I'm thankful to be here tonight. I'm just an old sinner being saved by grace. And I mean being saved. I don't ever speak of salvation as a past event. I see it more and more as a present reality. We must be saved day by day. God not only puts away our sins when we first believe on Christ, but he continues working with us. Aren't you glad that he works with us? Tonight, I want to share with you what the Lord has laid on my heart and what I feel compelled. And what I'm sharing with you, like Dr. Campbell used to say, he said, I didn't read this in the funny papers, Every aspect of what I'm going to share, I have lived personally. I know what I'm talking about. I've been there. And you, I'm not saying that you have been there, but you will be in part of this situation sooner or later. And you need to know what to do. Everyone does. That's why the Lord gave us this instruction. The Lord is interested in us overcoming. And one of the greatest things we'll have to overcome in our Christian life is having our feelings hurt and being offended by someone. And let me be clear about this. I am not talking about little minor infractions, little minor common irritations that everybody can experience in the hubbub of life, but I'm talking about serious offenses. Things that break fellowship. Things that hurt and injure. Things that drive a wedge between you and some other soul. Now the Christian life is not just one constant dynamic. There are ups and downs. And our Lord gives us instruction here. And I have two passages that I want to refer to. Turn with me to Luke chapter 17. and we're gonna read verses one through four. Luke 17, one through four, and then we're gonna turn to Matthew five, and we're gonna read verse 23 through 26. If you want a title, I could give you this, fallouts, fallouts and what to do about them. injuries that hurt you and what to do about them, disappointments that grieve and break your heart and anger you, what to do about them. Let us read these instructive words and we're so thankful that our Lord Jesus cares enough about us to go into detail on this subject as we will see It is important. We will, make no mistake about it, you will need these words. You will need this instruction. So let us read it now. Luke 17, beginning of verse one. Then said he unto the disciples, it is impossible that offenses will come. That is, it is impossible for them not to come. They will come, but woe unto him through whom they come. A woe from the lips of Jesus is a terrible sentence. It is equivalent to eternal damnation when Jesus says, woe unto him through whom they come. That is, those who injure, those who hurt, especially as we will see, the little ones, the children of God, and cause them to fall. Now, here we have again, can someone injure someone and hurt someone severely and then get right? Yes, they can. Aren't you thankful that this woe is conditional upon non-repentance. That is, if you go on in this condition without repentance. You see, if there is the grace of repentance found in the most horrible sin, there can be forgiveness and restoration. So even here, the one who is warned, woe if you are the offender, Woe if you injure someone that caused them to stumble and fall. This is verse two. It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he cast into the sea than he should offend, and the word offend means to transgress again and to cause to fall. Many new translations, of course, render this cause to fall. So offending, not in a minor way, but offending a little one who has believed in the Lord, who is making progress in the things of God, but are so injured and so set back because of a transgression against them that it literally drives them away. Can that happen? Jesus, the severity of the penalty, indicates that this is a reality. For those who did it, he said, and do not repent. It would be better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck. This is a capital punishment, was a horrible form of punishment in Bible days. And Jesus says this would be preferable to what God will do to you. If you have this kind of sin in your life, not just your own private sins, but you're sinning against God's people, and you do it in such a blatant and hard-hearted manner in which it causes someone to stumble, it would be better for you to suffer this dreadful fate of being drowned in the deepest ocean with a millstone about your neck than you to be guilty of this transgression. Now we've had that warning. Now let's go to verse three. Take heed to yourselves. Verse one has been a warning to the offender. Now we take up a warning to the offended, to the injured, to the hurt. Take heed to yourselves. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. Isn't this what God did to us? Did not we trespass against God? Did not we offend God? And did not God rebuke us through his word? When the gospel truth came to us, we were rebuked for our sins. And it caused us what? To repent. It caused us to turn. And notice, if thy brother trespass against thee, isn't it amazing? Here is a process that God used upon us. We offended him. He rebuked us through his word. And we repented. And now God says the time will come and the time is now. If this happens to you, you are, as it were, to duplicate this. Isn't this amazing? The Lord requests that we duplicate what he has wrought in our lives. His forgiveness, when we repented, we are also to rebuke. And if repentance, if there is a humbling and a sorry, I'm sorry for what I've done wrong, then we shall forgive him. Notice if he repent, forgive him. Then and there, let it go. Then and there, release him. Then and there, the moment it happens, forgive him. The most godly thing you can ever do is forgive someone who's