Benjamin Hatch brings a message on 2 Corinthians 1:23-2:13 as part of our series "God's Power in Our Weakness," a series in the book of 2 Corinthians.
Redeemer Bible Church of Fort Bend
I Wrote to You Out of Much Anguish (2 Corinthians 1:23-2:13)
(soft piano music) - You're listening to a podcast by Redeemer Bible Church. Come visit us Sunday mornings at 10.30 a.m. or visit our website at redeemerfortbend.org for more information. Thanks and enjoy. (soft piano music) Second Corinthians. If you're using one of the seatback Bibles, you'll find this on page this morning's passage on the beginning of page 906, I believe. In Second Corinthians chapter one, reading verse 23 through chapter two verse 13. Chapter one verse 23 through chapter two verse 13. Hear what scripture says. "But I call God to witness against me. "It was to spare you that I refrain "from coming again to Corinth. "Not that we lorded over your faith, "but we work with you for your joy, "for you stand firm in your faith. "For I made up my mind not to make "an other painful visit to you. "For if I cause your pain, "who is there to make me glad, "but the one whom I've pained. "And I wrote as I did so that when I came, "I might not suffer pain from those "who should have made me rejoice. "For I felt sure of all of you "that my joy would be the joy of you all. "For I wrote to you out of much affliction "and anguish of heart and with many tears, "not to cause you pain, "but to let you know the abundant love "that I have for you. "Now, if anyone has caused pain, "he's caused it not to me, "but in some measure, "not to put it too severely to all of you. "For such a one, "this punishment by the majority is enough. "So you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, "or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. "So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. "For this is why I wrote that I might test you "and know whether you are obedient in everything. "Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. "Indeed, what I have forgiven "if I have forgiven anything has been for your sake "in the presence of Christ, "so that we would not be outwitted by Satan. "For we are not ignorant of his designs. "When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, "even though a door was open for me in the lore, "my spirit was not at rest "because I did not find my brother Titus there. "So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia. "And all God's people said, "Amen." Oh, God made the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts. Be acceptable in your sight. Oh, God, I rock and redeem me. You're pretty these things in Jesus' name. Amen. A few years ago, I saw a photograph of a protest, and at this protest, a man was holding up a sign that said, "There is no hate like Christian love." That's very sad, isn't it? It's likely at some point that this man encountered someone who claimed to be a Christian, who did not treat him in a loving way. And that certainly reflects poorly on Christ and his gospel. But this man was also holding this sign, at least in part, because there is something about the Christian message which is offensive to him. The idea that Jesus is Lord, that he has the right to tell us how to live and to forbid certain conduct as wicked, that he has the right to condemn those who rebel against his rule. That is a message which offends many people today in our culture. That is a message that is widely seen as shockingly hateful. Because the world tells us that loving other people means that we should unconditionally accept and approve whatever they want to do. Or we should at least tolerate it. If you tell somebody they're wrong, that's hateful. And if you warn them that their conduct is courting God's wrath, and you call on them to repent, well, there's no hate quite like that. But friends, all of that is a lie. The truth is actually there's no hate quite like the world's love. Because there is nothing so ruinous and destructive, like passively tolerating, or actively celebrating someone's self-destruction as they indulge in unrepentant sin, cheering them as they hurdle down that wide road that is leading them straight to hell. That is not loving friends. That is hateful indifference. And friends, when sin happens, not just out there in the world, but it happens here in the community of the church. And it will. We must not respond with the world's hateful indifference. We must truly love the sinner, which means that we must confront them about the danger that their sin poses so that they might repent and be restored. And that's what we're gonna talk about today in Second Corinthians chapter one, verse 23, through chapter two, verse 13. How do we respond to sin with gospel integrity in a manner that reflects the genuineness of our faith? And today we'll see three points. First, gospel integrity means speaking the truth to those who need to hear it. Second, gospel integrity means that the local church must sometimes do hard things to bring wayward members to repentance. And third, gospel integrity means forgiving and restoring repentant church members. Let's start with our first point. Gospel integrity means speaking the truth to those who need to hear it. In this book, Paul is writing to defend his apostleship to the Corinthian church. Now the Corinthians should not have doubted the genuineness of Paul's apostleship because he planted their church and he gave them a wonderful foundation in the gospel. But the Corinthians have been seduced by the false wisdom of the unbelieving world, a wisdom that saw a little value in Paul's ministry. And so the Corinthians became confused about Paul and they became corrupted by sin. And we saw last week, this led the conflict between Paul and the