(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

I'll start at the beginning in Galatians chapter 6 there, beginning in verse number 1 where the Bible reads, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. And this morning I want to preach a sermon called Restoring the Repentant. Restoring the Repentant, and here it says if a man be overtaken in a fault, this is someone who's done wrong, they've committed sin. And the Bible says that we which are spiritual are to restore such an one in the spirit of meekness. Now what does it mean to be meek? That has to do with being humble, not being puffed up or arrogant, prideful, overconfident. So he says restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. And I think there are a few different things we can draw from that right there. First of all, when it says considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted, I think the temptation that's being warned about here is becoming puffed up, prideful, arrogant, thinking that you're better than other people. Because he says do it in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself. You don't want to also be tempted. You don't want to get into sin in the process of trying to help someone out of their sin. And I think another meaning that's there when he says, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted, is that we never want to lead ourselves into temptation in order to try to help restore someone else. Meaning that we're not going to go into the bar after you if you're a drunk, because we don't want to get in there and let me sit down and have a beer with you and let's talk and we'll get you restored, we'll get you back in church. We need to consider ourselves lest we also be tempted. There are pastors out there who want to restore other people's marriages and try to restore people who've committed sins like adultery and then they'll get in these in-depth counseling sessions with a strange woman and they're not considering themselves that they could also be tempted and led into sin with the things that they listen to or the people that they become too close with and so forth. So our job as spiritual Christians is to restore those who've committed sins. Try to get them back on track for the Lord. Try to get them back in church. That should always be the goal, but we also need to make sure that we don't allow other people to drag us into sin and we need to make sure that we don't get puffed up, arrogant, prideful, thinking, oh, man, well, listen to what this person's into. I'm doing way better than them and get a bad attitude like that. Now go to 1 Corinthians 5. This is a great example of this and it's a famous example that most people are familiar with, especially if you go to church here. You've heard me preach on this passage many times because I think it's an important passage that needs to be preached. And this passage shows us a nice balance between two wrong extremes, okay? On one extreme, there's the group that says, hey, we're so into forgiveness and restoration and we're so into just, you know, being humble and meek that basically we'll just allow sin to run rampant and won't even call it out. And that's where a lot of churches are at today, just this thing of just come as you are, leave as you came, and good sin, good devil, cold hell, everything's fine and, you know, anything goes and just allowing fornication to run rampant, drunkenness to run rampant. That's one wrong extreme that doesn't deal with sin, that doesn't rebuke the sinner, okay? That's a wrong extreme. But then there's another wrong extreme that basically will punish the sinful and then never let them live it down and then just forever stigmatize that person. That's also wrong. Look what the scripture says here in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 1, it is reported commonly that there's fornication among you. And I mean that's pretty sad when the testimony of the church is that everybody knows that that church has fornication going on in the church. What a shame to the name of Christ. What a cause for the enemies of the Bible to blaspheme when it's just commonly reported that there's fornication. And let me tell you something, when fornication and adultery and drunkenness are going on in a church, it's going to be commonly reported. People love to repeat stuff like that, unfortunately, and so therefore it's a shame and a blot on the cause of Christ. Keep reading, it says, such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife. So this is fornication and it's even more obscene because the fornication is taking place with this man's father's wife. It's not his mother but it's his father's wife. Now we don't know perhaps the father is dead because he does use the word fornication. And perhaps this is talking about the fact that the father's dead and he's now with who used to be his father's wife. That's probably what's going on in the story. But either way, whether it is or it isn't, it's a major wicked sin. Even any fornication, as we're going to see later in the passage, should not be acceptable within a church. But he's saying this is even more scandalous, this is even more shameful because of the circumstances. So I think that the Bible is purposely, think about this, I think the Bible is purposely giving us an extreme example. And it says in verse 2, and ye are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. Now what's interesting here is that by allowing this sin to go on in the church, Paul accuses them of being puffed up, right? Because he says this is just going on, you're allowing it to happen, and he says you are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. It's interesting because if you think about it, both of the wrong extremes we talked about, both come from being puffed up, and they both come from being prideful and arrogant. Because on the one extreme that anything goes extreme, those people are very arrogant and puffed up of, look how forgiving we are, look how accepting we are, as they accept that which God does not accept. As they forgive that which God is not forgiven. And they lift themselves up even to where they're more compassionate than God is. They're sweeter than God is. They're nicer than God. Look that's puffed up and arrogant to think that you're nicer and more loving and kind than God is, okay? Look if God condemned it, if God judged it, then who are you to say I'll extend my forgiveness and love and compassion? No it's a puffed up attitude amongst these churches that just have this anything goes freak show going on at their church. And let me tell you something, if you allow fornication in the church, drunkenness, all the things that he says not to allow, they will happen in the church if it's allowed. And I've been at Baptist churches where literally a Sunday school class was being taught by a guy who's living with a woman that he's not married to. Where they're having people, the Bible studies over at so and so's house, and they're living in sin together, they're living in fornication together. Look this is wickedness, it's not acceptable, and God says, you are puffed up, you need to mourn, you need to be sad and weep that this wickedness is going on and that this guy should be taken away from among you. Now look what the Bible says here, and try to have an open mind this morning if anything I preach goes against the grain with what you think, hey let's just see what the Bible says. I think that I'm being very faithful in expounding what the Bible says this morning as we read this. It says in verse 3, for verily I as absent in body but present in spirit have judged already. Oh, don't judge. Paul's saying, I wasn't