wronged you. The most Christ-like thing that can happen in our lives is when there is an offense involved and someone has injured us and we have been faithful enough to go to that brother and share his fault, share his transgression, rebuke him through the word for it. If he says he's sorry, then we forgive him. And notice in verse four, and if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turned again to thee. I've always found this amazing. You mean this could really happen? I don't know that you could ever have the same person committing the same sin against you seven times in the same day, but I'll tell you what can happen. If somebody injures you and hurts you, you can call it to mind seven times in a day. You can bring that failure, you can bring that injury, you can bring that harm that has been done to you into your mind. It seems like it nags you, and it troubles you, and it's something that you relive. And this is where the danger, as we will see, this is where the danger lies for us who have been legitimately harmed, legitimately wronged. The harm lies in reliving this injury and becoming bitter and our bitterness turning into hate and losing all the birds quit singing in your soul The brook dries up. The fellowship ceases. And you're dry, and hard, and angry, and bitter, and resentful. And you need healing. You need deliverance. So, even seven times a day, turn again to thee saying, Listen, he only has to do it one time. The person that wrongs us only has to tell us he's sorry one time, and when it comes back up in our minds, we recall that to our memory, he said he's sorry, and we forgive not just seven times, but 70 times seven. We are tempted to have an old wound reopen and we begin to relive it. If we've released them and forgiven them, and if they've repented and they've said they're sorry, then we shall forgive him again. No wonder the disciples said it in verse five after hearing this, Lord, increase our faith. We gotta have a shot in the arm to do this. We gotta have more grace to do this. This is not something normally that men can pull off by themselves. In fact, living the Christian life is an impossible thing without the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit is said in the Bible to be our helper. Turn with me to Matthew 5. Matthew 5, verse 23. Therefore, If I bring thy gift to the altar, here's a worshiping person that's interested in giving gifts. He's interested in giving to the Lord. He's interested in worship. We might say, in the vernacular, he's interested in going to church and paying his tithes. He comes to the altar, he comes to the place of worship, and there he remembers His conscience is stung and he remembers that his brother has something against him. And his memory flashes to that. And he knows that there's someone he's wronged, someone he's said something to, someone he's done an injustice and he's bothered, grieved. Beloved, if you belong to God and you do somebody wrong, and if you're not bothered about it, it's a good indication you're not even a Christian. Because if you are a true Christian, you cannot wrong someone, you cannot injure someone, you cannot slander someone, you cannot hurt someone, and not be convicted about it. And so therefore, if you are bringing your gift before the altar, You will remember if you're in the wrong. What does the Lord instruct us to do? Listen, leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way. First, be reconciled to thy brother. Now whatever long this takes, the church service may be over. It may be the next church service before you can give your tithe or do the service. But he said, do this first. Do this first. This is a priority with God. This is not something you stick on the back burner. This is something you carry out immediately. It's something you do quickly when you know it in your soul. It is not something you can table. There are consequences as we will see to this. Leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way. First be reconciled to thy brother. And we understand here is that we try to be, if we need to apologize, if we need to ask for forgiveness, if we need to make restitution, whatever it may be, to make things right, so far as humanly possible, We have to clear this thing off of our conscience. And we have to do our best before God. And God knows, and two things can happen. They may not get right, but God will give you a clear conscience in your own heart that you've done the right thing. And you will have the freedom to continue with the Lord and to be blessed in your worship. And then come and offer thy gift. Now look at verse 25. Agree with thine adversary, that one who has a bone to pick with you, that one who is the one you've wronged, the one who is upset with you, the one who is grieved. Agree with thine adversary, come to terms. Make things right quickly while thou art in the way with him, lest at any time The adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, truly I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out of there, this prison, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. I read the text, now I'd like to give just, have three little observations from what has been told us. The very fact that you can be offended is proof that you have a moral nature. that still recognizes right and wrong. Everyone, it's an amazing thing, it doesn't matter who it is, everyone has a keen sense of right and wrong when someone transgresses against them. Even little children playing. Johnny can be in the bedroom with the other boys and his sisters and he can be tearing up their toys. And long as it's Susie's toy or the other brother's toys, okay, but when the brothers start monkeying with his toys and doing