All right. Well, this afternoon, we're gonna take a slight detour and break from our study of Abraham for one week. Next Sunday, we'll be looking at the birth of Isaac, which is a very significant portion in Abraham's life, and I wanna make sure I give it due diligence. I found the preparation for the message this morning somewhat exhausting of time, and I didn't have sufficient resources left to me to take care of this new passage in Abraham's life. So next week, we'll look at the birth of Isaac. What I want to look at today is something that I think we need to deal with as a church on an almost annual or semi-annual basis. So you're probably going to hear this sermon again in the future. And I'll try to make sure that it gets extra parsley on the plate when I serve it. But right now, some of you haven't even heard this, because I think originally we did this as an afternoon series. This will be from Matthew chapter 18. So you can go ahead and turn to Matthew chapter 18. We'll begin our reading at verse 12. We're going to be dealing with the topic of sins among brethren and how we're required to deal with our sins as a church, as disciples of Jesus Christ dealing with each other. Now this applies in the context of the community of the church, one person in the church being offended at another or sin involved in the church more publicly. It also works in our lives individually, husbands with wives, wives with husbands, parents with children and vice versa. So this is very applicable no matter where you find yourself in life. Now before we begin with our scripture reading, I also want to point out that in joining our church, in our church constitution, one of the things that members agree with before they join the church is found on page 13 of our constitution. It's item number six. Members must refrain from unfair criticism of one another. And if a dispute arises, then settle this according to the principles given by our Lord in Matthew chapter 18 verses 15 through 17. We're gonna be looking at those principles today. Kind of important to know how that works if we're to be obedient to what we've agreed to do as members. So let me begin by reading Matthew chapter 18 verse 12. We'll read all the way through 35. I don't think I need these. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine in the mountains and go and search for the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than the ninety-nine that never went astray. And so it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you've gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 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. Then Peter came up and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as seven times? And Jesus said, I do not say to you seven times. but 77 times. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees imploring him, have patience with me, I will pay you everything. And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. And seizing him, he began to choke him saying, pay what you owe. So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, have patience with me and I will pay you. He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed. And they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, you wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you? And in anger, his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all his debt. So also my Heavenly Father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart. Now, in past Sundays, when we looked at this passage and we examined the topic of the Church dealing with her sin, sin in the body, one member sinning against another or against the whole Church, examining the passage that I just read, we looked at that time at four principles that motivate and regulate the Church in this holy endeavor of resolving our sin properly. Now to begin, I want to restate four principles. We'll not be spending much time in these principles, but they're necessary for a preface of information as we proceed. What are the four principles that we consider as we consider dealing with sins with one another? Number one, the first principle is that the holiness of God must be maintained by the Church. The Church as a community deals with sin so that the sanctity of her God is publicly preserved, for the sanctity of her worship of her God is publicly preserved. Second principle, the definition of sin belongs to God, not the church. The church submits to the authority of scripture when identifying sin. I don't get to tell you what sin is based on my own thinking. It's the word of God. It's not the law of the church or the church's subjective sense of ethics that are considered when a transgression is going to be assessed. It's the objective law of God, which is the measure of our obedience or disobedience. Third, mercy is an indispensable principle that drives and directs the church when dealing with sin in her body. When dealing with sin, the church maintains a watchful, hopeful expectation that she would have opportunity to extend mercy and forgiveness to the offender. That's part of our goal. Fourth, sin in the body of the church must be dealt with in the context of repentance. Repentance must be present. The offending sinner must repent, and the church must work toward the goal of cultivating that repentance in the sinner. All right? Now, much more could be said on what motivates and directs the Church to deal with sin