The Christian life - Church..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to our Thursday Bible study. I'm going to please invite you to open up your Bibles to the first letter of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians.

The first letter of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians. And we are going to continue, my dear brother and sister, with our studies on the life, on the Christian life, and specifically on the church. 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Dear brothers, sisters, we're going to continue with our series of studies, as I said, on the Christian life. And we're going to continue to address the topic of the church.

And this opportunity, we're going to be addressing church discipline. And we are going to be reading here in First Corinthians, chapter five, the first eight verses. that are going to help us to have a starting point on the topic of church discipline. A very important topic for the life of the local church. When we speak about church discipline, we speak about one of the ways that the local church has to deal with the presence and the practice of sin.

So, church discipline is one of the ways, it's not that way, but it's one of the ways that the local church has to deal with that presence and the practice of sin. And as we're going to be reading here these eight verses in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, we will see precisely that, that there is an expectation from the New Testament. And that expectation from the New Testament, of course, from God for the local church, is that the local church will deal with the presence and with the practice of sin. that is, that they will do something about the presence of sin. And church discipline, as we're going to present it perhaps tonight, is one of the ways that the local church has to deal with the presence and with the practice of sin.

So, let us read together, brethren, chapter 5 of 1 Corinthians, and here we are going to see the Apostle Paul addressing the church at Corinth that they are experiencing a particular situation of sin, and how the apostle expects that they will address or that they will deal with the presence of this sin in the context of the local church. I think I said the first eight verses, I think that will suffice for now, so let us perhaps read the whole chapter just to get that last verse, verse 13. So let us read the whole chapter, chapter 5, together. This is the word of the Lord. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans.

For a man has his father's wife, and you are arrogant. Are you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit. And as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.

When you are assembled together, assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus, and my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver these men to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord." Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lamp? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lamb, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." Continues, I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people, Not at all, meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy, or the swindlers, or idolaters. Since then, you would need to go out of the world. But now, I'm writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality of greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler, not even to eat with such one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders?

Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. Purge the evil person from among you. Amen. That is the words of the Lord.

Now, brethren, here in this passage in chapter 5 in 1 Corinthians, we have a clear example of an expectation of the New Testament and of the Lord that the local church will deal with the presence of sin. And in this case, the apostle is expecting that the church at Corinth will remove the person that is committing that particular sin. There's a few things that we need to see here in the text that will help us as a starting point for us to meditate and to consider the topic of church discipline. The first thing that I want you to see here is that the first problem that the church at Corinth has is that there was the presence of a sin. And we are told that the presence, and not only the presence, but the practice of that sin was one that not even the pagans, not even the hidden will commit.

It is sexual immorality. There was one man who was taking his father's, think about that, a man was taking his father's, his biological God-given father's wife. A man was in sexual immorality with his father's wife. A very important thing to note here is that the presence of that practice of that sin was active and unrepented. If you pay careful attention to the chapter or to the verse, it says in verse one, it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and of a kind that is not even tolerated even among you.

For a man has his father's wife. So the problem, the first issue that the Corinthians had is not that there was presence of sin, because as we have spoken before, the presence of sin is still in each one of us as individuals, even as redeemed and even in the context of the church. The problem for the Corinthian church is that there was the practice of a sin and that sin was an unrepented sin. These men continue in the practice of sexual immorality, and not only that, it was a horrendous sin. That was the first issue, but the main problem that the apostle is addressing here is not so much the presence or the practice of that sin, but what the apostle is going to complain about, one would expect that he is not happy about the presence of that horrendous sin, which he is not.

But the main problem that the apostle has is that the church at Corinth were, as he says, arrogant because they were not dealing with the practice of that sin. In other words, there was the practice of the sin in the context of the local church, and the church as a whole was just kind of like blind, not dealing with the practice of unrepented sin. So then the apostle comes with the authority, apostolic authority, to say that when you are assembled together and when you come together, You are to remove that person who has proved to be an unrepented sinner. He is in immorality, in sexual immorality, and he's having his father's wife. You are to remove that person, you are to deliver that person to Satan, so that the flesh will receive judgment, but that he will be saved.

The point of the Apostle is made there in verses 6 through 9, which he says that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. That is that the presence of unrepented sin in the context of the local church is going to affect the whole congregation. Hence, the local congregation is expected to deal with the presence of unrepented sin. In other words, the local church, not only the Corinthians, but every single local church of the Lord Jesus Christ is expected not to tolerate the practice of unrepented sin. And here we see the importance of the connection between the individual and the whole context of the church, as we have mentioned it in the past.

Because the sin of one individual, what we think that is affecting only that particular individual, and this is a very secret sin, right? Sexual immorality. But the practice of that sin, of that individual, by virtue of that person being a member of the collective, gives the apostle the reasoning or gives the apostle the right to make the analogy between the little leaven, the leaven, the whole lump, because that person is inserted into the context of the church. and the apostle is not very happy about the fact that the Corinthian church is not dealing with the presence and the practice of unrepented sin. My dear brothers, my dear sisters, it is very important that we as a church will understand that dealing with unrepented sin is not only an expectation from the Scriptures for the local church, for Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church, but the health and the power of the collective and of the individual depends on the congregation dealing biblically with the presence and the practice of sin.

