and the scripture reading is from Matthew's Gospel chapter 18 verses 15 to 20 short reading once more Matthew 18 verses 15 to 20 some very well-known words and teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ to his disciples moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him his court between thee and him alone if he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy brother but if he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established and if he shall neglect to hear them tell it unto the church but if he neglect to hear the church let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Thanks be to God once more for this portion of his word. Now, as you are aware, we have been engaged for many Lord's Day afternoons in a study of the fundamental teachings and doctrines of the scriptures which are so wonderfully summed up in the subordinate standard of faith for most Reformed Presbyterian churches known as the Westminster Confession of Faith. We have covered 29 or so chapters of the Confession of Faith and also an introductory study to the whole series, and we've arrived now, as you can see from the handout today, at chapter 30 of the Confession of Faith on the subject of Church censures, or as we would term it in our modern parlance, Church discipline. Now, this chapter, of course, in our subordinate standard of doctrine, the Confession of Faith, follows the much longer chapter that we looked at last Lord's Day on the Lord's Supper and as you see before you the chapter on church censures or church discipline is very much shorter than was the one we considered last Lord's Day together. Now let me say at once that it is a difficult assignment for anyone to speak on the subject of church discipline. As Christians we I find it very easy to understand the implications, for instance, of the doctrine of justification, or sanctification, or the mediatorship of Christ, or the work of the Holy Spirit, or many of these other great teachings that we have been considering together on many Lord's Days. But church discipline, what is church discipline? have to do with the Christian life. That's why I say, in the thinking of many Christians in our age, it becomes a difficult assignment to speak about this subject. But let me hasten to say that it has a real place, as many of you realise, in the Bible, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, and that there is considerable teaching, especially in the New Testament Scriptures, on this subject. Our text this afternoon from Matthew 18 was one such passage where Jesus speaks very clearly about the procedure for church censures or church discipline. He also referred to it, as you may remember, in Matthew 16 when Peter confessed his faith in Christ as Caesarea Philippi and our Lord's words to the disciples was in connection with their being able to retain things or to remit certain things and we'll be referring to that passage in a moment. You may also remember that in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 or has to deal with an actual case of church discipline in the Corinthian fellowship now it's a very much neglected subject in the modern church because it is a difficult subject but let me say also that spiritual oversight is a reality in any biblical church or congregation We do see this constantly in the New Testament, even though there are not many instances of actual church discipline recorded. We see it, for instance, in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 28. Remember that 1 Corinthians 12 is a list of gifts that the Holy Spirit has given to Christians, and among those lists of gifts, interestingly, is the word Governments. Governments, in the plural. and there's no doubt, and all true commentators are agreed on this that government does refer to church order and therefore implies authority and therefore implies the right to exercise discipline also many of you are aware, I'm sure, in Hebrews chapter 13 as in verse 17 the writer of that epistle says obey those who have the rule over you so the church you see is not a democracy in the New Testament at all spiritual oversight is a reality obey those who have the rule over you and of course many of you know that church discipline was called by the reformers at the Protestant Reformation the third mark of a true church first mark being the true preaching of God's word, the second being the right administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper, the third mark, and it was John Knox's genius, really, in seeing this and adding it, the third mark is discipline properly administered and exercised. It is a mark of a true biblical church. Now let me say a very quick word about that text, and then I want to look, as usual, at the four sections here of the Westminster Confession of Faith. In Matthew 18, verses 15 to 20, we have the Lord's teaching concerning controversies or difficulties that may arise within the Church. If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. and then the further instruction that if he will not hear thee, one is to take two or three witnesses, that every word may be established, if that is neglected by the offending party, then he is to be treated as a heathen man and a publican and then the very solemn additional word of the Lord Jesus you remember as he addresses his apostles whatever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven