to the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 16. Matthew 16. Matthew 16, we'll be reading verses 18 to 19, and then turning a few pages over to chapter 18 as well. Matthew 16, 18 to 19, we're picking up a conversation that Jesus is having with his disciples about who he really is. And Peter has just declared that he is the Christ, the son of the living God. And Christ says this in verses 18 and 19. And I also say to you that you are Peter and on this rock, What he has just declared Christ to be 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 turn over a couple pages to chapter 18, Christ having there, I believe, in chapter 16, spoken of the invisible church, that universal church containing all the saints of all times. I think he turns his direction on the local church as we see from the context here in Matthew 18, I'm going to read verses 15 to 20. Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. 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 even to hear the church, Let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound or will have been bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth will be loosed or will have been loosed in heaven. Again, I say to you that if two of you agree on earth, concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them." Let us pray and seek the face of our God. Oh, Lord, we come before you thanking you for your word. Lord, your word gives us light so that we might walk as we should, as your people, not just as individuals, but as a church, how we should operate as a gathered local body. Oh, Lord, speak to us today. May we see your power, your authority. May we see what you have vested to the church in terms of that power and authority. and make us faithful in all of your commands, you giving us grace and help us to do all things in love. We pray in Christ's holy name, amen. You may be seated. Well, if you are regularly among us, you will know that the topic this morning is church discipline, church discipline. What comes to your mind when I say those words, church discipline? Perhaps you have never heard of it before, or if you've heard of it, you've never seen it acted upon. In the time in which we live, that would not be surprising. For others, it may conjure up remembrances when church discipline was acted upon, but not in a biblical fashion. But I am more inclined to think that it is most likely the minority gathered here that have seen truly biblical church discipline exercised in a compassionate yet firm manner and probably even fewer that can testify of witnessing cases where God has blessed that act of the church in discipline in the salvation of the soul or restoring of a brother or sister. You see, the idea and practice of church discipline has fallen on hard times. Many churches embrace neither the doctrine of church discipline or the practice of it. However, the scarcity of the exercise of church discipline in our day, and even possibly the misapplication of it in other instances, neither lessons The force that the Word of God has in talking about this topic of church discipline, neither does it lessen the necessity for it. What I have for you today rests upon the foundation of the sermon last week in regard to church membership, to covenant membership in the local church. You see, membership, and discipline, they go hand in hand. This relationship one with another and the discipline that's just necessary because of our fallen nature, they go hand in hand. And do not we understand that in the realm of family life? The carrying out of discipline in a home flows from those two realities, the reality of relationship and the reality of authority in that home. The same applies to this spiritual family we are in. Our church covenant reflects the union. of these two principles of membership, relationship, and the discipline, the authority that the church has to exercise that discipline, it joins those two together in perfect union. This is what our covenant states. It states that the joining member covenants to submit to biblically defined and biblically regulated church discipline for the purpose of reconciliation with God and man. You see the submission to that discipline, it's embedded in the relationship that's defined in the covenant. Now, you may have come knowing this was the topic, you may have come with questions today, and you may leave with those same questions. I'm not going to be able to answer every question. I may not be able to scratch where you itch, but what I want to do this morning is I want to set before you and convince you of why church discipline has a place in the church. Why does it have a place in the church? That's what I want to convince you of this morning. And I would like for us to consider the subject under the following three headings. First, a biblical case for church discipline, a biblical case for it. Secondly, a historical case for church discipline, a historical case And then third, finishing up with the purposes, the purposes of church discipline. So first, a biblical case for church discipline. And first, I want us to consider the clear teaching of Christ, the clear teaching of Christ himself, our opening text in Matthew 18 shows that Christ anticipated sins and offenses happening among His gathered people. He anticipated sins in the local church. And with this anticipation, He gave them ways to resolve these offenses, to take care of these sins. There is a progression that is set forth in seeking to bring the acknowledgment of the offense and then the due repentance of the sinning brother or sister. And were it to reach the end of the progression in the text, in what is stated out as a private matter, It's made a public matter in the end, and