them damage, oh my goodness. Everybody has, even a young child has a sense of right and wrong when injustice or something or someone transgresses against them. Do you realize tonight if you think about it how racked and wrecked the cycle of sin is in this world and how much anger, how much resentment, how many heavy unresolved incidents are weighing down on people's lives just here and there and everywhere? How many unresolved offenses do you suppose are out there? I wonder in this congregation, how many unresolved offenses are there even among us? That is, where this matter that someone has injured us and we have not released them with forgiveness, and our unforgiveness is making us bitter and turning our hearts. I thought about this, how gracious God is in the fact that there are so many offenses going on. As the Lord looks out in the world and he sees people being injured, people doing injury, grievances committed, it's amazing God does not shut this thing, this whole thing down because of the offenses. But it's amazing, in some sense God brings, as we will see, You cannot with impunity sin against anyone nor have anyone sin against you and you not obey the Lord and walk away with and do nothing. We are obligated. Now my first and simple point is this, it is inevitable. You know why these words are given to us? It will be impossible for you to live in the kind of world you live in and not be injured. You will be hurt. You will be disappointed. That's when Jesus said, it is impossible that offenses will come. No one is immune to suffering offenses. You will be the object of some wrong at some time. You will be the object of some slander, injustice, some outrage. In other words, offenses are inevitable. They're going to happen. You count on it. You know it's true. If you've had any age at all to you, you know it happens. People hurt you. People do bad things to you. People say bad things to you. Offenses are inevitable, but our response to them is what matters. Isn't it amazing? The Lord does not again look necessarily and weigh out the severity of what wrong has been done to us. Certainly it's a very bad thing, and if the person who's done it don't get right, they're in big trouble. But what about us? You see, our response to the injury will tell the story to what happens to us. I found the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ on this subject to be literally profound. Yes, we've read it. He warns this sinning brother. He warns the sinning offender in no certain terms. Whoa, he says. And he says in verse two, better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck. These are dreadful things, but you will notice he lays a burden on us who get our feelings hurt when a wrong is done to us. Listen, that wrong, if it is not tended to and not dealt with biblically can rot out our insides to the point that it drives out all of the good peace of God from our souls and fills us with anger, bitterness, and many times revenge. And we sink down when we have literally been wronged and will not follow Christ's instruction, we sink down and may find ourselves in a place we are actually no better than him who wronged us. That's pretty serious, Lord. That's why the Lord, prefaces his instructions to us with these words. Notice in verse three, take heed to yourselves. These words are never used lightly in the scripture and these words are only used to warn us of the gravest of consequences. Take heed to yourselves if thy brother trespass against thee. So here it is. some serious business. Now there's no need, when we talk about the inevitable nature of this world, it is impossible that offenses come. As I said, it's just you cannot live in this world and not be offended. It's going to happen. You're going to be injured. Even a close relationship with the best of people in a good church will at times be so stressful and injure your feelings and leave you disappointed. In fact, I find as I weigh out all of the instructions that our Lord gives that these are specifically designed for Christians. If thy brother If you're coming in worship and you remember that thy brother hath aught against thee. So here it is. We're not just talking about rude, crude, bad people out in the world who may offend us. We're talking about we may be offended by a good brother, many times unintentionally. But if thy brother trespass against thee, well, you might say, It doesn't matter. Have you ever resolved it? Oh, it's no big deal. You still think about it, don't you? It still bothers you? How many people are carrying unresolved issues in their heart over some incident? And you're bringing it up. It constantly resurfaces, even to the point of seven times in a day. Why is it? Well, we could give you several reasons why this is inevitable. We're gonna be offended. Just think about this. Every person you meet and know in church, out of church, is a potential offender. It's true. Why do offenses happen? They happen because men are sinners. Everyone is a potential sinner. You, everyone is a potential offender and you are yourself a potential offender. I like what the Psalmist said. Psalm 57 verse four, he expressed it well when he said, my soul is among lions. I lie even among them that are set on fire. even the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword. So why do offenses, why are they inevitable? Because there are so many sinners. Men come short and they happen due to the fact that we have an inclination, all of us, have an inclination to value ourselves above others. That's just inherent with us. And listen, if there's something that you'll be working on all of your life, it is your pride. And did you know the Bible tells us that only through pride cometh contention? That