Okay, so we are on chapter, I can't recall the number, but it's chapter 29, finishing up point eight there on the Lord's Supper. And the very last point there, point number eight, is an important one to remember. We don't believe in what's called an ex opere operato view of sacraments. Does anyone know what that phrase ex opere operato means? Yeah. Yeah. That's right. Rome teaches, it doesn't matter if you're Orthodox or not. If you're one of them, if you're one of their priests, it always does this thing. In fact, they even think that priests, if they are excommunicated from the church, they can still turn bread and wine into Jesus for the rest of their natural life. They will always be able to do that miracle of transubstantiation. So ex operi operato, that's the Roman Catholic view of sacraments. It means by the working of the work, by the work done, The sacrament always does what it's supposed to do. It regenerates you and justifies you or unites you to Christ or whatever. But look at point eight here. Although ignorant and wicked men receive the outward elements in this sacrament, yet they receive not the things signified thereby. Hear what they're saying there? They're really trying to protect the sovereignty of God in terms of his grace. Remember one of the most important things that Jesus taught Nicodemus in that famous dialogue there in John chapter three was the spirit is the one who does what? It's John three verse eight, critical passage. It's the primary reason I will never wear a clerical collar and I will never be a priest. And if you ever call me a priest, I'm gonna kill you. But why, what does he say there, remember? The wind blows where it wishes. You hear the sound of it, see the effects of it, but know not from where it comes and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. We don't control the grace of God. I'm a pastor. I don't control the grace of God. I baptize someone. It has the efficacy of a signifying seal. It sets them apart, makes a visible distinction between them and those that are outside of the visible church, but it doesn't automatically give the thing signified, and it doesn't seal the thing signified until that person has faith. It's like the Lord's Supper is not a converting ordinance or anything like that. It's something that seals to us the Word of God's promise that we really do belong to Christ, and it's a means of strengthening that faith that we have in Christ. Okay, so wicked men can receive the sacraments, but they never receive the thing signified by them until they have faith, okay? So when the Reformation following the Apostle Paul said justification is by faith alone, when they said union with Christ is by faith alone, that's because faith is the instrumental cause of that living, saving union with Christ, not sacraments. Okay, so it's very, very important. The Westminster divines are very careful to make sure that that's clear. Where is that said here? Oh, it's in the chapter of sacraments. It says that the efficacy of sacraments is not tied to the moment of its administration, Okay, once again, they're trying to make sure that they protect the sovereignty of God in all of this, okay? All right, look at the rest of that point there. But by their unworthy coming thereunto are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, that's a direct quotation from 1 Corinthians there, to their own damnation. Wherefore, all ignorant and ungodly persons, as they are unfit to enjoy communion with him, so they are unworthy of the Lord's table and cannot, without great sin against Christ while they remain such, partake of these holy mysteries, or be admitted thereunto. Okay, so God is sovereign in the application of his grace. God is the one who does the saving. All right, so let's move into church censures. So there you have sacraments, and now we move into church censures. Number one, the Lord Jesus, as king and head of his church, hath therein appointed a government in the hand of church officers distinct from the civil magistrate. Okay, so let's look at Matthew 16. verse 18 to see where Jesus establishes this. If you've ever wondered, what does he mean when he says, to you I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven? That's him establishing the church as a self-governing entity. It's its own sphere of jurisdiction. It's distinct from the magistrate, but it has its own government, its own way of governing. Okay, so look at Matthew 16, we'll start at verse 13. Matthew 16, 13. When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? So they said, some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said to them, but who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus answered and said to him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Then he commanded his disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus, the Christ. So giving them the keys of the kingdom, that's what the officers of the church have. And what does that mean in terms of the keys of the kingdom? What does that mean about your elders in your church? We have the authority from Christ to declare scripture. I don't have the authority to bind your conscience to anything except what I can demonstrate to you from scripture. I don't have any inherent authority to do that. What else? The keys of the kingdom also means what? practice church discipline. We, the elders of the church, are the gatekeepers. Who can take communion? And if people are sinning, who doesn't take communion? Okay? But once a person is admitted into church membership, it's not our duty week in and week out to examine them again