We began setting this portion of the chapter last week. It's the second part. We'll be reading 15 through 20 today. And before we do, let's seek God in prayer. Our Father, we give you thanks for your word. As we deal with this weighty topic, your word teaches. Give us receptive, humble hearts to accept what your word teaches regarding this matter. Our hearts can resist these truths, O Lord, but you have given it for the edification of your church, for her purity and benefit. So help us, Lord. We wrestle with this truth in the midst of a world that despises you, that could see no benefit in anything your word teaches. So grant us grace, grant us light, help us we pray, in Jesus' name, amen, amen. Chapter 18, verses 15 through 20, this is God's holy word. If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 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. And again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything that 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. Thus ends the reading of God's word. May the Lord bless it for his glory and our spiritual benefit. The purpose of this passage we just read is to gain back our brother. We learned about that last week from verse 15. Sinning in a relationship in the church has ruptured this relationship between two brothers. And if the offender does not repent, and we talk about unrepentance, it would rupture his relationship not only with the brother but with the church and ultimately with Christ. That's how serious sin is and that's why we've been dealing with this chapter. We dealt with the stumbling block or the temptations that a person undergoes and how Christ talks about that in the beginning of the chapter, the sin of stumbling, the sin of leading others into sin by temptations. And Jesus talks about how important it is that we do not become a stumbling block. And then we also dealt with how another sin is how believers can go astray. And one of the marvelous things about that passage is how the Lord himself is the great shepherd who reaches out and seeks the lost sheep or the one who is going astray. There's a heart's desire on our Lord's part to bring them back. And there's another dimension of sin that we're dealing with today. What happens within the body of Christ when believers sin against each other? Is that the end? Do we just have a transaction and that's it? No, Jesus gives us instruction in this passage. Very clear instruction on how we ought to deal with that. We talked about the reality of sin in the church last week and how it is something we must be aware of and I don't think anybody needs to be convinced of that. But the point is that there is a specific way in which Jesus wants us to deal with this. Because he loves these sinners he has redeemed. But he is also a holy Lord. He wants purity in the church. And all those factors come together. The devastating conclusion in this passage is that the person would be ultimately excommunicated, kicked out of the church, treated as a Gentile, or a tax collector. Now, this was in a Jewish context, and that's the way it was viewed at that time, but it further develops in Corinthians and other New Testament passages in which it is to be, the person is to be cast out. He is to be considered an unbeliever. That's the idea here. That's the last resort, but that says something. And why does it turn out to be that? Why is it that two people in the church, they just disagree. They get in an argument, whoopee, that happens all the time. Why don't you just kind of overlook it or forget about it? But you see, sin cannot be tolerated and encouraged or massaged or overlooked. That's the idea. By no means are we perfect. By no means is it perfect in any church. But if there's unrepentant sin, it creates problems. And Jesus is saying this has to be dealt with this way. You know, if somebody comes to your family and you have children, And someone hits your children and your wife. What do you do? Well, it's not me they hit. They just hit my wife and my children. I'm glad he didn't hit me. But we would never say that, no, you touched my family, you've touched me. And that's how we would react. That's the natural response of a family. A wife would do it, a father would do it. That's the idea. To have sin in the church, it affects everybody. It's not just one person, or even two people. It affects the entire church, and most importantly, it affects the Lord. It's His church. And that's something to keep in mind. So we dealt with four themes. Last week it was a church is not perfect. And we talked about that. The issue is over real sins. It's not about simple, silly things. It's about real sins as defined by scripture. And the first step involves personal private confrontation. We talked about that from verse 15. And the last thing we dealt with last week is that the goal is to gain your brother in verse 15 as well as actually to reclaim him. Now, what is the second step? And that's what we want to deal with today. The second step requires taking two or three witnesses. We read about that in verse 16. But if he does not listen, remember the four times we talked about listening. Listening means heeding the warning, the challenge to repent. That's the idea here. 