in her body. But for the sake of necessary brevity, I think restating these four principles will have to suffice for today. And my purpose this afternoon is actually to move on to the scriptural process by which the Church employs these principles, by which we move forward utilizing these principles to deal with sin in our own body. Now, let's talk about the method. Let me provide you with a roadmap of how I intend to proceed to look at this portion of Matthew 18 in terms of procedure. Now, Matthew 18 is our source text for the process of dealing with sin in the Church. The entire chapter deals with sin, offense, and temptation. But in verses 15 through 17 of Matthew 18, we find a specific process of dealing with the sins of brethren, and it's presented to us really in a practical how-to kind of style. Now at first I thought I would simply look at these verses at the center of the chapter, and originally when I looked at this passage, my mind changed. I think it's vital that we first consider the larger context of the chapter, and in particular, the parables preceding and following these how-to verses in 15 and 17. We need to do that in order to better capture the larger purpose and scope of the process dealing with the sin of our brethren. Now it would be simply, very simple, lazy even perhaps, to just drop in to this fairly clear technical work of dealing with offense. That's a mistake because these two bookend parables, indeed this whole chapter, they're meant to shape our thinking and our hearts as we attempt to apply this methodology of dealing with the sin of the brother or sister in Christ. In other words, Matthew 18 is not just this how-to. We shouldn't approach it that way. This whole chapter is a study in the way sinful relationships occur in the church and what to do about it. Now having made that assertion, I want to ask your patience as we take just a little time for us to consider three things before we proceed to this how-to technique in verses 15 through 17. Now, next week we'll probably tackle the how-to part of 15 through 17. Now, consider these three things about Matthew 18 to prepare us for the process of dealing with the sin of our brethren. First, consider the larger context as a moment of corrective teaching for the disciples. We've got to do that. Second, we're going to look at the example of the shepherd of the lost sheep parable as a positive redemptive model. And third, we're going to look at the example of the unforgiving servant as a negative punitive model. So we've got both a positive and negative lesson for us proceeding to our methodology. Now, consider with me first the larger context of Matthew 18. It appears to be a correction of the disciples. I think we need to interpret Matthew 18 as a correction of the disciples. And by extension, a correction of us as well. This incident of Jesus' instruction is a response to two arguments that are presented to him by the disciples. Number one, the first argument is this. Verse one, at that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, right? The harmonizing passage in Mark nine makes it clear that the disciples were not wondering in general who had the greatest rank in heaven, i.e. Moses, Elijah, David, et cetera, but rather Mark makes it very clear that they were arguing who among the 12 was the greatest. Remember, Peter, James, and John had just recently gone separately away with Jesus to witness his transfiguration. We studied that when we went through Mark's gospel. Those three had this special mission with Jesus, and perhaps this had proven to be the red meat for the argument of precedence. Who's the most important? However it originated, the argument was known to Jesus, and he begins to address it with instruction and humility. The result of the argument was this fractious breakup of the unity of the fellowship, and Jesus is not going to have any part of it. He's not going to have it in the fellowship. He picks up a child, and in verse 4 he tells them, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. The separation of the disciples into separate ranks and classes is halted with a command to humble themselves. The verses that immediately follow this command warn the disciples to stop creating incidents of sin and temptations to sin and offenses among the brethren. The broken fellowship is noted. It's identified as having been fomented by conceit and offensive behavior, possibly also baiting one another. And it's corrected emphatically with a clear command to cease. The fact that Jesus warns against despising one of these little ones, which we just read from the text, that, we are to understand, refers to believers. It suggests that the divisiveness had grown to the point that some of the disciples were even quite willing to get rid of or dismiss, set aside, marginalize some of their weaker brethren, whatever they considered to be weaker. It seems quite all right, in other words, from their perspective, to leave behind those who simply couldn't keep up with their spiritual superiority. Hence, our Lord's procedure to tell the story of the lost sheep, which we'll talk about in a moment. I want you to notice one other thing before we proceed to that parable. Note that conceit and offensive behavior shows up again in the chapter. Just a few verses later, another argument, possibly having grown out of the previous argument, another argument is presented to our Lord by Peter. Peter asks