is, we have an inclination to pride. You know, you have heard that old statement when somebody said, Kind of an indicting question to ask somebody. Have you stopped beating your wife? How do you answer that, yes or no? Have you given up all of your pride? Have you overcome all of your pride? Have you overcome all of your inclination to think higher of yourself than you ought to think? I dare say you haven't. I don't think any of us have. I have learned, my wife is one of the most gentle, loving, humble, forgiving souls that I know. But let me tell you this, I have learned how to push the right buttons. Yeah. We all carry with us the right buttons of pride and selfishness and envy, jealousy, that people can abuse by injury and draw out of us. So again, transgressions, offenses are inevitable. And we must never forget this. They're inevitable because the devil, our adversary, loves to stir up division among brethren. There is nothing the devil camps around anymore and loves to divide brethren. Do you remember the 137th Psalm, verse one, what it says? Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren, what? To dwell together in unity. Well, whose business do you suppose it is who is always 24-7 seeking to cause division, injury, saints to fall out with one another? Do saints fall out with one another? Read Acts 15, Paul and Barnabas. So behold, it is good and pleasant for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is miserable and confusing and damaging. Let me tell you, when there are fallouts among brethren, I don't care how innocent we are in it, I don't care what the circumstances are, fallouts does no one any good. Everybody is hurt. The devil stirs up bad thoughts and feelings, especially over our brothers. Do you remember the parable when Jesus talked about God the Father forgiving this fellow's debt of 10,000 talents, which was more than he could ever pay in two lifetimes? And he forgave him, the fellow fell down before him, and the Lord released him of that debt and had compassion on him. And the same dude went out and grabbed one of his fellow brother that owed him a hundred pence and he grabbed him by the throat and said, pay me what you owe. You see, the devil loves to stir up our thoughts and feelings over a hundred pence debts. The devil can magnify and exploit the slightest infraction, the smallest incident. He can even stir bad thoughts in your mind at odd looks you get at church. Sometimes you come home from church and you say, did you see how so and so looked at me? Or did you hear the tone of his voice? You know, I have learned through the years, even in talking to my wife, I have to be, I don't hardly say anything without any, with some degree of passion about it. I could be talking on just a gentle and regular Bible subject and my wife thinks I'm preaching her into hell. I mean, I'm really, I get enthused and excited and passionate about what I believe. But what I'm saying is the devil can magnify these things. He can turn these little things into giant things, irritating distractions that dampens our opinion about someone. Things can change either quickly with a person or relationships can gradually grow sour and decline over time. If Satan cannot cause short, quick divisions among brethren, he has long-term plans and devices in his effort to create fallouts among brethren. So offenses can be sudden and dramatic, and when they are, who is behind this fallout? Where did it come from? Well, we know we wrestle not against flesh and blood. I always remember this. When there's sour and irritating feelings with people, there's more to it going on than just flesh and blood. Remember that, folks. Resist the devil. Offenses can be sudden and traumatic, or they can gradually build up to the breaking point. That's why a lot of marriages fail. There are people who have failures in their marriage. Everybody lives with someone else. If you live with another human being, there's gonna be imperfection and there's gonna be failure. It's when you keep a filing cabinet and you keep these things filed, these little offenses, one, one, one, and you keep them in your mind, they finally build up to the breaking point. And thus the marriage is lost. And things build up among brethren. And finally the church is lost. I have known two good sovereign grace churches to fall apart and split and go in a thousand different directions because of fallouts among the brethren. And folks, don't sit there smug and say it can't happen here. Who is it behind this? Remember, it's the devil. He loves to sow discord among the brethren and will be taking every opportunity within his special powers to see that it happens. Here's something else inevitable concerning offenses, why they happen. Offenses can happen because, listen carefully, You can offend someone because you tell them the truth and you should have not said anything about it. That is this, we are often not discreet enough or discerning enough to cover up someone's transgressions. Let me tell you right now, you are not obligated to tell everything you know about people. Well, I only tell the things that are true about people. Does it do any good? Does it heal the situation? Does it bring love and great thoughts? Yes, we may offend to the point of falling out with people by telling everything. I found out this. You do not need to tell everything you know about certain people. I have seen things happen in families. Sometimes families within part of families within our church, that it will do no good for these family members to know what I know about some of their family members. We ought to pass over it and keep our mouths shut. It is a great mark of wisdom to pass over another person's transgressions. Proverbs 