Well, one of the greatest financial losses in maritime history happened on September 4th, 1622, when a Spanish ship carrying, you ready, 40 tons of silver and gold sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. No wonder it sunk. 40 tons of silver and gold were on it. I always wondered why didn't they send it on 10 ships, a tenth of it on 10 ships, but they put all this heavy weight on the ship. They had a huge hurricane, and on that particular day, the ship sunk. For 363 years, its whereabouts, its location, was a complete mystery. Until July 20, 1985, not too long ago, after a 16-year search, A man named Mel Fisher finally discovered the damaged ship named the Atocha, with all of its precious metals still on board, valued at one half billion dollars, 500 million. Fisher's persistent efforts to recover the lost treasure eventually paid off. Well, similarly, persistent efforts must be made to recover the treasure of love and loving relationships when they are damaged and lost. In recent weeks, we've considered the subject of love by working our way through 1 Corinthians 13, and I trust that you would agree with the Apostle Paul that truly the greatest thing is, in fact, love, unsurpassed by any virtue and permanent and unending in duration. Before we conclude this series on love, I think there's this one last topic we should consider, which I trust will be a fitting and timely message for us today on the subject I've entitled in your bulletin, Love Recovered and Restored. This morning our text is a familiar one, but it's often neglected, consisting of words that Jesus spoke about how treasured love can be restored and recovered between Christians when sin has damaged those relationships in the church. Now these few verses in Matthew 18 I would suggest to you are of the utmost importance I don't know of words that are more important to the life, peace, and health of the body of Christ than these words are, because they provide us with our Lord's very specific directives concerning how love can be restored when it has been lost or damaged because of sin. And by way of application right at the beginning, I'd suggest to you that following Christ's directives in this passage, listen, following our Lord's directives in this passage is one of the most important responsibilities that you and I have as believers. and it will profoundly impact our spiritual life and health, as well as the church's spiritual life and health. So with that said, let's consider the theme of our text this morning, Love Recovered and Restored. In your bulletin, you'll notice printed in green, there are three points relating to that theme. and follow along with me as I read them. The recovery of love in verse 15 is necessary whenever a perceived offense against someone is not resolved and restored. Second, in verse 16, your effort to recover and restore love with a brother who has sinned against you may be rejected and require assistance from others. And third, in verse 17, the recovery and restoration of love sometimes requires participation from every member of a local church. Again, the first of three points in our text is this, the recovery of love is necessary whenever a perceived offense against someone is not resolved and restored. Look at verse 15. The recovery, I'm sorry, if your brother sins against you, ever had somebody sin against you? A brother or sister? Has anybody ever sinned against you? 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. Pretty straightforward, right? Now here's something that can frequently happen in relationships in the body of Christ, right? A Christian brother or sister sins against you. And our Lord says, when that happens, you must go and tell him his fault. privately between you and him alone. Of course, this doesn't mean that you go the very second after or the very minute after he does it, maybe not even the same day that he does it, but once you've given him enough time to repent of his sin against you and come to you, then he says, then you need to go and tell him his fault. The Lord puts that responsibility on your shoulders, Christian. In fact, this is something really important to notice right from the start. The passage, this passage about recovering love, isn't so much about the brother, right, who sins against you, and what he must do. On the contrary, it's about you, the one who has been sinned against, and what you must do. Hmm, interesting. Look at verse 15 again with that in mind. If your brother sins against you, you go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. You see it? This passage about recovering love isn't directed at the brother who sins against you, it's directed at you. And Jesus has given us a repair manual, as it were, explaining what to do in the event that your brother or sister sins against you. And the goal of following its instructions is to gain or win your brother's affections and to restore and recover your damaged relationship. And therefore Jesus said, at the end of verse 15, notice, if he listens to you, you have what? You have gained your brother. So let's make a few applications from this. First one is this. Confronting a brother concerning his sin against you, requires you to judge, yes, judge, and determine whether or not he has sinned. Let me repeat that. It's really important, and it's almost like when I say it, for some of you, it might be like hearing a foreign language, but it's true. Listen, confronting a brother concerning his sin against you requires you to judge and determine whether or not he has sinned against you. Now I trust you can plainly see that when Jesus said, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, that this means that it's necessary, isn't it? It's absolutely necessary for you to make a judgment that he has, in fact, sinned against you. In other words, you must make a wise and righteous judgment concerning your brother's words or actions towards you in order to determine whether or not he has sinned. Is what he said or did really sin or isn't it? you must act wisely and make that determination. Now at this point, many Christians attempt to escape this responsibility by inappropriately quoting a passage like Matthew 7-1. Just make a note of it, where Jesus said, judge not and you will not be judged." Right? You've heard that. Judge not and you