whatever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven now it's very obvious I think from this passage that our Lord is instituting discipline in the church that is to be formed after his ascension into heaven he is realizing that offences will arise and as we're going to see this afternoon those offences might be in the realm of morality it might be in the realm of doctrine, wrong doctrine being held or taught and in either case this is to be dealt with it is not to be left as a festering sore as it were in the body of Christ's Church and the Lord does give the very clear instruction here that at first a private admonishment is necessary if that is rejected then in the presence of witnesses and then finally the church of course being involved by this time then this person may be excommunicated which is our Lord's understanding we are sure in his words of treating this man as a heathen and a publican in other words, putting him back into the sphere of an unbelieving world excommunicating him from the church and it's very solemn, because there in verse 18, as I reminded you the Lord says that when you act in this way and it's in accord with my mind whatever you have bound, I have bound you bind it on earth, it shall be bound in heaven you loose it on earth and it will be loosed in heaven so it is a very solemn institution by the Lord Jesus himself of the practice of church discipline well, there are four sections and I hope that we will be briefer than usual this afternoon because there are only four sections of this chapter of the Westminster Confession chapter 30 of Church Sentience the Lord Jesus as King and Head of His Church had therein appointed a government in the hand of church officers distinct from the civil magistrate. Now, you and I may not realise what a tremendous affirmation this was when the Westminster Confession was formulated in the middle of the 17th century, 1643 to 1647 to be precise, because the background to the meeting of the Westminster General Assembly was, of course, the attempt by the English kings, the Stuart kings, to control the church they claimed the doctrine of divine rights that they were appointed directly by God that they could overrule parliaments that they could, in fact, assume the headship of the Church of Christ and it was against this background, of course that the Great English Rebellion, if we would call it that, under Parliament and later under Cromwell came about, as the Parliament and the many Puritans in it and in the nation rose up finally against these unbiblical and unscriptural pretensions of the Stuart Kings, what we call Erastianism, the attempt by the state to control the Church. Now, even in the 1640s, and this is where I come to the point, even in a largely Puritan Parliament, which had called the Westminster Assembly together, they were still unwilling in the Parliament to recognise the Church's separateness from the State. Still in the English Parliament, there were many who wanted some control of the church and very interestingly neither chapter 30 that we're looking at today nor the chapter next week on Synod and Councils neither of these chapters was ever officially adopted and authorised by the Parliament the other chapters were but Parliament even then was so jealous of having some kind of control over Christchurch but they would not officially authorise this chapter or the next one, but it's bold statement that the Lord Jesus is the King and the Head of the Church and has appointed the government of that church in the hand of his own church officers, distinct from the civil magistrate now of course this, as many of you know, surfaced later that same century in the later part of the 17th century in Scotland in the struggle of the Scottish Covenanters against the same Stuart regime that sought to subjugate the Reformed Church in Scotland to its own authority and rule and something like 17,000 Scottish people suffered in one way or another for what was called the Crown Rights of the Redeemed the right to rule his own church free from state interference. Well, that, by the way. Well, you notice then, in section 1, quickly here, the Lord Jesus Christ is the King and Head of his church. And I remind you, it's a very bold affirmation and it's entirely scriptural, denying the divine right theory of the Stuart Kings and excluding any attempt by the secular authority to control the church and we need to remember brothers and sisters to this day that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a theocracy it is ruled by God it is a theocratic kingdom not a democracy nor a democratic kingdom I want to emphasize that because in simple language what it means is all authority and power but the church exercises itself descends from above from the Lord Jesus Christ it does not arise from below and even though ruling elders and ministers are to be chosen by a congregation and in our system ordained by a presbytery to the ministry the authority for doing this comes from the Lord Jesus it comes from above descending not from below arising and this is very very important for us to understand now in the Roman Catholic Church of course there is a complete contradiction of this in that all ecclesiastical authority finally comes from below in the person of the Pope and his cardinals and so forth it's very important to grasp this