2 Timothy 4. I'll read verses 14 through 16. God's Word. Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil. The Lord reward him according to his works. Of whom be thou where also, for he hath greatly withstood our words. At my first charge, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge." May the Lord bless the reading and especially preaching of His Word. This morning we considered the doctrine of forgiveness or began to unfold it, and we heard it is critical to know as Christians. because we are expected to forgive and from the heart. It is one of the most practical points of religion stressed by our Lord Jesus Christ and we have need of it almost daily because daily we are offended by others. And Christ's expectation is that we forgive others even in prayer, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And we heard that he roots all of this even in that petition. in view of the great debt that God has forgiven us if we be Christians. Because the debt that we owe God is overwhelming and yet he has freely and fully forgiven us. We are from the heart out of gratitude seeing a much smaller debt that another man or woman owes to us. We should freely forgive because God in Christ has forgiven us far greater. And so we saw that a spirit of unforgiveness greatly displeases the Lord. And he warned against an unforgiving spirit, if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses, Matthew 6.15. And we saw that this is not the grounds of salvation, but the forgiven heart is disposed to forgive others, part of the new birth. But we recognize that many misconceptions about forgiveness do presently persist. And so we worked with the definition Thomas Boston had provided. I'll give it again. He said that forgiveness is our hearty forgiving them the injury done to us by entertaining no hatred or malice against them, but loving them with a love of goodwill, heartily wishing their good, and being ready to do them good, But it does not necessarily extend to a love of complacency or delight in them. So we heard that we are always to forgive by laying aside malice, laying aside vengeance, laying aside grudges, laying aside bitterness against those who have sinned against us. And we saw that we do so primarily by laying vengeance in the hands of the Lord. There is a true debt of vengeance that is owed, but the Christian lays it up to the Lord. That's why we pray, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. They are actually truly indebted to us. There is a debt of vengeance that is owed, but we lay that up to the Lord. And we are to love the person who sinned against us by earnestly desiring their good, particularly in terms of their repentance, even to do good to them as we are able. Now we distinguish between the love of goodwill and the love of complacency. We love all men by having a love of goodwill towards all men, even those that have offended us, whether or not they repent to us. But when a brother manifests repentance and acknowledges they have sinned against us, we must first of all forgive them fully and freely, and we are to show them the love of delight or complacency and give the fullest form of forgiveness to them. And in that you find gospel reconciliation. So those are some of the things that we considered this morning. But here comes the next question. If I forgive someone, even if they repent towards me, must I relinquish any expectation of consequences towards them? Or would I be unforgiving if I would hold them to some consequences or seek consequences for them? That's an important question. Because sometimes when it is called for, we can feel guilty for thinking that boundaries must be put or penalties and sanctions or censures must be given to one that we have forgiven. It's a very practical thing and it can actually cause quite the consternation in the soul of the Christian. For instance, here's the classic example. A wife has a husband. The husband commits adultery. It is discovered, she finds out, She forgives him. The question is, would it be wrong for her, having forgiven him, to divorce him? And the answer is, it is not necessarily so. That she can, as in her rights, to divorce the man, even after forgiving him. And that can actually cause great consternation with some saying, is it really forgiveness? And yet, is it not the case, friends, and we'll look at this more closely, the Lord Jesus Christ says we must forgive, and if that is so, why would He also then have a provision for divorce? It's not necessarily the case. Now, we're not saying that you have to divorce. That's not the case at all. However, you can forgive and divorce. If someone murders your spouse, and you might be concerned because I have forgiven that person, that you must not call for their death. And yet it can be very righteous, in fact it is righteous, that even if somebody kills a loved one and you forgive them, that you can still lobby for their death, so long as it's not out of malice, but out of good. And you can see how these questions can cause angst and consternation. in God's people. If we don't understand truly what forgiveness is, it can cause spiritual trouble and it can also cause evil men to abuse the graciousness of Christian