will not be judged. But the context of those words was to avoid making unrighteous judgments that you would not want to be judged by. which is evident from the words that follow in verse two of Matthew seven, for with the judgment you pronounce, Jesus said, you will be judged. And then in John seven, Jesus reproved the Jews for not judging righteously when he said, do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. Jesus is saying you do judge, you have to judge, but you judge with righteous judgment. judgment. Do not judge according to appearance. That's the wrong way. But judge righteously. Judge with righteous judgment. And this is the point of application here, namely, that confronting a brother concerning his sin against you requires you, it absolutely requires you, to judge and determine whether or not he has actually sinned against you. You simply must make a righteous judgment as to whether or not he sinned against you because Christ's words require that you do if your brother sins against you. Huh? then go and tell him his fault. Here's another application, number two. Christian love is demonstrated by a willingness to confront others in the church when you believe they've sinned against you. Again, Christian love is demonstrated by a willingness to confront others in the church when you believe they've sinned against you. My friend Bill and I have been, we've kind of just started another book on the subject of confrontation. because we believe that confrontation is something largely absent from the Christian church in our day. In many settings, it's absent in the home, it's absent in relationships, it's absent from the church. And it's a shame because Confrontation is part of Christian love. Christian love is demonstrated by a willingness to confront others in the church when you believe they've sinned against you, right? It's no act of love to withdraw from someone who has sinned against you and silently stew in your anger, which is what we kind of do well, right, some of us? Many Christians have this completely backwards. They think confronting other Christians when they commit sin is unloving. Oh, that's unloving. Many even believe that teaching and encouraging people to confront others in the church is wrong. They've imbibed the secular mind your own business attitude when it comes to sin. And consequently, about the last thing on earth that they'd ever do is to confront someone that sinned against them. So effectively what they do, or effectively they do the exact opposite of what Jesus clearly commands them to do. It's as if he had said, if your brother sins against you, never go and tell him his fault. Maybe you know some people like that. Maybe you are someone like that. Let me ask you a question that might help you know if you are. When is the last time, answer now with real honesty, when is the last time you privately and graciously confronted a Christian brother or sister when he or she sinned against you? When's the last time? Maybe a better question is have you ever confronted a Christian brother or sister when he or she sinned against you. Now I know there's a hundred things that can happen by way of sin against you that's transgression of a kind of minor, on a minor note as it were, things that you can pass over And it's the glory of a man to pass over a transgression if it's not a really serious thing. I'm talking about something that injures your relationship with people, divides you, sets you apart from them. It's a serious matter. Have you ever confronted a Christian brother or sister when he or she sinned against you? Brethren, the peace and spiritual prosperity of Christ's Church depends upon your willingness to lovingly and graciously confront. If your brother sins against you, then you must go and you must tell him or her their fault. That's not optional, is it? That's mandatory, and that's not my command. It's your Lord's command, and it's right here. So be honest now. When is the last time you graciously and humbly confronted a Christian brother or sister when they sinned against you? In a serious way. Remember, Christian love is manifested by a willingness to confront others when you believe they have sinned against you. Let me give you one more application. The purpose of confronting a brother that has sinned against you is to restore his fellowship with you and with the church. You notice again what Jesus said at the end of verse 15 about this sinning brother. If he listens to you, you have what? Gained your brother. The word gained is a commercial word taken from the marketplace and it tells us right at the outset what the purpose of this confrontation is, namely to win your brother, to gain him back. The sinning brother is a loss to himself, to you, and to the church, so recovering him is the goal. Your brother is valuable. He has great worth. He is like a treasure. In fact, there's nobody else quite like him. You can lose one of your children, but the others don't make up for the one lost. Because each one is, what, unique, unique. and therefore you'll suffer loss without your brother, and the church will also suffer loss, so a recovery effort must be embarked upon to regain him. He's like the one sheep that went astray from the 99. But the Son of Man, the Good Shepherd, went into the wilderness to seek and to recover that one. However, sometimes recovering someone and winning him back requires more than one person, which leads to a second point concerning the recovery and restoration of love in verse 16. Point number two on your outline, look at it. Your effort to recover and restore love with a brother that has sinned against you may be rejected and require assistance from others. Ever have that happen? I have. That's kind of uncomfortable. You know, you try to approach somebody and they go, oh, I didn't sin against you. And maybe that's true. But you have to do it anyway. Verse 16, but if he does not listen to you, then take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. Notice this is in the context of having others who know about this offense and who can be witnesses to it. This isn't just anybody. Once again, Christ's command is simple and straightforward. He says, if your individual attempt to resolve the matter of offense with your brother is unsuccessful, if he does not listen, then take