even there and I judged. When fornication's commonly reported, I'm going to judge that, okay? Say well judge not that you be not judged, well here's the thing, Paul's not a fornicator, so he can judge this, alright? So judge not that you be not judged about hypocrites who judge people of things that they themselves are guilty of, which is why he says first take out the beam out of thine own eye, then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Paul doesn't have a beam in his eye here, he's not living in fornication, so he's able to cast out the mote out of his brother's eye. And so it says here that he's judged already, verse 3, as though I were present concerning him that had so done this deed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when you're 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. Now does that sound pretty harsh? Deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. But look at the last half of the verse. That the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. So in the end, what's the goal? The goal is to actually do something for this guy's own good. Even though it seems harsh to deliver him unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, the goal is that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. So honestly, Paul is doing this out of love. Not just for the church, but even for the one who was caught in the sin. Because he's going to be better off being judged than if his sin is tolerated. Now look what the Bible says in verse 6, your glorying is not good. Now what's glorying? Glorying is boasting being puffed up. So this goes back again to the fact that the anything goes church is puffed up. When they think, hey we can allow fornication in the church and it won't affect us. No he says, your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? You're not above being dragged into sin. Your children are not above being influenced by that example. I mean think about it, if we have people in the church that are living in sin, living in fornication, what example does that show our children? But if someone's living in fornication and then they're thrown out of the church, well then that's a good example for the children of hey, this is not something that's allowed. This is not something that's tolerated. So he says, your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth 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 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. So he's saying, I don't want you to misunderstand me. I'm not saying that you can never be in company with a fornicator because then you'd have to seclude yourself and isolate yourself from the world because the world's filled with fornication. But what he's saying now in verse 11, but now I've written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator. You see, it is acceptable for you as a Christian to interact, to go out to eat with, to spend time with an unsaved person, an unbeliever that's a fornicator because that's just interacting with unbelievers because most unbelievers are fornicators. They are the things on this list. But God says that if they're called a brother and they are these type of things, that we should not even eat with that person. Why? Because you're much more likely to be influenced wrongly by a fellow Christian that's in sin than by an unsaved person that's in sin. Because the unsaved people that are in sin, you look at them and you say, well, this is just an ungodly person. Of course they're acting this way. They're not saved. But when you have Christians around you that are living in sin, then you start to think, well, you know what? Other Christians are doing this kind of stuff and it's not a big deal. I mean, we're all sinners, right? So what's the big deal? And this garbage is being taught today in pulpits all over America that all sins equal. Well, if all sins equal, then why does Paul single out certain sins here? And he singles out certain sins and says, look, if it's these sins, don't eat with that person. I'm saying don't eat with any Christian who has any sin in their life. Because then you can never eat with any Christian because every Christian has sin in their life. I mean, who here is without sin? No one. But there are certain sins that are more grievous and certain sins that are more infectious. And he says you can't allow these things in the church. You can't hang around with Christians that are doing these things or it will rub off on you. Don't be puffed up. Let him that thinketh he stand to take heed lest he fall. You need to distance yourselves from Christians that are involved in these type of sins. He says, I've written unto you not to keep company, verse 11, 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 an one, know not to eat. I don't want to make the whole sermon about this, but just real quickly, a fornicator is someone who is having, you know what, with somebody outside of marriage. They're having the marital relationship outside of marriage before they're married. That's fornication. Now when the Bible says here covetous, this doesn't mean just in somebody's heart they want something. If the church is punishing it, it's something that's openly known. It's something that's openly seen. So basically I think this would be the person who shows up and just all they want to talk about is just getting more money, getting more things. It's some kind of an outward show of covetousness, of just being very materialistic and just dragging other people into that. And have you met people like that, where all they want to do is brag about the new boat, brag about the new house, brag about the new car, brag about the RV? That's a covetous person that just wants to talk, and it rubs off on you because when you get around people like that, you start thinking, hey, maybe I should upgrade my home. Maybe I need to upgrade my car. Maybe I need to get nicer clothes. Maybe my wife needs that Dooney and Burke purse or whatever. So basically that can be an infection when you get around people that glorify possessions, covetous people. And then it says also an idolater. This is someone who basically has statues, they're worshiping statues. This isn't as big of a deal in our Anglo-American culture, but in other cultures this is a real big deal. Where you have, for example, in India, where the Hindus have all kinds of graven images, and then they'll turn unto Christ and they want to keep the idols, not get rid of the idols even though they've been saved. Well, you know what? The Bible is saying you need to draw a hard line and say Christians need to get rid of all idols. But then also we do have amongst the Catholics idolatry of statues of Mary, statues of Jesus, statues of the saints. Those are idols, according to the Bible. Those are graven images, molten images. The Bible says idolater, a railer. What's a railer? Every time you see the word railing in the Bible, it's talking about railing accusations. This is a person who is basically a false accuser, somebody going around lying about other people, starting fights with people, causing discord in that way as a railer. Then it says a drunkard. Obviously we know what a drunkard is. And this isn't a person who drinks one beer. I don't approve of drinking one beer, I've never tasted beer in my life. But a drunkard is somebody who obviously is doing a little more drinking than that. Somebody who is either drinking every day or binge drinking, drunk driving. People who are obviously drunks. That's where alcohol eventually takes you anyway. And then the Bible says an extortioner. Extortion is when you threaten someone to get money or favors or goods from them. So