people. As they will come to you and say, you have to forgive me, and then you have to basically then, they're going to try to put upon you, we have to have exactly the relationship we had before. And that's not necessarily the case. The Lord Jesus actually puts some protections for his people to protect them from evil men who demand that because you have forgiven them, all consequences for their actions must be removed. So in this second sermon, let's consider what consequences may still need to be given to those whom we have forgiven. Let's do so with three headings, and we'll begin with the context. Now in our text here, we find the Apostle Paul publicly warning Timothy and the church about a man that had done him a great injury. Alexander the coppersmith, a name that lives on in infamy even today every time this epistle is read. Well, who is he? Well, it's likely this is the Alexander that Paul told Timothy about in the first epistle. In that letter, he told Timothy he had excommunicated Alexander. 1 Timothy 1, verse 18, this charge I commit unto thee, my son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience, which some, having put away concerning faith, have made shipwreck, of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. So this Alexander is likely the man from the first epistle to Timothy, and in context in that epistle you recognize that Hymenaeus had taught that the resurrection was past. He was a full preterist, in other words. And so this blasphemy that they had been guilty of committing was that these men had said that the Lord Jesus Christ has already come, that the resurrection is past. And so these men had been excommunicated from the church of Jesus Christ for this heresy that they had committed. And here you find in Paul's second epistle, as it is sad to say with so many heretics, Alexander did not repent. And we find also, and this often happens, sad to say, with those who are cast out of the church, though this is not what we want for them. We want their reformation. We want their repentance. We want the restoration of them to the church. Sad to say, he was one that had shown great malice towards the apostle personally. You can see it here. Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil. The Lord reward him according to his works. Now, this is one of the more extreme situations in the scripture, and it's helpful as a case study. This is not just a man, right, that needed to, that the apostle forgave and, you know, could go on his way, but here's a man who persists and persists in attacking the church of Jesus Christ. He's a notorious offender. He's a heretic, excommunicated from the church, and he is causing physical harm. And this is a public thing. It's a public scandal. And so the question comes, if Paul has forgiven him, is he out of line here to warn others about the man in order to keep them from being hurt by him? And the answer is obviously no. He is right to do what he does. Public scandal, public sin, public excommunication, notorious heretics, and one who is also attacking God's people. And he tells Timothy, for the sake of your ministry in Ephesus and the church of Jesus Christ, beware of this man. Now you can see here that Paul has no malice towards the man. In fact, he leaves vengeance to the Lord, doesn't he? He says, the Lord reward him according to his works. He doesn't say, Timothy, go form a posse, find this man, and do sort of frontier justice on him. He says, we give it up to the Lord, but you be careful. You be warned about this man. And you can see then as well there are others that he had forgiven. In verse 16, at my first answer, these are not notorious, scandalously evil men. At my first answer, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. So you can see this is a man with a forgiving spirit. And yet because it was necessary for the church to be protected from this particular man, Alexander, he would warn Timothy. and publicly so. So this is an illustration. An example from the Bible, that one can forgive the personal harm done against them, leaving vengeance in God's hands, not for ourselves, but because of the wicked and unrepentant conduct of one we have forgiven, or for other reasons, for the sake of the good of God's people, even as we commit vengeance to God, we can warn others of their behavior and other like consequences can occur in different situations. This is not out of malice. Do you see that? This is not personal malice that moves the Apostle Paul. Why does he bring this to Timothy? It's for the sake of the good of God's people. It's not because he has vengeance committed himself against Alexander. In fact, he says, I leave this to the Lord. The Lord reward him according to his works. But for the sake of the concern of Timothy and for the church in Ephesus, This publicly evil man, this is not a private matter between the Apostle and Alexander, because of this public scandal and this public danger, we find that consequences can still flow from our forgiving another, especially for those who are unrepentant and notoriously wicked, especially these implacable enemies of God. So here's a case study, and that's the context I wanted to bring to just put these ideas in