kick
people out of church for any reason, and I'm not on a hair trigger to
throw people out of church. Usually when that happens, they've just kind of crossed
either a really big line or lines upon
lines upon lines, and this passage of scripture
teaches us a very important lesson,
and it gives us an important example of a person
who Paul is saying, get this person out of your church,
and what he's accused of here and what Paul is judging here
in this chapter, and yes, he's judging, and he's telling people, even the last verse
that says, therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
So is it possible to be a Christian and be wicked? Yes, it is.
Is it possible to fall into really bad sin as a Christian?
Yes, it is. And the Bible teaches us here how to
deal with it. Look at verse number one, it says, it is reported commonly that there's
fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named
among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's
wife. So we have a really bad situation here,
and this guy is a fornicator, and the Apostle Paul is saying
that this sin isn't even named among the Gentiles. Even the heathen
don't do what this guy has done. Fornication is bad in itself,
but to have your father's wife, which is probably his stepmother, I'm guessing,
then that's really weird,
and it's really wicked. But let's read on here, it says, and you are puffed up,
and have not rather mourned that he that had done this deed might be
taken away from among you. For I verily, as absent in body,
but present in spirit, have judged already. See how Paul says, I judged?
But we have a culture today that says, don't judge. Christians
aren't supposed to judge. Is that what Paul said? Did Paul judge?
Well, he was an apostle, but further on down, he tells
us to judge also. So the Bible's filled with judgment. The word judgment, if you just
look it up in some Bible software or concordance, you're going to see that
word or the form of it many, many times. God is a God of judgment.
Why would he say, don't judge? There's certain things we shouldn't judge
about, John, but I'm not preaching about that necessarily. Look what it says in verse 4.
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you're gathered together in my spirit with the power
of our Lord Jesus, to deliver such
a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. So when you throw
somebody out of the church for doing one of these sins that it's going to list here later
down the line, we're delivering that person to Satan
for the destruction of the flesh. So they're outside of the
congregation. They're outside of the will of God because the will of God is that
we would gather together so much the more as you see the day of approaching, right?
So, but it's that the Spirit may be saved on the
day of the Lord Jesus. You don't lose your salvation when you get kicked out of the church.
But you know what you do? You lose your honor. You lose
respect and, you know, obviously we're supposed to do this in
love, but you just can't have a bunch of garbage going on in
your church and not deal with it. It has to be taken care of. It has to be
dealt with. And it says in verse 6, your glory is not good.
Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
So when sin is abounding in a church, just say
one person is fornicating and you just pass over that transgression,
the pastor knows about it, everybody in the church knows about it, but nobody's doing
anything about it. That's wrong. You have to address those situations. You have
to address that sin. And obviously you don't always
have to address it publicly. You don't always have to address it to the whole church.
That's not, but this person is doing it openly.
Everybody knows about it. He hasn't stopped yet. So there's some
things that, you know, people will come to me and they'll say, or they'll have these issues, they'll all have to go to somebody
and say, hey, give an ultimatum to them. Say, hey, you know,
I've heard this. Is this true? You know, if it is,
you can't come back to church until you get this fixed. Things like that.
But I don't always tell the whole congregation everything that's going on.
I've preached sermons about that not too in the distant past, but
we do have to handle it. And we do have to handle it biblically.
So what Paul is doing is he's getting onto this church because
he's saying you're puffed up. You're acting like it's not a big deal.
You're just living with this and just making light
of it. And he says in verse 7, purge out therefore that
the old leaven that you may be a new lump as you're unleavened
for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. So we're supposed to
I mean we just had the Lord's Supper. I kind of went over a lot of this stuff too.
You know, you don't want this church to be filled with leaven because, you know, when you take the Lord's Supper
God might kill people. God might put people to sleep permanently.
He might make them sick or whatever. And it says in verse 8,
therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven
of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
I wrote unto you an epistle not to company with fornicators.
You know, because obviously we're supposed to go and preach the gospel and not everybody
that's fornicators are obviously, if you're a Christian, you're not supposed to be a fornicator.
So he's going to explain what he means by this. He says, yet not
altogether with the fornicators of this world or with the covetous or extortioners
or with idolaters, for then must your needs go out
of the world. But now I've written unto you not to keep company
if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or
an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner
with such a one know not to eat. So what's the Bible saying here?
If you're in any of these categories, we're not
supposed to fellowship. We're not supposed to eat with them.
We're not supposed to be around them. It says,
For what have I to do to judge with them also that are without?
Do not you judge them that are within? See how he's saying that we're supposed to judge people
within? See that? And it says,
But them that are without God, God judgeth.
Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
The Bible teaches that God is going to judge his people. It's a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God. Judgment must begin
first at the house of God. So we are supposed to judge
things. It's not supposed to be a free for all here where everybody does
whatever they want. People are fornicating. People are getting drunk.
People are being covetous, extorting people.
All these people we're not supposed to be around. So when it says,
Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person, what is Paul saying? He's saying
get this guy out of the church. He's on this list. He needs to go.
So, and amen. Amen. That's how we're supposed
to handle things. Sometimes people need to go. Now what about
someone that's repentant though? Should they have to go?
If someone repents and gets it right, should they have to go?
I mean, to me this, Paul's writing about someone that they know
is doing this and they're continuing to allow it to happen.
And the person is not repentant. And so the Bible kind of has this concept
of throwing people out and shunning them. That's why it says
don't eat with them. So don't go have coffee with someone that gets kicked out of our church.
The point is, is they'd be ashamed of what they've done
and they would get it right and come back. So, you know,
a lot of times, you know, it's like, yeah, kick them out, new IFB,
whatever. Because we're kind of one of the only churches that do this.
You know, the other Baptist churches will just kick people out because they believe like we believe.
But you can believe whatever else you want, right? But
at churches like this, you know, obviously, you know,
we should have the right spirit about this though. We're not just, you know, obviously if someone's a
heretic, someone's a queer, someone's a sodomite or something,
a child molester, get that person out of here. They're never allowed
to come in here or come back once we find out that it's happened.
There are certain things that you would just permanently cast people out for. If they're a false prophet,
get them out of here. They're going to infect the rest of the church.
There are predators coming in here to try to be wolves in sheep's clothing.