or anything like that. We are to call upon them to examine themselves. That's what 1 Corinthians 11 says. A man is to examine himself, not the session is to examine everyone every week to make sure they're, you know, quote unquote, ready to take communion or anything like that. So once a person makes their profession of faith to the elders, they're now part of the visible church. and they're under the authority of the elders of the church in that sphere of government. So we all operate in a bunch of different spheres, don't we? Like what are some of the other spheres that we all live in? Family is one. Civil government, okay. And there's the self, I'm supposed to self-govern. And by the way, this grand experiment in liberty that we've had here for more than 200 years in America, it doesn't work if we don't self-govern. Okay, our founders understood that. If we're not godly, if we're not holy people, this is not gonna work. Okay, so self-government, there's the church government, family government, and then there's state government. And each one of those spheres has a tool for the enforcement of its laws. What's the tool for the enforcement of law in the family? The rod of correction. Okay, what's the tool that the magistrate has for the enforcement of law? The sword. And what's the tool that the church has for the enforcement of its laws? Church discipline, the keys of the kingdom. So this whole chapter, the church centers, this is about the tool that the church has for maintaining holiness in the church. So remember those ancient apostolic marks of the true church? I believe in what? One, holy, Catholic, apostolic church. So if the church does not practice discipline in any way, the church really ceases to be holy. Like, our lives are supposed to be different from the outside world. If they're not, then we really have ceased to be holy. We're supposed to be set apart, different. We live our lives by that standard. Yes, sir? I've always wondered about this passage. There does seem to be a bi-direction, like whatever you bind up. But I've always wondered if there's any sense in which this is really just directed toward the apostles. I think there's some that, yeah, there's certain authority they have that certainly not all ordinary ministers have. But the fact that he singles out the term church upon this rock, and we would take this rock, I would take this rock to refer to Peter's confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. I will build my church, okay? And then in the church, yes, we have the right to bind and loose. to pronounce forgiveness from God's word to those that are repentant, and to shut the kingdom out to those that are not repentant. But yeah, there's definitely things the apostles have the authority to do that we don't today. Here's a helpful distinction that comes up later in scripture in 1 Corinthians 3. The apostles are the foundation layers. I'm just an ordinary minister. I build on their foundation. I can't lay another foundation. Jesus Christ and the apostles, they're the foundation builders. The rest of us just build on it. So that is an important distinction that you would definitely draw there. Yes, ma'am. Also a problem there with the translation in the long versions. Both of the verbs about binding are future perfect. Whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven. Which means you better square what you're doing with what God has said. Right. Whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Right. So they're both future perfect, Sarah. And that makes a difference. It has to be set up very well. Yeah, and and the only way we can know that for sure is if we're faithful to the text of Scripture for sure I can only know I'm doing that right if I go to the What if I can demonstrate from God's Word what we're doing and what we teach so that's all it We're always our authority is always derivative. It's always secondary to God's so that's why the opening chapter of the Westminster Confession is says the church can have no other recourse to settle disputes than to the Holy Spirit speaking in Scripture. And remember we talked last week about, and the Holy Spirit can speak clearly to us, okay? He can speak clearly, and we are accountable for what he says, to understand it correctly. So if you ever, anyone here debate regularly with Roman Catholics or Eastern Orthodox people? I mean, the way they talk about the Bible, you would think the Bible's a muddled mess of confusion nobody can possibly understand. And I've asked people online, okay, here's an assertion from the Old Testament. David was king of Israel. So what are the viable interpretations of that? Very good, very good, excellent. And I've actually done that in the form of, okay, David was king of Israel. Here's five options. This phrase means Rehoboam was king of Israel, Saul was king of Israel, Solomon was king of Israel, or David was king of Israel. Now, are we supposed to read that and go, who knows which one it is? Without an infallible interpreter, I can't possibly, of course not. God can speak and he can speak clearly to us. He expects us to understand him. Always remember that. To me, that's one of the most soul-stirring things in the New Testament. Jesus held people accountable For understanding the Bible. And when they didn't read it and didn't understand it correctly, he unloaded on them. He just very matter of factly, haven't you read this? Well you didn't read this. You didn't read what Moses said over here. So always remember that. God can speak and he speaks clearly to us. And we are supposed to understand him. Okay? He does, yeah, in 