thought, all power and authority is from above, the church is not a democracy where the majority opinion rules, it's not even a republic it is a theocracy where Christ alone is King and Head you see that in Isaiah 9, the many titles that are given to the Lord Jesus there, you see it supremely in the book of Revelation where he's called King of Kings and Lord of Lords and is presented throughout that book of Revelation as the great King and Head of his church now you notice the second thing that's said there in section 1, he is appointed a government in the hands of church officers distinct from the civil magistrate now we know that that government is exercised by elders teaching elders or ministers, ruling elders also along with them, though they're not named here but it's clear for instance from Hebrews 13 which I quoted to you that you are to be subject to those who have the rule over you and so forth so it's a clear statement of the separate government in the Church and in the State. It excludes Erastianism, where the Church is subject to the State, as in the Church of England to this day. It also excludes Papalism, the teaching in the Roman Catholic Church, where the Roman Catholic Church does have control, it seeks to make the State subject to the Church. So this is a wonderfully succinct Biblical statement in Section 1. By the way, it's the genius of the Church of Scotland in my own country that we have the establishment principle where the state recognises the reformed Presbyterian Church as the true church of the country, but there is no possibility of state interference in terms of controlling the Church of Scotland. It was one of the great things accomplished by John Knox at the time of the Scottish Reformation, the establishment principle. Well, it is a vital issue today still, isn't it, because we do see in this country the state encroaching upon the prerogatives of the Church in a number of areas. I personally grieve to see that prayer and Bible reading has been shut out of the public school system. In my own country of Scotland, traditionally from the time of the Reformation, this has been part and parcel of the church education system in Scotland, which was first under the control of the Scottish presbyteries and only late in the 19th century was it taken over by the state, but even in the state schools the reading of scripture and public worship was conducted in the state schools. We find in this country, moreover, the state seeks to validate erroneous and degrading sexual practices such as homosexuality and lesbianism and so on, and even will go so far as to try to forbid the testimony of the church against certain violations of God's law. And this is still, as I say, a very, very vital issue. The Church is free, and should be free, from state control. What we have today, sadly, as you know, is a government refusing, very largely, to live under God's law, and failing to listen to the witness and testimony of the Christian Church. Well, if you look at Section 2, to these offices the keys of the kingdom of heaven are committed by virtue whereof they have power respectively to retain and remit sins to shut that kingdom against the impenitent both by the word and censures to open it unto penitent sinners by the ministry of the gospel and by absolution from censures as occasion shall require I just want to say several things quite quickly on this section you may be somewhat surprised to see a statement like this in a protestant confession of faith referring to the keys of the kingdom being committed to the church and its ability to shut or open the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven because your surprise may arise from the fact that the Roman Catholic Church has made this, as you are probably aware, a great plank in its teaching. The Roman Catholic Church claims exclusively to possess the keys of the kingdom. It alone claims as the true church that it has power to retain and to remit sins. And it understands Christ's words in Matthew 16 and verse 13 and following applying to Peter and Christ said of Peter that whatever he sought to retain would be retained and so forth. They see Peter as the foundation of the whole church and the keys of discipline being given to him and that of course is the foundation of the sacrament of penance in the Roman Catholic Church where a person's eternal destiny really depends on the priest's power to retain or to remit sins. And here, in a Protestant confession of faith, we have a reference to the same keys of the kingdom. Well, what are we to say? Well, I think we must say, very clearly, but very graciously, that the Roman Catholic Church is in great error in saying that Christ committed this authority to Peter as a person. it's very clear from Matthew 16 that Christ said that his church would be built not on Peter as a person but upon Peter's confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God and that the power of remitting or retaining sins and so forth was given to all of the apostles and not just to Peter it's very clear from other teaching in the New Testament that this is the case for instance in Paul's wide-ranging ministry of bringing many Gentile churches into the kingdom of heaven he was opening the kingdom of heaven in his exercise of discipline he was shutting the kingdom of heaven against those who had seriously offended and been