So don't get me wrong. There is forgiveness and
restoration for people that are thrown out of the church, but
sometimes there isn't. Okay? So I just wanted to caveat that
point because, you know, we'll say, well, what about, you know, what if Billy
Graham did repent right before he, you know, died and went to hell or whatever?
He was a false prophet, folks. There was no repenting of that. He was done.
Once a son of God, always a son of God. Once a child of Belial,
always a child of Belial. Once always a son of the devil. So
there are people that we wouldn't forgive. There are people that are Trinity
denying, believe in a false gospel, don't believe
the truth about very big foundational doctrines that we would say,
hey, don't come back here. You know, there's other churches you can go to. It's just not ours.
So now, and I'll teach this
till the day I die that some people just need to go, right?
But there's, you know, there's different judgments for different
things. And say someone is doing something on this list, I
go to that person and I say, hey, this is what I heard.
Is that true? And they say yes. So say just in the instance of
fornication. I would say, well, you've got two options. You can either get
married right now, not right then at that second, but like
get married. You've got two, three weeks to get that done. Or you need
to not come back until you are, right? And so
but I always want to make sure that people have a way
to live things down. You know, if someone doesn't do something that's just so
wicked that it can't be named, like say that you go to them and they're like, I don't care.
Yes, I am doing that and I'm going to continue to do that. They're like, you've got to go.
And if they don't want to go, then you bring it before the church. And you have to tell the church
this person is an unrepentant sinner that needs to be thrown out.
And sometimes it has to be public. And even
then, I would turn the cameras off and not say necessarily some of
that from the pulpit, you know, to the internet or whatever.
But what about forgiveness? What about restoration?
What about the Christian responsibility to forgive?
This is where sometimes people will just be like, well
you know, I don't want to be a Christian because they're so unforgiving.
And Christians get that stigma. And obviously
sometimes people just don't understand the difference between judging sin and not wanting to be involved in sin
and then just, you know, someone
you know, sometimes people need to be judged and
people will go like, they're just too judgmental at that church or whatever. It's like,
well the Bible tells us we're supposed to be judgmental on sin. If the Bible
has things that we're supposed to do, commandments we're supposed to live by, you know, protocol
that we're supposed to follow in the church, we have to follow that regardless of whether that hurts
people's feelings or not. And you can go to any old, you know,
lily livered, pink tee, pink shirt, lavender tie
wearing church that you want to go to. Some back scratching
shoeshine in church or whatever where they're just going to cater to all your needs
and hey, what kind of music do you want to listen to? It's like, that's not this church.
You know, we do things according to the Bible to the best of our ability
and that's that. But obviously we're not
going to forgive heathens and reprobates, you know, that
are just false prophets and weirdos
or whatever. But what about this man? I mean, what
he did was weird, isn't it? What he did is strange.
What he did was wicked. The Bible says it's wicked, what he did. But what
about that guy? Isn't that guy a reprobate? I mean, shouldn't we just throw him out forever?
Not according to Paul because, you know,
go ahead and turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 2 because later on, Paul
says we need to bring this guy back. So obviously the guy gets
right with God and he's allowed to come back.
But Christians do have a stigma for not being forgiving
and that really should be the opposite of what we are. We should be willing to
forgive people for things that they've done and obviously
even slights that they've done against you. Maybe they talk bad behind your back and you know for sure
that they did it. You know, we can still forgive people
for the things that they do. We don't have to hold every sin over someone's head
until the day they die. And we can forgive people that have harmed
us even in this church. You know, maybe there's just someone that's not really your cup of tea.
You know, you don't have to hang out with the person 24-7.
But can you be civil? Can you shake someone's hand and say God bless you or whatever?
I mean, you don't have to be best friends with people, but we
should be still loving and kind to our brethren, right?
So, I think Paul puts, you know, this is obviously
in the Bible because Paul wrote epistles that didn't make it in the Bible, right?
This is in the Bible for a reason. Because it's showing
how far you can push God and you're still
saved and you're still able to be
re-put back into the church, forgiven, restored.
So, you know, and this guy
commits a really bad sin, but he's asked, Paul asks him to
go ahead and let this man come back. So,
but here's the thing. The purpose, like I said, of church discipline
is to make that person ashamed, make them get right.
That's why you don't congregate with them anymore. That's why you don't
take, I just want to be friends with that person even though they
were kicked out of our church. It's like, you're wicked. You're wicked for doing that.
You shouldn't do that because you're not helping them. It's just like family members
when, you know, two people are getting divorced or whatever. The family,
your flesh and blood family is 99.9% times going to
side with the person no matter what they've done. And that's also
wrong. We have to judge righteous judgment. As Christians, we can't
do that. It doesn't, you know, blood, they have that term, blood is thicker
than water, and that's true. But it shouldn't be to the point where you're just willing to
sin and allow their sin to infest your
life and infect your life and try to placate them and
make them feel better about the decision they made. If they left their husband, they need to go back to
their husband. That should always be your advice unless it's like a dangerous situation
like, you know, the guy is some weirdo,
stalker, murderer or whatever. Somebody that's
beaten you or forcing you to take drugs or forcing, I mean,
there's some really bad things that obviously you should get away from the situation, but
you know, as a Christian, we should, you know, try to, even if it's our own
flesh and blood, advise them to do the right thing, what the Bible says,
and you cannot be a respecter of persons. The Bible says that over
and over and over again, and I'm not going to be a respecter of persons.
It doesn't matter whether it's my family members, it doesn't matter whether it's my friends,
I have to judge the same way with everybody because if I don't, then
it's just bad. It's a bad look, and people will be
less likely to trust in my judgment if I'm not going to judge everybody
with the same judgment. It's my job
as the pastor here to judge things and to
make sure things are run correctly. Here in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, look at verse 5.
It says, But if any have caused grief,
he hath not grieved me, but in part, that I might not overcharge
you all. Sufficient to such a man is this punishment
which was inflicted of many. This is the man that
Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. So he
writes this letter, the second letter, and this is about
doing the opposite of what he told them to do. So obviously
they have already kicked this guy out. They did what Paul said to do
even though they were resistant to do it at first because that's just kind of our nature.
We want to let things slide. We want to let people
just continue to do things and not confront situations.