17, nine, you know it well. He that covereth a transgression seeketh love, but he that repeateth a matter separates close friends. So I found that lack of discretion in telling everything you know can lead to an offense and a fallout. It is better for love's sake and fellowship's sake, and best in some cases, not to tell all you know, to be so. In the multitude of words, there wanteth not sin. Listen, I found a good rule to follow. I heard this when I was just a little boy, and I thought about, well, what about cases where we need to tell? Listen, there are cases in which church discipline is involved, It's really serious. We're called upon by the legal system to testify what we knew. There are times that we have to tell what we know. But here is a good rule to follow. Don't say anything about any person's past failures when you know you don't have to and it will not help the situation. Passover transgression, lack of passing over transgression sometimes leads to offenses. Well, I want to move on here, but let me just throw this in free of charge. Your Christian liberty can itself be used in offensive way to hurt someone. You know, as Christians, we have a wide berth very great liberty to partake of many lawful pleasures. And I'm thankful that the Lord has given us liberty in Christ to enjoy the good things of earth. But we need to be careful, don't we, with even our liberty, even our freedoms, because someone who is weak may be injured thereby. And if they are injured, if we would injure another brother by our actions or behavior, we are so sinning against Christ. Isn't that what the scripture tells us? Take heed, lest by any means this liberty of yours becomes a stumbling block unto them that are weak. So keep this in mind as you practice your liberties. Do you know someone who's weak who would be offended by it? Now as long as you can keep it private to yourself, and as long as you know that there's no negative or outfall from it, okay. But the minute you see that your liberty is hurting someone, And what you feel absolutely free to practice is a grief to some other person's soul that also believes in Christ. You, for love's sake, need to stop it. Paul said, I will go so far if my brother is offended never to eat even any kind of meat the rest of my life. How'd you like to do that? Well, nobody's gonna curtail my liberty. I remember being at a conference one time, and there was this guy who was preaching, and he had a big old, big heavy mustache and beard, and he was making this comment, and he was a very good preacher. After he got through preaching, there was another brother, and I heard this conversation, and he said, brother, we'd like to have you to come to church, but he said, and I get this of a hangup, He said, could you cut your mustache and beard off and come and preach to us? I said, we have just the conviction that it's cleaner and we're more presentable before God. Now that was just a conviction, but you know what he said to the guy? He said, I'm not cutting my beard for nobody for no reason. God help the man. Is that our attitude? Nobody's gonna take my liberty away. Nobody gonna tell me what to do. We need to examine ourselves if we can offend by our liberty. Here's another thing. Did you know our Protestant legacy? You know what we enjoy because of the Reformation? How many of you got a Bible with you tonight? Most of you do, don't you? Did you know this is precious, isn't it, to have our own Bible? To be able to read and study and learn the scriptures for ourselves, and like the Bereans, search the scriptures, whether these things be so. But did you know that invariably, because we all have our own Bible, and we all can read for ourselves, we are not going to always be in absolute harmony on our interpretations on some minor points. Can this be so? Christians at disagreement and interpreting things differently? Yes. And here's the problem, majoring on minor points with a passion has often led to fallout splits among brethren that has done great damage. I found out this, I thought when I have had heated controversies over not major gospel doctrines, but minor points of issue I've had with brethren in our church at times. And I thought to myself, why don't the Lord intervene here and open his mind to my interpretation. And I get in my soul a response kind of like this. I value humility and love and esteeming your brother more important than unity on some hair-splitting issue. You know what we're known by? You know what Jesus wanted us to be known by? Now listen, I'm not saying doctrinal correctness is not important, and I'm not saying that there's not anything the Bible teaches that is irrelevant or unimportant, but you know how Jesus said we were to be identified? By this shall all men know that you are my disciples. What? If you love one another. So fallouts are inedible. How long do I have here tonight? Huh? I've done preach too long. Fallouts are inedible, and I've given you the reasons. Here's something, and I'll say this quickly. Fallouts are never self-correcting. Luke 17 three, if you are offended, you are to act. Matthew 5, if you are the offender, you are required to act. Offended and offenders are both exhorted to act. or they fall into a sphere of disobedience. Now listen to this. Isn't this amazing? The fellow that is injured is required to act. He may be legitimately harmed and legitimately wronged, but if he doesn't obey the Lord. You see, when you are offended, you are obligated to a special form of obedience. If you are the offender and you suddenly are pricked in your conscience and realize that you have done something against someone, you are admonished to go. The offender is told in the scriptures to go and to be reconciled with