these are pretty big problems in people's lives. The one that might throw you for a loop is covetousness, but remember the love of money is the root of all evil. So you can't have these money-obsessed people around blowing off their mouth and all their fancy clothes and talking about all their fancy stuff. It is the root of all evil, so it's a big deal. And the rest of these are obvious that we wouldn't want having an extortioner in the church. You know what I mean? Where you can't even feel safe going to church without somebody extorting money from you or whatever. So there are reasons for these things. He says in verse 12, for what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not you judge them that are within? So he's rebuking them for not judging within the church on these issues. But them that are without, God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. Very clear. He says if a brother in Christ is involved in these particular major sins that you need to put away from among yourselves. And it doesn't say, oh cross their name off in the office on the membership role so that they're not technically a member. This is the hypocrisy of Baptist churches today. They say well anybody can come to the services, but they're just not a member. Where does the Bible teach that? Show me in the Bible some membership role where names are being added and subtracted. It's just made up and it's hypocrisy. When the Bible says put away from among yourselves that wicked person, it means you physically get rid of them out of the church. They're not allowed to come. They're not allowed to fellowship. Now you say well that's harsh. That's mean. This is hateful. But actually it's not. Because the Bible says that this is the goal to restore that person. That the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Now look at 2 Corinthians chapter 2. Because keep in mind, 1 Corinthians is written as a letter to the Corinthians from Paul. Then later, 2 Corinthians is written to the same church later. So in 2 Corinthians we're fast forwarding in time. They've already gotten the letter 1 Corinthians. So the question is how did they respond to it? Did they obey Paul? Did they disobey Paul? Because he told them what to do. And the answer is they did exactly what he told them to do. And we get to read about it in 2 Corinthians. We get to get the follow up and the aftermath of the situation that took place. It says in 2 Corinthians 2 verse 4, for out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you. He's talking about writing 1 Corinthians. I wrote unto you with many tears. Not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you. So was Paul just trying to be a jerk and just trying to be mean and draw a hard line? No. He did it out of love. He did it with tears. It grieved him to do it. But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part, that I may not overcharge you all. Verse 6, sufficient to such a man is this punishment which was inflicted of many. So he's saying, look, you guys punished the fornicator. So they obeyed him. They did what he said. But he says that sufficient to that man is the punishment which was inflicted of many, watch this, so that contrary wise ye ought rather to forgive him and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow, wherefore I beseech you that you would confirm your love toward him. For to this end also did I write that I might know the proof of you whether you be obedient in all things. To whom ye 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 an advantage of us, for we're not ignorant of his devices. Now remember what it said, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted. Who's the tempter? Satan. And the Bible says here that if we don't forgive people and restore people, that Satan will get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. So we need to be careful to get both sides of the equation here. When people do wrong, they need to be punished. When people commit these major sins, they need to be thrown out of the church. But when they repent, they need to be restored to fellowship, they need to be restored to church. And that should always be the goal. Now showing people tough love is sometimes what is necessary in order to get them back on track. It's the wake up call that they sometimes need. And you know people, they often think that they're doing people a favor by allowing fornicators to come to the church. And they think, oh you're doing them a favor because you know that way at least they get that preaching. No, because you know the preaching is going like this. The preaching is going in one ear and out the other, often times. But you know what will sometimes wake up? That wayward young person, that wayward teenager, that wayward young adult, when you say, you know what, you're not welcome coming to church anymore. You can't come to church until you get out of fornication, until you stop living with your boyfriend or living with your girlfriend or committing fornication. You can't come. You're not welcome. You know what? That makes people think, whoa, wait a minute, this is a grievous sin. Whereas otherwise they'll often try to downplay their sin, especially in 2015 in the world of all sins equal, no such thing as a big sin, it's all equal. It's a lie. It's not all equal. There are big sins and little sins. There are sins of presumption and there are sins of ignorance. There are all different types of sin in the Bible and there are different punishments, different repercussions. And listen, if you go out and commit a big sin, God's going to give you a big punishment. And if you go out and commit a little sin, you're going to get a little punishment. You're still going to get punished. I mean, think about it. What if all crimes were punished equally in the United States? I mean, running a red light is like shooting somebody in cold blood. That wouldn't make any sense, would it? That would be stupid. People say, well, but that's just because we're human. This is how God thinks. No, God's not a psychopath up in heaven that thinks that, you know, taking a pencil from your job is the same as being a mass murderer or a rapist. People are nuts. You literally have to be insane to think that all sin is equal because it just defies all logic. It'd be like saying, well, a one dollar bill is equal to a hundred dollar bill. I mean, it doesn't make any sense, friend. They don't have the same value. They're not the same equality. So here we go in the Bible. We see that Paul rattling his cage and saying, I've judged. You guys need to be judgmental. You need to judge. You need to throw this guy out. You need to deliver him to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. What did it do? It worked. Amen. You know, and then people get mad at you for preaching hard and they say, oh, you're not a loving preacher. You're hateful. You preach so hard and you're burning people and turning people away. Nope. It's what causes people to get right with God. Hard preaching works. And the reason why we have so much sin and filth and iniquity running rampant, not only in the world today, but even in our churches is because the hard preaching is not happening. And we need that hard preaching to wake people up and to make sin seem exceeding simple. You have to demonize sin to people so that they'll realize the seriousness of what they're getting involved in. And this is a great example of that kind of preaching working and the church doing what they're supposed to do. And the guy ends up being restored. He's repentant. And so he says, look, confirm your love toward him now. Don't let him be swallowed up in over much sorrow. Now