our mind as we come to understand some more particulars. And so let's consider in our second heading, generally, consequences. So when you forgive someone, even the highest form of forgiveness of a brother or a sister that repents, there may be consequences that are appropriate, even for a brother or sister. Before I dive into that, so that we don't excuse ourselves because our flesh hears that and is now creating all kinds of reasons why I need to put barriers and barricades between me and every other person that has offended me, let me just tell you the ideal is not that. In ideal circumstances, when a brother or sister repents, and remember your responsibility is to rebuke them, our inclination ought to be reconciled completely if it be safe. Ephesians 4 says, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, and endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And that should be ordinary. Because it's a beautiful thing when the world even observes those of you who may be at variance with each other and maybe sin has entered into the relationship and yet you can freely and fully forgive and be completely at peace with one another without any sort of boundaries needing to be put in place. But sometimes it is necessary, even to a brother or sister, when we forgive them, for consequences to come about. and does not mean that consequences then are contrary to forgiveness. Wisdom and prudence sometimes necessitate consequences for some good reasons, to protect from further sin breaking out or further danger to come about or to protect other people from the sinful inclinations of a person. And when it comes to, let me put aside the brother or sister that repents, when it comes to an unrepentant sinner that we have forgiven, this is just simply part and parcel of being prudent. When an unrepentant man, like Alexander, here's a great example of one, is unrepentant, then we absolutely ought to be putting in barriers, boundaries, protections, consequences so that ourselves and others are not hurt. And we can have no malice at all in doing it because our motivation is actually protection and for good. Not to be punitive. Now Christians, contrary to popular conception, are not called to be naive. We are to be hopeful over the work of grace. But our Lord Jesus said, did he not, to be harmless as doves but wise as serpents? And there's wisdom that is often called for in how we deal with someone we have forgiven. And so we always release malice, but we may need to warn, we may need to guard, we may need to protect. I can forgive someone, for instance, who has not repented of being a slanderer against me, but should I just open up to them still? No. That is going to cause them to further sin against me, and sin against God most of all, so it's not even in their best interest, in order to open up the details of my life to them as an unrepentant slanderer. So I will not share information with such a person, and I will have to creep a kind of distance there, and that is just Christian prudence. But even if the offending party does repent, at times it is wise to have consequences. Let's consider some case studies. Come back to adultery. This is an obvious one because the Bible shows that two things can be true. The same Christ that says you must forgive from the heart also taught us it is permissible to divorce the spouse that has committed adultery. It's one of only two grounds of divorce in the Bible, adultery and the geographic abandonment of one's spouse, particularly the unbelieving spouse from the marriage home. Now sad to say, and some of you might know this, relatively recently there was a minister, I believe he was in the Reformed Baptist world, so maybe not so closely with us, but a man of like faith, he was caught in adultery. And the man seems to have expressed remorse and repentance. The fruit of it is yet to be determined. It's relatively new in the last month or two. Now his wife forgave him. And my understanding is she decided to stay with him. And praise God, that's fine. But the question is, did she have to? And the answer is no, she didn't have to. It may have been wise and prudent not to. Christ does not say you must divorce your spouse if they commit adultery, but that you are in your rights to, even if they repent of their sin. And so you think of this, the same Christ that says forgive from the heart also says that the marriage bond can be dissolved due to adultery against a spouse. Now, wisdom and prudence and even your own frame would guide that decision prayerfully before the Lord, and you should also seek godly counselors, including your session. But I say that to demonstrate that Christ does not say or teach that forgiveness of someone, even one who repents, does not necessarily entail zero consequences for their actions. That must be something, and if they are truly repentant, they will own it. The truly repentant says, like David did, When the Lord says, I forgive you, but now your kingdom's torn asunder, now your son is going to die, let the Lord do what seemeth Him good. That's truly a repentant man. I don't deserve any forgiveness, and so let the consequences come. Now, if you do, though, divorce out of malice, seeking to hurt