And church discipline is one of the ways in which the local church deals with the presence of sin, even unrepentant sin. Once again, church discipline is one of the ways, it's not the way, but it's one of the ways through which the local church deals with the presence of unrepentant sin in the context of the church. Now, my dear brother and my dear sister, it's very important that we will have the right heart towards church discipline, because usually there are two extremes in the flesh that take the practice or even the absence of church discipline when it comes, at times, in Christian churches. One is that they make church discipline so strong and so strict that through church discipline they expect that sin is going to be controlled or managed in the context of the local church. That is when a severe and a very strict view and practice and even making known to the church the consequences of sin in the context of the congregation, at times the local church rests and hopes and has even faith in the practice and in the doctrine of church discipline for that to remove the presence of sin from the context of the church.

The problem, as we know, is that even though there might be sins that are not seen in the context of the congregation, there are sins that can be happening secretly in the context of the heart, or inside of the heart of each person, to which the context of the local church will be unaware, and whatever strict practice of church discipline or standard church discipline that we may have in place, will never remove the root of sin that is found secretly in the heart of a person. That is one extreme. And then you have the other extreme of those who are neglecting the dealing with sin or neglecting the use of church discipline in the context of the local church because they don't want to offend one another and it's more important for them to have the chairs filled with people and people giving money to the church and having big numbers in the context of the congregation that dealing with the practice of sin and clear sin is something that is not even mentioned, not even considered, and at times just simply they put their hands on their eyes so that they will not have to have the difficult conversation of dealing with sin that at times could be as clear as the sin that we have here in front of us. Now, brethren, the famous passage that addresses a church discipline and the process and the purpose and the principles of church discipline, you may know it is found in Matthew chapter 18. And we are going to speak about that and we are going to address the process and the purpose and the principles of church discipline as how it should be done and in the context even of Corningstone Reformed Baptist Church.

But my dear brother and my dear sister, let me submit to you that if we do not understand the seriousness of sin in the individual and the consequences for the local church, then we have the risk of making church discipline one of those two extremes. Either a super strong in the flesh carnal ways to prevent the visible manifestations of sin, so that our church is conservative and is holy in the eyes of men, or on the other side, we're just simply neglecting with our mouths and with our eyes and with our hearts and with everything that we are addressing the practice of sin in the context of the church, so that we avoid having a difficult conversation with a brother or a sister. It is important that in order to have the system or the method to address and to deal with sin, we will see together the seriousness of what sin is, and from there, we will see naturally, I hope, the necessity for the local church to address and to deal with the practice of sin. If we do not consider sin as something that is serious, and that is detrimental for our spiritual life, then we're not going to do anything about, or we are just going to be careless about, sins that we have in our hearts, or in our minds, or in our eyes. If we are careless, or if we do not comprehend the depths of the seriousness of what sin causes in one individual, men or women, and that in the context of the church, then we are not going to care so much about the consequences of that potential sin and we're going to be careless about addressing or dealing with that sin biblically.

So, the first thing that we're going to do is that we're going to see from the Scriptures, I hope, the seriousness of sin in the individual life and that in the context of the church. Now, brethren, let me submit to you that when we go through the Scripture, especially through the New Testament, and we see what sin is in the Christian, or the practice of sin for the Christian, we see that sin is not so much the result of the presence of sin in the heart of the person, You know how sometimes when we are speaking of the lost and someone asks the question, why do sinners sin? Or why do people sin? And then usually the answer that they give is because people are sinners, because they're fallen, they are in Adam and they are totally depraved and they are in enmity with God and their heart is a heart of stone. They don't know any better.

They cannot submit to the law of the Lord. They cannot follow the commandments of the Lord. So they sin, they naturally sin because they are sinners. And that is true of fallen humanity, of people who are in Adam and who are not redeemed. But that is not true, or entirely true at least, of the Christian.

Yes, the Lord died upon the cross and He paid for the fullness of the penalty of the sin that we deserve. And when He died upon the cross, He did not only take the fullness of the penalty of the sin, but He removed from us the ruling and dominating power that sin had over us, so that as the Apostle says in Romans chapter 6, sin shall not reign over you. So then, that means that when the Christian sins, it's not so much for the presence of sin, because that sin is already debilitated, if you want, by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The dominating power of that sin in the Christian has already been removed. and the Christian has been strengthened and empowered to reign, to give the members unto righteousness, not unto unrighteousness, to be a servant of the Lord and not servant of sin.

So, when the Christian sins, it's not so much because of the presence of something, but rather because of the absence or the lack of something, and that is what is going to drive our minds and our hearts, I suppose, and I hope, to the seriousness of seeing, not in the lost, but in the Christian, because the Apostle is addressing Christians, right? The presence of the sin in the context of the local church. And I'm going to submit to you that when we sin, even if it's only one time, or when for some reason we are given over to a particular sin, It's not so much because there is a remaining sin in me, that is true partially, but more importantly, it's because of the absence or because of the lack of something that Christ has said that if we have in abundance, then we are going to overcome that sin. Let me just simply give you some examples just from the definitions of what sin is, even as it is communicated to the Christian. You remember that in 1st John, the Apostle John defines sins as lawlessness, right?

Or as a transgression of the law. He says that sin is unrighteousness or it is a... transgression of the law. In other words, literally it means that sin is lawlessness. The Apostle says that sin, the sin that is committed is the absence of conformity to the law or to the commandments of the Lord.