in verse 21, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? as many as seven times. Peter seems to have missed the point of the command of our Lord to be humble, to lower himself. He seems to have forgotten the living example of a child that Jesus has put right in front of him earlier. Once again, there seems to be a fracture in the unity of the disciples, and at the heart of that fracture is conceit and Peter's offensive behavior. Now in this case, the most offensive behavior was not the sin that Peter experienced, the sin that Peter was talking about, but the sin that he was engaging in. That is, in a grudging reluctance to forgive the offense he had received from a brother. There was the sin. There was the fracture. There was the disunity. Once again, our Lord corrects the division in the company by pointing out Peter's sin, and he does that with the parable of the unforgiving servant. Now before we look at these two parables, the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the unforgiving servant, I want to take a moment to distill some truth from the larger context of these messy, conceited, divisive arguments. What do they teach us? We'll first note that it appears that the real practical outgrowth of sin between brethren in the Church is that it brings division. This is going to be at the heart of sin in our midst. You won't have sin without some kind of broken unity, some kind of division. The disciples break themselves, in this case, up into rank and class. They seem to even have identified some among them who were simply too sinful or too often sinful, so spiritually unimpactful, so repetitively weakened as transgressors that they need to be set aside. These little ones could essentially be despised. And the disciples, some of them, were justifying that. Peter seems to have been asking if he had finally found one that could rightly be despised. Do I really have to keep forgiving this guy over here? Can I just dismiss him as unworthy of my presence and fellowship? He's asking the question, how often do I have to keep restoring him? Since we're dealing with fellowship and restoration in the body of Christ, how often do we have to keep restoring sinning brethren? Well, the practical implication is clear. It comes with a helpful application. Now, we haven't yet talked about how to proceed properly in dealing with sin, but now we have a goal in dealing with sin. Sin and conceit break up the unity and the fellowship of the church among believers. So one of our primary goals in dealing with sin is to restore the lost fellowship and bridge the divide. It's not vindication that is to be our goal, not our primary goal. That was Peter's problem. He wanted vindication. Our goal is to work through the incident of the sin to affect restoration of what should be a holy relationship. That means the conceit has to completely go. The sense of my worthiness to be vindicated has to be sacrificed for the sake of unity. Now that brings me to the second lesson that we can distill from the larger context of the squabbles that are revealed here in Matthew 18. Another real practical outgrowth of sin among the brethren in the church is that it comes through conceit, it comes with conceit, and it maintains conceit. Pride, stiff-necked resistance, elevation of self. I've had some opportunity very recently to talk with brethren, some in our church, some outside our church. It's been kind of a broad splattering out there of experience with offenses happening in Christian families, in Christian churches. And I can tell you, conceit is absolutely on the table. It is the glaring sin in the more recent things that I've had to deal with. No wonder we read the admonition of Paul in Galatians 6, 1, brethren, if anyone is caught up in any transgression, pretty expansive, if anyone is caught up in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. A spirit of gentleness. Now, have you ever noticed, I'm sure you have, how often pride comes with haughtiness and haughtiness brings along with it harshness. Sin in action is the messenger of sin in the heart. Now, don't we already know this? I know you do, brethren. Haven't we observed that sin in the church often grows in an environment where there is too little humility? Satan's no fool. Satan knows where to fish. He loves to fish in the pond of a full, proud heart. And beware of a dry pond that seems lifeless, but is not. We can make the mistake of thinking, what do I mean by that? I mean that we can make the mistake of thinking that our heart is free of pride and fully prepared to properly deal with sin, only to find out that pride goes before a fall. I'm not that good at dealing with sin, particularly when it's against me. For example, there are species of fish that live well below the surface of a seasonal pond. And when the pond is full, this species of fish behaves much like a normal fish, swimming comfortably in the water. When the pond begins to dry in the summer months, the fish drops to the bottom of the pond and it goes into a state of suspended animation, burrowing down into the mud. There are even some fish that have been found in very arid conditions. Once the water is gone, they are actually walking across sand dunes. fin by fin. They're still alive, yet invisible. They're unmoving. They burrow down under the surface. You can walk across the surface of that cracked, dry lake bed where they live. You'll never know that