it's made such by Christ saying they refused to hear. They refused. And he says, and if he refuses to hear the multiple witnesses, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you, that gathered body, like a heathen and a tax collector. So, the matter, if it was not repented of, was to come before the church. You see, the church was to speak with a singular voice, a singular voice. The church was to take a unified stand. This is the mind and will of Christ. These texts in Matthew they address the authority of Jesus Christ that rests with His bride, the church. She has, as we saw in Matthew 16, been given the keys of the kingdom of heaven. She has keys. James Bannerman points out that the kingdom of heaven is to be understood of the visible church of Christ, not the universal, he says, but actually the visible, that's where we see it. Yes, the keys have been given as it were to the universal church, but what we see operating is the keys of the kingdom and it's in each local church, it's the local church. And he says the power of the keys is the power of opening or closing the door of that church in the case of parties seeking admission. or meriting exclusion. Exactly equivalent to this power of the keys is the authority to bind and to loose, or the authority to bind upon men their sins so that they shall be shut out from the church, or to loose them from their sins so that they shall be entitled to admission. As we think about the teaching of Jesus Christ. We have in the letters to the churches of Asia Minor that we find in Revelation 2 and 3, we find among those letters Christ commends one church for actually exercising discipline, but He also warns two churches for not exercising church discipline that He expects them to exercise. And then he wraps up the last of the letters with a declaration that his own discipline brought to bear upon these churches is merely the act of his own love. In Revelation 3, 19, he says, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. We have to think about that when we think about sins that we come across in our brothers and sisters. If Christ loves them, he wants the sin dealt with. That's what he does. And shall the church have a different standard than our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who purchased the church with his own blood? Consider secondly, under this heading of the biblical case, consider secondly the confirming exhortations of the apostles and the constant practice of the New Testament churches. It was confirming exhortations that we have in the New Testament which became the consistent practice of the churches of the New Testament. And I'm just going to give you a list of various texts. And note that in these, they're addressing the vast majority of the churches or the elders who are receiving these letters from the apostles. It's a vast variety. We see it in almost every letter. Romans 16, 17 to 18. Paul declares there that divisive persons are to be marked by the church and avoided so that their smooth words and flattering speech would not deceive the simple within the congregation. They are to be marked and they're to be avoided. 1 Corinthians 5. A very familiar text when we think of the church in Corinth. We can't get this text out of our mind because there in the midst of Corinth in the church, there was immorality going on such that Paul says it's not even named among the Gentiles. And Paul instructs the church in Corinth to deal with the immorality of one of those members of that congregation. You see, they prided themselves on not dealing with it. They saw this as grace. They saw it as mercy. Paul did not see it that way. Paul did not understand it as that. He says, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, okay, it's the church coming together, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, do what? Deliver such a one to Satan. Deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore, purge out, purge out the old leaven. When you're to gather together, deliver such a one to Satan, purge out the old leaven. Then in his second letter to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verses 5 through 11, we have him referring to a restoration, most likely of this very one that the church had disciplined back in after receiving that first letter. One has pointed out that the same principled love that moved the church to engage in the unpleasant action of putting this man out of the church, that same principled love was now to be manifested in smothering him with evident tokens of that same love in restoring him to full church fellowship. The emphasis is the same love, the same love that put him out. is the same love that after repentance, and he talks about in that second letter what that true repentance looks like so that they can understand it, and when they see it, lavish him with that restoring, forgiving love, same love that acted to put him out. 2 Thessalonians, now we're looking at the church in Thessalonica, 2 Thessalonians 3, verses 6 through 15. Yet another letter to another church, a letter that addresses the need for discipline. He says there, but we command you. We don't suggest, we don't suggest, hey, this is the way we found this prophet. No, we command you. in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you do what? You withdraw, not one or two of you, he's writing to a church, that the church withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us. And he goes on to say, now those who are such, they're idle, busy bodies, We do what? We command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. And he says, and if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but do what? Admonish him as a brother. In the first letter to Thessalonica