Corinthians. Now by the time this book is written, things have improved a little bit in Corinth, but some doubts about Paul remained. And so he writes this book to answer those doubts. Now here at the end of chapter one, Paul is defending his verbal integrity against the charge that he is a liar. See, Paul didn't do something that he said he would do. Paul said when he finished his ministry in Ephesus, he would go to Corinth. But when he finished his ministry in Ephesus, he went elsewhere. And as critics said, ah, Paul, you're a liar. But Paul deviated from his travel plans, not because he was a liar, but because some circumstances had changed. And in view of these new circumstances, Paul recognized that visiting the Corinthians would do them more harm than good. That's what he begins to explain now in second Corinthians chapter one, verse 23. But I call God to witness against me, it was to spare you that I refrain from coming again to Corinth. Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith. For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. For if I cause your pain, who is there to make me glad, but the one whom I've pained? So what is going on here? How do I understand this? If we want to understand these verses, we have to go back in time to the moment when Paul wrote the book of first Corinthians. Paul wrote first Corinthians when he was ministering in Ephesus, because he had received reports that the Corinthian church had become a mess. The church was marked by infighting. It was celebrating sexual immorality. Its corporate worship was chaotic. It was denying essential doctrines. It sounds like a lot of churches today, right? And so Paul wrote first Corinthians to try to set things right. And he sent that letter to Corinth in the hands of his co-worker Timothy, first Corinthians 16 verse 10. When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you for he is doing the work of the Lord as I am. Paul is concerned how Timothy would be received in Corinth. Now rightly so, because when Timothy showed up, he was not treated well. Apparently the Corinthians rejected Timothy and Paul's letter. So what will Paul do? Well, he had intended to go to Corinth only when his work in Ephesus finished, but now there's a crisis. His letter has been rejected. And so Paul makes an immediate emergency visit to Corinth and this visit also goes disastrously. Now Paul doesn't spell out all the reasons why this visit went so poorly. He didn't need to. He was writing to the Corinthians and they would have remembered what happened. But based on what Paul says here, we can reconstruct the broad strokes of what occurred. Paul showed up in Corinth and he was apparently attacked verbally by one of the church's members. And this person then misled the Corinthian church into opposing Paul. We see this in 2 Corinthians 2 verse 5. Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure, not to put it too severely to all of you. Someone tried to damage Paul, but Paul says actually the real damage was done to the church. Because this man worsened the relationship between Paul and the Corinthians. Now how will Paul respond? He could unleash some supernatural discipline upon the trouble makers. He's done this before. In Acts 13, Paul spoke one word, boom, and a false teacher was blinded. Paul could have done that. And he says later in this book in chapter 13 verse two that on this emergency visit, he threatened to do something like this to the Corinthians. But he didn't actually do it. And why not? He tells us in chapter one verse 24. Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy. Paul knows that if he drops a supernatural smackdown on the Corinthians in their worldliness, they're gonna see it as a power move. Oh, Paul's just trying to dominate us. It would have alienated him from them even more. Paul doesn't want them to see him as some power hungry Lordling. He's there to help them. And he wants to persuade them that he's on their side, not in sin, but in righteousness. So Paul stays his hand. He doesn't use this power. In fact, what he does is he leaves town. Now this was not an abandonment of the Corinthians. It was a strategic retreat. Paul was allowing the explosive hostility of this situation to settle down before he made his next move. So Paul went back to Ephesus and he resumed his ministry there. But when that work finally finished, Paul had to decide where was he gonna go next? And he reconsidered his previous plan to go to Corinth. And Paul remembered how badly that emergency visit had gone. And Paul decided it was wiser not to return to Corinth in person and risk igniting this conflict all over again. So he doesn't go to Corinth. But that doesn't mean he was done with the Corinthians. On the contrary, he renewed his appeal to them by writing them another letter. Look at the second Corinthians two, verse three. And I wrote as I did so that when I came, I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice. For I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain, but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you. Paul wrote them another letter, which has been lost to history. Scholars call this the severe letter. And in this letter, Paul reopened the explosive conflict he had with the Corinthians. And he pled with them earnestly to repent of their sins. And he said many hard things in this letter, but he tells them I did it out of love. Because he believed that many of the Corinthians, despite all this sin, were truly saved. And they would listen to him this time and repent of their worldliness. Now this time, Paul sends the letter to Corinth in the hands of a different ministry partner Titus. And Paul told Titus, you go and present the letter and see how they respond. And then you come back and meet me and give me a report. And I will be in the city of Troas. Look now at chapter two, verse 12. When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was open for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. Paul went about 200 miles north to the town of Troas. And there he found a community very receptive to the gospel. But while he was there, Paul's spirit was vexed because he expected to meet Titus and Titus never showed up. And he grew increasingly concerned why is Titus so delayed. And eventually he decides he's gonna leave this great ministry opportunity. And he's gonna go find Titus on the overland journey from Troas all the way north into Macedonia, heading in the direction he expects Titus will be heading away from Corinth. So second Corinthians two, verse 13, he says. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia. And indeed there, Paul encountered Titus. And we find out what happened in this meeting later in this book. Second Corinthians chapter seven, verse five. For when we came into Macedonia, God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus. And not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you. As he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me so that I rejoice still more. For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it. For I see that letter grieved you, though only for a while. But as it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. Titus brought wonderful news. The severe letter caused many of the Corinthians to repent. But it also caused some confusion because the Corinthians thought, well, why'd Paul write to us? Didn't he say he was gonna come here in person? So Paul's gonna write this book. We're reading now the book of second Corinthians to answer all of this. Now, all of this explains why Paul's travel plans changed. Not because he was a liar, but because he was wisely responding to changing circumstances. He was thinking about the best way to appeal to the Corinthians to get them to repent. And that's what he did. By writing to them instead of visiting them in person. Now, what we see here is not just a bunch of history. This is Paul's relentless pursuit of the Corinthians with the truth. Paul knew in his soul that because they claim the name of Christ, they need to repent of their worldliness and their tolerance of sin. And Paul was willing to continue pressing these points, even though by doing so, he risked intense conflict. But Paul didn't back down. He didn't tell them, you know, let's just agree to disagree. He didn't shut up to make a false peace. Instead, he kept persevering. He kept trying to get through to them. Even though by doing so, they were trying to push him away. Even though his continued efforts risked his relationship with them. Paul was willing to say hard things, though it might cost him much. Why? Because Paul had gospel integrity. Paul believed what he preached. That sin kills, that a church mired in sin loses his gospel credibility. Friends, Paul loved the Corinthians. He had spent years with them getting to know them and minister to them. He didn't want to see these people wander from the faith. He didn't want to see people that he loved go to hell. To Paul, all of this is not some empty philosophy. The gospel's the most important reality in the universe, and it spurred urgent action in Paul. And so Paul persevered with the Corinthians because of his integrity, his genuineness. Well-believing friends, what about us? We claim the gospel. Do we really believe it? Not just like yes, yes, yes. No, no, no. Do we really believe it in our inner being? To confess the gospel is to say with Paul in Romans 6, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Do our lives show that we really believe that? That our unrepentant friends, or family members, or co-workers are under God's righteous sentence of eternal condemnation and hell? Friends, if we really believe that, surely our lives will evidence some pleading with the lost people that God has seen fit to put in our lives. But if our lives don't show that kind of pleading, what does that say about our lives? Frankly, one of two things. It says either you don't really love those lost people 'cause you don't really care what happens to them eternally, or that on some level you don't actually believe what you claim to believe. You don't really believe God is holy. You don't really believe God is gonna judge sin. You don't really believe that God is gonna throw people into hell forever because of sin. And then it lasts forever. Maybe friends, you don't really even believe the gospel. If you're not living like your lost family members and friends are headed for spiritual ruin, something is off with your spiritual life. There is a lack of gospel integrity 'cause we're happy to say one thing but do something else that's inconsistent with it. Now maybe right now you're in your head and you're saying, you know what, Ben, I've got answers to this. I tried with my family member once and it didn't go anywhere. Or if I keep talking to my friend about the gospel, I'm gonna push him away. I won't be able to influence him in the future. Frank Polk had made those same arguments about the Corinthians. But Polk didn't let those excuses get in the way of the real vital gospel pleading. He knew they needed to hear. He kept trying. He was willing to confront them about their sin even though he knew they didn't wanna hear about it. He was willing to risk all those years of relationships with them and all the ministry he had done with them because he knew it was better to risk everything in the hope that he might win some of them than to maintain some really superficial relationship with them that was unable to talk about real things while they just wander off to help. Polk new sin was a life and death issue. Friend, if you saw a loved one leaving a party drunk, staggering around with their keys out towards their core, wouldn't you intervene? Wouldn't you try to take their keys away 'cause you don't wanna see them die, right? Life and death matters compel our action. But we're talking here about eternal life and eternal death. How much more should that get us off the couch? And if the drunk driving thing seems more real to us than the prospect of hell, that's a problem, friends. There's a fundamental disconnect there. We need to be more like Paul. We need to keep pursuing the loss that God has put in our lives, both those who explicitly deny the faith and those who say, oh yes, yes, I believe, but their life sure indicates they don't. 