they're there. But if you dig deep enough or if you wait for the rains to return and saturate and loosen the dried clay, up come the fish. Now in this second observation distilled from the context of these squabbles, we learn this point of application. Here's the point of my story. When we deal with sin in the church publicly, or when we deal with it privately with our brethren, if restoration is going to be cultivated, If you want restoration in this broken relationship, pride absolutely is going to have to be killed. And you're going to have to do it fast. Because usually what happens when we're offended? Pride is there. It brings anger with it. Anger brings harshness. It's got to be killed. Be watchful then. Forewarned is forearmed in this case. When you're presented also with your sin, when someone comes to you and says, brother, sister, This has happened. This is your sin. I'm offended because this has happened. Or I'm concerned about your life and your spiritual safety because this happened. When your offense is delivered to you all wrapped up in a neat package and tied with string, beware the tendency of the fallen heart to respond with defiant pride. That's what we do. I can tell you from my experience, that is my natural tendency. And when you must be the one to deliver the package, if you're the person that has to tell the offending brother or sister, this is your sin, and it's a known sin, and it's a hurtful sin, beware of the tendency of the fallen heart to seek only selfish vindication and to neglect the duty of restoration of fellowship. That's to be your goal. Beware of the fish that lie dormant in the mud at the bottom of the pond. They're there. All right then, the two bookend parables. We've looked at lessons that we learned from the larger context of the squabbles of Matthew 18, and I think that helps us to prepare to properly deal with sin in the church. But it's also helpful for us to look at the two parables that serve as these bookends to the procedure when dealing with sin. Now we'll do that briefly now in order to derive more preparation for ourselves before we do the how-to verses. Let's look at the parable of the lost sheep. Now, you may recall that I described the first parable as a positive redemptive model. In verses 11 through 14, we find that model. Note that our Savior speaks first of himself as the Son of Man coming to save that which is lost. By stating this first, he identifies himself with the shepherd in the parable who is seeking the lost sheep. Now from the immediate larger context of sin and offense, we understand that the lostness of this sheep that Jesus is seeking, it's a lostness that is directly related to sin. That is what it means for the sheep to be lost. It is engaged in sin. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. The sheep has wandered. The sheep has strayed into sin. Note that it has broken ranks with the other 99. Note that. And so we see from that, that this sin has brought division, just as we noted earlier, that sin does this. Perhaps none of this is particularly remarkable. As I'm saying, it makes sense. What should be remarkable to us is that the parable is presented as an example of behavior. It's as if our Lord is saying to his disciples, do I really have to prove to you that you must not despise one of your sinful brethren? This is you. I'm dealing with your behavior. Do you not see my example and my behavior and what it ought to be? I, the Good Shepherd, go after the lost sheep. I seek the lost sheep to restore it to the fold. Can you not follow my example, I who redeem the sheep? Can you disciples not also attempt to redeem and to restore that lost fellowship, that fellowship lost because of sin? I rescue the sheep. Yeah, the sheep is wandering. Yes, it's foolishly strayed. But do I despise the lost sheep? Do I say, how many times do I have to go after this person? They wear me out. Do I leave it to wander deeper into sin? Does Christ despise the little one? His question is really pointed. How do you dare to despise this foolish, sinful, lost sheep? When I do not, when I didn't despise you, when I brought you into the fold of the 99, I go after it. I pursue it. I make its restoration more important than even the well-being of the other 99 at that moment. That's my example to you, Christ is saying. I can't help but to think that these disciples must have been embarrassed and a bit chagrined at this point. Now, the position of this parable directly before the procedure of verses 15 through 17, the position of this parable is absolutely purposeful. By relating the parable ahead of the how-to verses, Jesus makes our purpose for the how-to very, very clear. When we come together to deal with our sin or the sin of our brethren, our primary goal together is to bring them back out of the sin, bring the sinner back out of the sin into faithful obedience to Christ, into fellowship with the rest of the saints. It's to bring them home. It's not to chasten them. That's not our primary goal. It's not to vindicate ourselves. That's not our primary goal. It's not even to purge the church of sin as our primary goal. These goals do have a purpose. They do have a place in dealing with the unrepented sin of our brethren. But their subordinate goals, operating in purpose to fulfill a primary goal, the restoration of the sinning brother or sister to repentance, to faithfully living in harmony with God's revealed will