the other person like they hurt you, then you have not forgiven them. See, that's the difference. Right? If somebody did that, and then you just despite them and to hurt them and to cause them pain equivalent to or more than what they had caused you, that's your reason for divorce? That's sinful. Because you haven't actually forgiven them. You want to take vengeance on them. But if you're saying, for whatever reason, protection of yourself physically, or of your children, or whatever the circumstances may be, this is not a sermon on that topic, that it is necessary for the marriage to end, well, Christ tells you that that is a lawful thing to do. But let it never be out of malice. Let it never be, now I'm going to take half the stuff, just to spite that person. That's no reason at all, that's an unforgiving heart. Another example consequence you're well aware with, and actually comes from this minister having the affair, is the loss of his office. He will never again be a minister of the gospel. He's forgiven, his congregation has forgiven him, and yet it would be ridiculous for the man to say, well, then restore me to office. because through his sin, he has forfeited that. He is no longer beyond reproach. And a repentant man again, and this man, I'm thankful to have heard or seen his statement, he says, I recognize I do not deserve to ever be a minister. And so a repentant man would not seek the ministry again. And that's a just consequence. He understands that. He cannot be in the sacred ministry because of covenant breaking. Now there are other things, and these are sometimes very difficult things to consider, but they are happening all the more, sad to say, because of the way society is going. Recently, especially with the use of wicked materials online, you're finding more and more cases of molestation in the church. You're seeing young men influenced by this kind of thing and then driving into actual actions and deeds in the congregation. Horrible thing. I cannot tell you in the last five to ten years how many cases in churches in denominations I've been a part of where these things have happened. And a man is caught, and perhaps he even serves time. That's a valid consequence, by the way. In fact, biblical equity would actually probably, for most of those crimes, require death. But he then comes out, he professes to be repentant. Should there be zero consequences in the church? No. Repentant sinners of crimes like that, sins like that, recognize it may be that they will never again come to church without somebody sitting next to them, watching them. Never again will they be around the children. There are consequences that are wise and prudent. The church may forgive, the parents may forgive, the child that was offended against may forgive, and yet this person may need to have consequences that go the rest of their life with them. And if he were truly repentant, he would be okay with that. because he knows he deserves death. Now what about other cases? Perhaps a brother or sister has slandered you and gossiped about you. They've dragged your name through the mud to many others. You find out, you forgive, and perhaps they have repented of their sin to you. Now are you obligated, I used this example before, are you obligated to share all the intimate details of your life like you did before? No. No, of course not. You couldn't even consider it unless you've considered whether or not this person has truly manifested the fruit of repentance. So it might be that a friendship and relationship will never be what it was before, even though you have no animosity, even though you're reconciled to this other person, you don't hold it against them. Consequences are not necessarily you holding something against another person. Now, I do want to stress again, in the regular sins committed one against another, it is not necessarily the case that there has to be a consideration of consequences as you forgive. Again, there are cases though that this would be prudent and this would be necessary and this would be good for the greater good of your life and even the other person's life. But let us not use consequences that are to be wise and prudent and necessary as a cloak for malice. You need to test your heart. If you are truly putting in barriers and boundaries, and they have to be associated with the kind of sin that was committed against you, then you have to make sure you're not doing it just to spite the other person. Otherwise you don't have a forgiving spirit. And I think that distinction is very necessary and helpful. And so, again, we have to be careful because Christ knows the depravity of man's heart and knows that there are wicked men and women that prey on his people and will be notorious abusers of grace. So we have to be wise in how we deal with the repentant. Now, you can always remember Alexander in that. Well, let's consider consequences in church and state as our next heading, which will be censures. Now when it comes to a brother or a sister sinning, and you cannot simply cover it in love because the offense is scandalous or injurious, you first forgive them by not bearing malice against them, and you take away any thought of seeking revenge, but