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. The phrase two or three are very important. We'll deal with that at the end of this passage. What's Jesus saying? Well, he's citing Deuteronomy 19.15, an illusion or a portion of that. A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that is committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. What's going on here? Well, do they have to, how do we interpret the two or three? Well, the idea is, if there is an offense, remember, it's already a real sin. The person has committed it against me. If that's the case, the person would not repent, would not deal with it. I bring someone, maybe they are party, they witnessed the thing. But most likely, like most of the commentators, almost the ones I've read, they all point this out. It's actually that they would come and they would recognize, okay, is this really true what happened? They serve as a witness as they come into this. Did you really say this to him or did you really do that to her? And if the person says yes and that's none of your business. Well, guess what? Now you have someone else. The only reason is because a person would not listen, would not repent. Now you have a confirmation. Who is that other person? Often a person would take an elder, but you can take another brother or sister. But one of the problems with that is you can actually pick someone that kind of favors you. You know, you take your spouse. Well, that's not, you know, it's gonna be, there's gonna be prejudice there. But if you take an elder who's not involved, you hope some objectivity would come in. And I like what Matthew Henry says. He put it like this. You take someone with you, not only to be a witness of what passes, but to reason the case further with him. He will be the more likely to hearken to them because they are disinterested. Now, it's old English simply saying the person will listen perhaps to that other person because they're not really party to this. They're indifferent, they haven't been involved, and maybe they'll hear their reasoning. That's the idea. The goal is always the same to gain the brother. That's the goal. The goal is not to go, aha, see, I told you he's a jerk. Oh yeah, he is a jerk. That's not the point. There's a tender affection for him that he would repent and own his sin. And the elder would come along, or another person would come, or two, trying to persuade the person to come to terms with the sin. If the offender has not listened, has not heeded the call to repent and confess his sins, then we would go to the next step. But the point is that they would confess and it could end there. That's the idea. The witness can help. There was a situation, I was asked to come to be a witness in an ecclesiastical matter. I had nothing to do with the matter. They wanted someone on the outside that had nothing to do with the matter. And I got involved and I witnessed this interaction. Now, whether it was a issue that should have existed, that's beside the point, but they wanted someone on the outside with an objective overview so I could step in and say something. And that was a good move, because they're following what Scripture says. And so if there is an offense, remember, it has to be an offense that is defined by Scripture. You may not like the carpet color here, but that's not sin. You may not like this or that. Those things may not be sin. But sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God. That's what catechism teaches. And it simply means it breaks God's word. If it's that sin, that person has to repent. That's what it is. The goal is the same. Now why is it so important? The goal is to regain your brother. That is the goal. That is the intention. That's what you want. Why is it so important? Because every interaction like this, every interaction like this, every incident like this, begins to reveal something about the person. Is he or she a true believer? You know, As you get older, you start seeing spots in your body. Sometimes a doctor will look at it and says, you know, we need to look at that. It's a symptom. A lump in the breast. Well, we need to check that out and it's a symptom. It could be malignant or it could be benign. but they have to check it out. So when there's interaction in which a brother and sister may disagree or two brothers or two sisters may disagree and there's a sin there, that's an opportunity where that symptom begins to reveal the true nature of the individual. That's why it's so serious. It's not just working something out with HR. It is something that reveals the very nature of a person's heart. Let me give you the verse I mentioned last week. And Paul, we realize in the Corinthian church, there was a lot of factions. He says, for there must be factions among you in 1119. There must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. These factions begin to reveal who truly are of the Lord. That's how serious this is. This is not just, well, you know, Jane Doe won't get along with John Doe. That's not it. Would the brother humble himself and say, Lord, I have sinned. Brother, I have sinned. Forgive me. You have regained your brother. That little spot, that little lump is not malignant, it's benign because there's repentance. But the moment the person says, you stay away, I don't want to hear this again. Ah, that spot may be malignant. That person is now defying the Lord's command to repent. That's how serious this is. The second step begins to reveal that more and more. Remember, we're not talking about differences of opinion. It's a true sin against a brother. A sin that the word of God declares to be sin, and not a difference of opinion, or sometimes difference of application, or difference of emphasis, or difference of politics. None of those things. But it does reveal, doesn't it? The symptom reveals the true character of the individual. So that's the second step, to take someone with you. The third step is related to the fourth step, because they're kind of combined here, is it involves telling it to the church in verses 17 and 19. If he refuses to listen to them, the two or three that's with the individual, tell it to the church. 