and consequently with the Church. That's the goal. We don't despise them. We don't dismiss them. We don't disdain them. We deliver them as the Spirit of God helps us. We deliver them. We help them escape. Now, Christ has ultimately delivered them from the power and the penalty of sin. They are believers in Christ. It's our desire to be a tool in the hand of God for delivering them from a temporary moment of the resurgence of the tyranny of sin. That's our goal. Like our Lord, we are to seek the lost sheep. Alright, that's the first parable. Now, set behind those other verses, 15 through 17, which have our methodology for practicing the restoration of the sinning member, we have a second parable right behind it. This is the other bookend, The Unforgiving Servant. Note that immediately following the how-to verses, we find the parable of the unforgiving servant. Now, this parable follows not only the teaching of our Lord laying out how we're exactly to proceed to restore a broken relationship, but it also follows Peter's question about required frequency. How often do I have to work out restoration and forgiveness with a sinner? When we see Peter's question following our Lord's directions on procedure, we can only interpret the question as an implied challenge to Jesus' teaching. That's what Peter's really saying. Yeah, wait a minute, Lord. I get what you're saying about restoring sheep, but what if this sheep is a chronic wanderer? Now what do I do? I got to deal with a chronic wanderer? Jesus has said, if he hears you, you've gained your brother. This is a happy outcome, one would think. Peter's not happy with it. It seems that, to Peter, that he's a bit frustrated with Jesus, and Peter wants to know, why must I continue to pursue this happy outcome of restoration with these estranged brethren that seem to frequently find offenses and work at being at odds with me? Have you ever known anybody like that? Seem to constantly engage in being at odds with you. You just can't agree with them, no matter how you try, or rather you try, but they just can't seem to agree with you. Contrary people? Am I not allowed at some point to just finally reject them when they come to me for forgiveness? The parable's answer is no. The parable presents a negative punitive model as an illustration to correct Peter. Peter, don't be like this. And that's the parable of verses 23 through 35. This is the parable of the unforgiving servant. I'll not reread it. In this parable, the unforgiving servant, we see two servants forgiven of a debt. Now from the greater context of Matthew 18, we are meant to see this debt as sin. This is offense, moral offense. The servant with the greater sin is forgiven. Peter's meant to see himself in the context of that servant, the one who was forgiven most. Peter, that's you. That's what Peter sees. Peter's meant to see himself as that servant. The servant is forgiven of an extravagant debt, the debt of a lifetime by his master. Peter's meant to see that through the work of redemption, the cumulative debt of all of his sin, past, present, future, plus the imputed debt of the sin of Adam, original sin, has been forgiven, wiped away. But when Peter considers the lesser sin of this fellow servant against himself, he's reluctant to continue to forgive. Now, don't miss the irony of our Savior's story here. It's as if Jesus has said, all right, Peter, if you're so concerned with quantity, if the amount of something is so important to you, let's consider two things in terms of amount. You argue that there should be a limit to the number of times that you forgive this person. Well, what about the quantity of sins against God that an individual accumulates in a lifetime and will continue to accumulate as long as you continue to live? And let's add to that the imputed sin of Adam that you collected from him. Peter, are you sure you wanna start counting things? Our Lord was wise, wasn't he? He was wise like a serpent and he was gentle as a dove. Do you think that the fewer sins of your fellow servant against you is worth putting in the scales and balancing against your lifetime of sins against God? Wow. There's a question, isn't it? That is a question. How do you think that's going to balance out, Peter? Do you really think the scales will tip in your favor? Now, if that's how we're going to measure things out, you can fully expect God to judge you without mercy, just like the servant is judged in the parable. After the parable, you'll please note in the passage that Peter seems to have nothing further to say on this matter, nor should we. Let's try to apply this thought. The parable presents to us a nuance to what we've already argued. We've already argued that our goal and responsibility when dealing with sinning brethren is to move toward restoration of relationship and to do that with humility. This parable of the unforgiving servant shows us how that goal can truly and sincerely become our goal, our real heartfelt intent and desire, even when we're greatly offended. Isn't that what we need help with? I can tell you, in my life, when I'm greatly offended by something, it's not natural for me to have that goal. Boy, I can't wait till we get along again. And we're buddies. I can't wait till that happens. I'm just hanging on for the moment when that is all wrapped up and nice and neat again. That's not it, is it? That's not at all. We want to go to our separate corners and come