in chapter 5 and verse 14, 1 Thessalonians 5, 14, Paul had written to the church there saying, now we exhort you brethren, warn, warn those who are unruly. Comfort the faint-hearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. You see how true it is of us as sheep, and I'm a sheep before I'm a shepherd. When we're faint-hearted, we want the comfort. When we're weak, we want to be upheld. And when we're a mess to deal with, we want people to be patient with us. But are we as willing when we're unruly to be rebuked, to be warned? They're all acts of love. They're all acts of love. And we as parents, you know, we were young like our children. And it was hard for us to fathom, if my mom and dad really love me, why would they discipline me? Well, we get a little older, we begin to understand that and hopefully we implement that same love in dealing with our children. But that's what we need in the church. We need to understand that this is an act of love. It's an act of love. Titus, he's writing to... One of the men he is sending around to the church is to establish pastors, and there in Titus 1, 10 through 13, Paul writes, for there are many, many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped. Their mouths must be stopped. And this is why, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not for the sake of dishonest gain. One of them, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith. Later on in Titus 3, verses 10 through 11, it says, reject, reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned. To his young son in the faith, Timothy, in his first letter to Timothy, 1 Timothy 1, 19 through 20, He tells Timothy to wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some, having rejected concerning the faith, have suffered shipwreck, of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. Later on in that same epistle to Timothy in chapter 5 and verse 20, he says, those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all that the rest also may fear. And then to the church in Galatia, Galatians 6, 1, we read, brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. There are many instances. of church discipline in the teaching of Christ, in the exhortation of the apostles to the churches. And Lord willing, we'll see in a few minutes the purposes of these very exhortations. Why were they given? Before dealing with that, I want us just to consider a historical case. for church discipline. Not only do we have biblical case for it, we have historical case for church discipline. One of the blessings that came out of the Protestant Reformation was clearly defined and articulated marks of the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Belgic Confession of 1561, which grew out of that rich Reformation soil, it states the following in chapter 29. The marks by which the true church is known are these, if the pure doctrine of the gospel is preached therein. if the pure doctrine of the gospel is preached therein. You want a mark of a true church? The pure gospel is preached there. Second, if she maintains the pure administration of the ordinances as instituted by Christ, okay, the ordinances that belong to the church, Are they administered purely as Christ instituted? And third, if church discipline is exercised in punishing sin. It's a mark of a true church. Church discipline is exercised in punishing sin. And this is the way they saw these three things. They said, in short, if all things are managed according to the pure word of God, all things contrary thereto rejected, and Jesus Christ acknowledged as the only head of the church. Hereby the true church may certainly be known from which no man No man, and that would be professing faith in Christ, no man has a right to separate himself from such a church. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones saw the urgency of the addressing of the lack of church discipline in his own day. This is what he said, the third mark of the church And the one I am most anxious to emphasize because it is so sadly neglected is the exercise of discipline. There is no doubt at all but that this doctrine is grievously neglected. Indeed, if I were asked to explain why it is that things are as they are in the church, if I were asked to explain why statistics show the dwindling numbers, the lack of power, and the lack of influence upon men and women, if I were asked to explain why it is that the church is in such a perilous condition, I should have to say, that the ultimate cause is the failure to exercise discipline. He could have mentioned the lack of pure, strong, biblical exposition in the pulpit. He could have talked about that, but he said if he had to hang it on one thing, It was the failure to carry out biblical church discipline. Robert Murray McShane expressed his increasing conviction about the importance of church discipline. He wrote the following. When I first entered the work of the ministry among you, I was exceedingly ignorant of the vast importance of church discipline. I thought that my great and almost only work was to pray and preach. I saw your souls to be so precious in the time so short that I devoted all my time and care and strength to labor in word and doctrine. When cases of discipline were brought before me and the elders, I regarded them with something like abhorrence, It was a duty I shrank from and I may truly say it nearly drove me from the work of the ministry among you all together. But he remained faithful and this is why he says, but it pleased God who teaches his servants in another way than man teaches. to bless some of the cases of discipline to the manifest and undeniable conversion of the souls of those under our care. And from that hour, a new light broke