one or two others along with you. In other words, if your personal effort failed to bring the one who sinned against you to repentance, then go back and confront him a second time, accompanied by one or two others, to the end that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. In other words, sometimes even your best efforts to recover and restore love where the brother that has sinned against you may, in fact, fail, and therefore may require assistance from others to restore. This is especially true if the person who you think has sinned against you is an elder because you're never to receive an accusation against an elder except with two or three witnesses who agree with you that he has sinned against you. 1 Timothy 5.19, do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. And the scriptures speak that way and address that subject because there just tends to be a tendency for there to be charges or accusations made against those in leadership positions. Therefore, if your individual efforts fail, then you must take greater measures. You must escalate, as it were, the matter, which is why the matter of recovering and restoring love with your brother is broadened to require assistance from others. And to reinforce this command, at the end of verse 16, our Lord points back to Deuteronomy, just make a note of it, 19 and verse 15, where God established the pattern that accusations needed to be proven and attested by two or three confirming witnesses. When he said a single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed, only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. So here's how we can apply this. Personal efforts that fail to recover a brother that has sinned against you must not be abandoned when they are initially unsuccessful. Let me repeat that, this is important. Listen, personal efforts that fail to recover a brother that has sinned against you must not be abandoned when they are initially unsuccessful. Jesus said that if your brother rejects your individual attempt to recover your relationship, then you just can't leave it. You can't leave it at that. You can't say, well, I've done my part, I'm done. Nope. Because Jesus said, if he doesn't listen, take one or two others along with you. See, this matter of recovering love, a loving relationship, especially in the church, in the body of Christ, this is no small matter. This isn't something optional. This is something necessary. It has to be done. personal efforts that fail to recover a brother that has sinned against you must not be abandoned, even when they're initially unsuccessful. Another application is this, recovering and restoring love in a relationship sometimes exceeds your personal efforts and ability to accomplish. Now that's humbling to admit because it means that you can't always do it by yourself. In the recovery and restoration business, sometimes you need others. And Jesus knew that. He knew that. He knew that your individual efforts to restore love with your brother would sometimes fall to the ground. It would sometimes fail. And that sometimes your brother would reject your efforts to restore your fractured relationship. Christ knew that at times it would be necessary for you to request assistance from others, to recover and restore loving relationships. And therefore he made sure these instructions were clearly written in his word, because recovering love in a relationship sometimes exceeds our personal effort and ability to accomplish, and it requires involving other people. In fact, sometimes the recovery requires more than two or three witnesses, which leads to our third and final point in verse 17. Look at it on your outline, the recovery and restoration of love. Sometimes requires participation, oh boy, from every member of a local church. 17. If he refuses to listen to them, Jesus said, that is the two or three witnesses mentioned in verse 16, then tell it to the church. That's the Greek word ekklesia, meaning the called out ones or the gathered assembly or group, the local church is what it refers to. The third and final step in this process of recovering Christian love between brothers is to tell it to the church. Tell the matter to the gathered local church, presumably under the auspices and guidance of the elders. Again, Christ's instruction is simple and straightforward. He says if your effort to take one or two others along is rejected, If after that effort your brother still will not listen, then there's only one thing left to do, and that is to tell it to the church. Now I trust it's obvious that this doesn't refer to the universal church, you know, like throughout the whole world. Instead, the church here is a particular local church. Listen to Matthew, Henry says, it is plain that Jesus means a particular Christian church in the communion of which the offender lives, makes the matter known to those of that congregation, to all of the members of it, let them examine the matter. Well, Henry is right. The church in view here in verse 17 is a particular church in a particular location. And Jesus says that sometimes in your attempt to recover Christian love with a sinning brother, participation from all members of a particular local church may be required. If your individual effort fails to recover it, and your effort to involve one or two more fails to recover it, then you must tell it to the Church. The recovery and restoration of love is such an important matter. that it may be necessary for the whole church to be told about your brother's offense against you. This, of course, assumes that the other witnesses are in all in agreement. Now that may sound a little radical, but it demonstrates how important the recovery of a sinning brother or sister is to the Lord. He will go to great lengths to recover one that has strayed from the flock, and brethren, we must be willing to do the same. Let me conclude with a few final applications. The first one is this, the act of bringing a disciplinary matter to the church's attention requires that a local church be a clearly defined and identifiable group. How do you define the church in a particular location? If you've gone back to confront your brother accompanied by one or two more people and he's refused to listen to them, then Jesus says, tell it to the church. The question then is, who is the