Or if you think about the words that are given to us in James, that we are told that if we know what to do and we don't do it, then that is sin to us. That is that the absence of this power in the Christians, to move them to do what they know that they are supposed to do, the absence of courage in the Christian to do what they know that they have to do, is considered to be a sin for the Christian. For the Christian, when we think about it, is that there's something that is missing, something that is lacking. Yes, of course, it's the presence and sin that is in us, but we do not defeat sin by focusing on sin, because sin is going to be with us until we are taken up to glory of the Lord Jesus Christ comes. Sin is going to be with us.

We defeat sin and we see the seriousness of sin by focusing on those active virtues that are supposed to be abounding in us by the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and then overcoming the presence and the practice of sin. And the most important one of those virtues is, of course, faith. And if we come to Romans chapter 14, there we can see, as we have spoken before in the past, that just as the apostle John speaks of sin being lawlessness, or James speaks of sin being the absence or the lack of doing that which we know that we should do, as you remember in Romans chapter 14, we are told, that sin is rooted in faithlessness. Remember that verse, very important verse in that chapter 14 that speaks about the context of the local church and about the relationships of brothers and sisters in Romans chapter 14. In the last verse, we are told a truth in context, but also a truth that is a standard truth.

I don't have any other word for that type of truth that is a standard truth. It's in the context, but it's a standard truth in verse 23 that it says, But whoever has doubt is condemned if he eats, referring to the contextual truth. But here it speaks of the standard truth, because the eating is not from faith, and here is the standard truth. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. So, brethren, in the context of the local churches, speaking to brothers and sisters, John, in 1 John chapter 3, I think it is, and also James in chapter 4, I think it is, speak of sin as the absence of something.

For John is lawlessness. Lack of conformity to the righteousness of the Lord, the commandments of the Lord, the law of Christ. For James, it's the lack of courage, of power, if you want, that moves the will to align with the mind. So, you know what to do, but your will is not moving you to do that what you're supposed to do, and that is sin. And here the apostle is speaking of one of the most important virtues of the Christian life, The most important of the virtues is love.

Faith being one of the very important virtues of the Christian life, the one by which we are saved and our salvation continues and is kept through our faith, it speaks that sin is, in a sense, faithlessness. Now, I'm not speaking about the absolute absence of faith in the salvific way in which a person loses completely their faith. But what the apostle is saying here is that if we do something that is not rooted in faith, that particular thing that we do is sin. That is, for the Christian to live a life of righteousness and for the Christian to live a life in delight, walking in delight, everything that we do has to be rooted in faith. and faith is the conviction, the certainty of things that we hope for, the things that we have not seen.

That is the certainty of the presence of Christ, who He is and what He has done, and what He has promised that He's going to give us. He's going to take not only our minds, but the fullness of our being, to the point that we are not only mentally aware of the presence of the Lord, but that we live our lives for the Savior, so that the same apostle has the authority to say in 1 Corinthians, whether you eat or drink, everything due unto the glory of God. That is that in the most of the minute tasks, the Christian is able in a conscious and a spiritual way to do it for the glory of God. That is, that we are not disconnected in our day-to-day from the spiritual life, but rather, is the spiritual life the supernatural reality in which we are rooted and inserted, the one that is supposed to rule and govern the life of the Christian that is in this present time, that is passing away, so that the Christian has the power and the ability to, in the Spirit of God, whether we eat or drink to give the glory of the Father. And if you give the glory to the Father when we eat or drink, you think that that is a faithless activity?

No, it's corresponding to what Romans chapter 14 verse 23 says. It is rooted in faith. That is that we act in righteousness and we give that glory to the Father. Now, my dear brother, my dear sister, Faith is that which saves us and faith is that which keeps us alive. We know that we are secure in the Lord and that nothing can separate us from the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, from God.

We are in Christ, we are together with Him, in God, with God, in the heavenly places. Absolutely nothing can separate us. But the life of the Christian starts by faith. and is sustained and kept by faith. And the consummation of the life of the Christian when he comes, when we are up there, or when he comes, it is by faith.

1st Peter chapter 1 verse 9 says, "...obtaining the outcome of your faith, which is the salvation of your souls." And it is that we have been saved from faith to faith, from faith that starts to faith that it consummates, from faith that is given to faith that is lived in the power of Christ, to faith that is converted now to sight, because we see Him and faith is not necessary anymore, because we see Him face to face as He is when we are taken or when He comes. Faith is that which empowers the Christian life. Brethren, sin is the absence of that in a particular aspect of our lives, or the weakness of our faith in a particular aspect of our lives.

So, every time that we sin, It's not so much that we're battling against this force, it's not that we're battling against this thought, it's not so much that we're battling against these words, it's not so much that we're battling against this attitude of the heart, but the core of it is that our faith in that particular aspect of our life, whatever it is, is either weak or in a practical sense, not in a positional sense, is absent. And brethren, that should be actually very fearful and scary, because the substance of our life is faith, is to believe. That's how the Lord is pleased. Remember in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6, how is the Lord pleased? The Lord is pleased by faith.

Without faith, it's impossible to please the Lord. The life of the Christian is one of just simply speaking, Lord, I believe what you say. And not only I believe what you say, but in the words that you utter, I found experiential rest and peace. It's not that I'm just going to apprehend this thought and I'm just going to remind myself that it exists and that it's true, but rather when the Lord speaks and His word is open, or His mouth is open, and that comes into the mind and into the heart of that person, it is not only that it's true, it's that it is true, and that gives experiential rest and power. Now, connection according to the Scriptures.