his brother, to apologize, to say, I'm sorry. Now that's not so hard, is it? Have you ever tried to get a child who's done another child wrong to say I'm sorry? In real honesty and humility, saying I'm sorry to someone is the hardest, easiest thing you will ever do. But it's required. You see, isn't this amazing? The offender, is told to drop everything and go, the offended is told to go and to rebuke, to talk out the matter. The offended is told to go and tell him his fault. And then if the fellow says, I'm sorry, to let it go, to forgive. to put it away. My point is this, folks. When a fallout with a brother or a sister has happened, things are not the same in your Christian life at that point. You are automatically bound into a sphere where a specific form of obedience is required of you, and if you don't do it, then You are offending. That's why I said the teaching on the Lord is profound on this area. If we don't do what he says, we will not be right. You know, I've seen this through the years. I hear this guy is worshiping and we're told in Matthew 5, 23 and 24. It's amazing. how you can come to church, give your time, do this or that, serve on committees, do charitable works, do wonderful things, and all the time you've got a bad spirit towards someone, there is an irritation there, many good outward Biblical habits and works can be maintained faithfully all the while being disobedient to this critical command. Let me tell you something about offenses. If you've been offended, to do nothing does not clear your conscience or bring reconciliation. And furthermore, time will in itself. And how many people make this miscalculation? Well, we'll get over it in time. No, you won't. You know what's likely to happen in time? It's only likely to grow worse as you relive it and relive it and relive it. Time does not heal this issue. Time will never make you forgive or forget this matter. That's why Jesus emphasizes confronting our offender head on or pay the penalty. So when you see long-term disobedience, when fallouts turn into long-term affairs, both parties are at fault. The one who has been legitimately wrong and injured is now being disobedient to the word. That's why Christ counsels us to take the initiative and approach the one who has wronged us. Have you ever cut your finger pretty deeply and it just said, well, I ain't gonna do anything about it. It'll be all right. In a few days, you realize it wasn't all right, that you got an infection in it. You see, if you don't attend to a wound, then that wound becomes infected. and then there's real danger. And let me tell you this, how much more when your own spirit has been wounded by someone? It's got to be healed, folks. It's got to be corrected, or there's danger. It's vital for you to get beyond the fault, the injury, the hard feelings, lest you be offended in a greater way. When someone is truly offended, it's like saying, I have an infection which might prove fatal to me if I don't get over it. Why? Injury and unresolved offenses grow by reliving them. over and over and they gradually turn into bitterness and bitterness into hardness and hardness into hatred. And that's why Jesus gives us the instructions. Our Lord knows where these injuries can lead. Fallouts, that's why he gives us the instruction. Fallouts with brethren must not be allowed to turn into fallaways. Christ is interested in one thing, reconciliation between souls, which will end in their salvation and them being right and our own salvation and us being right. He therefore exhorts again the offended to make his complaint known And if the fellow says, I'm sorry, then truly to forgive and the offender to drop everything and make an apology. And if at all humanly possible, make it right. And you say, well, what difference does it matter? The whole witness of our church is in the balance. Don't think that the people on the outside are not watching these fallouts. these injuries and these splits and ill wills among professing Christians. And furthermore, reconciliation, Jesus taught us, is not optional. If you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father in heaven forgive you of your trespasses. This brings me to my third and last point, and that is this. There's even more. There's more than the warning here. If you go on, and Jesus gives time to do the right thing, but if you don't do the right thing, there's this deal of passing over the threshold into imprisonment. And that's what he's saying. Back in Matthew, let me read it to you. Agree with thine adversary quickly. Now he's gonna give you time to do it. He's gonna give you opportunity to do it. He's sovereign over all things. But if you renege and if you disobey, he's put that particular sphere of obedience into your life at this point and you need to obey the Lord. But if you don't, agree with thine adversary quickly while they are in the way. And by the way, this is an amazing thing. In the way with him. The only time in the way or the way appears in the New Testament is in connection with the Christian life. The way, it is called the way. Yet while they are in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge and the judge deliver thee to the officer and thou be cast into the prison. Verily I say unto thee, thou shall be by no means come out of there. till thou has paid the uttermost farthing. Now here's what happens. And again, I know what I'm talking about. If there's somebody that's wronged you and you need to talk to them but you don't, you keep reneging and tabling it. You are, when you've had time to deal with it and you don't, spiritual vitality and realities begin to be choked down and it's the same thing of being cast into a prison. And I think the little parable