church? Who comprises the church? To whom is this sensitive matter supposed to be told? This passage speaks very powerfully of the necessity, the absolute necessity, of the Church to be a clearly defined and identifiable group. Most churches refer to that as membership. membership, which has a scriptural basis in 1 Corinthians 12, 12, just mark it down, where Paul wrote concerning or referring to the church, he said, for as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For in fact, the body is not one member, but many members. Regardless of whether you call it membership or not, because terms aren't always the most important thing, The fact remains that the act of bringing a disciplinary matter to the church's attention requires, listen, it requires that a local church be clearly defined, be a clearly defined and identifiable group. Only then, only then can elders obey Christ's command to tell it to the church. And that's why when we have important matters to discuss as a church, we call for the members to come. We look to you to be a committed member of the body of Christ here or elsewhere, but it's very important because there are important matters at times that need to be brought to the attention of the church. And I would just suggest to you that you not be on the periphery of that, but you be very much involved in that. Membership is really important. And even what might appear to be difficult matters, like disciplinary matters, in God's providence can end up being some of the most glorious spirit-filled occasions that you can imagine. If you were to say to me, well, Pat, can you actually think of a kind of a disciplinary type of thing where something had to be told to the church all the members of the church publicly, that that was something that ended up and concluded in sheer ecstasy and rejoicing and a sense of incredible presence of God being among us. Yes, I've been there. I've experienced that. And I don't want you to miss that. I don't think Jesus wants you to miss that either. Those are some of the high points of life in the church, and you wouldn't want to miss them for anything. One last application. A true Church of Christ is known by its involvement in the process of recovering and restoring love between its members. I'll repeat it, it's really important to listen. A true Church of Christ is known by its involvement in the process of recovering and restoring love between its members. In fact, not too many years ago, It was a generally accepted standard in most churches that a true Christian church was identified by three characteristics which were widely accepted as the three marks of a faithful Christian church. The first one was the faithful proclamation of the whole counsel of God. The second one, the faithful administration of the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper. And the third one was faithful church discipline. The faithful discipline of its members, which means, among other things, to be actively involved in the recovery and restoration of loving relationships that have been lost or damaged by sin. That's really what church discipline is. I wonder how many churches today could not regard themselves as Christian churches if these three characteristics were the criteria, because a true Church of Christ is known by its involvement in the process of recovering and restoring love between its members. You say, Pat, that sounds risky. There might be some difficulty, it might be uncomfortable for me if I get involved in that kind of recovery effort. Yes, you're right. In fact, it'd be a lot easier and safer not to get involved in the recovery effort. But of course, that would fly in the face of our Lord's command to do otherwise. And one thing I didn't mention to you earlier about Mel Fisher's recovery effort of the Atocha is that in the process of recovering that treasure, he lost his oldest son and his daughter-in-law when their salvaged tug capsized and they drowned. So yes, to be involved in the recovery process does put you at risk, but obedience to Christ is worth it. And the recovery of the treasure is worth it. It makes it all worthwhile. Let me tell you a little story in conclusion. In the Garden of Eden, there was nothing but love when our first parents were created. God loved Adam and Eve, and they loved him, right? But then sin entered in and sunk the ship, and the treasure of their right relationship with God was lost. After they sinned, Adam and Eve hid from God and ran away from His presence. But the Lord sought to recover them and restore love between them once again. In fact, the entire Bible is the story of lost love and of God's persistent efforts to recover those who sinned against Him. It's the story of the Son of God becoming man and living among us for the purpose of recovering the treasure of love that was lost between God and man. When man sinned and fractured his relationship with God, the Lord didn't shrug his shoulders and say, well, let's just leave it at that. No, instead he took the initiative and acted in a way to restore and to recover what sin had destroyed and lost, right? At the cost of shedding his blood and sacrificing his own life, he embarked upon a rescue mission to recover and regain the treasure of our loving relationship with him. And that, friends, is what this table is supposed to remind us of. The rescue mission that Jesus led when sin had sunk the ship and when the treasure of our right relationship with God had been lost. And as imitators of God, we too must embark upon a rescue mission. We must go and get involved in the process of recovering and restoring love with our alienated brother or sister who has sinned against us. And we must be persistent in our efforts to do so. For our own sake, for the sake of our brethren, for the sake of the Church, and most of all, for Jesus' sake. Because we answer to him. We answer to him. We must persist in efforts to recover and restore the treasure of loving relationships with our brothers and sisters when they have been lost or damaged by sin, because these directives are given to us by our King. And our response to Christ's words here will profoundly impact our spiritual life and health, as well as the spiritual life and health of the Church of Jesus Christ. 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. This