What do we need for us to have faith according to the scripture? What produces faith? Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. The ESV says the word of Christ, the word of the Lord. It says in Roman chapter 10, that is that the faith of the Christian, your faith, my dear soul, your faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God or the Word of Christ.

When Christ speaks, when God speaks, that Word being heard is what produces faith. Now, brethren, the Scriptures is not speaking about just simply just go in your flesh and just read aloud the Scriptures. or just put a speaker there with the Scriptures just playing and then you hear the Word of God, or just simply going and hearing sermons being preached from the Word of God. It is a relational word. It says, hearing the Word of God.

It is that God speaks and you indeed hear His voice. It's not only that you read it aloud and then you say, wow, this is the Word of God. Yes, it is true. But the Word of God is not to be reduced down just to a religious experience in which we just simply utter sounds that correspond to what is written. And just because those sounds entered through our ears and make sense in our brain, that now we have heard the Word of God distance apart.

Because when the Lord speaks to a person, the Word of God does not return void, it comes with much power. This is what at times we call revelation, or in other words we call at times illumination. This is what the Apostle Paul prays for the church at Ephesus and the Colossians, that the eyes will be enlightened, will be open for the revelation of the knowledge of the Savior. That is that when God speaks, that they will hear and their faith will be strengthened. That is, my dear brother and sister, that when you sin, when I sin, either once or given over to a particular sin, it's because there's absence or lack of faith in the uttermost profound and deep part of your heart where faith should be.

There is absence of faith or there is a weak faith that is the result of not hearing the Word of God for that particular matter. The deposit of life from God through His mouth in your heart is absent." And he said, is it his fault? Of course it's not. He said, everything is given unto you for life and godliness.

Everything has been given to you. Come to Me, He says, not only to the lost, but also to the saved. Come to Me every time that you want to receive gold and precious stones. Come to Me every time that you want rest, every time that you're thirsty, every time that you have anger, every time that you need. Come to Me every time.

And every time it will be given to you, there will be nothing that will be withheld or not given to you. Come to me, the Savior says to the saint, to the redeemed. Come to me and I will deposit into your heart that which is needed. So, brethren, every time that we see the presence of sin in the individual, in the context of the church, is necessarily an absence of spiritual virtue, and that is faith. and that correspond to a lack of genuine fellowship and communion with God.

And the exhortation that the author of Hebrews gives putting those concepts together is very fearful if you come with me to Hebrews chapter 3. Because in Hebrews chapter 3, my dear brethren, those concepts that I have just mentioned there are put together. Faith, communion with God, hearing the voice of God, and sin. Put together in Hebrews chapter 3, you might remember the very fearful exhortation that is given in verse 12. Hebrews chapter 3, brethren, Verse 12, pay attention to that.

See all the concepts that I have just mentioned or brought to your attention from the scripture just now. It says, let us just read it first and then we speak. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart. What does that evil... You see unbelieving?

What is unbelieving? Lack of faith, right? A faithless heart. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving, lack of faith heart. What does that unbelieving heart does?

leading you to fall away or to depart from the Living God. Not only to depart from the presence of this religious entity that we call God, but the Living God. Because being in the presence of the Living God is going to give us life. It's going to produce, it's going to pour the life of God into us. And then when we are faithless in the heart, this moves us to separation from God.

It says, verse 13, where we are going to bring now the topic of church discipline there. It says, but exhort one another, right? It says, exhort one another. Not speaking, go to the supermarket and then ask the person that sells to ask about your personal spiritual life, context of the local church, brother and sister, those who by grace through faith have been saved. Exhort one another every day.

as long as it is cool today, that none of you might be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." And brethren, you remember what Ezekiel says about a heart of stone and a heart of flesh? It's a comparison between death and life, right? And here it says that if you have an evil heart of unbelief, a faithless heart, That is going to lead you to depart from the living God, that is the substance, or is the source better, of the life that we need to live a righteous life. And then he says that this could eventually lead us into being taken by the deceitfulness of our sins, hardening our hearts, that might be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, death.

Why? Because sin begets death. When sin is fully grown, James says in chapter 1, it brings forth death. That is the nature of sin. It continues in verse 14.

For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end, as it is said today. If you hear his voice, do not harden your heart as in the day or in the rebellion. if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." Why is sin so fearful and so serious, my dear brother, my dear sister? Because the presence of sin, even when it's committed once, or when we're given over to a particular secret sin or visible sin in the context of the church, That is the consequence, that is the result of not the presence of sin in us, because sin does not have dominating power in the Christian anymore, but rather the absence of the life of Christ manifested in our faith.

And the presence of faith in the deposit of our hearts is only given to us with genuine fellowship with God himself, communion with God, with the living God. No religious activities that brings us into these ceremonial rituals that we do just to take a piece, but communion with the living God. He's a person, a living God. He's alive. He's not only a religious concept.

So that is, that my communion and your communion with the Lord has to, and is expected according to the Scriptures, to be so powerful and such an event that takes place in your heart that you're continually transformed. Nothing else can transform the life of the Christian. Nothing else can transform the life of any human being. No human being can be transformed spiritually at all. It is only when the person has a genuine encounter with the person of Jesus Christ, initially for salvation, and when the saint grows in maturity in the same fellowship with the Lord.

And that is the absence of faith. So brethren, brethren, the problem here is that we have not been saved individually. We have been saved individually in a sense, right? But we have been inserted into a body. And as I spoke to you last time, there is this concept of individual obedience and corporate obedience.