look, it's good that he sorrowed because you ought to sorrow if you've been living in fornication or drunkenness or in these other things. And look, probably on the list, fornication is the worst one on the list, which is why that's the example he uses because he wants to show us an extreme example. And what he's saying is that we need to restore this guy, love this guy. We don't want to be swallowed up in over much sorrow. Over much means too much. Too much sorrow is where you throw in the towel and you give up. Where somebody gets so depressed and says, you know what, I can never live for God. I've messed up my life too much. I've committed too much sin and now God's just through with me. That's too much sorrow. The right amount of sorrow is the type of sorrow that says, you know what, I'm an idiot. I made a huge mistake. It's my fault, but I'm sorry and I want to fix it and I want to do right from now on. I'm going to repent, meaning turn from that and I'm going to do it right now and I'm going to live right now. That's the right amount of sorrow. Now go to 2 Corinthians 7 because he kind of touches on the same subject a little later in 2 Corinthians 7. It says in verse 8, for though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent. Though I did repent. Now you say, what does that mean? I don't repent though I did repent? Here's what he's saying. I don't, when he says I don't repent, he's saying basically I don't think I was wrong to have written that letter. I wouldn't go back and change it. I haven't changed my course or changed my mind. I still believe the way that I believe when I wrote that letter. He said I don't, but he says although I did repent. So what he's saying is he wrote the letter and he was harsh and he sent off the letter and he went through a period where he said oh man I shouldn't have, I shouldn't have written that. I was too harsh. I shouldn't have said that. He had doubts in himself and in what he had written. But then once he thought about it further he said you know what, no I don't repent. I did repent, you know I did feel that way, but not anymore. Because he says, and this is why he doesn't repent, for I perceive that the same epistle has made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry. I'm not just happy, yes they were depressed, they were sad. He said not that you were made sorry but that you sorrowed to repentance. For you were sorry after a godly manner that you might receive damage by us in nothing. So he's saying that there are different types of sorrow here. There's the sorrow that leads to repentance, godly sorrow. This is when you do something wrong and you feel bad about it and say you know what I'm not going to do that anymore. Because what does sorrow mean, sadness. It's where you're sad and you say you know what I blew it, I sinned, I was wrong, I shouldn't have done that and I'm going to get it right. That's godly sorrow. So look what the Bible says in verse 10, for godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of but the sorrow of the world worketh death. So there's another type of sorrow, the sorrow of the world that brings death. The sorrow of the world is the feeling sorry for yourself. Now the guy if he had been swallowed up with over much sorrow, which kind of sorrow is that? That's the sorrow of the world where it works death. The sorrow of the world that says oh well it's no use even trying anymore, there's no use even going to church because I'm such a loser, I feel bad. You know often when people are confronted with their errors, they'll have this sorrow of the world mentality where basically they feel sorry for themselves. A lot of times children when you rebuke them and they start crying, they're not crying like I can't believe I let you down mom and dad. You know that would be godly sorrow right? If they're crying and saying oh man I'm so sorry I did this to my parents, I love my parents so much and it just hurts me to see them like this. You know the toddler who gets caught, usually it's more the sorrow of the world like why are you going to punish me and just feeling sorry for themselves. And then they'll even sometimes be down in the dumps after oh I'm a loser. That doesn't help anybody that stupid attitude. If you've done wrong, don't just go oh I'm such a loser, I'm not lovable, I'm an idiot. That's dumb. You need to get an attitude that says I'm sorry so I'll change, sorry so I'll fix it. That's the godly sorrow that fixes things and changes things, okay. For behold this self same thing, verse 11, that ye sorrowed after a godly sword. What carefulness it wrought in you, yea what clearing of yourselves, yea what indignation, yea what fear, yea what vehement desire, yea what zeal, yea what revenge, in all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. Now let me just point out to you, whose sorrow are we talking about in these scriptures? When we talk about ye, I made you sorry, you sorrowed after a godly sword, that you know you've cleared yourselves. Look do you notice that none of this is directed toward the guy who was fornicating? Because in the Bible, when the Bible uses the word thee and thou, it's singular. When the Bible uses ye, you, your, it's plural. So in this passage he's not talking about the guy who committed the fornication, okay. Because he did talk about that guy back in chapter 2 when he said, hey you know, confirm your love toward him, forgive him, love him, okay. But here, it's all plural and it's all talking to the church and most notably to the leaders of the church, what was their sin? Their sin was not fornication, they weren't with their father's wife. The sin was that they were allowing fornication, that was the sin, everybody understand? They were puffed up, remember? And didn't mourn that he that had done that deed should be taken away from among them. That's why it's all plural, ye, you, your, you sorrowed unto repentance, you have cleared yourselves in this matter, you have showed it through what? Look at the end of verse 11 here. He lists vehement desire, zeal, watch this, revenge. What's revenge mean? They punished the guy. So that's how they cleared themselves. Their sin was allowing it to go on, the way they fixed it, punishing the guy, throwing him out of the church, judging him publicly and rebuking him and throwing him out. So that's how they cleared themselves. Now what's funny is that all throughout the Bible, we have hundreds and hundreds of verses, and I'm not going to preach them this morning for sake of time, I've done it many other times, we have hundreds and hundreds of verses that teach that salvation is by faith. I mean, how many verses? Everybody knows John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Well, there's works too. No, the Bible says not of works, the same man should both. And then the Bible even goes further and says, but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodliest faith is counted for righteousness. That's a whole other sermon to go through the hundreds of times that the Bible teaches that salvation is by our faith, not by our deeds, and then he also, many times in Galatians, teaches that it's not by our adherence to the law. So it's not just saying, hey, it's not by doing good works. He says it's also not by the righteousness that comes through the law, the keeping of the law, the keeping of the commandments. So basically, it's not through not sinning. Oh, well you have to stop stealing, stop lying, stop fornicating, no, that's also another kind of salvation by works, because that's called the works of the law. So the Bible teaches that it's our faith that saves us, not our deeds, not our following the