out fighting. That's what happens. You see, the parable of the unforgiving servant shows us how the goal of restoration with humility can really be our goal and not just a put-on. It's possible for us, it is possible, for us to hypocritically acknowledge the goal of forgiveness and restoration without adopting it really in spirit and in truth. I can talk the talk, but where's my heart on the matter? How do I really and truly desire a restored relationship with someone who seriously offended me? There are sins that Christians have forgiven that seems to us to be unforgivable. When we see Jesus himself pleading from the cross, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. We don't doubt that he was sincere, do we? How do we do that? We do that with the help of the Holy Spirit and with a clear, sharp, accurate perspective that this parable helps us achieve. This parable gives us the perspective we need. We keep immediately before our eyes the vision of our own sinfulness and the restoration of relationship that we've received from God through Jesus Christ. I received that from Christ. He forgave me that way. That's the kind of restoration I received. We see the great offense of our lifetime of sin in thought. Just in thought, brethren, set aside what we say and do. Just in thought. The great offense forgiven by the Father. We see the just condemnation of our sin pass over us because of the blood of the Lamb. We feel the cold brush of death and the heat of hell as it passes over and we remember but for the grace of God. and we forgive. We forgive. We who have been forgiven much should love much and forgive much. Now, here's a summary thought on both parables. Note that both parables teach the desired outcome of reconciliation. As brethren, Jesus intends for us to be in agreement and live in harmony. That is required. There's a valuable fraternity in view here that Jesus holds valuable. Jesus does not dismiss the reality that we are fallen, we are sinful, we're clearly offensive, but he also does not accept that reality as a lost cause worthy of no correction. In both parables, the principle of merciful restoration of relationship is clearly taught. The lost sheep returns to the 99. The unforgiving servant should have forgiven the debt, the offense, of his fellow servant and restored their relationship. That was the expectation. That was what was right. That was the ideal outcome. Instead, he brings himself judgment and misery by his harshness, his unwillingness to reconcile. Moreover, he's excluded from the fraternity of servants who have only advocated for their fellow servant, only that fellow servant whom the unforgiving servant had injured. And he ends up alone and with no advocate. Here's the application for us in the form of a goal and a warning. Remember the letters that we studied at the book of Revelation. Remember those letters? We said that if the church does not deal with her sin, Jesus warns us that he will. Didn't we come to that conclusion? Do you recall? We call this the principle of final resolution. I called it the principle of final resolution. Or if you want just one word, accountability. It's a principle of accountability. Christ holds his people accountable. In Matthew 18, we find an extension of this principle to the sin of refusing to forgive and restore broken relationships. It's not enough that the church deal with sin in the body. She also has to deal with the fallen, sinful, selfish tendency within, that tendency to be reluctant to restore fellowship with those brethren who have sinned against us. That has to be resolved as well. Jesus has made it clear how vital, how significant that forgiveness with restoration is. It's so significant in Jesus' teaching. It's so significant from His perspective, that refusal cost the unforgiving servant his salvation. Now I don't want to read into this parable what it does not say. This is not a parable about losing one's salvation. That's not the point our Lord is making. It's a parable about forgiveness. It's a parable about not recognizing the redemption accomplished for us. That's what the problem was with the unforgiving servant. He did not recognize redemption. So we know why he's ultimately lost. Brethren, do not be reluctant to forgive and restore fellowship with your brethren. Packing up the toys and leaving is not an option. I don't know how we come away from this passage, Matthew 18, and say, well, I clearly have a way out. You don't. When there's a broken fellowship and there's sin on the table, the sin has to be resolved. And once the sin is resolved, what are we supposed to be left with? Restored fellowship. We don't get to just pack up in a fence and leave. Now I get the reality of life. Sometimes the sin never comes off the table. Sometimes forgiveness cannot be offered because sin is never repented of. I get that. That's a real problem. But that's the problem. That's not what Christ is presenting to us. He's presenting to us the solution. This is what we're to do as his people. It's like what we said this morning. That's out there. In here we have no such practice. Heed the lessons of the parables. We need to be as that little child that Christ placed before his disciples. I remember once trying to communicate, I've told this story obviously before, I remember trying to communicate the principle of a story from Luke 7 to Jacob and Norah when they were little. In Luke 7, you'll recall, the