out of a love of goodwill you heard, you are to seek their reformation in repentance. And when it concerns the brethren, And this is where I'm coming to the topic of censures in the church. It is actually for the unrepentant brethren that you must follow the Matthew 18 process out of a love of goodwill. When brethren sin against you and you can't cover it in love, you are given a process to follow in Matthew 18. Right? Which means that you've already forgiven them to a point of no vengeance, no malice, nothing like that, and yet there is a process by which you deal with the sin that your brother or sister has committed. Even in that, you find a consequence for their sin. The first step is, in Matthew 18, verse 15, moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone, and if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. Go alone, and you see what the aim is. If he repents, you have gained your brother. You have that full form of forgiveness that we talked about this morning. Now, whether or not consequences need to be attached, that is a matter of wisdom and prudence. But there is the case where a brother or sister, and you've even brought the commandments of God to them and said, brother, sister, you have sinned against me in this way. And if they won't hear and they don't repent, you then have to take them to the next step. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. So you go again, and you go and you take this offense to this person, this brother or sister, or person named a brother or sister, and you bring the offense there with another party who can hear the matter along with you. And if he still or she still doesn't repent, well, you don't end there. you go to the next final step, which is taking it to the church elders. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church, but if he neglect to hear the church, hear these dreadful words, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. So you can see, even in this process of church discipline, you can find that one can forgive by having no malice and no bitterness, And we even look forward to, with God's help, a full form of forgiveness that is possible for believers, which is why, of course, we pursue the process. is we do desire full repentance and a full restoration, and we go through this process not for our amusement, and the reason it's often difficult is because it is hard to seek the good of another, but we do look for this full form of forgiveness that is possible for believers who will then repent to God and to us when convicted of their sin. And at any stage here in the Matthew 18 process, reconciliation can happen when a brother repents. And when they do, we cease the judicial process when that happens. And you can pour out the love of benevolence or love of complacency. But what I want to put before you, and you must not feel that at any point this is unjust, is at any moment there, you know, at the final stage, even if a person does repent, let's go back to adultery. The, you know, a person denies and denies and denies, and you even maybe bring a witness, and they deny and don't want to repent. And then you bring the evidence before the church elders, and the church elders say, indisputable. You have committed adultery, right? And, you know, the person then is provoked by the Spirit to repent and to come clean. And it comes to his wife, or it could be the other way around, of course. It could be the wife confessing to the husband and asking for forgiveness, and forgiveness may be extended, and maybe even divorce isn't on the table. And yet the church can rightly discipline the man by censuring him and keeping him from the Lord's Supper. And that is right because it is meant to help the person repent of their sin fully. to also have a time in which the scandalous and notorious sin is going to be observed to see if this man is truly bearing fruit meet with repentance, that he would see that he has caused tremendous danger and damage, he has caused the name of Christ to be reproached publicly, and it is right and fair for this man to be kept at least for a season from the Lord's table. And so you can see forgiveness and censure are not actually at cross purposes. For instance, 2 Thessalonians 3, 14 and 15, if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man and have no company with him that he may be ashamed, yet count him not as an enemy but admonish him as a brother. So here's a consequence on a man who is a brother who is told that no company may be kept with him. Why? That he may be ashamed. I think shame would be better in our churches a bit more often over our sin. It's used by the Lord in order to reform men. And so, yes, the brother, right, who repented of his sin is kept from the Lord's table, and as the people of God come to commune and he sits there, and it's been announced to the congregation that this man has broken the seventh commandment, that shame for a season is actually meant to manifest true heartfelt reformation of his life, so that he wouldn't return like a dog to his vomit. And the Lord lays these things out in his word, and so we must never think that just because forgiveness is extended, even in the church, that there may