commandments, none of those things, it's all through the blood of Jesus, and it's applied by grace through faith, grace being something that we don't deserve. But what's funny is that people will take this as a proof text, they'll go to this scripture here and say this proves that you have to be real sad when you get saved. You have to be sad and you have to repent of your sins in order to be saved. That's what they'll try to teach from this passage. Look, that's not biblical. They're adding to the gospel. You know, the gospel is known as the good news, glad tidings, and often when you give people the gospel, often their reaction is joy. There's no sorrow. A lot of times they're just like, wow, this is great news that Jesus paid it all, that I can be saved through Jesus just by believing in Jesus. It's through faith. Wow, he loves me that much. I mean, isn't that something to be happy about when you find out how much God loves you and when you find out that God's willing to accept you and you find out that salvation's free and you find out that it's eternal life and that God promised it before the world began and that God can't lie. I mean, those are all joyful, happy things. So you know, some people's reaction is just all joy. Great. Other people will sometimes have a sorrowful reaction realizing, oh, man, I've been so wicked and God still loves me even though I've been such a horrible sinner, and they'll break down crying. Who's been so willing to have people break down crying when you give them the gospel? Of course. And who's been so willing to have people just real happy and they're not sad at all? Of course. But see, people will try to say this. They'll say, well, you know what? You've got to be broken. You've got to be sorry. And here's what they'll use to prove it. Godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation. Godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation. Here's the problem with that. Number one, the context. The context is not about people being saved from hell and going to heaven. These are people that were already saved because they're the leaders of the church. I mean, otherwise, this church has bigger problems if all the people who are running it are not even saved. And throwing out a fornicator is what got them saved? No, that's not what this is about. When he says in this verse, Godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation not to be repented of. You know, in this scripture, we're talking about the church being saved. The salvation of the church, not talking about individuals going to heaven or hell. But look, a church can be destroyed. A church can fail, can fall apart, can become a wicked place, can have the candlestick removed or a church can be saved. I mean, it's like if somebody is drowning and we save them, does that mean they're going to heaven now? So you've got to understand, when the Bible says saved or salvation, it's not always talking about heaven and hell. A lot of times, it's talking about physical salvation. David says, save me from my enemies. I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from my enemies. He's talking about going to battle and coming out with his skin, okay? When Peter is in the water and sinking and drowning and he yells out to Jesus, Lord save me, he's not trying to get to heaven right there. He's trying to get out of water. And here, this context has nothing to do with anyone, you know, getting saved in the sense of going to heaven. It has to do with the church is all jacked up, the leaders are all messed up, they got it right, okay? But here, let's pretend for a moment, let's play make believe and let's pretend that this verse really were about salvation as far as getting to heaven, okay? Let's pretend for a minute that the context doesn't exist and we just have this verse by itself, for godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of. Is that saying that you have to have godly sorrow in order to be saved? No, because let me give you an illustration. What if I said this, Tylenol worketh toward fixing your headache, okay? Now if I said, hey, Tylenol worketh toward your headache, does that mean that nothing else works toward your headache? I mean, does that mean aspirin doesn't work? Does that mean that Advil's not going to work? Does that mean that the headache medicine, etcetera, is not going to work? Because I said Tylenol worketh toward your headache? I don't take any of it. If I get a headache, I eat, drink, and sleep and it goes away. But here, that's the three-fold cord that will fix any headache. You eat and if you have worse headaches, don't get angry at me. I'm just saying it works for me, okay? You don't understand the migraine. I'm sure there are horrible headaches out there, thankfully I don't get horrible headaches like that. If I get a headache, it's usually because I didn't eat, didn't drink, or didn't sleep. So if I do those three things, it fixes it. But wait a minute. If I say Tylenol worketh for headaches, does that mean that it's the only thing that works for headaches? No. So it's stupid to take this verse and say, this is the proof that you have to sorrow. That's not even what the verse is about. But even if that were what it's about, if it says, Godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation, does that mean that nothing else could work toward salvation? Nothing else could get you saved? I mean, that just makes no sense because this is just talking, this could, even if you applied it that way, this could be how some people get saved. Because look, salvation is the same for everybody in the sense that it's believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That part's the same, but how people get to the point of trusting Christ as Savior is different from person to person. Because some people just grow up in a Christian home, hear the Word of God preached, believe it, and get saved. That's me. I didn't go out and live a life of sin and whatever. I got saved as a six year old boy. Is my salvation invalid? Because I grew up in a good Christian home and was taught the Bible and from a child I knew the holy scriptures, which were able to make me wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. Something wrong with that? It's great. I hope that all my children and all your children have the same testimony, that they get saved as little kids and never have to go out and experience a wicked life of sin. Praise God. That's great. But then other people, they hit rock bottom, don't they? They hit rock bottom and maybe they are strung out on drugs, drunk, destroying their marriage, destroying their job, you know. They get their fifth DUI or whatever and they break down and realize I need Jesus in my life and then they go to some church and somebody presents the gospel and gets saved. Is that not valid? That's valid too, right? Look, I know a guy who got saved because he went to a gay pride parade, okay. This is what he told me and this guy is a guy I knew real well. This is what happened. He had a girlfriend. He was an unsaved, worldly guy, no interest in church. He had a girlfriend and his girlfriend took him to a gay pride parade. He didn't know where he was going or what he was doing and she announced to him that she was a sodomite and he was so disgusted by that parade and so disgusted that he had been with this girl who was a sodomite that he literally was just like, I need to find religion. He felt so just defiled that he was just like wanting to go seek after religion and then he ended up going to church and ended up a guy that he worked with and, you know, I forget exactly how he ended up getting the gospel but he got it through a