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 should bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." What's going on here? Tell it to the church. Often, rightly, we see this in the Old Testament when there were judicial cases that went to the elders of the town or elders of that community. They represented the people there. And that's where the matters are brought up. So historically, the church is represented by the elders, it would come before the elders. But that's the idea here. And so what's going on in here? So it says, you're to view them as a Gentile tax collector, consider them outside of the domain of the people of God at the visible church. And then it says in verse 18, whatever you bind in her should be bound in heaven. What's going on there? Well, it echoes back to chapter 16, verse 19. If you remember, this is where Peter makes that confession, upon this rock I will build my church. And there, Jesus says that he has the keys of the kingdom. Let's go to 16, 19, just real quick, a couple pages behind. Now we'll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. The same verb for binding is used in this verse. The keys of the kingdom is the phrase that people use. That's what Jesus is talking about in verse 18. Namely, what does the key do? It allows you to come in and closes off another person. And when the church exercises her responsibility, she excises someone who will not repent or admits other people who do repent. That's the idea. That's what's going on in here. There's a process involved. That's the third step, telling it to the church. This is neglected very often, but this is what the Bible requires. There's a process where elders involved, charges, it can take a long time. And without getting into details, there was a issue that arose in another church of which Terry and I are part of, we become the commission. There was an appeal to a matter that happened. Because it was a process they went through. That there might be true justice administered and righteousness administered. We were getting involved in this. That's exactly what's going on in here. Again, the goal is still the same. If he won't listen to two or three, perhaps he'll listen to the church. He'll listen to the elders as they plead with him. The point is not that the elders want to be vindictive. That can happen. That the church could be very personal. I don't like that person. I don't like their views about this and that. That's not it. It's not ideological in that sense. She must render a judgment according to God's word with a desire to reclaim that brother. And this seems harsh in our generation. If the person doesn't respond and doesn't repent, is unrepentant, the final act that we'll talk about in a moment is excommunication. But this process reveals so much of an individual. We've been in situations where a person actually defied everything. I don't care. I'm still going to do it. Something like that. The person knew it was against God's word. It's clear. This is not like that's a matter of interpretation. It's very clear. I know it's wrong. I'm still not going to change. We pled, but the person insisted in pursuing this life that would destroy the individual. But here's the thing, and we'll be coming back to this also. We didn't have a choice before the Lord. It rose to that level we had to follow where God's word took us. And often when we come to that point, we've done this, I believe every time we've entered into a situation like this, whenever we have to render judgment to a discipline case, we set aside a day of fasting. But God would have mercy upon that soul. that before we meet, there's a day given to fast for that individual that the Lord would have mercy. That's how serious this matter is. The fourth step is, it involves excommunication. It's already implied in verses 18 and 19 and 17. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything, that phrase is interesting that's used there. It's used, that phrase, that word in particular, it similarly means about anything, any matter, the judicial matter, that's what he's talking about. So, you have it used in 1 Corinthians 6.1, the same word, when one of you has a grievance, the same word, grievance, against another. any matter, any grievance, or any sin, or any judicial matter, that's the language here in verse 19, about anything that they agree in this judicial matter. That's what Jesus is talking about in verse 19. So again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, any judicial matter, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. It's a serious situation. That whatever is bound on earth is bound in heaven. We can only bind that which God's word has already bound. We don't get