not be consequences. like that, always with the hope of the good, never out of malice for that man, wanting him to reform completely and thoroughly, and that for the sake of his family and his wife and his children, he would never again return to such evil. It's not malice. It's for good. And the Lord lays these things out in his word for that reason. Now, as we think on those who repent, let's just consider some of the marks of a truly repentant offender. And what you want to see, and we're talking about brothers, of course, and sisters, because, you know, these are not marks you find in the unbeliever. The very first thing that you want to see is somebody, you know, as you're evaluating repentance and they ask you to forgive them, right, you immediately, fully, freely forgive, and yet you're called to watch for A fruit meet with repentance. The very first thing is that you want to see in them a recognition that they have sinned against God first and foremost. Second, you want a contrite heart. They must mourn over their sin as David did in Psalm 51. Third, that they are seeking reformation in their life to walk in new obedience, and that's often why a church will give a censure, like suspension, for a very notorious sin, like a breach of the marriage covenant. We want to see that this person is reforming their life, undoing all the associations they had, putting constraints on themselves willingly, even things like their phone being monitored or whatever else needs to happen, so that you can see that they're walking in new obedience. And you also want to see that if there are consequences that have been given, that these who are repentant are willing to accept them. We want to see these kinds of marks, and this is what the church often looks for in discipline cases. Are you truly bearing fruit meet with repentance? Again, go back to David. When he was told, thou art the man, he also received consequences from the Lord. And he never argues against them. His kingdom would be in turmoil. His son would die and he accepted these because he was worthy of death. And so if a repentant sinner recognizes that, right? If they are suspended from the sacrament, we'll go to the man who commits adultery. He's suspended from the sacrament. Minister has to mournfully come before the people of God and say, so-and-so, Mr. so-and-so has committed the sin of adultery and is publicly suspended from the Lord's table, right? He mourns that. and yet he is okay with it because he deserves far worse. If it is the loss of office, the minister sits there as the session or the presbytery comes and says that he is deposed from office or he's relinquished it and he must publicly embrace that. This is what I deserve and God forbid I would ever do such a thing. I would ever betray the trust of office, but if so, I must sit there and I must receive publicly the admonition because my sin is so grievous. " And the repentant heart says, I don't even deserve to be forgiven of the Lord, yet He has forgiven me, and so these consequences will so be it. I deserve far worse. That's a truly repentant man or woman. who's able to say that. This is how awful my sin is. Now, in a way, that is helpful for all of us to stop playing with the fire that is heinous sin. That we wouldn't even entertain the thought of it. You're entertaining the thoughts of adultery, put it away when you think on such things. You're entertaining even those lustful thoughts that lead in that direction, put it away. A minister is tempted in any number of sins that would depose him from office, let him put that away. If you decide to try to slander or you try to speak ill of your brother or sister and you don't think that this relationship, this side of glory may never be the same, put that away today. may keep us all from sinning against each other and not abuse our brethren in the grace of God. That takes us to the last kind of censure that an offender may receive, even one we have forgiven, which is civil sanctions when a crime has been committed. We'll go back to the murder of a family member. You can and you should release vengeance to the Lord, not seeking to take matters into your own hand to go form a posse and go assassinate such a person. You release the desire for vengeance to the Lord. You can even love this person, you must love this person with the love of goodwill or benevolence, as we heard from this morning and we used the example of Mrs. Kirk and the Egyptian woman whose husband was slain by the Islamic terrorists. We especially desire their reconciliation to Jesus Christ. You can, out of love for them, exhort them to go to the Redeemer, who forgives even murderers. But in leaving vengeance to God, you also leave vengeance in the hands of his appointed authorities, the civil magistrate. You know, it's interesting, right? Romans 12 comes, he says, vengeance belongs to the Lord. And then Romans 13 comes, who's the minister that executes God's wrath on the earth? It's the civil magistrate. And so you go from Romans 12, vengeance belongs to God. And one of the ways you leave vengeance into the Lord's hands is that you are satisfied when justice is done, earthly speaking, upon a person who deserves civil sanction