2 Peter, as our dear brother Paul has written, which some find hard to understand. I think Peter probably found some of it hard to understand. But Paul, there's no question, Paul is an intellectual giant, and it does take some work to understand him, but those clear gospel passages are easy enough for even a child to understand, though, aren't they? It's real simple, faith not works, it's Christ, not what you do, and all that. Were you gonna say something else? That's right, that's right Yes Yeah Yeah. Well, one of the most powerful illustrations I've ever heard is that James White debated a Jesuit Catholic priest named Mitchell Pacwa. Has anyone ever seen any of the Pacwa debates? And they were debating Sola Scriptura. And the Bible alone is the voice of God speaking. And in this closing statement, James White goes up to the podium and he puts a stack of canon canon law books from the Roman Catholic Church that was like this high. It was book after book after book after book. And he says, are we seriously to believe that we can't understand this statement? And he reads Romans 5.1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Without reading all of this first, He says, give me Romans five, give me Romans eight over this stuff any day of the week. Because the Bible is simplicity compared to trying to understand some of these convoluted systems that men have come up with over the centuries. So, okay, good questions. Okay, so the government of the church is distinct from the magistrate. So it's a different sphere of jurisdiction. We have the keys of the kingdom, it's a self-governing entity. Okay, so point number two. To these officers, the keys of the kingdom are committed by virtue whereof they have power, respectively, to retain and remit sins. That just means to pronounce sin to be forgiven. To shut that kingdom against the impenitent. So if someone is unrepentant for their sins, we have to go through that process of discipline and up to and including excommunication. Both by the word and censures and to open it unto penitent sinners. So the repentant sinners, you want them to be part of the church Be confident, take the Lord's Supper, grow in grace here and learn by the ministry of the gospel and by absolution from censures. That means if a censure does its work and someone's repentant, you lift it from them, you restore them to the Lord's Supper, okay, as occasion shall require. The first month I was a ruling elder, a long time ago, at the church there in Ohio, my first session meeting, they handed me one of the toughest cases I've ever heard of before or since. It was a crime had been committed by someone in the church against someone else. And they said, we want you to meet with this guy every Sunday and counsel him. I went, wow. And found out what happened. It was pretty horrible. And he submitted to that and went through that process. And then when he was restored and they lifted the six months off of communion, it was glorious. The whole church went forward and hugged him and welcomed him. And it was great. That's how church discipline is supposed to work. It's supposed to restore the repentant person and bring them back into fellowship with God. And so it was quite a rude awakening. I remember driving home from that session meeting and I told Amy, I don't think I should have said yes to being nominated. But this is going to be way harder. I thought it would just be fun teaching theology in Sunday school, and this is not cool at all. But anyway. So that's what it's supposed to do. You absolve people from their censures when they repent, as occasion shall require. So let's look at, real quick, look at Matthew 18. I want to go through this passage. Matthew 18, verses 15 through 18. Matthew 18, 15 to 18. This is a very, very important passage. And it's also a passage that's very often misused. This passage is not talking about public sin. It's not talking about what's been publicly taught. If someone puts something out there and it's on the internet, you don't have to follow this process to rebuke them. You can go immediately to the church courts, which is what happened again and again in the PCA. But verse 15. Moreover, if your brother sins against you, so what's this talking about? Interpersonal sin. Okay, so if someone at church offends you in some way, who is ever supposed to find out about it? No one but them, right? Okay, so we'll keep going. Go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. See here how clear that is? If someone offends you, someone slights you, someone says something, rubs you the wrong way, and you can't get it out of your mind, don't talk to other people about it. Obey this passage and go to them by yourself. Go to them by yourself. Look at the rest of it there. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. So just as a mental note, Matthew 18, when you hear that thrown out, every time there's a controversy, Matthew 18, Matthew 18, Matthew 18. Matthew 18 is very important, but it applies only to interpersonal sin. It doesn't apply to broader public things. I've heard this passage misused to try to stop people from getting in trouble again and again and again. This passage is dealing with interpersonal sin and really that's it. That's all it's dealing with. Yes, sir? Criminal stuff? You call the cops. Yes, yeah, that's not, in fact, I've even heard, it's actually, I like to watch crime documentaries, because I like watching how they catch bad guys years later. There was a Catholic priest, John Fite was his name, he murdered a girl, and wasn't brought to justice until like 40-something years