And sometimes we have to do the ugly thing and confront people with stuff.
It's the least favorite part of my job as a pastor.
It really is. And dealing with really severe marriage
issues. Those are just really hard things, especially
in the time that we live in. But look what it says in verse 7.
It says, look at verse 6 again. Sufficient
to such a man is this punishment, so he got kind of what he deserved,
which was inflicted of many. So remember he said that they need
to throw this guy out, right? But it says, so that
contrarwise ye ought rather to forgive him
and comfort him, lest perhaps
such and one should be swallowed up with
overmuch sorrow. So what's Paul saying? Now it's time
he's done. He's paid his punishment, basically.
Now once someone's punished, do you just keep punishing them forever? No.
As a Christian, we're supposed to not just continue to do that. If they get it right,
the punishment's over. And Paul's saying,
obviously he was thrown out, the devil had his way with him
or whatever. The people shunned him and he came back.
That's the program for restoring people. If someone sins or falls,
they're out and then they're coming back when
it's right, when they've basically repented of what they've done
and gotten it right. So look what it says
in verse 7 again, that contrarwise ye ought
rather to forgive him. So that word contrarwise
is in the opposite order. So what he told them to do, do the opposite.
Now, instead of throwing him out and not having anything to do with him,
now you bring him in and have everything to do with him.
Don't continue to hold it over their head for the rest of their life and just
whisper and talk about that person. That's wrong. We should forgive it.
Look, God forgave a lot of our sins. How about all? How about every?
How about the sins of the whole world, including all these reprobates and false prophets? He died for
their sins too. So
we should be people that are willing to forgive people
and it says not only just forgive him, but comfort him.
So if someone comes back and like, we may
know or we may not know what the details of everything are, but we are supposed to comfort
that person and just say, you know, and I would say that's like, hey welcome back.
Not avoid them and pretend like they don't exist.
And it says lest perhaps such a one should be
swallowed up with over much sorrow. Now that word over much means
too much, excessively. So they shouldn't have to
keep, you know, obviously some sins we commit can have lifelong effects.
We reap what we sow. That is true.
But it doesn't mean that people can't be restored. People can't be forgiven.
And maybe they will reap those things for the rest of their life. You know, there's some
decisions we make that just can't be gone back on. You know, you fornicate
and you get AIDS or you fornicate and you get some disease that lasts for the rest of your
life. You can't fix that. But
you can fix your heart. You can fix your attitude.
You can be right with God even though you make a really
bad mistake. So once someone's gone through the punishment
and they respond in repentance, we should offer the forgiveness
and restore that person. This is the Christian way. This is what
Christians do. And the attitude that if someone
just leaves our church they're bad, that's not true. I don't believe that either.
You know, I know that we get that reputation and it's just not true. There's people that have left
our church that I've never said a word about. I won't say anything about
them. You know, God bless if you're going to go to another church and do
what's right inside of the Lord. You don't have to go to this church to be right with God. You just have to go
to a church and a church that's actually preaching the truth would be the best church to go to.
So, look at what it says in verse 8.
So, that ye is plural, isn't it?
So he's talking about who? Everybody in the church
would confirm their love toward them, toward him. Comfort that
person. Let them feel welcome again to be here because
again, there's people that have left our church and I'd be like, you know, if they
get things right or whatever, maybe they've said something about me
in public. I'll forgive that. I'll forgive
that. And we should too. Now, obviously, if they're
Judas Iscariot, backstabbing, low life, snake eating,
dog looking, dirt bag, then that's a different
story. I've already kind of caveated that. I don't know where all that came from, but
I was trying not to cuss, but just kidding.
But look at what it says in verse 9.
Obedient in all things. So this is also not
only what's right, but it's also Paul testing these people to see
what kind of Christians are these people? Because this church, in case
you didn't realize, has a lot of problems. Like, every chapter is
like, you know, addressing problems and even in the second epistle
like people are talking about him and saying all kinds of things about him
and, you know, he's having to get nasty with people a little bit, but
what does he want in this chapter? What's he trying to help him figure out?
You know, you got it right by kicking this guy out, now restore the man. Now
do what's right. And how do you do that? Well, you bring him back, you love
that person, you comfort that person, and you show your love to that person.
And it shouldn't be some, you know, you
have to beg for forgiveness to every single person for all your transgressions or something.
When they come back, then you know they're good.
Right? So, but he
wants to know that there's proof whether they'd be obedient in all things because, remember
it's contra-wise. You kick them out,
don't have any company with them, bring them back, that's the opposite.
Bring them back and love them. Okay? So, whether, he wants to know whether
they're going to obey in that thing. They obeyed. They threw them out.
They shunned them. So, let's see, let's look at verse
10. It says, To whom you forgive anything, I
forgive also. For if I forgave anything, to whom
I forgave it for your sakes, forgave I it in the person of Christ.
Lest Satan should get advantage of us, for we are not
ignorant of his devices. So, Paul's basically
kind of going on this concept of forgive anything and I'll forgive
it also. And in Matthew 18, 18 it says, Verily
I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.
Whatsoever ye loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. So,
Jesus taught about this same concept and I think that this is what Paul's referring to.
That, you know, if you guys are going to forgive them, I'm going to forgive
them. You know, if we restore someone here on earth, God restores them
in heaven also. It's just, that's kind of the concept here.
And obviously not if they're, you know, not doing it correctly
obviously. We have to do things the right way. But look at what it says in verse 11 again.
Lest Satan should get advantage of us.
What does that mean? Well, if you're not obedient
in these things, if you don't do what's right, then obviously
Paul is saying flat out that Satan will get
an advantage of us. So, what if we don't act like Paul says to
act in 2 Corinthians chapter 2? What if we don't do
what the Bible says? What if just every time someone leaves our church we trash
them to everybody? Or what if, you know, we kick somebody out
for something and everybody talks about them, they get it right and they come back
and then you just don't act? You don't show your love for that person. You don't
bring that person back the way you're supposed to. Well, it says Satan's going to get an advantage
of us. When we won't forgive our brothers in Christ, when we won't forgive our
sisters in Christ, and we hold things over their head, that's what
Satan likes to do. He's the accuser of the brethren. Day and night
he's up there accusing us to God and saying, look what this guy did.