in upon my mind, and I saw that if preaching be an ordinance of Christ, so is church discipline. I now feel very deeply persuaded that both are of God. that two keys are committed to us by Christ. The one, the key of doctrine by means of which we unlock the treasures of the Bible. The other, the key of discipline by which we open or shut the way to the sealing ordinances of the faith. Both are Christ's gift and neither is to be resigned without sin. Hezekiah Harvey, a Baptist theologian and pastor writing in the latter half of the 19th century wrote, no other cause probably is as potent for evil in the churches as the general neglect of a true church discipline. A more recent book describing the marks of a true healthy church, it notes the following. Greg Wills, professor of church history at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has brought to light a crucial change between the generations of our great-grandparents and our grandparents. What he finds is the virtual disappearance of corrective discipline from our churches. Will's book, Democratic Religion, offers a wealth of quotations reminding us that pastors of the early 1800s clearly considered their most important tasks to be faithfully preaching the word and faithfully administering godly discipline. Wills shows that in pre-Civil War days, quote, Southern Baptists excommunicated nearly 2% of their membership every year. Incredible as it may seem, while they were doing that, their churches grew. In fact, their churches, he writes, grew at twice the rate of the population growth. But Wills goes on to state his summary of how the church got to where it is today. He said, after the Civil War, observers began to lament that church discipline was floundering, and it was. It declined partly because it became more burdensome in larger churches. Young Baptists refused in increasing numbers to submit to discipline for dancing, and the churches shrank from excluding them. Urban churches, pressed by the need for large buildings and the desire for refined music and preaching, subordinated church discipline to the task of keeping the church solvent. Many Baptists shared a new vision of the church, replacing the pursuit of purity with the quest for efficiency. They lost the resolve to purge their churches of strained members. And note this, he writes, no one publicly advocated the demise of discipline. No Baptist leader arose to call for an end to congregational censures. No theologians argued that discipline was unsound in principle or practice. It simply faded away as if Baptists had grown weary of holding one another accountable. More and more examples could be given. Multiple quotes could be given. And you can even read older church documents, the meeting minutes, and find episodes of church discipline happening in churches. It's in their annals. You can read all of that. But suffice it to say, what was once common among the churches of Jesus Christ has now grown obsolete. It's grown obsolete. You see, the reality of sin has been exchanged for the idea of sickness. Discipline is no longer prescribed, but rather therapy. The man-centered theology of Arminianism has given birth to easy believism and the false doctrine of the carnal Christian. And in the process, it's diminished the law of God and the pursuit of holiness that every Christian should be engaged in. God is no longer the God he was once declared to be. And therefore, man is no longer the depraved creature that he was once declared to be. And therefore, sin is no longer the odious, soul-damning, relationship-destroying act it was once considered to be. Well, having considered both biblical and historical cases for church discipline, consider with me finally the purposes of church discipline, the purposes. Why does the Bible take that much time, spend that much ink on telling us all the exhortations of Christ and the apostles? Why have... Many, many books have been written about this very thing of church discipline, what it has to do with this, the very purposes of church discipline. The church has been given by her head, Jesus Christ, commands and duties, right? The church has been given commands and duties, and they come from Christ our head. The Great Commission makes it clear that the duty of the church in recognizing and proclaiming the authority of Jesus Christ is to teach his disciples to do what? To observe all things that he has commanded. The authority of Christ is to be reflected not only in the teaching, teaching that is to be only what he himself has commanded, nothing more, but nothing less, but that authority also is to be reflected in the actual observance that is required by the disciples who were taught. It's not just teaching them. It's not just filling their minds so that they know what they need to do. It's teaching them to observe all of these things, to observe. all of these things. The teaching is for the purpose of the obedience of the disciples. Our confession of faith, the second London Baptist confession of 1689 in paragraph 7 of chapter 26 concerning the church, declares both the authority of the church as well as the duty of the church in light of that authority. It says this. to each of these churches, thus gathered, the local churches, to each local church, according to his mind, declared in his word, Christ hath given all that power and authority, which is in any way needful, for what? For their carrying on that order in worship and discipline. which He hath instituted for them to observe with commands and rules." For what? For the do and right exerting and executing of that power. The do and right exerting and executing of what power? The power for the carrying out of worship. and discipline. It is a vested power and