later. He had confessed that to a bishop, and they covered it up. And the police asked that bishop, why did you not go to the authorities? Well, because he told it to me in confidence. And I've told people before, when I've done counseling, if you tell me something that you're planning to do that's illegal, I will call the cops. Okay, if you tell me, yeah, I've had this plan to kill this person for years, and I've almost acted on it a few times, I'm like, I'm calling the cops then, because you're outside the sphere of jurisdiction of the church, you've moved. That's a very important question, because you do have to make a distinction between sin and crime. What's the difference? Because some sins are crimes. Some sins aren't crimes. Well, what's a sin that's not a crime? Hating someone in your heart. Coveting what someone else has. I mean, I'm not going to get fined by the magistrate for that. Okay? Now, we've talked about this before too, but if you go 26 in a 25 mile per hour zone, that's a crime, isn't it? I've seen the ticket forms. You can actually get a ticket for that. I don't get tickets very often, but I remember looking at the thing and going, man, they can actually cite you. They can actually fine you for going 26 and a 25. Is that a sin, though, against God? Huh? Okay, no, people don't... Huh? It could be, yeah. So, but remember that, yeah, if someone is doing something that's criminal, that actually is illegal, you should let the magistrate know about that. You should let the cops know someone has done something illegal or whatever. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, that's sandwiched right between those two parables like the the unforgiving servant remember what what happens in that parable For like less than a third day of a day's wages he won't show mercy after he's been forgiven 10,000 talents, which is an unimaginable sum of money and So, yeah, we should be as eager and ready to forgive those that seek our forgiveness as God is to forgive us. So, yes, sir? On the other side, where do you think the line is between, like, a sin that somebody commits that you just don't even have time to forgive and you just move on because it's small, versus realizing, OK, now is the time of action to go talk to this person? If it just won't get out of your mind, if it's something that just kind of gnaws at you, I think you have an obligation to go to that person by yourself. If you can overlook, yeah, it is the glory of a man to overlook a transgression. Proverbs 19.11, whatever you can overlook, overlook it. And what is it, 1 Peter 4.8, love covers how many sins? A multitude of sins. Now some people love with a love that will cover a couple, but not a multitude. So whatever you can handle without it getting to you or bothering you. you should overlook it. I was thinking of John Calvin. John Calvin, you know, people in town when he was first there in Geneva, they'd fire guns outside of his windows. They'd see him in the streets and fall down on the ground and pretend they were worshiping him. They sang nasty songs about him in the taverns. People named their dogs after him. And eventually, he got fired. And he said, thank God, and he just left. But when he came back, he never addressed how badly they had treated him. And they actually invited him back. And it's amazing because he was gone for like two and a half years, and he gets in the pulpit and picks up at the very next verse where he left off and doesn't even say a word about how badly they treated him. But he did write about it. He said, when I recall to mind the wretchedness of my life in that place, I shudder at the thought of returning. Indeed, I would rather die a thousand deaths than again take up that cross. And yet he does. He goes back and spent the rest of his life there, the next 25 years training pastors and missionaries. He was a very gracious man, very gracious. Yes, sir? There is also, I'm reminded of the Westminster Confession on the explicating the Fifth Commandment. I thought how it also, why this is such an individual, conscious decision depending on the specific circumstances. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, like if you're an elder, you've got to eventually, you want to err on the side of patience, you know, because one thing I told a lot of the guys studying in seminary, we did a class on church leadership and church government and things like that, and I just mentioned to this guy, once you make a motion at a session meeting to summon this person to appear before the session to address a sin, Once that motion is seconded and passed, either they're going to repent or they're going to get censured. So you want to exhaust everything you've got. Go to the person, plead with them. Once you make a motion, though, it's either they're going to repent or they're going to get in big trouble with the church. But eventually, you have to do that. But you should definitely be patient. But you're right. You have obligations to do that in various leadership positions as a father and mother, like that says. Yes, sir? That's especially true with repeatable sin. With what? Repeatable sin. Like if your brother sins against you, you can overlook it. Yeah, right. Everyone can have a bad day or sin, you know, in some way like that. Good. Yes? I think to all the sessions, you know, leading the different churches that believe they have the keys to the kingdom, I think all these questions also tie into the culture and the self-government of the congregation, each member, I think is as good listening to what you're specifically going to be preaching is