or the little illustration that Jesus uses of the prison has three applications. He's talking about here and he's using a natural civil legal law in those days in which the law did not favor the debtor. If you didn't pay your debts, what happened to you in Bible days? You're at a debtor prison, you went to jail. So there was a legal precedent that Jesus, I think, makes application, but he's He never is just talking about legal things for the sake of legal things. There is a spiritual temporal principle at work also. Can the birds stop singing in your soul? Can the brook dry up in your heart? Can your spirit become dry and heavy? And can you find yourself paying a penalty in your own spiritual life. Listen, if you table doing the easy thing, the hard, easy thing, let me tell you, it will just get harder. For unresolved offenses carry an explicit, inescapable, and exact penalty. And if civil laws could be binding and fines levied and collected to the very penny in this world, how about God's spiritual law at work among brethren who won't reconcile? And let me tell you, that's why. Isn't it amazing? You can come to church and you can sing and you can listen to the sermon and you won't reconcile with somebody. You go out just as advantaged spiritually as you were came in because this thing being let out of the prison will not happen until you make things right and work this out if at all possible. Very I say to thee, thou shalt not come out till thou hast paid the utmost farthing. What a spiritual principle. When we face a situation where a specific sort of obedience is required of us and we renege, then a specific sort of penalty kicks in and becomes applicable. You believe that the Lord can shut her down on the inside? Do you believe the Lord can turn the heavens to brass over you and the earth to iron under you? Let me tell you, it's not an easy thing. That's what I'm saying. Going and asking for an apology or going and seeking apology is an easy thing compared to this prison. There is an inner imprisonment that cannot be escaped. For all spiritual bounty and progress is paralyzed, your brook dries up, and the Lord begins to chasten you with the rod that is hard to bear, for no chastening for the present time seems to be joyous but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised. Thereby, I just tell you, beloved, there's no phony escapes. except the issue be paid in full and made right? There's prison, prison in the soul. And God knows when you've done what needs to be done to forgive and to let go. God knows when all that can be done humanly is done to reconcile. And you know when your worship Your prayers, your fellowship is blessed and you know when your conscience is clear. Yes, let me tell you, the Lord has many agents and officers who can search you out and find you. You can be hurled into a terrible dark state of internal imprisonment. And that affects a Christian any more, much more than any jail cell could. So my conclusion is this. Can we offend and just go our merry way and act like it never happened? No. May we hold offenses against a brother without ever seeking reconciliation and go our merry way? Never. The Lord issues warrants for people's arrests and levies penalties when there is a disobedience in attempting reconciliation. Are you there with someone tonight? Until the debt is settled, That doesn't go away. The last penny of trouble, loss of peace, soul misery, must be paid when we fail to act upon the plain word of God. Amen. Do it. You say, I don't need to do it. Good. Keep this in mind because you'll need to Sooner or later, the day will come when this special form of obedience is required of thee. And if thou not obey the Lord in it, a special penalty will be paid. God forbid, I can remember getting out of jail Boy, it's a great feeling. I had to drive about 150 miles to a preacher brother who had done me wrong and who said bad things about me, called me mentally insane. Well, I guess he could have been a little right there. But I had to, I carried it and I thought of it. I thought of all the things Sometimes, seven times a day, I thought about it. And so I had to go, and you know what I had to do? He had done me wrong, but you know what I had to do? I apologized to him. I said, I've had bad feelings toward you for what happened. And I know that before God, I want to be right. And I don't want anything to stand as a stumbling block to my life and my progress with the Lord. I want it. If you can forgive me, I did. And I forgave him, and we hugged. Let me tell you this. Us going on with the Lord has worked more than any kind of human you might have to do to make things right. Let's be obedient, children. Regeneration makes us children of God. Obedience to his word makes us good children. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for loving us enough and caring for our inner well-being that you give us these days. write that letter, drop tomorrow's work, and pay a visit. And if at all humanly possible, to seek reconciliation with men. And Lord, tonight, have we in our hearts, so help us God, have we forgiven our governor of his trespasses, even as you have forgiven us of our trespasses. For pour out your grace and your strength your enablement in our souls to the point that we cannot hold on to a single trespass. We would have to immediately get down, even though we would need to talk about it on the floor. Help us to be obedient in these things. Thank you for the instruction of your word. Bless this congregation. Thank you for the privilege of being here tonight. I pray, Heavenly Father, that these words will not fall to the ground and not be useless, but someone might lay hold on them this evening. In Jesus' name, we pray.