And that is that the spiritual life of the context of the church depends on the individual. And the life of the church as a whole also influences the life of the individual. Both, I think I said the same. The individual influences the body and the body influences the individual. So that is that we want to deal with sin.

Not so much because when we open our eyes, our nice organized and clean church is not organized and clean anymore. but rather because the presence of sin in the context of the local church is the manifestation of the absence of the virtues of Christ in one of the brothers or sisters. And the local church is the one that is supposed to be the instrument or one of the instruments through which the heart of that brother or sister is nourished and empowered with the Word of God. Do you see the relation between those two things? That is that if, in a sense, there's a collective responsibility, that the body is only one, that the individual, yes, we have to give an account for the things that we do and say everything to the Lord as an individual.

But my spiritual life depends on the context of the church as yours does or does yours. Your life depends on the context of the local church, and in a sense, the collective of the local church is responsible for the walking of each one of the members that belong to that body. But as I said, we are to understand that the way that we are going to be dealing with sin, my dear brother and sister, is not that every time that there is a manifestation of sin, we're going to go through Matthew 18, or perhaps at times we could, but to take church discipline as the process that we will use to deal with sin in the context of the local church. In fact, according to my understanding, there are three ways in which the local church deals with the presence of sin in the context of the church. And church discipline is the third one and is the last one.

You go through the first one, you go through the second one, and then church discipline is the third way that you use to deal with the presence of sin in the context of the local church. Once again, if there is a practice of sin in the context of the church, we're not to see this brother or this sister as a sinner separated from the community, but rather we're to see it as a body. Now, let me just present to you, before we speak about church discipline, very briefly, from Matthew 18, let me speak to you about the three ways that the church should implement, one after the other, to deal with the presence of sin in the context of the church. The first one is going to be found in 1 John 1. So, come with me, please, to 1 John 1.

1 John 1. How should the church deal with the presence of sin in the context of the body? The answer to that initial question in the first way is, individually before the Lord. That is, individually before the Lord. Because church discipline can deal only with the sins that are visible, right?

Like sexual immorality in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. But it's not that the visible sin causes damage to the church, and the invisible sin does not cause damage. The same sin causes damage to the context of the local church. And the church is to deal with the presence of sin seriously, not only with the one that is visible and that we can see it, or even sin that is committed against one another, but with all presence of sin in the context of the church has to be dealt with biblically. And the initial way that the Lord has given to the saint and to the church to deal with the presence of sin is individual.

It happens in the heart. 1st John chapter 1, it says in verse 9, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's it. Sin has been dealt with. That is the way that the problem of sin is solved.

That is the beauty of the power of the gospel, my dear brethren. That the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, that the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ is greater and in a categorical sense, greater, more majestic than any type of sin that the saint can commit. There's absolutely no sin that cannot be cleansed and forgiven by the faithful and by the just Lord Jesus Christ. He can forgive absolutely all sins and the church is to deal with the presence of sin in the context of the church through an individual awareness that each one of the members, every time that they sin, they can come before the Lord in faith, in the Lord Jesus Christ and in the gospel and confess their sin, agree with the convicting power of the Spirit and they know by faith that they are absolutely forgiven. But someone would say, but that is my sin, it happened in my mind, it happened with my eyes, it happened with my hands, nobody knows.

Why is that connected to the church? It is connected to the church. Many things we have said about that, but brethren, just simply pay attention to what it says in verse 7, and we have spoken about that. It says, "...if we walk in the light, As He is in the light, then it says, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

The opposite it is, that if we walk in darkness, He is not in darkness, but if we walk in darkness, we do not have fellowship with one another. for the church to walk in the light of fellowship that produces much power and praises of love and hope and faith from the apostles, like for the Thessalonians or the Colossians, for the body to walk in that power of the gospel in the light collectively, Each one of the saints have to walk in the light for them to have this fellowship that brings all of these fruits of the local church. That is, that if one of them is not walking in the light as he is in the light and is not dealing with sin as they should be, it is the whole body that is the one that is affected. Now, we may not be aware of it because they're spiritual matters and the spiritual things, the spiritual weight, the spiritual substance of the congregation is many times not visible to our eyes. We see the things that we do, prayer and meeting, or Bible study, or coming to the Lord's day, and we could do that the rest of our lives in the flesh, and even on our way to hell, and we could do that for the rest of our lives.

Because the substance and the power of the church is spiritually discerned. It is fought in the spiritual realm, and that is affected with the sin of each one of us. My sins affect the whole body. Your sins affect the whole body and if we don't see the seriousness of it, then we are going to be careless when it comes to dealing with our personal sin. First way that the church deals with the presence of sin in the context of the church is by full awareness of each one of the members that in the power of the gospel, every time that they sin, they can come before the Savior to ask for forgiveness, to confess their sin and to be cleansed from that and to be moved into ways of victory and light.

That is the first way. Now, but it might happen that a brother is not able, humanly speaking, of course, or a sister is not able, humanly speaking, of course, to deal with that sin by the grace that the Lord has given him in the faith of the gospel, confessing that sin. And now that sin is made public and now we can see all of those things, sins that have been committed. So, the second way that we deal with sin in the context of the church is with brotherly restoration. And I hope that that is a word, restoration, right?