Look what this woman did. And, you know, the blood of Christ
cleanses us from all of our sin. But we don't want
Satan to get an advantage of us when we're not doing church
discipline right, or we're not doing restoration right, or we're not forgiving
our brothers and sisters in Christ when we should be. Then Paul's saying, hey,
do you want Satan to have an advantage of you? Do you want Satan to destroy this church?
That's how it starts happening. Factions start happening. Clicks start
happening. Gossip starts happening. You know, tail bearing
starts happening. And the next thing you know, everybody knows all this story
and you don't even know whether it's true or not. You just heard it from somebody else.
That's why it's so damaging to
be a tail bearer. And the Bible says specifically that God's people
are not supposed to be going up and down as a tail bearer.
Because it's wounding to people and if you don't have your facts right
which a lot of times that seems to be what happens. Sometimes I'll hear
people will tell me a story and I'm like, and then I go to the person that it actually
happened with and it's nothing like what that person told me.
And so we got to be careful when we're just gossiping and rumoring about people.
Look, we should be better than that. We are Christians and
we should be forgiving and we should be willing to let people
live things down that are restored.
Go ahead and turn to Matthew chapter 18 in verse 15.
And I'm going to read for you, actually I'll wait.
Go ahead and turn to Matthew chapter 18 verse 15.
And the Bible teaches this forgiveness attitude that we should have.
But a lot of times we like to hang on to stuff. When people do us wrong
we hang on to that. I'm not saying, I've done it too.
I've been there. There's things that people have done to me
and I still harbor things against them.
But here's the thing. I personally believe that
if someone doesn't ask you to forgive them, you don't have to, but I do believe you should
if you can. Now look at Matthew
18 and 15. It says, Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee,
go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.
Here's where people fail 99% of the time when they're trying
to get things right with someone. They're not really trying to get things right with someone. They're trying to
talk crap about them to somebody else. You're like, we should
handle this with Matthew 18. Well why don't you start doing that then?
Why don't you start handling Matthew 18 correctly then?
Because what it says is you're supposed to go to that person alone, not tell everybody else and your
friends in the church about it. And it says,
If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. That's the first option
for restoring maybe just a problem in the church because Matthew 18
is talking about people that are having issues and how to deal with them in the church, but it's also talking
about church discipline. Look at what it says in verse 16. But if he will
not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more than in the mouth
of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. So say there's this grievous thing
that two people are fighting about in the church, sometimes
it's required to have witnesses there and
I don't want people just running around with their witnesses confronting people
in this church. If there's something that goes to the level of church discipline, I need
to be involved in that. And it says,
Verse 17, And if he shall neglect to hear them,
tell it unto the church. But if he shall neglect to hear the church,
let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. So there is an issue where
if someone isn't getting something right, they've wronged somebody in a really grievous way
and they won't receive it, they won't
relent on where they're at with it, and the church has already kind of
judged, well, you're wrong. This person's right.
What you've done is wrong. And they won't back down off that, then we're supposed to throw that
because it says treat them as a heathen man and a publican.
That means what? You throw them out. They're not allowed to come back to church anymore.
And then it says in Verse 18, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever
he shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatsoever he shall loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven. So we bind that person as
being thrown out, we loose that person and bring them back in.
That's the principle there. So look at Proverbs chapter
18 verse 19. Proverbs chapter 18 verse 19.
And the problem really is
with people is that they are very unforgiving.
In general, people are just unforgiving about a lot of things
and if we would just grasp this concept, I think our Christian lives would be a lot
better instead of just holding grudges and just
always wanting that person to fall or have issues.
It says, A brother offended is harder to be one than a strong city
and their contentions are like the bars of a castle. So once you
offend someone, it's hard to win that person back
over. Once you kind of cross the line with that person, it's hard
to win them back over. That's what the Bible is saying right here. But is it impossible?
It says it's hard to win them over.
But in all honesty, as Christians, it shouldn't
be that hard. That's because of the hardness of hearts
that people have that they won't allow themselves to be won over. If someone
apologizes to you, forgive them.
The context of Matthew 18 is how to handle the offenses in the church
and biblically in matters of church discipline. Look at verse 21.
I should have just had you keep your finger there, but go back to Matthew chapter 18. I'm sorry.
Verse 21. The Bible says in Matthew 18, 21, it says,
Then came Peter to him and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me?
Tell seven times? So what's the context here?
Trespasses between believers, isn't it?
What to do. How to do it. And then Peter asks this question right after
Jesus says the whatsoever shall be loosed and bound
quote right up above it. Now Peter, so
now we know what the context is because Peter asked this question. How oft
shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Tell seven
times? Is seven times good enough?
And we think of that as like, man, if someone did something to be seven times, that would be really hard
for me to think that they were sincerely apologizing about it, right?
But look at what it says in verse 22. Jesus saith unto him,
I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy
times seven. So that's a lot of times.
That's 490 times. And I think that he's just being tongue in cheek
here and just throwing out a big number. He's just saying
when your brother asks you to forgive him, they've done you wrong, you need
to forgive him. And then he goes into this parable
where he explains this concept
and why this concept exists in scripture. Verse
23, therefore is the kingdom of heaven like unto a certain king?
Who's the king? God, right?
Which would take account of his servants. Who's the servants? His people, right?
Verse 24, and when he had begun to reckon,
one was brought unto him that owed him ten thousand talents.
Now, I was looking up some stuff, I got brother Bill here,
maybe he can back me up or correct me if I'm wrong here, but ten thousand
talents modern day would be the equivalent of
over a billion dollars. Is that right?
So a talent
weighs, from some of the information, there's different varying information
but they're about 129 point something, so about 130 pounds each.
Back then, if you remember the story where Jesus
has these people, one person starts and they agree
for the penny, then further on through the day he offers people the same amount of money
when they come in later, right? And one person an hour before
the day was done gives them the same penny and they're all mad about it, right?
What's the penny? What's it represent? A day's wage.
And that's why they're upset because this person only has to
work an hour and they get the same amount as them, right?
So, if you're going by what Jesus' reckoning of it is, then if it's
129 times ten thousand, what is that Bill?