found in sin so the keys were given to the whole apostolic band, and clearly to those who are their successors, ministers and officers of the Christian Church. Well, the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, what are they? They are the authority to admit or exclude men from Christ's Kingdom. How are they exercised? How does this operate? By the preaching of the Word, by the exercise of discipline. There are two keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. by the preaching of the word ministers of the gospel open the kingdom of heaven to sinners, to repentant sinners by the clear and powerful and effectual preaching of God's word or alternatively that kingdom is shut by the preaching of the gospel where it is met with impenitence and resistance and hardness and the second key is church discipline there may be an open declaration of the seriousness of sins that are unrepented of and the offender therefore is cast out of church fellowship and out of church privileges and likewise conversely if that person is found to be truly repentant before God the exclusion can be removed and must be removed and the offender reinstated the keys are being used to open the kingdom of heaven again upon evidence of true biblical repentance. Now, it's a very, very important section, Section 2, and that's really all I'm going to say to it, other than to remind you again that while the civil authorities have the power of the sword, the Church has the power of the keys of discipline, to open and to shut the Kingdom of God, by the preaching of the Word, or by the proper exercise of biblical discipline. Come to section 3. Church censures are necessary for the reclaiming and gaining of offending brethren, deterring of others from the like offences, purging out of that leaven which might infect the whole lump, vindicating the honour of Christ and the holy profession of the gospel, and preventing the wrath of God which might justly fall upon the church. if they should suffer his covenant and the seals thereof by the way, the semicolon shouldn't be there if they should suffer his covenant and the seals thereof to be profaned by notorious and obstinate offenders so it's the purposes of church discipline the reasons for it, and particularly the reasons for the use of the second key of the kingdom, the key of discipline. Now do you notice, and again I'm going to be quite quick on this, do you notice something very important? That the first purpose of church discipline is not judgmental. I emphasize that, it is not judgmental in the first purpose of its exercise. It is not intended for exclusion, but rather for it's not a stick that Christ has given to church officers to beat their fellow Christians with into subjection remember the church belongs to the Lord Jesus nothing is so dear to him as his own people and so he has instituted church officers in discipline the main purpose of it is medicinal and remedial to bring the lost sheep back to himself, the loving shepherd. And that's why the very first purpose, biblically stated in the Westminster Confession, is the reclaiming and gaining of offending brethren. Now in my experience, in a number of Reformed denominations, to my great sadness, I have seen the key of discipline used primarily in a judgmental way, as a judgment upon the offender. without any real thought for the remedial purposes of it, to exclude rather than to include the offending brother and bring him back into the fellowship again. When discipline is administered in that way, it is wrongly administered and does great damage. Now you notice it's reclaiming and gaining the offending brethren, in 1 Corinthians 5, remember there was a terrible incident of sin, a member of the Corinthian church was sleeping with either his mother, or more likely his stepmother something that Paul says was unknown even in the heathen community of Corinth and the Corinthians had done nothing about it and Paul in 1 Corinthians 5, remember, appeals to them to act in a disciplinary way, in order that this offending brother, this member of the church might be brought to repentance, his sin forgiven and he might be restored again. And Paul appeals to them in 1 Corinthians 5 to exercise discipline in a positive and pastoral way. and you may remember in 2 Corinthians 2 verses 6 and following that discipline has been exercised and it's been effective and the offending brother has been restored to the fellowship again to deter others, do you notice that it's self-evident, others will see that sin is a solemn reality and that the sentence of discipline is a very solemn sentence As I mentioned in the case of 1 Corinthians 5, the offender was committed to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. That's Paul's way of saying he's been put back into the world, he's behaving like a worldling, put him back in the sphere to which he thinks he belongs by that behavior, and let him feel the pressures of an ungodly world. And hopefully that will bring him to his spiritual senses, and it did indeed. and the man, as I reminded you, was restored. It is to purge out the leaven, because if this is not dealt with, it will spread in the fellowship. It is to vindicate the honour of Christ and the holy profession of the gospel. Otherwise people will point the finger and say, is that what you Christians are really like? You tolerate that kind of