and censure. And so it is not wrong to forgive someone and still be adamant that they receive the death penalty, for instance. Those two things are contrary to each other. Because the Lord, he has instituted it for the protection of people. In fact, you love them with the love of goodwill or benevolence, knowing that such a person who is violent like that is very likely going to take the lives of others. Even if they're locked away, right, for the rest of their days, sadly that's even seen as extreme in some countries, but even so they might take the lives of guards and they might take the lives of other people. And that's why God in His wisdom, as we heard from Genesis 9, has instituted the death penalty, in wisdom, out of love for others. The love of benevolence can often extend to wanting to see someone punished, but never out of malice, but for the protection of others, and even, and theologians are very good to point this out, right, even for the good of that person's soul, because it keeps them from sinning in that way ever again, heaping up more wrath upon themselves. Now, you can release all malice towards such a person and still see that their punishment is just. And even if they repent and they come to the Lord Jesus Christ, we ought to all recognize that the penalty of God's law is death for such a crime. And so we don't feel conflicted if a sin, right, against you is a crime that needs punishment. You can forgive it, but in the commission of a true crime, the consequences of that crime, you must support, whether they be repentance or not, through criminal punishment. And don't feel conflicted about such a thing at all. It's not contrary to forgiveness. In fact, reverse things around. Now let's say, God forbid, any one of us here murders another person. But I would hope that as Christians, were that to be done, and you repent of your evil and your wickedness, whatever it is that drove you to that, it's satanic, but that you or I would say, my life is forfeit, if we repent. That we would say, I deserve death. And I would not fight it, because I know this is God's law, and part of being repentant is willing to accept the consequences. Let all of us remember that. Let none of us go before either God or man and say, you know, I've been forgiven, and then think that that necessarily clears us from consequences for our actions. It doesn't. This is meant to actually be a great barrier to you or I sinning in a heinous way. That we would recognize that there are possible consequences for whatever it is we do. And if we are even repentant of our sin, we must be fine and okay with consequences that come upon us. Not crying foul, but instead saying, this is just. Like David, knowing that what God had committed to him as consequences is far less than they deserve. Now finally, It may be a consequence, another kind of consequence in the civil realm is that offenders may owe restitution for their injuries. That would be fair and that would be fine as well. Both church and state can decide that an offender may have to give restitution to you, and that's biblical. It's actually quite biblical. Now, you know, you can forego that restitution, but it is not contrary to forgiving someone to see someone pay restitution to you for injuries, especially if you need such resources for your own sustenance. God's law has many laws for restitution. You don't necessarily cancel monetary debt owed to you when they repent of their sin. The forgiveness you have to remember here is a forgiveness of wrath and malice. That's the forgiveness that is primarily in view when it comes to the biblical doctrine of forgiveness. For instance, consider Zacchaeus, who told Christ, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. Luke 19, 18. Here is a repentant man. Does Jesus Christ say no? They have to forgive you, you don't pay them restitution. He didn't say anything at all like that, but rather Christ commends him, saying this day salvation has come to this house, and it is actually a marker of his repentance that he is willing to pay restitution. It shows that the work of grace is actually there in Zacchaeus. He is willing to have more than he had taken from others given to them by way of restitution. And Christ doesn't say, no, no, no, no, no, that debt is completely canceled. Not at all. So we have to understand what Christ is saying when it comes to forgiveness. The debt is predominantly and primarily one of revenge and malice. And you can use the guidelines for restitution found in the Bible. I've been in a church court that it was clear that one Christian employer was defrauding their Christian employee. They were both members of our church. And we said that what was right, even as the employer, he repented and asked for forgiveness. We said what is right in this case is that you pay X and this amount as well, back and back wages with restitution. And the employer, to his credit, said, yes, I submit to that because he was convicted that he had sinned against his God and against his neighbor. Well, brethren, much more can be said about the notion of forgiveness, but I wanted to bring consequences as part and parcel of the teaching because we can often feel unnecessarily guilty