Oh, I thought he was looking up
the information, but he's like the coin guy or whatever, so he knows a lot about
this kind of stuff. I'm just a very bad amateur, but
if you go by what Jesus is saying, that's
a penny. A penny. How many pennies are
in one pound? A hundred.
Huh? It is? Oh, for which number? How many are in a pound?
Well, I'm talking about the British pound, like the
Dang it. Okay.
Okay. Well, according to Jesus, a penny
is one day's wage. So, in the next verse,
well, let me move on here and I'll come back to that.
Thanks, brother Bill. Appreciate you very much. No, I'm just kidding.
So, it says in verse, let's see,
verse 26.
Or no, verse 25. I'm sorry. So, he owes ten thousand dollars to this
man who is actually the king, and that
represents God. One of his servants owes him ten thousand talents.
So, it's a lot more money than we have.
And it says, for as much as he had not to pay, the Lord commanded him to be sold.
And his wife and children, all that he had in payment to be made. Verse 26,
the servant therefore fell down and worshiped him, saying, Lord,
have patience with me and I will pay thee all. Then the Lord of that servant
was moved with compassion and loosed him
and forgave him the debt. Now, what does this big debt represent?
It represents a debt that you can't pay. And when Jesus
died for us, and he saved us, he forgave us
of all of our debt, past, present, and future.
And it's a debt that we could never pay. We could never pay this back.
And even though this guy is like, hey, just have patience with me and I'll pay it all,
he doesn't, he can't pay that. That's what the story
is trying to convey to us, that this man, you know, was forgiven a debt
that he could have never paid off. So, he forgave him.
And it says, but the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants,
you know, one of his brothers and sisters, right?
Which owed him a hundred pence. So, if you're going
off the parable, that's a hundred days worth
of labor. So, a hundred days worth of labor,
you know, for the average laborer, I'm not sure what that is,
but it's a pretty penny, literally.
So, a hundred pence is a hundred days worth of
labor, okay? And that's a lot, too. But
what is it compared to ten thousand talents?
And it says, and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat
and said, pay me that thou owest. And his fellow servant
fell down at his feet the same way he did to God, right?
And besought him, saying, have patience with me and I will pay thee all.
And so, what does he do? And he would
not. So, this is a picture of what the Christian that's been
forgiven for everything they've ever done. When they went to God for mercy,
he gave it to them, and then one of their brothers and sisters in Christ
did something that was not even close to the wickedness that they've even
done in their own life, and they won't forgive?
It is wicked, and that's what the story is trying to help us to understand.
If God will forgive you of all this sin that you've done, why can't you forgive
somebody for something they've slided you on? Why? Because
it is wicked. It's very wicked. So, I guess my math was
off. Bill has some shape. No, I'm just kidding. He's fine.
But, like, it still holds up. One penny, one day of labor.
That's a lot of money if you're talking about a hundred days.
So, and what I looked up was
a penny, was a pound, was a hundred pence or pennies?
Oh, since 19. Okay, so that's why I came up with the math.
But it fits for the dollar, doesn't it?
Okay, that makes sense. So, but if the talent back then was
130 pounds and there was 10,000 talents, there's
13,000 days of labor compared to, you know,
13,000 days of labor is a lot, right?
And the math I came up with, which probably is wrong, but that's 130
million days of labor if you count it for a penny, right?
Because the 13,000 days
if it was a pound, one talent, but that doesn't
equate with what it would actually be in pennies, okay? So, it
does work out to be more money than we could ever come up with in our life, okay? That's the point of the
story. So, I knew I was going to mess this up, but anyway, verse 30.
Dang it, Bill, why'd you have to show up today? No, I'm just kidding. But
I'm glad if I'm wrong. I just want to make sure I'm right. But
Matthew 18, verse 30 says, and he would not, but he went and cast
him into prison until he should pay the debt. So, what is that picture?
It's picturing that in your mind, that person needs to
keep paying for what they've done. And you're not going to forgive
them. You're not going to lose some of the debt. You're not going to
treat them like you should. You're going to cast them into prison until they should
pay the debt. So, when his fellow servants saw
what was done, they were very sorry and came and told
unto their Lord all that was done. Then his Lord, after he had called
him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant.
So, again, this is picturing God, and he's saying
you're a wicked servant. Why are they wicked? Because,
he's going to explain it to us. I forgave thee all that debt
because thou desirest me. You asked me. You asked
me to forgive it. I did it. Shouldest not thou
also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had
pity on thee? And his Lord was wroth
and delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him.
So, likewise, shall my heavenly Father do also unto
you, if you from your hearts forgive not every one
his brother their trespasses. That is a very powerful verse.
And it should really speak to our hearts as a Christian. You know, are there people
in your life right now or people even in this church that you
should get right with or that you should forgive for little small slights that they've
done to you, a dirty look, you know, an offhand comment or whatever.
And look, here's the other thing is that God doesn't make us
remember every single sin we commit and forsake that
individually to him. There's some things that we do that
we don't even realize we're doing wrong because we're so sinful. There's
sins of omission, you know, there's sins that we don't, you know,
sins of ignorance, you know. There were sacrifices for these things in the Old
Testament, you know. Cleanse me of secret faults.
Cleanse me of these secret sins. Cleanse me, you know, of
the sins that we've done ignorantly and God does that for us when he forgives us
for all time, right? But then for us to go around
and act all holier than thou and high and mighty when someone
asks us to forgive them or maybe even they don't ask. Maybe that person
doesn't even realize that you thought they were giving them a squirrely look.
You know, like they were just looking at you like this and like, did you see how so and so was looking at me?
I'm never going to talk to them again. It's like, why do we act
like that? It's just, it's wrong, you know, and we should
get this right. And, you know, I'm not like coming down on
anybody. I'm just saying that if you're, if you have this attitude
of the person that grabbed the guy by the throat and you want him to pay
till the end of time, you want to throw that person in prison and just throw that person
away, they're worthless to you. They're not somebody
that you even want to entertain forgiving. We ought not to be like
that because, you know what, Satan's going to get an advantage of us that way.
That's for sure. So it's not only a sin
to not forgive them when they ask, but a wicked sin,
you know, it's a sin to just not forgive, but it's a
wicked sin to not forgive your brother or sister in Christ if they ask you to
forgive them. I mean, that's even another level. Because people are prideful.