'Cause this is a matter of eternal life and death. It demands our attention. Now notice that Paul was smart about how he did this. He didn't always chase the Corinthians with the same speed and intensity. He saw there were times to speak boldly and times to strategically withdraw. Times to let conflicts die down and times to force people to face some hard truths. But what Paul didn't do was give up. And he didn't just say, I've got a convenient excuse so I don't have to try anymore. Paul kept persevering which showed his gospel integrity. He believed what he said. His love for them was real. Now, believing friends today, if you are here, let me ask, do you know in your heart that you have gone soft in some relationship where you shouldn't have, where you have settled to make a peace with an unbeliever by not pushing the gospel thing anymore. Or you are around fellow believers and you know they're acting like the Corinthians. Their lives are filled with worldliness and you've chosen not to confront it 'cause you wanna duck hard conversations. You don't wanna make the workplace awkward. You don't wanna have a fight with a family member. Consider what that is saying to them about your love for them and your profession of faith. Jude 23 says, save others by snatching them out of the fire. Friend, who should we be trying to snatch out of the fire? Don't let a fear of man or a fear of lost relationship or a fear of conflict stay your hand. It's time to get off the sidelines and act. Plead with your loved ones to come to Christ or come back to Christ, whatever the situation may be. 'Cause that will show them the reality of your faith above. Now this brings us to our second point. Gospel integrity means that the local church must do hard things to bring wayward members to repentance. So many of the Corinthians had begun to repent. Second Corinthians seven verse 11. Paul says, see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you. But also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment. At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God. There were real believers in Corinth. But before the severe letter, they were blinded by worldliness and sin. After the letter, their spiritual convictions were awakened. They grieved their past sin. They stopped tolerating sin in the church. They started fearing God again. And Paul says they imposed punishment. We see the same language in our text. Second Corinthians two verse six. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough. The Corinthians punished the man that wronged Paul during his emergency visit. Now verse six tells us then, there is a time for punishment to happen in the local church. Now you might say, well, what is this? This is something I call, okay, no? This is not some kind of Spanish Inquisition torture or cult-like shunning. The Greek word here speaks of rebuke. This punishment was a rebuke in action. This is what's commonly known as church discipline. Specifically, it's the church's corporate corrective discipline. It's corporate because it's imposed not just by one person or even by the church's leaders, but by the whole church. And it's corrective because it's trying to compel a wayward believer to abandon a sinful lifestyle or an egregious sinful practice and call him back to living on a chord with his profession of faith. Now this idea of church discipline might be very unfamiliar to you because so few churches practice it today. Many churches have unfortunately today like the ancient Corinthians turned away from God's wisdom found in the Bible and prefer the world's wisdom. Which tells us confrontation is not loving, conflict is not good, live and let live. But friends, a failure to practice corrective discipline in the church is not good. It is not loving. It is spiritual malpractice and rank disobedience to Jesus. Because it is Jesus who commands this in Matthew chapter 18. If your brother sins go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. But if he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, step two, take one or two others along with you. If he refuses to listen to them, step three, tell it to the church. Notice the entire church has a role to play at this point, not just the leadership. If someone refuses to repent. Jesus says, and if he refuses to listen, even to the church, step four, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. This last step is historically known as excommunication. The term might make some of us jumpy. Because the Roman Catholic church claims that it has the power to excommunicate people. And when they use that word, they mean to cancel someone's salvation. Okay, that is not what we're talking about here. Biblical excommunication is when the local church expells someone from the church, because that person hard-heartedly refuses to repent of their sin. It is the church's final warning to an unrepentant sinner trying to get him to see the terrible danger he is