self-government and love to your neighbor and not being justice collectors and that kind of thing, being forgiving. And I think, well, just again, to repeat on that, we're going to have so much better direction and tools and knowledge of what to do if our session is leading us in that way and guiding us to do that. I think we are as good as our Yeah, that's very true. Tend not to rise above your leaders. Yes, sir, Michael. And then I hold the exact opposite, I'm thinking. I believe that our government is a reflection of us. So we have who we deserve to have. Well, those are both true. They're both true in a way. They are. I think those are both true in a way. But remember, 1 Peter 5, I always think of 1 Peter chapter 5 about shepherds. You are an example to the flock. Everyone's supposed to want to be like you. To me, that's the most convicting part of being an elder, is I'm supposed to be what people aspire to be like. Wow. Okay, so I better handle everything well and, you know, which you don't always do that, but you better try. So those are both true. So don't argue about it. It's like you're both right. Because you're right. People tend not to rise above their leaders. But you guys picked your leaders though, okay? We're the ones you guys chose. So those are good points. All right. So let's move on to point number three there. Church censures are necessary for the reclaiming and gaining of offending brethren. for deterring of others from the like offenses, for purging out of that leaven which might infect the whole lump, for vindicating the honor of Christ and the holy profession of the gospel, and for preventing the wrath of God which might justly fall upon the church if they should suffer his covenant and the seals thereof to be profaned by notorious and obstinate offenders. Folks, and that's kind of what happened in the mainline churches, the mainline denominations, they put up with the push towards liberalism for so long that it leavened the whole lump. Okay, I want you to look at two passages. Look at Galatians chapter two, verses four and five, and then Galatians five, nine. So Galatians two. Galatians two. Beginning at verse three. Galatians two, verse three. Now listen carefully to God's word here. Yet not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And this occurred because of false brethren, secretly brought in, who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage, to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. So how quickly was this false teaching dealt with? Immediately, within an hour. If you don't address clear and obvious departures from the faith, you're going to be in a lot of trouble eventually. Look at Galatians 5 verse 9. Actually, we'll start at verse 7, but I want you to notice especially verse 9 and verse 10, but look at verse 7, Galatians 5, verse 7. Here, closing down his argument here, you ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion does not come from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Okay, and look at verse 10. I have confidence in you and the Lord that you will have no other mind, but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is. So talk to me here. What are some of the ways that the notion of leaven is used in scripture to describe what? Sin? Start small, get big. That's right. How much leaven, I mean, people make homemade bread in my house, and it is pretty amazing to watch. How much yeast do you put in there? Just the tiniest little bit, and it just bubbles through the whole thing. Paul has a special place for yeast. He had yeast as a pet when he was a kid. Because yeast is technically alive. We didn't want to get pets there. Didn't you have pet yeast? You did, yeah. That's awesome. Yeah, so notice that a little bit of that, a little false teaching, a little compromise, a little bit of this bad stuff. Paul is saying here, the Holy Spirit is saying to his church, you got to deal with it like right now. You got to get rid of this now. Okay, don't let it start, you know, leavening the whole lump. You got to deal with it right away. And that's what church discipline is about. And it's hard to do, because then you always get attacks. Anyone being disciplined, I mean, attacks you. Well, what do you think? You're more spiritual than I am? You think you're holier? You think you're smarter? You think you're this? You think you're that? No, we're supposed to be holy. We're supposed to be godly. And you're going off the tracks here. OK? But did I see a hand? Yes, sir. I think of 1 Corinthians 5, where he's, Paul says, put him out of the church because it became publicly known. So it escalated from what I would say you have self-discipline would be before Matthew 18, and then starting at Matthew 18, the brother and brother, he goes immediately to official censure. Now, what did Paul do with Peter's compromise of the gospel? How did he address it? Did he go to him privately first? What did he do? to his face right in front of everybody. He even says that. I told him in the presence of everyone. And essentially what he says is, Peter, you understand this stuff. Without, I'm paraphrasing, obviously. You're the guy who had the vision of the sheet, remember? You know that you're allowed to eat this stuff. So why are you withdrawing? Why are you trying to compel Gentiles to obey these laws when you know, you know that you're not supposed to be doing this? So he rebuked him publicly because it was a public sin. Okay, so don't let people misuse Matthew 18. But yes, that's Galatians 2, 11 and following. Yeah, he said, but when these men came from Antioch, I opposed Peter