People will not ask. Even if someone
wants to get right, sometimes people are just too embarrassed, but I mean
embarrassed is really kind of just a shield to say prideful.
Like, you don't want to be vulnerable to that person. And sometimes people
don't respond with the right way when you try to
make things right with them. They don't respond the right way. But does that mean
you shouldn't go to that person? No, you still should go to that person
and you're responsible for what you do. You can't be responsible for
what that other person does. You can't. Let's look at Luke
chapter 6 verse 38. Luke chapter 6 verse 38.
I feel like I'm missing something here.
Oh, yeah. Luke 6 verse 31. I'm sorry.
It says
I think I passed.
Let's see. I messed up here.
Let me start over.
Where did I have you turn to last?
Was it Matthew 18? Okay, I'm sorry. Matthew 5. Turn to Matthew 5.
Sorry about that. So listen, we don't
have to right every wrong. Everything that someone does
to us, we don't have to, there doesn't have to be some reconciling.
That's why Matthew 18 is a serious deal. It's not something, you know,
the first level of Matthew 18 is easy, but the other two parts are hard,
aren't they? The other two parts are for big, grievous
situations. It's not for every single time, you know, if somebody
says something that you don't like, well, I'm getting my two witnesses and I'm going to come
and talk to that person. Like, that's ridiculous. Are you that much of a baby?
You can't just deal with things on your own? And here's the thing, and I've talked about
this a lot, we need to be able to be straight up
with people. You know, the more straight up with people we are, and
that hurts people's feelings sometimes because we're in a lying society that just wants to
gloss over everything and not just tell people straight.
And we have a tendency to do that because we don't want to
be in conflict. Really? That's part of it.
And you don't have to be in conflict all the time. You can just say, you know what, whatever,
they were having a bad day, you know, let me just let this pass over.
Because we don't have, you know, God passes over our transgressions, doesn't He?
You know, the Passover? When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. It's not like they didn't have transgressions, they had transgressions.
When Jesus cleanses us from all of our sin, He's
passing over all of our transgressions, so why can't we pass over other peoples?
So, even if someone doesn't ask to forgive you,
you can still forgive that person.
Because, what, we're supposed to be like our Savior. We're supposed to be
like God. So, Matthew
chapter 5 verse 21 says,
So, you know, us being angry for no reason at somebody,
it's a sin, isn't it? Skip down to verse 23.
It says,
So, you know, obviously we don't have altars anymore.
That was the Old Testament. Jesus was living in the Old Testament at that time.
But He's saying, hey, if you're going to do service for God and do great things for God,
or you're going to do work for God, you're going to make sacrifices for Him.
You know, and you remember that you've got a problem with one of your brothers and sisters in Christ.
Well, it's the same. That you should make
that right. Right?
It says, first be reconciled
with thy brother. What does that mean?
That you make things right. You reconcile.
So, if you do that, you're doing well.
Look at verse 26.
It says, actually, in verse 25,
Well, what's that have to do with it? That if you're supposed to agree with your adversary,
how much more should we agree with someone that we love in Christ?
And, you know,
an adversary is someone that's against you. This is like probably talking about someone
trying to sue you. Try to agree with them if you can.
And that's what Jesus is telling people to do. Look at Luke 6,
verse 31.
While you're turning there, I want to read Proverbs chapter 18, verse 19. Proverbs 18, 19 says,
a brother offended is harder to be one than a strong city.
But look what Jesus is saying. See, the Proverbs are telling us
that a brother that's offended is harder to win than a strong city.
But what's Jesus saying here? Obviously, both are the word of God,
but as Christians, it should be easier for us to be forgiving.
Right? Because we have that picture of God forgiving us because
it's not just a picture, it's reality. It's reality, folks.
Luke 6, 31 says,
To you do ye also to them likewise.
When you screw up, don't you like people to be lenient with you,
forgiving with you? When you upset your wife,
don't you want her to forgive you quickly? You know, because we're sinful,
and we're around our spouses all the time, and we transgress each other all the time,
I'm sure, in one way or another. But, you know,
we should do to them like we want done to us.
What's the principle here? Well, you know, if you're forgiving to other people,
then they're going to be very forgiving with you. We should do
like Jesus says here. Look at verse 32.
For if you love them which love you, what think have ye?
For sinners also love them that love them.
So, what's he talking about here? Well, you know, if we're doing good to people
that aren't even family, they're not even other Christians, you know,
Jesus is kind of telling us this principle is that we should love people even that don't love us.
We should do good to people that don't do good to us.
We should be really quick to forgive things.
And if you do good to them, verse 33,
which do good to you, what think have ye? For sinners also do even the same.
And if you lend to them who you hope to receive,
what think have ye? For sinners also lend to sinners
to receive much gain. But love your enemies
and do good and lend, hoping for nothing again
and your reward shall be great. And ye shall be the children
of the highest, for he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil.
So apply this to, I mean, this is applied to our enemies.
What about our brothers and sisters in Christ?
Shouldn't we apply this even more so?
It says judge not that ye be not judged, condemn not that ye be not condemned,
forgive and ye shall be forgiven. But if you
don't have a forgiving heart, then what did it say in the other Proverb?
That he's going to not forgive you. Now, obviously
all of our sins are forgiven if you're saved, but that doesn't mean
he's going to pass over all your transgressions here on earth and if you're not willing to be forgiving here
on this earth, then he's not going to be very forgiving to you on this earth either. So whenever
you screw up, see people that live in glass houses
shouldn't throw rocks. Have you ever heard that term before?
If you've just got all kinds of problems and you're just attacking everybody else for what
they do, what about you? What about your problems? What about your things?
What about your transgressions? Verse 38,
Give and it shall be given unto you. Good measure pressed down
and shaken together and running over shall men give to your bosom.
For with the same measure that you meet withal it shall be measured
to you again. Now, this is applied to giving
and tithing and all that stuff a lot of times, but apply it to
how forgiving you are. How forgiving are you?
Well, whatever measure you meet, however
forgiving you are, it shall be measured to you again.
So, if you want to be forgiven for all
the stuff that you do and all the mistakes you make, then be more forgiving
and willing to overlook other people's mistakes.
Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse number 1.
Now, here we've got
a situation where believers are suing
each other. They're taking
their causes to the unjust judges, the heathen.
And we should be able to judge things in the church. Look what it says in verse 1.
Dare any of you having a matter against another go to the law before the unjust
and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints shall judge
the world? There we are judging again. And if the world
shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest
matters? You get into a little fender bender out in the parking lot.
Are you going to go sue your brother and sister in Christ?
Well, I took it to, I got the estimates, $5,000 to fix that
bumper. It's like, come on, mate. Sort yourself
out. That's ridiculous. But there's
people that are like that. I hit
somebody's car that had a brand new truck in our church parking lot, and I was really,
I was willing to just go and pay for it and whatever.
But I was, you know, I just said, hey man, I hit your car. And it did
cause a little like ding on it. And he said, don't worry about it.
It's like, okay. But how many
people do stuff like that and then they never tell people?
That's wrong. But people sue each other and
when Christians do it, it's wicked. Because you're
taking someone to an unjust judge, a heathen that's an unbeliever, to judge
something that should be able to be judged in the church. Obviously we can't judge murderers
and we can't put forth what God's law says
to do unto them in those situations. We only have limited power.
But if someone steals, if someone causes damage, if someone
does something like that, those are things that we can judge in the church and we should.
And obviously, you don't walk in and go, I ding
someone's car. Judge me now. It's not like that. You can
just handle that stuff between the two of you.
But Paul says, know ye not that we shall judge angels?
How much more are the things that pertain to this life? He's talking about just things in this
life, not necessarily even spiritual things. If then you have judgments of things
pertain to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.
I speak this to your shame. Is it so that there is not a wise
man among you? Know not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?
But brother goeth to law with brother
and that before the unbelievers. Now therefore there
is utterly a fault among you because you go to
law one with another. Why do you not rather take wrong?
Can't you just like let it go?
Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?
And obviously this has like a
monetary term behind it, the defrauding.
But also when you defraud yourself in your marriage, you're holding
back something that you shouldn't be holding back. You're holding back from something
that belongs to them. So when someone
wrongs you in church, apply this
and be like, well can I take this wrong? Is it really that big of a deal? Do I
really have to go to their husband? Do I really have to make this a big
to do? You don't have to. But I'm not saying to never
go to people. I'm just saying that you don't always have to right every
wrong. And look what it says in verse 8.
Nay, you do wrong. You do wrong.
And defraud in that your brethren. So is
it wrong to defraud your brethren? Absolutely it is. But we should
also be willing to just suffer ourselves to be defrauded.
Not necessarily in every case, but do you think God's going to bless you if you do?
Absolutely. Look at Galatians 6.1.
Galatians 6.1. The Bible says in Galatians 6.1
it says, Brethren, if any man be overtaken in a fault, ye
which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness.
So the title of my sermon is
Forgiveness and Restoration. So we are supposed
to work to restore those that have
gone away or they're kicked out or maybe they just left church because
they just wanted to live a worldly life or whatever. This isn't just handling
every situation where someone's kicked out. It could just be someone just left the church.
Maybe it was on bad terms. Maybe they're mad or whatever.
We should still, now I'm not saying go to the person that's kicked out and
have coffee with them. That's not what it's talking about here. But if you can help restore
that person in the spirit of meekness that's overtaken in a fault, this is talking about
like when you're just having issues with certain things in life.
But you don't want to fall into their, if they have a problem and they start
drinking again or something, don't go over to their house and say, hey I brought this bottle of Jack Daniels
I thought maybe we could just talk about this. I mean obviously that's really
silly. Or to go to a bar and try to coax them out of it or something. If you had a
problem with alcohol you should probably stay away from it. Whatever sin problem
you've already had a problem with you should stay away from that sin and not put yourself in that
situation. But look at verse 2 it says, bear ye one another's
burdens. You know if someone's having an issue maybe they've come to you and just said, hey
will you pray for me about this? That's not you going, well so and so
is having a problem. And I don't want to say who, but brother Bill, I mean
you know
I don't want to give this person away, but
I'll just give you their initials, Sheila Jackson.
She's just really having this issue. Look if someone comes to you
obviously be there for them, try to help restore them in the spirit of meekness,
but don't, you've got to consider yourself lest you be tempted.
But we should bear one another's burdens and
we've got to understand that in verse 3 it says, for if a
man think himself to be something when he's nothing he deceiveth
himself. Don't start thinking you're the high and mighty Mr. Spiritual
either, because take heed lest you should fall. 1 Corinthians 10
verse 11, we'll go right there. It says
now all these things happen unto them for in samples
and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Guess what, that's us. And you know
the Bible has lots of stories and things that actually happened, they're not
just stories to help us figure out our morality, they actually happened.
But we're
given these examples for us to help us in our daily
lives as Christians. Look at verse 12, wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth
take heed lest he fall. See, anybody can
fall. And you can sit there and go, well I would never do
what this person did. You don't know that. Take heed lest you
fall. And the Bible says in verse 13 there's no
temptation taking you but such as is common to man. But God
is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able, but with
the temptation also shall make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. So, you know
maybe your temptation, maybe you're having a problem forgiving people.
Well, you know, let God help you with that thing. Because
we are all tempted to do all manner of sins that are
normal. Let God help you with that.
He will help you and help you to overcome sin. We have the Holy Spirit folks.
The world does not have that. You know, they can try to
not sin. They can try to repent of all their sins all they want, but they're never
going to be able to conquer sin like a person that's a Spirit-filled person.
And obviously we're not going to be able to overcome all of them, but we can overcome some
of them. You know, we should really overcome and work hard to overcome
not on our own account but have God help us with this thing
of not being forgiving, not willing to restore people. Look at Proverbs 24 verse 17.
I'm almost done. Proverbs 24 verse 17 says,
Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine
heart be glad when he stumbleth, lest the Lord see it
and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath
from him. You don't want God because you're just like, ha ha
that person, I knew they were going to fall. I knew they were going to do this. I knew this was going to happen.
And you're just like gloating about it, rejoicing about your enemy that
falls. And it says that if you're like
that, and this is talking about your personal enemies obviously,
and the Lord could see that and it displeased him and he turned away his wrath
from him and then maybe focused it on you. Because it's
sinful to have that kind of attitude. Look at 1 Samuel 24 verse 12.