church and he got it through a Christian. So look, sometimes weird things can get people to a point. I mean, look, seeing the filth of the world woke that guy up like, wow, this is sick. I need to seek after religion and then, you know, he found Jesus. He found salvation. He found the gospel. I know another person who was a devout Catholic and went over to someone's house that was a fellow Catholic and they were all Catholics together, young people, and all these Catholic young people got together and watched some movie about sodomites or something, some filthy Hollywood movie that had a bunch of sodomites in it and here's what happened. All the Catholics, they all thought it was great and funny and they didn't see the wickedness in watching this sodomite film and this girl basically said to herself, you know what, this is the wrong religion. Why are all my fellow Catholics okay with this? Something's wrong with this picture and that caused her to go seek out more truth and she ended up being led to the gospel of Jesus Christ through faith, not through the church of the Roman Catholic Church but through faith in Jesus and the word of God and so forth. So you see how people could get to that point in different ways. I know another lady who got saved because she had no interest in the things of God, no interest in church, then she had a daughter that was born with Down syndrome and that was kind of a wake-up call to her and it made her think about things. A lot of people just having children in general is a wake-up call because they think to themselves, you know what, my child, I don't know how to raise it. I don't know what to teach it and then that caused them to go looking for stuff to try to find answers. So the bottom line is a lot of different things can lead people to the place where they're ready to believe on Jesus Christ as their Savior. So don't have this one-size-fits-all in the sense of you have to go be some broken sinner in the gutter crying and weeping and saying I'm so sorry God for ruining my life. You know, I didn't do that when I was six. You know, I didn't break down and just, oh, I've been so wicked my whole life, you know. You know, I mean I knew I was a sinner, I knew I'd done wrong, you know, I disobeyed my parents, lied, whatever, but you know what, that's enough. That's all I needed to know was that I'm a sinner and I believed in Jesus and I asked him to save me and I put my faith and trust in him. So do you see how this scripture is being really twisted big time? Any way you slice it, okay. But like I said, the context is not even about going to heaven versus hell anyway. Even if it were, the verse would not hold water. People need to use a little more logic when they're reading the Bible. Just because one thing works doesn't mean that nothing else works, okay. So you've got to think about these things when you read the Bible. Go to Job chapter 13, Job 13. Man, I'm going too slow in this sermon, I've got to hurry up because I have more important material. Now, those are real extreme examples, okay. You know, we're talking about some guy committing fornication with his father's wife, okay. And even the other things on the list are extreme examples, drunkenness, extortion, enthralling accusations, okay. But what about this? What about people who commit sins that are more minor than that? Sins that don't even get you thrown out of church. Just people do you wrong. People do wrong things, right? We need to be ready to restore people who do wrong. If a brother be overtaken in a fault, and we're not just talking about the big ones from 1 Corinthians 5, he just says if a brother be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness. When people do us wrong, or when we see people do wrong to others, or when people do wrong in general, we should always be ready to restore the repentant. Look, if the Corinthians could restore a guy who's fornicating with his father's wife, then can't we restore people that have done lesser crimes and lesser things and have done us wrong? What am I saying? That people should be able to live down the wrong things that they've done in the past and that those things from their past should not be brought up and thrown in their faces. They should be able to live it down. Look what the Bible says in Job 13, 23. Remember, Job's friends are railing on him and accusing him falsely. They don't want to restore him. He hadn't even done anything wrong. But look what it says in verse 23. How many are my iniquities and sins? So he's getting angry that they're confronting him with sin and so forth, which he wasn't even guilty of. How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me to know my transgression and my sin. Wherefore hideest thou thy face and holdest me for thine enemy? Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro, and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble? For thou writest bitter things against me, watch this, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth. Now look what he's saying. Don't make me to possess the iniquities of my youth. He's saying, look, I'm living for God now. I'm serving God now. I'm not in sin now. Why are you making me to possess? What's possess? What's another word for possess? Why are you making me own up to the iniquities of my youth? Why is that relevant? Don't make me possess the iniquities of my youth. Go to Psalm 25, just a few pages to the right in your Bible, the book of Psalms. Psalm 25 says something similar. Psalm 25 verse 6 says this, remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy loving kindness, for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth. Do you see that? Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions according to thy mercy. Remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O Lord. Good and upright is the Lord, therefore will he teach sinners in the way. The meek will he guide in judgment and the meek will he teach his way. What's he saying here? God, don't remember the sins of my youth, just teach me how to do it right. Just guide me in the right way. He's saying restore me, God. Help me to do it right. And you are wicked if you are going to hang over people's head sins that they committed a long time ago, especially when they're a kid, when they're a teenager, when they're young adult, long time ago, you know, or whatever. That's wicked to bring that stuff out and try to hang that over somebody's head. You have to let people live things down or else they're going to be swallowed up of overmuch sorrow. Otherwise, they're going to be like, well, I can never live this down. And then they'll give up. Go to Ephesians 4, I think is the best scripture on this, Ephesians chapter 4. While you're turning there, I'll read for you from Lamentations 3.21. This I recall to mind, therefore have I hope. Now what are we talking about here? Having hope for people. People who have messed up their life in the past, they need to have hope, meaning that they need a path forward. They need something that they can do to make things right and live their life. Not just be told, hey, you know what, you screwed up, man. You're done. Well, no, give them hope, he's saying. So he's saying, therefore I have hope, it is of the Lord's mercies that were not consumed because his compassion fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. So we need to extend that same compassion and mercy unto others. Now look at Ephesians 4, 25. Now this passage is all about that. Ephesians 4 verses 25 through 32 is all about people changing, okay, and people doing it right and people being forgiven and living it down and moving forward and being given hope. That's what the Bible is teaching here. It says in Ephesians chapter number 4 verse 25, wherefore putting away lying, speak every man the truth with his neighbor. Now isn't that somebody getting things fixed in their life? Hey, instead of being a big time liar, they're going to start telling the truth now. Good change, right? Look what it says. For we are members one of another. Be ye angry and sin not. Do not let, or I'm sorry, let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil. Now what did the Bible say that we're doing when we don't forgive people? Remember he said you're letting Satan get an advantage of us for we're not ignorant of his devices? Notice the same thing here. He's saying that if you let the sun go down on your wrath, you're giving place to the devil. Watch. Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that is. He's saying give people a path forward. Let him that stole steal no more. Let him that was lying start telling the truth. He says get angry. Look if somebody lies to you, of course you're going to be angry. Somebody steals from you, get angry. But don't let the sun go down on your wrath. Forgive that person and move on or else you're giving place to the devil. You're letting Satan get an advantage of you. So God's not saying, hey, lying's fine. Don't let it get you mad. No, get mad. Of course you're going to get mad about lying. We ought to get mad when lies happen. But at the same time, when the person who's lying decides to start telling the truth, we need to be ready to forget, forgive and forget, and restore that person in a spirit of meekness. Well, I guess, no, a spirit of meekness, of hey, welcome back to the fold. It's forgiven and forgotten. And you know, if you don't forget, then you didn't really forgive. To forgive is to forget. When God forgives us, he forgets. The Bible says there's sins and iniquities, why remember no more? And the Bible says here, hey, put away lying. Speak the truth. Hey, get angry, but don't let the sun go down on your wrath. And don't give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor. Now our society doesn't let people live that down, do they? If you steal in our society, you'll never live it down. You'll never live it down. And then it's hard for you to go labor and do that which is right. Because you carry around this stupid criminal record and it's unscriptural and it's ungodly and it's un-Christian. Okay? Now, it shouldn't surprise us that our society is un-Christian, but let me tell you something. We as Christians, we shouldn't have a record on people of what they've done in the past. You know, this thing of a criminal record is garbage. You say, well, we have to have it, you know, to protect us from dangerous predators. No, dangerous predators should be killed. That's what the Bible says. Okay? Some pedophile, some pervert should be killed. You say, well, we can't have these people working around children. Look, child molesters should be shot and then we wouldn't have that problem. But look, somebody who steals, somebody who smokes pot, somebody who sells pot for crying out loud, somebody who commits sin should be punished in accordance with the law and once they've done the time, we should forget the crime. Think about it. Imagine you sit there and punish somebody and then it's not really forgiven. Now, I'm not saying don't punish people. Look, if somebody commits a crime, punish them, if it's a real crime. I've got jury duty coming up and don't tell them that I believe, you know, no harm, no foul, no victim, no crime, because I'm about to do some nullification. But anyway, but here's the thing, though. But here's the thing, though. If somebody steals, they should be punished. But you know what? After they're punished, forgive and forget. And when you punish your children, forgive and forget. Move on. Don't keep bringing it out and what about what you did back then? That's ungodly and unchristian. It's not right. Criminal records should not exist. They go and then people can't even get a good job. And then what do they do? Go back to a life of crime because they get swallowed up of overmuch sorrow. And then they can't own a gun, you know, and sometimes they might even live in an area where it's not even safe to not have a gun, you know. But anyway, look at verse 29. And it's funny because verse 29 is often taken out of the context of this passage, but actually understand it within the context of the passage. He says this, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, edifying is what? Building someone up, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. What is grace? Extending mercy that people don't deserve, extending favor that they don't deserve. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you're sealed unto the day of redemption. Watch this. Let all bitterness, what's bitterness? When somebody does wrong and you don't forgive them? You're getting bitter about it. Let all bitterness, wrath, what's wrath? Extreme anger, let not the sun go down on your wrath. So he's saying get rid of the bitterness, get rid of the wrath. He says get rid of the anger. Okay, isn't this all about the same subject? He just finished those. Hey, don't let the sun go down on your wrath. Hey, let him that stole steal no more. Hey, you know, him that is lying, let him start telling the truth. And then he says don't let corrupt communication come out of your mouth, but that which is good to use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers. He says put away the bitterness, the wrath, the anger. What's clamor? Complaining about people, talking about people, loudly. That's talking bad about people for what they've done in the past. Clamor and evil speaking. What's evil speaking? Speaking to the harm and ill of someone else. And look, that's the context here. It's all together. It's all connected. Bitterness, anger, wrath, clamor, evil speaking. Put it away from you with all malice. Malice is where you have ill will toward someone else. Malice in your heart. You want to harm them. Watch this. And be ye kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. So what is the corrupt communication of verse 29? When you actually get the context of the passage, the corrupt communication is talking bad about people for wrong stuff that they've done in the past, going around complaining about people or bringing up an evil report or repeating negative things about other people after it should have been forgiven and forgotten. That is the evil speaking. That is the corrupt communication. That's the clamor. That's the bitterness, the anger. You're still mad about it. See how the passage all fits together? It's all one subject. And the whole subject is teaching to let people live things down, let people move forward, get on with your life, and don't sit there and hang it over people's head. I mean, especially things that people have done in their youth. It's unbelievable to me how people will sometimes bring out something about someone that I know or something and say, and you know what, I thank God that I don't have, you know, first of all, I thank God for a couple of things. Number one, I thank God that I grew up in a Christian home so I don't have skeletons in my closet from the past, number one. When people attack me, they attack me for the present. There's plenty of that. I mean, that's not hard. Just know how to use Google. So they attack me for the present. And here's what's funny. The stuff they attack me for, it's not really hidden. It's stuff that I posted. This guy hates homosexuals. This guy wore a free Palestine shirt to Dearborn, Michigan. He's like, yeah, I know, I posted the video. But here's the