thing? What kind of a people are you? And so the name of Christ is brought into disrepute. and it prevents the wrath of God upon a fellowship. Now you only need to read the Old Testament and it's a story in book after book after book, isn't it? Where sin has been undealt with and uncorrected it brings down the displeasure and even the wrath of God upon His Church and His people. So however difficult a situation may be, however severe the discipline may be, but a situation requires it needs to be exercised to eradicate the contagion and the offence and we should rather be willing to have that painful experience than to know God's frown upon the church that he loves so well and so dearly we come then to the fourth and final section and we're through the procedure for church censures 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, by excommunication from the church according to the nature of the crime and the demerit of the person. How do we apply church discipline? Only church officers can do that, that is the ministers and the elders of Christ Church, although a court of Christ Church, of course, can also exercise discipline, since it is the gathering of church officers, ministers and elders. How does it apply? Three stages given to us in our scripture reading in Matthew 18, whether they are private or public sins. And you notice, by the way, that it should begin privately. In my experience, in some Presbyterian denominations, instead of a disciplinary process beginning with a private admonition, it's brought right out into the public. And this is an unbiblical and unwarranted way of dealing with offences and sins and scandals. First of all, and ordinarily, if there is an offence or sin caused by a member or members of the church or ministers or ruling elders it should be the responsibility of individual members of a congregation or individual members of a presbytery to go to that person with warning, this is what Jesus taught and if you know this were practiced much public scandal would be avoided in the church so admonition is the first step, privately to begin then if that is not attended to with witnesses and only if both procedures are rejected should it be brought officially for church discipline to the attention of the church so the first stage is admonition, the second stage you notice is suspension from the sacraments for a season we do know that that happened In 1 Corinthians 5, because the offending brother was put out of the church, he no longer was able to come to the Lord's table until he was found repentant again. It's also clear in 1 Corinthians 11, let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. No man who is under discipline and is unrepentant is in a position to examine himself in the sense of coming in a worthy manner to the Lord's table so the third and most serious aspect is excommunication from the church it's a final and drastic censure there and by the way even when someone is excommunicated the church is not saying that that person is not a Christian we can never say that because we cannot read the heart and even when someone is excommunicated what the church is saying is you are behaving in a way that is more akin to the world than to the church you're behaving like an unbeliever, like a worldly and that's why we're sending you back to the world until we see evidence that you are indeed a child of God by His, the Lord's, bringing you to repentance for your sin or your offence so we're not saying that an offender is not Christian it may be the case but it may also be that that person is a true child of God in a deep period of backsliding like David because only God can read the heart but if any of these sentences are executed biblically, we're reminded, they are ratified in heaven what is done on earth by a church court or church officers biblically is upheld in heaven itself so we must be very sure in any cases of discipline that we are acting in accord with scripture and after all, even the sentence of excommunication came from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ very, very solemn indeed, that final act of excommunication, that even then there is, as I reminded you, the possibility of restoration. But in conclusion, this much neglected practice, lovingly and firmly administered for the purpose for which it is designed, needs greatly to be restored in the modern church. And I remind you of John Calvin's words as the doctrine of Christ is the life of the Church, discipline, as it were, is its sinews. For on it depends the adhering together of the members of the body, each in its own place. And all who wish that discipline were abolished, says Calvin, certainly are aiming at the complete devastation of the Church. He was right. Discipline is the third mark of a true practicing, worshipping biblical church. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for this subject, solemn as it is. We pray indeed that we may see its scriptural grounding, and that we ourselves, who are members of a church, may live in subjection to those who have the rule over us, and may honour them for their ministry and work, we ourselves pray that in our own case we may always be obedient servants of the Lord Jesus and never need those keys of the kingdom to be exercised in a way of shutting that kingdom against us for a season. Bless this exposition to us, in Jesus' name. Amen.