authority. The church has not been granted the option to diminish in her teaching the requirements of Christ. We have no option to diminish them, to change them, to add to them. Nor has the church been granted the option to minimize or ignore the due observance of those commands within the congregation. We've not been granted that freedom. If we are to be faithful to Christ in this matter of church discipline, we would do well to consider the purposes for church discipline. I've been greatly benefited in this consideration by two brothers, Brother Albert N. Martin and Daniel E. Ray, that's W-R-A-Y. And Chapel Library has actually published some works specific to church discipline, and you may find them in the back, and if not, we can order others. But those two men and others have... They pulled together stuff from these two men and others in these very brochures and they're very helpful, very helpful. Some of the earlier quotes that I gave actually came from these materials. The first purpose I will state, it's the highest purpose. If no other purpose was given, this would alone suffice. And it's this, the maintenance of the honor of God and his church. Why church discipline? For the maintenance of the honor of God in His church. You see, there is nothing more important to God than His own glory, His own honor. Our salvation is not more important than the honor and glory of God. In fact, Our salvation is to the honor and glory of God. It's not about us, it's about him. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have the preeminence. To him. Be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. We are not at liberty to determine how God is honored. We don't decide that in our worship or in the carrying out of church discipline. Those two things that the vested authority is from Christ. He has made it clear in his word how he will be honored. John Gill, Baptist minister and theologian, stated, for as his name is dishonored by the evil practices or principles of church members, so this is the most open and most effectual way of removing that dishonor that is brought upon it. This ought to be always the chief aim and the sincere view in the administration of church discipline. The second purpose. The second purpose, subordinate to the first, is the restoration of the offender, the restoration of the offender. The Bible speaks of gaining, gaining a sinning brother, of restoring a man who was overtaken in a fault, of turning a sinner from the error of his way. of witnessing the revelation of a soul saved on the day of the Lord Jesus. You see, the discipline of the church is designed to be the act of the triune God, and should therefore be done with the view of the divine purpose of discipline, as mentioned in Hebrews 12. You see, God, it says, disciplines for our profit. that we may be partakers of his holiness. Now, no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. Nevertheless, in spite of the pain, afterward, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. It's God's aim. God's aim is our profit. God's aim is that we might be trained in the fruit of righteousness. So the second purpose is the restoration of the offender. The third purpose, the health and purity of the church. The health and the purity of the church. And if you'll note in these three, It just kind of came to my mind here. The first is the benefit towards God. It honors his name. The second is a benefit to the offender, the one who's actually sinned. But this third benefit is the congregation. It's the health and purity of the church. In the many passages that we considered earlier, the Bible warns of the danger of undealt with sin. We read of the deceiving nature of wrong doctrine, of the leavening or infectious nature of high-handed sin, and of the actual subversion of whole households through acts of insubordination. Now, as we have studied in recent weeks, Jesus is about the business of removing the spots and wrinkles from his bride, and he does this through the washing of the water of the word. And one of the ways, okay, one of the ways that Christ accomplishes this washing of the bride is through his church actually applying this word through the means of admonition, rebuke, and corrective discipline. It's for the health and purity of the church. Remember, Paul said, just a little bit of leaven, it leavens the whole. It leavens the whole. Fourth, also a benefit to the congregation, the fourth purpose is to deter others from sin. to deter others from sin. We read earlier from 1 Timothy 5.20, those who are sending rebuke in the presence of all that the rest also may fear, so that they may fear. Such a result was witnessed in the early church when God himself brought discipline upon Ananias and Sapphira. And he did that through the means of the apostles who were pastoring that church. It came down through them. And we read of the effect that their deaths had in Acts 5.11, so great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things. I think that's talking about those outside the church. Other churches as well, they heard about this. Ananias and Sapphira were neighbors to somebody. They heard about it and they feared. It brought fear. Brothers and sisters, sin has consequences. It has. If those consequences aren't faced here and now on this earth, they will be faced on Judgment Day. It has consequences. Far better to deal with momentary consequences from church discipline than to not receive any discipline and face those consequences down the road. It's good for us to be reminded of the consequences, to be reminded that sin will not go unpunished. Solomon states in Ecclesiastes 8.11, because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, Therefore, the heart of the sons of men," not the doer of the deed, the hearts of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. The fifth purpose is to prevent the hand of God from coming in judgment upon the congregation. To prevent the hand of God from coming in judgment upon the congregation. The demonstration of such judgment can be seen in the narrative of the sin of Achan. Because of Achan's disobedience, his lying, his deception, the nation was turned back in battle with many men losing their lives in the process. And when Joshua questioned the veracity of God's promise to be with them, God answered in the following way, get up, get up. Why do you lie thus on your face? Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things and have both stolen and deceived, and they have also put it among their own stuff. Therefore, the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore unless...unless you destroy the accursed from among you. Get up. Sanctify the people and say, sanctify yourselves for tomorrow because thus says the Lord God of Israel, there is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you. We also have, as we saw earlier, the threat of such divine judgment brought upon some of the churches in Revelation 2 and 3. Christ declared that he would remove their lampstand if they were unwilling to deal with the sin and repent. Sixth and final purpose I will share. is to strengthen the effectiveness of the church's witness to the world. To strengthen the church's witness, the effectiveness of that witness to the world. Christ declared that our love for one another in the church, that that testifies that we are his disciples. They'll know you are his disciples by your love for one another. And Albert Martin has asked the following penetrating question, what happens to the church's credibility before an onlooking world when patterns of the sins of lovelessness, internal bickering and backbiting between members, insensitivity to brothers and sisters in need of material assistance and other such sins are known and tolerated and not dealt with by appropriate corrective church discipline? You see, a church that refuses to deal with sin, it feeds all accusations of hypocrisy. If we preach a gospel that says your sins need to be dealt with in Christ and Christ alone, how can we turn around and just allow sin to then run rampant in the church when Christ said he died? to purchase his people from those sins. The church, the world is looking at the church. What does it see? Does it see our actions working hand in hand with the gospel we preach? So brethren, what should we think of church discipline? Well, first, we must understand that God's ways are always right, they're always good. We must acknowledge that. And we must also consider what God has said about discipline. He said, my son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him for whom the Lord loves. He chastens and scourges every son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten, but if you are without chastening?" And may I add, Not just without chastening from God himself, but from his bride, the church. If the church doesn't do this, what does it say? If you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. As many as I love, says Christ, I rebuke and chasten. As the submissive bride of the Bridegroom Christ, we are to carry out His desires and His will. If discipline is an act of His love, then we must reflect that same love when bringing discipline to bear upon any within the congregation. To fail to carry out the discipline God intends for His children, It is indeed a loveless act. It robs God of the love that he deserves from us as church, and it also robs the offender, the sinner, of the love that he's due from us. Dear ones, we ourselves will miss out on the blessing of the divine intention of this God-ordained means of keeping us people if we walk away thinking of discipline as some narrow, hard thing, as some negative thing, as only being corrective and harsh. And so I wanna leave you. with this beautiful and sweet declaration of the broad spectrum of church discipline from the pen of Hezekiah Harvey. He writes this. Discipline includes all those processes, all, all those processes by which a church, as entrusted with the care of souls, educates its members for heaven. It educates its members for heaven. such as their public and private instruction in the gospel, the maintenance of social meetings for their edification and comfort, and in general, the cultivation of a spirit adapted to awaken and cherish the Christian life. In this lies the chief power of a church, a pure and healthful tone of religious life in the body, An all-pervasive spirit of love and loyalty to Christ and the church are the most effective means of securing a pure life in the individual members. For the church is then a spiritual magnet to draw and hold souls to Christ and to itself. Well, may God bless all the means of discipline, all the means of discipline within our walls, that we as a church might be a spiritual magnet drawing and holding souls to Christ and to his beloved bride. Let's look to him in prayer. Oh, gracious Father, who is fit for all of these things, Lord, We read in Hebrews 12 that you discipline perfectly. We know that all discipline on earth, though desired for good means, is not always conducted correctly. But Lord, we pray that you would use it, that you would make us faithful as a church, faithful as members of the church. Lord, that Christ might receive all the glory, that sinners who err might be restored. Lord, that the world would witness a people who have been called out of darkness to declare your Your marvelous mercy in calling us to that great light, make it to be so. Through Christ we pray, amen.