I've got three more places to turn and I'm done.
1 Samuel 24 verse 12, the Bible says
and this is the thing, when I've had
arguments with even fellow pastors
or someone just is coming at me and there's nothing I can do,
nothing will appease them, nothing will fix the argument,
this is what I've said to people before and this is what
David said to Saul. The Lord judged between me and thee and the Lord
avenged me of thee, but mine hand shall not be upon thee.
And when we're dealing with brothers and sisters in Christ that have really wronged us and
harmed us and there's nothing else that can be said, nothing else
can fix the situation, sometimes you just have to kind of let God be the one that judges.
Because sometimes we think, because we always think we're right.
That's the problem. And maybe we're wrong about some of the things that we're arguing
with him about and there's wrong on both sides.
But I think it's a good thing to say, when you just can't figure things out,
just like, let God avenge me. If this person's wronging me,
instead of taking it into my own hands to destroy this person, that's my brother.
David could have killed Saul multiple times,
but he didn't. Someone cut the skirt
of his robe, one of his soldiers, and it smote him in his heart
that he did that. And so he tells Saul,
I don't understand, both times he was kind of yelling and he'd go
far distance away so Saul and his men couldn't catch him. He was just yelling at them
like, Saul!
Here's your skirt or whatever. Here's your spear.
But David wouldn't put forth his, stretch forth his hand
and destroy the Lord's anointed. And you know what? If you're saved today, you're anointed
by the Holy Spirit of God. So we should just be really
leery of going after people that are our brothers and sisters
in Christ, even if they do do bad things to us. Because not everybody
that does bad things to us is some reprobate. Sometimes they're just
really misguided and really wrong and have heart issues.
But in verse 13 it says,
wickedness proceedeth from the wicked
but mine hand shall not be upon thee.
So David's just telling him, even though you've done all this wrong to me,
I'm not going to return that wrong. And that's how David is a lot like
Jesus. That's why he's a man after God's own heart because in situations
where he had to deal with these types of things, he did the right thing.
He could have killed Saul. Would he have been justified in doing it?
Would he be justified in doing it? He would have been, but
God blessed him for the things that he did with Saul and for just
not trying to right the wrongs that he did to him.
Ephesians 4 verse 32,
the Bible says, and this is how we should be,
this is what Paul is saying also, be kind
one to another. Tender hearted, that means the opposite
of hard hearted. Forgiving one another, even as
God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
And that really is the bottom line of this whole sermon. How should we be
well kind one to another? How should we be tender hearted,
willing, pliable, ready to forgive one another
because you know what? God, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, has done it
for us. And that's how our attitudes as Christians should be. We should be willing to
forgive and restore people when the situation
is correct. And the last verse is Matthew 5
7. You don't have to turn there if you don't want to. I'm just going to read it. It says, Blessed
are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. When you're
merciful to your brothers and sisters in Christ, when you're merciful to other people in general,
you're going to be blessed because of that. So never think like
you get this street view of yourself like, well I would have just done this.
I feel like that sometimes. I feel like, man, if this was gangster days,
there's some of these people that have really pissed me off would be
dealing with a different person. But I'm a Christian.
That's not how I handle things. And even though sometimes I feel like
handling things like that, I just don't do it. Because you know why? Because
I'm a Christian. That's why. I haven't been in a fight since I've been saved because I'm
a Christian. That's just not what Christians do.
And so when we can be merciful, let's be merciful. Let's have that
love. Let's have our heart tuned to that instead of just always willing to condemn
and talk bad about and tail bear and all that
other garbage, the unforgiving attitude that people have.
That ought not to be the way our church is. Obviously when it's
time for wrath, when it's time for judgment, yes, sometimes we have to
carry that stuff out. You have to be balanced. It can't be just all
love and no hate. It has to be
balanced out. So there's times
to be wrathful. There's times to be all this. But let's have a
forgiveness in our heart for those that sin and offend us.
Don't just live in bitterness and unforgiveness because that's when the devil
is going to get the advantage over you. And then you're going to be bitter
and you're going to die bitter and you don't want to be like that.
And we'll be better for it. We'll be better for that
attitude as opposed to having just the attitude that we're never going to forgive people for stuff.
I don't want to be in a church like that. I don't think our church is like that.
But I don't want our church to be like that. So hopefully this is
some things that could maybe help some people. Maybe people are holding on to some anger that
they shouldn't be or not forgiving people that they should. And let this
let the scripture speak for themselves. I wasn't taking things out
of context. I was wrong about some of my numbers. Thanks Bill.
No, I'm just kidding. But, you know, who's right
in this situation? Sometimes it's hard to tell. But you know what's right?
Forgiving. Having a tender heart. Being merciful.
Those things are good. So let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for
the Bible and how it just teaches us every way we should go. Lord, let us walk in your
truth. Let us be guided by your light. Pray that you just help us
Lord in our day to day life and help us to not be hard-hearted, Lord. It's so easy to do.
In 2023 about all the just things that are going on around us
and Lord, sometimes life is hard. But I just pray that we would have
a heart that's filled with joy and the fact that we're
saved and that we win and that we're the ones that inherit everything.
And just pray that you'd help us to have that attitude because sometimes it seems
like we're losing when we're really winning. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Alright, last song we saw, number 70.
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.
Song number 70 in your
blue hymn books. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.
Song 70. Let's sing it together on the first.
Holy,
holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty.
Early in the
morning our song shall rise
to thee. Holy,
holy, holy,
merciful and mighty,
God in three
persons, blessed
Trinity. Holy,
holy, holy,
all the saints adore
thee, casting down
their golden crowns around the
glassy sea.
Cherubim and seraphim,
falling down before
thee, rich
Word and our head,
evermore shall be.
Holy, holy, holy,
all the saints adore
thee, casting down
their golden crowns around the glassy sea.
Holy, holy,
holy,
all the saints adore
thee, casting down
their perfect
power in love and
purity. Holy,
holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty.
All thy words shall praise
thy name in earth and sky
to thee. Holy,
holy, holy,
merciful and mighty,
God in three
persons, blessed Trinity.
Amen.
.