or conflicted. over whether consequences should come to one that we have forgiven, even from the heart. But I trust you see that through the scripture and through good and necessary consequence, that often the case is that there must be consequences even to the repentant. So let's not do that for pressing prison sentences on criminals or seeking restitution for our state or seeking to protect ourselves and others by not fully restoring relationships or putting guardrails over them. Let's not be you know, there's so many when a minister is committed. This has been one of the most ridiculous things I've seen as of late, you know minister commits adultery against his wife and There is so much sympathy for the minister. Oh, he will never be a minister again. That seems unfair What about this and what about that and and nobody remembers the party sinned against which is the poor woman? It is right and it is just according to the principles of the word for consequences to come. And that is never to be out of malice, but it is for the good of all involved. But lastly, as we consider all these things and the wisdom God would give us to handle ourselves rightly, always remember how gracious God has been to forgive us our own debts. And when we consider what others owe us, and it seems like a great deal indeed, let us remember that our sins before God are far, far, far worse. And yet God often brings consequences into our own lives when he forgives us. You've perhaps faced some of them yourself. God is very gracious, but why does he say he does it? Why does he chastise us in Hebrews 12? So that we would not return like a dog to our vomit back to our sin. It's the same principle that comes when consequences are laid upon those that we forgive. But let us never do it out of vengeance, because the Lord who chastens us never does so out of condemnation and vengeance Himself, but out of love. Isn't that the principle in Hebrews 12? that as a good father chastens, he chastens, and brings consequences. Let me remember these things when we have need to forgive another person, and may we go to the word of God and seek wisdom from godly counselors if we have difficulty in these things. Please do feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions. Maybe there might be another sermon on forgiveness. Next Lord's Day we will see what questions arise, but may the Lord bless our meditation on this doctrine today. Let us arise and go to the Lord in prayer. O Lord our God, help us again to be a forgiving people, but also help us to be wise and prudent. And if we are ever the sinners who sin grievously against another, may we never cry foul when there be consequences for our actions. And may the fear of such consequences cause us to stay away from our vomit, to flee from it, and to always fear the Lord our God, and to stay away from the fire that is sin, for it brings a great ruin upon men and houses and churches. And so, Father, keep us from sin. And we pray that if any here are backslidden, sitting grievously against another, that they would be convicted of their sin, and that they would run to the Lord for mercy, and they would seek out their brother or their sister for forgiveness. We pray for those who are struggling and still are entertaining malice and thoughts of vengeance towards those that they ought to forgive. O Lord, remove that from their hearts. May they freely forgive, knowing how they were freely forgiven. And may it be also that thou wouldst give us wisdom in handling those who have sinned grievously against us. May it be, O Lord, that we would do what is good for ourselves, for our neighbor, for the church, our community, and our households. But make us wise, and make us, though, a people with no guile and no malice, that we would shine as lights before this crooked and perverse generation. And we pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. Let us sing praise to God as we conclude. Let's sing Psalm 57, verses one through five. Be merciful to me, O God, thy mercy unto me. Do thou extend, because my soul doth put her trust in thee. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings, my refuge I will place, until these sad calamities do wholly overpass. My cry I will cause to ascend unto the Lord Most High. to God who doth all things for me perform most perfectly. From heaven he shall send down, and me from his reproach defend. That would devour me, God his truth and mercy forth shall send. My soul among fierce lions is, I firebrands live among. Men's sons whose teeth are spears and darts, a sharp sword is their tongue. Be thou exalted very high above the heavens, O God. Let thou thy glory be advanced over all the earth. abroad. Psalm 57, 1 through 5, the tune is Martyrdom. Be merciful to me, O God, Thy mercy unto me. Do Thou extend Because my soul doth put her trust in Thee. Yea, in the shadow of Thy wings, My refuge I will place. Until we sat calamities to holy overpass. I cry, I will, cause to ascend Unto the Lord, lo, sigh. To God, who doth all things for me perform. most perfectly. From heav'n he shall set down, and me from his reproach defend. ♪ That worthy God ♪ ♪ Begotten is true ♪ ♪ And mercy poor ♪ ♪ Shall send ♪ ♪ My soul above ♪