Come with me, please, to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 6. Now, brethren, you know this verse in verse 10. You remember this very popular verse? I think this is a very popular verse, I think.

You tell me. It says, So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, especially to those who are of the household of faith. You're right, this is a very popular verse. Let us do good to everyone, especially to those of the household of faith, to those of the church. Pay attention to the context of doing good to the household of faith.

This is the context of what is to do good to everyone, especially to the household of faith, to the brothers and sisters. It says in verse 1 of chapter 6, brothers and sisters or brethren, if anyone is caught in any transgression, that is sin, right? So, if anyone in the context of the church is caught in sin, What is the instruction? You who are spiritual should restore him or her in a spirit of gentleness. Brotherly restoration.

That is, that if the brother has not been able to deal with that sin in the secret place according to 1 John chapter 1, right? So the conviction of sin has not brought this brother or sister to tears to confess that sin and to deal with that sin in the private place. And now this sin has been manifested and that brother or sister is caught. The church is called to manifest brotherly restoration. It says, brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in the spirit of gentleness.

Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. That is, if you don't have the heart to restore your brother, just pay attention to what is going on with you.

Pay attention to what is actually going on with you. For each will have to bear his own load. Let the one who is taught the Word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked for whatever one sows, thou he will also reap.

For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. And this is speaking to the one that does not want to restore or does not have to restore the brother. The one who sows from the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good. For in due season we will reap if we do not give up."

Speaking of the restoration of the one that is weak after the spiritual. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. Brethren, the presence of sin is still within us. And then when we are witnesses of the presence of sin, of the practice of sin in our brothers, Our flesh is naturally going to move us to condemn or to judge the sin that our brother, that is, you know, James chapter 4. It will lead us naturally to condemn the commission of sin of our brother assisted by the Bible calls us.

You who say that are spiritual and you who say that you are firm, you are to restore your brother with gentleness. And what does that restoring mean? Well, in Ephesians, if you turn your page, it says very clearly in Ephesians chapter 4, These also these admonitions or exhortations to the church in chapter 4 verse 25 Therefore it says in verse 25 brethren in Ephesians chapter 4 Therefore having put away falsehoods let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor For we are members one of another speaking to the church be angry and do not sin do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil and Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let not corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion that he may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Let all bitterness..." Brethren, addressing the heart, right? Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted." Now it says, "...

forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you." Brethren, brotherly restoration in the spiritual sense from the heart, caring for the goodness of the one who has been caught in transgression. Of course, as we're going to say, if there is a repentance, the spirit brings repentance through the work of the brethren. We are to forgive. We are to forgive and not just only just to, yes, I forgive, you know, yes, yes, I forgive.

My mind works in such a way that I will just forget what you did to me. And that is the definition of forgive. No. Forgive as God in Christ forgave you. And how did God forgive us?

Completely. Sealed. Imagine that you're through the scriptures and God speaks to you, but you did that when you were like 15. And you went to that place when you were 18, but you did not read the Bible yesterday. Or when He comes and then you're taken up to glory and He says, you know, Jesus died upon the cross, but you did all of those things and you did all of this.

No, brethren, there is going to be a judgment and of course, the books are going to be open, but when it comes to the penalty of the sin, Completely forgiven. We stand forgiven. That is the status that we have. We are forgiven in the Lord Jesus Christ and that is how we are to forgive our brother and sister. Removed from the mind and removed from the heart any offense that has been caused.

Brotherly restoration. That requires the presence of the Holy Spirit for the one who forgives, and that requires the presence of the Holy Spirit in the one who has been caught in a transgression, so that there will be genuine repentance when they come and bring that. But there is a third way. If the individual does not work and brotherly restoration does not work, then we come to Matthew chapter 18, and in there I'm just going to make brief comments because, brethren, we know the process. I think, as a church, in Matthew chapter 18, of church discipline, and as you can see, the most important thing for me to share with you is not so much the method to heal or to remove the presence of sin, but the most important thing for a church is to know the seriousness of the presence of sin in the heart, so that we will know how to deal with it in the presence of the Lord and by the Spirit, But there will be times, and the Lord Jesus speaks here, there will be times in which I brother or I sister are given over, like the church at Corinth, they are given over to unrepentant sin.

And in that unrepentant sin the church now is put to a test. With that unrepentant sin of a brother or sister, the church is put to a test. And the test is, how are we going to deal with the practice of that sin, an unrepentant sin, in the context of the church? And here is what we are told in Matthew chapter 18. So there is a couple of things that I want to mention to you very briefly.

I don't want to take much of our time speaking here. I just want to speak to you, first of all, about the process of church discipline, as is outlined here in Matthew 18 from verse 15 onwards. The process of it. Simply the purpose of it, and the principles of it. It was not intentional, but all of them, peace.

The process, the purpose, and the principles of church discipline. And it's important that the church will be aware of all of those, at least three things in Matthew chapter 18, verse 15 it says, If your brother, and you know, we could read the context of verse 10, which is the context of 15, but let us just simply focus on 15, which is restoration from verse 10. But it says in verse 15, if your brother sins against you, that is transgression that is committed against you, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. Step number one. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother."

That's it, verse 16. But if he does not listen, take one or two, that is step two, take one or two others along with you, that every charge might be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses, the charge of sin. Then verse 17, the third step, it says, if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." The process. My dear brother and me, dear sister, first of all, we need to acknowledge that church and discipline, as it is outlined in Matthew chapter 18, is a process. That means that it's systematic.