to make laws. We don't get to say, well, we think you should have done this. We don't have legislative authority, meaning we can't make laws that we think is wise. We only can declare what God's word teaches. And if God's word has declared such and such a sin and it should be excised, we have to follow God's word. It's already bound in heaven. We are not taking an extra step. We are merely confirming what God's word has taught. This is where it becomes very dicey, problematic, difficult, scary. The person is to be viewed as a Gentile and a tax collector. The idea is they're no longer part of the faith. They're no longer part of the visible church. And that, so when you see them, you don't see them as a brother or sister. That's difficult. There are people I have known for years, I've called brother in the Lord or sister. But if I were to meet them, I can't say, brother, I can't. They're to be considered someone on the outside of compassion with them, to love and reach out to them that they would repent. It's like in a divorce situation when the couple meets again, they're divorced. The awkwardness there, it just is no longer the same. That's what has happened. Now, a lot of people say, well, okay, I'm just, I've been excommunicated from this church. I don't like them anyway. I'm going down to the church down the street. Now that happens. We got a letter some time ago when someone was transferring membership. They asked us, rightly and brilliantly, I thought it was one of the best phrases, is this family a fugitive from church discipline? That's perfectly put. Because they know that's exactly what people do. They leave. And that was a legitimate question. But what actually happens? All right, this church, they rendered this, they cried, they asked, and I didn't repent, I'm excommunicated, whoopee, I don't care, I'll just go to another church, doesn't matter. Is that what happened, that's it? They just changed address, one church to another, is that all there is? Let me just give you snapshots of different passages or different events in biblical history to show you what goes on. If a person is no longer part of the church, do you remember Ananias and Sapphira? They sinned. In God's providence, as they lied to the Holy Spirit, they died. God struck them dead. When someone is no longer part of the visible church, God could, in his providence, render his judgment anytime he sees fit. It could be death. It could be sickness. We read about that in Corinth, that God was disciplining the Corinthian church. Some of them have gotten sick, and some of them have died. We read about it in 1 Corinthians 11. The idea is they're no longer part of the visible church. They no longer have the benefits or the blessings that come in that sphere. Now people say, well, whoopee. What else happens? Well, we read in 1 Corinthians 5, 4 and 5, these stirring words. When you are assembled in a, this is where Paul, administering discipline from afar in the Corinthian church about this man who committed incest. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus, and my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus, you're to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Not only providence, but the idea is he becomes subject to satanic attacks to his flesh. Remember God said to Satan, have you considered my servant, Jill? You can do whatever you want, but you can't kill him. It says in here in first Corinthians chapter five, to deliver the man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. It's not like he picks him up and here it is. The idea is now Satan is given free reign by God's providence to do as he pleases. Whatever God restrains him to do. That's how serious it is. It's not just, okay, I'm moving out. If the judgment is true, if the elders are faithful in rendering this judgment according to God's word, out of fear of him, out of loyalty to him, it's done faithfully. then heaven has bound this matter. Or it can turn to despair. Remember Judas, he betrayed Christ and he wept or he grieved. It led to suicide, to despair. Because outside the visible church, as he ran away and did all this, and all of a sudden, it was led to despair. Or it could be another one, it's hardened, a person, God lets him go, and all of a sudden, they harden in their sin, they want to remain in their sin, and God allows it, does not restrain it, and allows the effects of sin to take its course. And many of you have seen this, when some have left, and what they've turned into. It's not a small matter to be subject to this. It's for the unrepentant. What do we do? We grieve, we pray that God would grant them repentance. The elders meet once a month as we go through the list to pray for the church. Now, I've shared this before. At the end of this list, we have people that have been excommunicated, as far as we know, have not been restored to faith. We pray for every one of them. Until they die, we will pray that God would convict them and grant them repentance. Lastly, and importantly, Christ promises to be with the church when she administers discipline. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them. You've been in our Sunday School. I've dealt with this. I'll just mention it. This verse has been misused many times. It's a malevolent purpose or misguided purpose. They just don't know. This verse has been lifted out of context. If you look at the phrase, two or three, where have we seen that before? We look at verse 16 by the evidence of two or three witnesses. It echoes back to that language. The idea is where two or three are gathered as they serve as this court to render the judgment about a matter, Jesus Christ is among them. This is not a prayer meeting. Yes, Jesus is with his people at prayer meetings, but this is not the verse that's pointing to that. It's when the church enters into this judgment, Christ is among them. This is so important to understand because Christ loves his people. He wants their purity. He also wants to reclaim the one who has gone astray. He is actively involved. And he loves his people. The church doesn't possess any inherent authority. Look, just because we administer justice or judgment, I'm sorry, or discipline, doesn't mean Christ would do it. If we're unfaithful, he is. Our authority has no inherent power. Christ does. And why does the church need his presence? Because in that time, it is so weak. Satan can do, when there's discipline, you know what, it can divide the church. I've heard countless stories, the church was too mean, or they did this wrong, they didn't do this, and so many things can happen, Satan can use that to divide the church and ruin the church. No, he is there. There's an interesting verse, and many commentators have pointed this out. It's his judgment that matters, not the church's per se. If you look at Psalm 82.1, this is what the psalm says, God has taken his place in the divine council. In the midst of the gods, often this phrase gods means rulers and judges and everything, that's what the gods mean, or princes or judges. In the midst of these judges, he holds judgment. God holds his judgment in the midst of the judges. That's the point of that verse. And that's what's going on in here in verse 20. The Lord enters into judgment. He's among them. It is so precarious when the church is in this situation. And she could be divided, she could be assaulted. I met a gentleman about a month ago, a godly man. And he left this church, a well-known church. I visited many times when I'm in that town and talked to this man, and he left it. And it was over the issue of discipline, how they handled the matter. This man is a very judicious, godly man. Now, I don't know the whole detail. I thought, how sad that this man leaves. That would be such a valuable man in the church, and he has left and gone somewhere else. So when there's excommunication, if it's faithfully done, Christ is behind there as we gather in his name, rendering his judgment, comforting and supporting. But here's the thought, and this is where I wanna end with some conclusions. Remember this passage is on the heels of verses 10 to 14, where Jesus talks about the straying sheep. And it is the shepherd who goes out and gets them back. It is that shepherd that's behind this passage as well. He's desirous to use this to reach out and bring the straying sheep. That's the goal. It's not to get a pound of flesh, it's somehow in God's mercy he would reclaim them and that Christ the great shepherd would reach out and save them. And that's where we gain comfort from this. And that takes us to a second point we need to mention, so important. The church is called and commanded by the Lord to follow these steps. We do not have the prerogative to say, no, we're gonna punt this time. It's inconvenient, we don't wanna do it. No, may I add that this is what God's word requires. We don't have an opportunity to sidestep this. There are people who say, well, no, you just, that's not right, you can't do this, that's wrong, that's too hard, too mean. And the tendency in our elders can do this, and we've seen in others, where we want to be wiser than God. I know that's God's appointed means, but let's try this, because you know what, that's not as difficult as that one. We can't be wiser than God, we have to follow what his word teaches. But with this last thought, Warning, Christ has commanded the church to exercise this because he takes sin seriously. So may I encourage you, if there are issues, deal with it before the Lord, be reconciled. How wonderful it is when brothers come to another brother or sister to sister and deal with the matter and it's done. There's reconciliation. That's the biblical way. Then we don't have to go through this. We have reclaimed our brother, reclaimed our sister. May the Lord be so gracious to all of us that we would follow these steps and that there would be peace and concord in the life and ministry of the church. Let's pray. Gracious Lord, this is a tough passage. Things that we don't want to discuss, Lord, Grant us sober hearts and minds. All of us can fall away. All of us can go astray. All of us can sin and be hard-hearted and proud. Lord, forgive us. May we with gentleness and humility deal with each other. May we be quick to own our sins and confess it. May there be peace and concord by the work of your Spirit among us. Lord, keep us. Thank you that we can reflect and study your word. We pray you would seal your word in our hearts that we might be devoted to you because you are so devoted to us. I pray all this in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Please turn in the insert or the handout. The tune that's in the hymnal is not the one many of us are familiar with. So the handout, Take My Life,