thing. I thank God, number one, that I grew up in a Christian home, but you know what, I can't get puffed up in glory in that and then look at some other preacher or some other person who had a wicked past and say, well, I've never been to places you've been. I mean, wouldn't that be a wicked and godless attitude? And is it really because I'm just so wonderful or is it just because I was blessed with godly parents? So can I really just take credit for that fact when I was born and raised in an independent Baptist church from the time I was born? Can I really just glorify myself, oh, I stayed away from the stuff that you were into, when a lot of people didn't have that background? So number one, I thank God that I grew up in a Christian home, but you know what else I thank God for is that I lived before the internet. Because here's the thing, when I did stupid stuff, it wasn't just like forever just immortalized in the internet. You know, because look, I never got into drunkenness or fornication or anything like that, but look, we've all done stupid things. And you know what, all the stupid idiotic things I did as a teenager were done before the internet. But listen kids, you do stupid idiotic stuff now, it's engraving in stone and in lead. Think about it. Because now, I mean, you post that picture, you post that story, you post that video, that thing will never go away. Look, once it goes online, it'll never go away. So keep that in mind before you do stupid things. Because you know what, I'm preaching this morning about letting people live things down. I'm preaching this morning about forgiving people. I'm preaching this morning about restoring people in the spirit of meekness and forgiving and forgetting. These are all Christian virtues and I have pages more of notes that I'm not going to get to about how bad it is to be a tail bearer and to dig up evil and to try to burn people with the sins of their past and everything like that, how ungodly it is and how God's going to punish us for not forgiving. I have pages on that that I don't have time for this morning. But let me just end on this note, okay? I'm talking about how we as Christians need to restore people, need to forgive people, especially for things that were even smaller than the big sins we talked about. You know, somebody yelled at you, somebody said something that you didn't like, somebody talked bad about you, somebody, you know, did something wrong to you, you need to let that go. You need to move on and not just sit there and hang that over people's head. Or somebody used to believe in false doctrine, now they got the doctrine right, just rejoice that they're right on it now. Not like, well, he was wrong about that all these years, what an idiot. No, just be happy that he's got it right now. You know, oh man, remember how that person used to just be a total drunk? It's like, why are you bringing that up? Let it go. Give the person a new way forward, move forward. So we're talking about the Christian virtue of restoring people in a spirit of meekness and even when we do show people some tough love, even when we do have to cast someone out, we do it for the goal of salvaging their life, okay? But secondly, here's something to keep in mind, that guess what, most people aren't going to do what I just said. I mean, is it Christ-like to forgive and forget? Yeah. Should we as Christians restore people and literally have no, and listen, it is possible to completely forget the sins of others, it's possible. And here's how you do it, you never think about it. Because the only way you remember things is by thinking about them over and over again. I've had people come up to me and apologize for stuff and I literally have no clue what they're talking about because I just had pushed it out of my mind. It's possible to just forget stuff and move on. And listen, your marriage, this is real important because what does the Bible specifically bring up about marriage, husbands, love your wives and be not bitter against them. What's he saying? Don't hold up a list of grievances in your mind or in your heart. Ladies, that goes for you too. I know how ladies sometimes just never forget things, never want to let it go. But you know what, it's Christian and Christ-like to let it go, it's what the Bible teaches. But hold on a second, here's the reality folks, most Christians are not going to follow what I'm preaching in the sermon. Most people in this world are not going to follow what I'm preaching in the sermon. The criminal justice system is for sure not going to follow what I'm preaching in the sermon. And you know what that means? Don't do stupid stuff. Because you know what, there are some stupid things that you do that you will never live down in this world unfortunately. Now we as Christians, we should forgive you, restore you, help you live it down. But you know what, you children that are listening to me, don't just take this sermon and say, oh cool, I can go out and do whatever and I can always get restored later and live it down later. No, because you know what, when you do stuff, there are going to be people who never forgive you. There are going to be people who never let you live it down. There are going to be videos or pictures or things floating around on the internet that will never go away. Are you listening? And there are going to be even Christians, even church members who will never let it go. Are they wrong to never let it go? Yes. But we're talking about reality my friend. So you need to think twice before you commit major sin or any sin and realize that there are repercussions. And so if you've done wrong, you can't just, well Pastor Anderson said, you know, and the Bible said, and huff and puff all you want, there are some people who are just never going to let it go. And you know what, that's between them and God. And God's going to deal with them on that. Because God treats us the way that we treat other people. You know, the Bible very clearly says if we forgive others, he'll forgive us and so forth. But that's between them and God. The reality is though, when we make big mistakes, we dust it off, we go forward, and you know what, there are going to be some people who follow Christ's command and forgive us. And there are going to be some people who let us live it down. And there are going to be others who don't. And so what do we do? You know, we just live with the consequences of our actions. That's life. But we need to make sure we're never the one who is bringing up some Christian's past to them and throwing it in their face. Or using that to bludgeon them. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your forgiveness, Lord, the ultimate forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ as far as our salvation, Lord, and we thank you that you also on a daily basis are kind unto us and you are giving us new mercies every morning, the Bible says. Help us to be the same way. And Lord, I know that from time to time, even in our church, there are people who get angry at another church member or get bitter toward another church member, get upset toward another church member. Lord, help us, if there are any grievances like that, and if there's anybody under the sound of my voice this morning that has bitterness in their heart toward someone or thinking to themselves, oh yeah, that person, that's just how they're always going to be, Lord, help us to get that out of our hearts and forgive and forget. And to give people a chance to move forward, whether it's the fact that they've stolen or lied or whatever they've done, Lord, help us to give people another chance and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.