Something that is systematic and something that is a process is something that is to be respected. It means that it has steps and the steps are to be followed. Otherwise, it's not a process. If you go to step number two, then you have broken that process. Church discipline, as it is outlined in Matthew chapter 18, is a process and it's to follow each one of the steps.

Step 1 and step 2 and step 3. Step 1 is one that happens in the privacy of confrontation one-to-one. If your brother or sister has sinned against you, so then you come and you speak to him or her about their fault, and then your expectation is that they will listen to him. Step number 1. If they do not listen to you, then you move on to a step number two, that is, during the presence of two or three witnesses, and then you bring the charges of that sin to the brother or sister.

And if he or she does not listen, you move on to step number three, which is presenting that to the church. And then we could have there a fourth step, that if they do not listen, they are to be removed from the context of the church, that is, to be treated as tax collectors or publicans or Gentiles. and they are just to be not considered to be in the context of the life of the community of the church. It is a process that is to be followed. That is that when someone commits a sin against me, should I go to the church and present it to the church?

No, because it is a process and it has to follow step by step. Step one, in the private places. Step two, with witnesses. Step three, with the church. If someone comes and jumps those steps, then there is fault in the person that is bringing that charge, because that person is not submitting to the biblical process for church discipline, and there is a charge there on that person.

Secondly, it's not only a purpose, but here I want you to see the purpose of it. from beginning to end, the purpose of church discipline is that of the second way of dealing with sin that we read in Galatians chapter 6 and Ephesians chapter 3 or 4. And that is restoration. Each one of the steps has the purpose that it says here in the ESV to gain your brother. That is that the person that has been wronged by, or the person who has been sinned against, is not so much concerned with the offense, but rather the person is concerned with the sin that the other person has committed, and the concern is that my brother will be gained, will be rescued from this sin that they have committed.

Step number one has that purpose of restoring and saving, if you even pay attention to Jude in the end of the book of John, to save the life of the one who has committed such sin. is to restore, is to gain the brother. In the individual step, when witnesses are brought also, the purpose continues to be the gaining or the restoring of the brother or the sister who has sinned. And even when they are brought to the church, the purpose is the restoration or the gaining of the soul or the heart of the person who has sinned. if the heart of that person has been hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, if the heart of that person now is absent of faith, if the heart of that person now is absent from the light of the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, if the person now is close to the exhortation day to day of the brother or the sister, and if the person is not hearing the word of the Lord, the voice of the Lord, as in the day of the rebellion, Now that person is to be considered, because of the lack of the spiritual power of Christ working in that life, even through the context of the church, is considered to be now a threat to the church.

And the expectation is for the local church to remove that leaven, because a little leaven Leavened the whole lamp and the sin has been now dealt according to the process and with the purpose of restoration But let me just here very quickly give you the principles the principles of that particular Purpose the principle the first one my dear brother and sister is of course the principle of love There is a principle of love, in which I care so much for the soul of the person that has committed the sin, that I want to gain the life of that person. Even if you come to 1 Corinthians chapter 5, the apostle in the passage that we read, he makes some very interesting, very interesting words that are not spoken carelessly, but that speak of the heart that the congregation should have. If you return there very quickly, and I'm not going to take very long, so just please bear with me, in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, It says in verse one, it says, it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans. For a man has his father's wife and you are arrogant. Now here he's going to ask a, I don't know what the words in English, but this question, rhetorical question, he says, pay attention.

Ought you not rather to mourn? because the answer to that is yes, is that they are not supposed to be arrogant, brethren, but rather is that they are supposed to be broken. They are supposed to be broken, not in the sense, oh, look at that immoral person, look at that immoral person that is bringing just, you know, like a bad name to our church, that is bringing all of this dirt to us and our morals are being corrupted by the presence of these men, but rather, Are you not supposed to mourn? In other words, are you not supposed to be broken? And even as the apostle continues to develop the arguments of conflict in the church, if you bear with me in chapter 6, he says words very interesting in chapter 6, if you bear with me, please, brethren, as he continues with it, there's no chapters, remember, it says in chapter 6, when one of you has a grievance against one another, does he there go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?

Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? This is still speaking about dealing with unrighteousness in the context of the church. And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more than matters pertain to this life?

So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? That is, why are you going to get someone else to fix the problems of the church? I say to your shame, can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers? But brother goes to law against brother. And that before him, believers, to have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you.

And then he says, speaking of the heart that it should be in the context of the congregation, why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? And this is against our carnality, brethren. When you are offended, why rather not suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?

But you yourselves wrong and defraud even your own brothers. My dear brethren, here, of course, the Apostle has moved into a different context, into a different application of that principle. But the heart, when it comes to solving matters in particular of sin, the first principle is love. We are not going to be able to deal with sin and to solve sin if there's no love. Even we could say with words that we forgive one another, but if there is not the presence of love, then there is absolutely not going to be genuine forgiveness.

Because church discipline is to be done as a process, with a purpose of restoration, with a heart of love. And a love that is supposed to be rooted in truth. John says in 2 John, the elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth. That is that love towards the brothers and sisters cannot be rooted in anything else but truth. And truth is the second principle, if you come back to Matthew chapter 18.

Truth is the other principle that must regulate the process of church discipline. Truth. And truth is the certainty of what God has said. That is that in verse 15 when he says that a brother has sinned against you, that is that the person who is in offense truly and is completely convinced and certain that the brother has sinned against you. It is not that I have been offended because my preference has not been met.