to his face because he was wrong. And he even says, because he was not straightforward about the truth of the gospel. And he laid into him. And what's amazing, what's wonderful, Peter accepted that rebuke and took that correction. Yeah, you're right. Shouldn't have done that. And Paul says, this is how it's supposed to happen. You don't yield subjection to this stuff, even for one hour. And because the leaven, that little bit of leaven, will leaven the whole lump real fast if you don't deal with it quickly. OK. And this was an apostle. Yeah. Here was an apostle. An apostle. And that got the ministry. Yeah. So take heed. Yeah. The first pope. The first pope. Yeah, he was a pope. Yeah. And a married pope at that. Yeah, we're not even going there, man. You got to fill out the special form. I am hereby infallible, right? All right, but notice point three there. What an important biblical point there, like purging out that leaven, which might infect the whole lump. I mean, that's a lesson the Church has had to learn again and again and again. You've got to deal with stuff now, like today. Obvious errors, you've got to deal with them. I was going to tell you all, I've been working on an overture, my first overture, to try to see if I can get this on our Book of Church Order. There's got to be a way that you can real quickly get rid of someone from the ministry. Like, for example, if someone stood up and told the whole General Assembly they're gay, we should be able to get rid of them and defrock them right there. And I've talked to other ministers about this, and they've said, no, you'd have to have a trial. You'd have to have this and that. I'm like, no, if the guy bears witness against himself in public, you've got everything you need to charge him right there. And the court's assembled right there, right? But I have a feeling the parliamentarians are going to give me a hard time. But I would love to see that in our BCO. If someone engages in obvious, flagrant violation of their vows, we should be able to strip them of their credentials right there, because the court's already gathered. Am I wrong on that? Am I out to lunch on that? Okay, I'm going to tell them my church thinks that's cool. Yes, you would need to rebuke them right there and let them maybe repent right there or clarify right there. But if they obfuscate and create confusion and start waffling, I think that you could invoke many passages of scripture. I think the First Timothy 620, that false teachers contradict themselves a lot. It says, watch out for the vain and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. They speak out of both sides of their mouth. Someone who contradicts themselves constantly, yeah, that's a problem, too. and he was rebuked immediately, and he repented, and he didn't fall from his seat. How many of you here have ever heard of the Norman Shepard controversy that happened at Westminster Seminary way back in the 70s? O. Palmer Robertson, y'all ever heard of O. Palmer Robertson? He wrote Christ of the Covenants, a great, great book. Norman Shepard was accused, there were charges against him for teaching a false gospel. He was a seminary professor who taught seminary students for years and years and years. And so these complaints were coming up because guys were showing up for their presbytery exams and they didn't understand the gospel. They couldn't articulate the gospel correctly. And they kept asking these young ministers, where did you get this stuff? And they all said, from Professor Shepard at Westminster Seminary. And so a whole bunch of world-class heavyweight reform theologians met with Shepard behind closed doors for like seven hours. And they came out of there and they all said, we have no idea what he believes. We have no idea what this guy believes about the gospel. But then, audio cassettes, tapes of his lectures in class surfaced, and they were as clear as can be. You're justified before God at the final judgment by your works, by what you do. I'm sorry? Yeah, it's just smooth words of flattery. I thought, isn't that amazing? Meeting with heavyweight Reformed theologians, nobody knows what you're talking about. But boy, when you're talking to your students, you're as clear as the noonday brightness of the sun. The thing to remember, false teachers and bad guys, they don't obey any rules. They will lie. They will contradict. They'll say one thing and contradict it later. They'll say things purposefully ambiguous. Okay, I think it was Calvin. Calvin said ambiguity is the fortress of heretics. Ambiguity, because then people are like, well, you're just not being charitable. You're not charitable enough in the way you're interpreting. You know who said that in the past? Arius. Who was Arius? What did he deny? The deity of Christ. Again and again and again. Oh, these guys are interpreting me in the worst way. And they're being so mean to me. The Armenians did the same thing. You guys are interpreting us in the worst possible light. And you know what the reformed church fathers in the Netherlands did with the Armenians? Eventually, they threw them out of the Synod. and said, you guys can't be here for this meeting because you guys are contradicting yourselves. You guys are whining and being crybabies. You're ambiguous. So we're going to deal with this ourselves. And that was the right thing to do. They got rid of them because of that. But anyway, church censures, that's such an important part of church life because you've got to get that leaven out or it starts infecting everything. All right, point number four. For the better attaining of these ends, the