sinful woman who has been forgiven bathes Jesus' feet, She anoints them and she wipes them with his hair. It's right before his death. It's to be observed as a preparation for our Christ's death. The witnesses of this event though, do you recall their reaction? They were affronted. But Jesus said, when he recognizes the affront, he says this, Therefore I tell you, her sins which are many are forgiven, for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little loves little. She loved much because she recognized how much she herself had been forgiven by God, by the Lord. I tried to think of a way a seven-year-old and a five-year-old could understand this, Jacob and Nora. So I said this. They're sitting there. You've got to picture this. Jacob's seven. They're sitting there and I'm telling them this. If Nora asks Daddy for a spoonful of berries, they were very into blackberries at this time, And I said, yes, you can have a spoonful of berries, but you have to pick a spoonful to repay me by the end of the day. And then Jacob asked for a bowl full of berries, a whole bowl. And again, I say, yes, but you have to pick me a bowl full to repay me by the end of the day. And then I explained in this example, this story, that Jacob and Nora ate their berries, and at the end of the day, neither one of you remembered to repay me. You played and you did not pick the berries that you owed me. Of course, their eyes are like this right now. Now when I found out, I'm going to say, this is what I would say to you, I forgive you so that you don't have to pay me back and pick all those berries to repay me. I then asked Jacob and Nora, which of you will love Dada more? There was this long silence accompanied by blank stares. And then suddenly Charlotte's voice rang out in the next room, I do! You see, children seem to forget past wrongs fairly quickly, don't they? Little children seem to be ready to get back to playing with one another when the tears have passed. And the tears seem to pass pretty quickly when you raise your children in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. Little children often don't hold onto grudges. Try to explain to a little child what a grudge even is. They have trouble contemplating it and understanding it. Normally, I think you'll find that their little minds are full of more important things for them to do than to nurse wounded pride. Brethren, I guess what I'm trying to say is that we have kingdom work to do. There are more important things to do than nurse our wounded pride and hold bitter grudges against one another. How can we work to reconcile the world to God if we're reluctant to reconcile with one another? We must forgive. We are commanded to reconcile. And that assumes repentance, brethren. Repentance is never, sin is never left on the table by God's people apart from repentance. It ought not be. And we have to work to restore fellowship. Now we've been through some bitter experiences, I recall, with some of our brethren. We all will experience that from time to time. Every marriage I'm aware of experiences that. There's a debt to us that has accumulated in some of those events, and sometimes we suffer loss because of the debt. Now, I don't deny it, but let me be frank. We're to put that debt away, especially in our marriage relationships. We're to put that debt away and become as a little child. We have kingdom work to do. We have been forgiven much. We ought to love much. Now, as your pastor, I'm not obligated to you only by bonds of duty, but by bonds of love. I'm obligated to urge you to let go. As we live together as this church, and we offend one another, we're going to do it. Sin is always here. We're going to do it from time to time, but I'm to urge you that you let go of bitterness. Let go of the tendency to nurse the hurt of old wounds. Don't do that. Don't be Uncle Rico. What do I mean by that? Don't be Uncle Rico. Don't be Uncle Rico. Do you remember Uncle Rico and Napoleon Dynamite? always living in the past when he could throw that football over those mountains. Do what you are commanded to do by our Lord here in Matthew 18 so that he's not required to correct you. Do whatever is right and pleasing to God in accordance with his revealed will and his word to be at peace with your brethren. Do all that you can, do all that you must, to strengthen the fellowship that we have in Jesus Christ. And if a sin of bitterness lies at the door because someone has offended you, someone has dismissed you, someone has injured you in some way, if a sin of bitterness grows up out of that offense and injury, recognize that its desire is to master you. but you ought to rule over it. This is what God told Cain. Cain did not, and we know what happened. If you find that bitterness and that refusal inside you, that refusal to let go of sinful offenses, if you find that it characterizes part of your life or characterizes your relationship with anyone in this church at any time, confess that sin to your Savior, repent, and go and sin no more. Now, I intend to, next week, work through the process of 15 through 17. For now, I want you to be resolved by the grace of God to live a life characterized by this scriptural admonition, O no man anything. In other words, anything. That is forgiveness, repentance, reconciliation, fellowship. Oh no, man, anything. What does Scripture say after that? Accept that you love one another. Amen? All right. Let's close.