It's not because that I have been offended because the words that I was expecting were not said. It's not because that I'm offended because something that my soul and my emotions desire was not filled, but rather that there was a transgression of the law, that there was a lawless act, that there was something that was not rooted in faith, that is clearly considered a sin that is not only against Him, right? Because a sin is ultimately against the law. So that means that if a brother is going to take the stone, like speaking from the Old Testament, and is going to bring the accusation to the person and say, you have sinned, then that means that person is in the truth. That person is fully convinced that what that brother and that sister has done against me is a sin.

And that takes that beyond the personal offense. Because now it is not about me being offended by what happened. It's about the brother has broken the law of the Lord. This brother or sister has sinned against the Lord. And now my concern goes beyond my temporal emotions being offended.

Now my concern rooted in love and in truth is for my brother. Do we want a brother to walk in darkness and to experience all the torments that is to walk in the darkness? Because to walk in darkness, to walk in unrepentant sin, my dear brethren, is tormentous, if that is a word. Torment, right? It's like very, very heavy upon the soul of a person.

According to Peter, that is going to remove the assurance of salvation. That is going to take a person into uncertainty and what they call even a spiritual depression. That person is going to be walking in darkness. So it is not about that I've been offended anymore. It is the principle of love.

Now that brother has sinned against me, but that I need the truth. And I have to be so established upon the truth that now, even if this brother does not listen to me, I have the face to come and make this public, right? Because that happened in the secret place initially, in the step number one, to bring two witnesses. Imagine, now I'm going to make something public to witnesses and I'm going to tell them about something that has taken place and these witnesses should be aware also in fullness that what this brother has done against me, they have witnessed it, that's what they are witnesses, that they are also established upon the truth. I will come and bring the evidence or information and then they will witness or if they have witnessed, they have to corroborate or confirmed That is true.

So they are also in agreement that what this brother or sister has done is a sin. They are in the truth, even to the point that if the brother or sister does not repent, now we take it to the church. is so clearly seen and observed, and corresponding to truth, that when it is brought to the eyes of the church, the church will clearly determine that what has taken place is a sin, and that sin now is in the context of the church, and it has to be dealt with. Truth. What is the purpose?

What is the process? The process that we have just in the visual witnesses and in the context of the church. What is the purpose of it? Always restoration from beginning to end. What are the principles that are supposed to guide this?

First one, love. And second, truth. If the church is not walking in the light, now let me just tell you this. If the local church is not walking in the light, The Church is unable to perform Church discipline with the right heart. Now, Church discipline could be conducted in the sense that a brother or sister is removed.

But my dear brother and my dear sister, taking these steps here are a so serious matter. Because what the Lord says in verses going through 18 through 20 is basically saying that what the church does on earth is in alignment and in agreement with the things and the will that is in heaven. This is basically what He's saying. In verse 18, truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be... this is in the context of that, right?

Truly I said to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I said to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three, speaking of the context of church discipline, where two or three are gathering my name, there am I among them. In other words, it is that which you decide, that which you come as a church and you decide, when it is done in the presence of the Lord, when two or three are gathered in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, there the Lord is, when that which you do on earth is done in the way that it's supposed to do, is that it has taken place in heaven. Alignment.

The authority of the church. It's not that we understand a certain set of doctrines. The authority of the church is in that the church has the heart of Christ. That is the doctrine of Christ. Truth.

and love, to the point that what the church does now is commended by the Spirit of Christ. That the church has learned to discern the will of the Lord, and that whatever we do, we are doing it in love and in truth, in alignment with the will of God in heaven. Because then the will of God in heaven is that a brother or sister who is in unrepentant sin, or perhaps he's not even a brother or sister, may be removed from the context of the local church. What? For the destruction of the body that is delivering unto Satan?

Not even with the purpose of the destruction, but even when the Apostle David did a statement just there, just to make that comment, 1 Corinthians 5, just to make sure that we're clear about that. 1 Corinthians chapter 5, when it says, the delivering unto Satan, 1 Corinthians 5, verse 5, "...you are to deliver these men to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord." So that's what Paul is saying, that even in the removing of the person from the context of the church, the purpose is restoration. Either that brother or sister, as perhaps we will have the opportunity to speak later months, if the Lord gives us life and extends our days, that might die, because that person is in an unrepentant sin or unrepentant unrighteousness, and then at times the Lord will deal with that with death, so that more sin will not be committed, or that by the afflictions of being outside of the context of the church, will bring that person to repentance, which is what the Apostle addresses in 2nd Corinthians.

You can read 2nd Corinthians in your time and it seems that the person that is excommunicated or removed from the context of the church in 1st Corinthians chapter 5, then is restored repentance unto life. Repentance unto life granted to a person that is removed from the context of the church. Why? Because sin has separated that person not only from God now, but that sin has separated that person from the fellowship of the saints. And the torment of that darkness is going to be used, we hope and pray, by the Lord.

Lord, restore our brother. Lord, restore that sister and bring them into the context of the church. And they will be brought into the context of the church. That is the power of the gospel, my dear brethren. That we are by virtue of what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished upon the church.

to deal with sin as He has called us to, not for the sake of being self-righteous and empowering our own morality, but rather when we hear His voice, obey what He says, not because we understand what He says, but rather because we are taken by His words and we want to do according to His will. Amen.