officers of the church are to proceed by admonition, suspension from the sacrament of the Lord's Supper for a season, and by excommunication from the church according to the nature of the crime and demerit of the person. Okay, so those are the steps of church discipline. If someone gets a summons to come to the session, that's going to be admonition. We're just gonna say, look, you're doing this, you gotta stop. And if they say, you're right, I repent, then church discipline's over, right? Because the only thing that you're really gonna be getting in trouble for is what? Being unrepentant, okay? Like literally no matter what it is that you've done and into, like you said, if you're doing something illegal, there's gonna be the magistrate might need to come and do something. But the only thing that you're ever disciplined for is if you're unrepentant. So if you're admonished and you repent, then this one process is over, okay? Yes, sir. together. What about someone that is a believer outside of church? How do we deal with that? And is there a way of dealing with that other than going to them in person, whether it's a private or even a public? Well, yeah, you should go to them privately, but you wouldn't be able, you could tell their elders if they have elders, if they're a member somewhere else. Might want to let them know if there's some kind of serious thing going on so they can deal with it. But yeah, we don't have any churchly authority over anyone outside of our membership here. Although John Wesley excommunicated people in other denominations all the time. And people said, Mr. Wesley, where is your church? Where is your parish? Anyone remember what he said? The whole world is my parish, he says. No. OK, any other thoughts or comments? Yes, sir, Jonathan. It's kind of like what the parent is saying. Proactive is always best. Yeah. I just appreciate that you take time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I appreciate that. One of the main reasons, the only reasons I do stuff on the internet is I just don't hear the real, real, real clear gospel stuff the way I used to in the 1990s and the early 2000s. It's kind of been muted some, and it really, really upsets me. But I don't like watching my own videos, though. I always listen to myself. I'm like, man, you are such a sledgehammer. You need to chill out. And people even leave comments like that, like, what's your problem? I don't know. Ask my wife, she'll tell you. All right, let's close. Yes? state, in the church, what you're talking about in submitting to authority, and that authority having the power to do what they do, requires a congregation that is intensely discerning and wise. So we have a society now that yields to the civil magistrate for everything. Everybody wants the civil magistrate to take care of everything. We don't want him to think, or work, or do anything. We just want you all to, Uncle Sam, just take care of it all. Well, unfortunately, that spills over into the other areas of government, and self-government, home government, church government. So we have that same attitude sitting in our churches that, well, that's not my job. That's their job. Yeah, right. But your job is very heavy in discerning to defrock somebody on the spot or to excommunicate someone. And so we appreciate the sledgehammer, but we also appreciate the multitude of the plurality, or the, what do you say, there's more than one elder. There's not just one, there's a group. And you all work together in the fear of the Lord to rightly divide the word of truth for our sake. But you all continue to remind us what a heavy responsibility we have to be discerning, to be wise, to be in the Word, and to study, so that we can encourage you and support you, but submit to you when we're supposed to. We need to be encouraged more to take responsibility as a congregant and not become lazy like we have in the civil sphere. And even in the home, it's become, just as a society. But I see churches where church discipline is not practiced. And I think that's contributing to a lot of things in our society and into the homes. But anyway, many of us appreciate it so much. One of the best Luther quotes I ever read, long ago when I first got into the Reformation, I can't recall where I read it from him, but he said, at the end of the day, every individual person does their own believing and their own dying. And I, as an individual, am responsible for what I believe. And yes, it's great. I'm very thankful for good teachers and good books and things like that. But at the end of the day, it's me and God. What do I believe? What am I trusting in? And that's why my goal for you is that you would just trust in the finished work of Christ and go to heaven. But understanding it's your responsibility to do that. You need to believe. All right, let's close in prayer. Father, we bless your name and praise you for this time to be together. Thank you for giving us the clarity of your word. And we just thank you for your church in the world. And we do pray for reformation, for revival, the raising up of godly men for ministry, who will love the truth and stand for it, whatever the cost, and will not yield subjection to serious error, even for an hour, knowing that a little bit of that leavens the whole lump quickly. So help us to be vigilant, not just as elders, but as was just said, as individuals in our own homes, in our own lives. A little bit of tolerated sin gives way to much more later. So help us to be vigilant in that and to purge out the leaven from ourselves too. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.