in. Paul tells us more about this in first Corinthians chapter five. Verse one, it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. The Corinthians had tolerated a sexually immoral relationship in their midst. A church member was involved with his stepmom. And Paul says that relationship is so nasty, even unbelievers think it's gross. First Corinthians five, two, and he says, and you are arrogant, ought you not rather to mourn? The Corinthians are celebrating this sin in their midst. They had pride in it. Paul says a more appropriate response would have been sorrow, because they were founded on the gospel of Jesus, which frees people not just from the penalty of sin, but the power of sin. Later in this book we read, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Believers shouldn't live the way we used to live because we've been made new. That's why Paul says in 1 Corinthians six, nine, do you not know the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God. Paul says, claiming the name of Christ while living a lifestyle of under a pen and sin is self-deception that doesn't inherit God's kingdom. That is a path that leads to hell, because coming to Christ authentically changes you. Now, for instance, in former times, we have all practiced the sins found on that list or other lists like them. But if we're really in Christ, we have been washed and forgiven and made new so that we are enslaved to these sins no longer, we have been set free. This doesn't mean we're gonna be sinlessly perfect, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't live like we used to live. And if we claim the name of Christ and live just like the world, that may reveal that our profession of faith is false. And when the local church sees one of its members characterized by such an unrepentant pattern of sin, or by doing something so outrageous that even unbelievers would be grossed out by it, then it's time for corrective discipline. Now, this may seem strange to you. You might think, well, shouldn't the church be a welcoming place where sinners come to meet Jesus? Of course, but corrective discipline is not for unbelievers. We expect unbelievers to sin, that's what they do. But Paul says corrective discipline is only for professing believers. First Corinthians 5, 11. I'm writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of and then he lists a bunch of sins. Now, maybe we think, well, hey, if corrective discipline is for believers, won't this practice discourage believers in the church from being honest about our sins with each other if we worry that our every vulnerable disclosure makes us liable to public rebuke? Friends, corrective discipline is not about publicly exposing every sin that we commit in life. As redeemed people, we all sin, sometimes terribly. God gives us the community of the local church so that we encourage and help and pray for one another in all of our struggles. And I want you to note today, if you are struggling with sin, that struggle, that desire to be free, that is a sign of spiritual health and a willingness to be vulnerable about it, that is a sign of repentance, and we never practice corrective discipline upon the repentance. If you're trying to fight your sin, that's a great thing and we want to get in the trenches and help you. Corrective discipline has nothing to do with that situation. Corrective discipline is about rescuing a wayward believer who has stopped fighting their sin and has surrendered to it. This is our way of appealing to them. Please start fighting it again. And why must we do this? Paul gives two reasons. First, to maintain the purity of the local church. 1 Corinthians 5, verse 6. Do you not know that a little 11, 11 is the whole lump? Unrepentant sin left unchecked will corrupt the church. It will numb us to our own sin. It will corrode our witness to the world. So we must protect our purity and our witness by practicing corrective discipline. Second, we must do this to help the wayward believer. 1 Corinthians 5, verse 3. Let him who has done this be removed from among you. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. The guilty man in 1 Corinthians 5 claims to be a believer, but his life shows he probably isn't. He is in danger of not being saved in the final judgment. So what must be done? Well, we said earlier that as individuals, we should pursue people that are wayward, that are lost and warn them corporately as a church. When a member is caught up in unrepentant sin, this is how we appeal to him. By practicing corrective discipline, even to the point of practicing excommunication. I'll tell you, it's a very hard and unpleasant thing to do. Now, how would we actually do this? Well, as we saw in Matthew 18, initially we practice corrective discipline by repeatedly warning and appealing to a wayward sinner. But if all of those appeals go unheated, ultimately we go through the steps to the end and practice excommunication. And notice how that is described in our passage. 2 Corinthians 2, verse 6. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough. The discipline of excommunication is enacted by a majority of the church. And that word majority implies a few things. First, it implies a vote, a head count, a determination of numbers. This is one of the places where the whole church makes the decision, not just the leaders. Second, this implies a discernible electorate, a discrete group of identifiable people who are tasked with making this decision, the church's members. See, the idea of formal membership is presupposed everywhere in the instructions related to corrective discipline. Because what does it mean to put someone out if there is no formal sense of being in? Or who should be allowed to participate in an excommunication vote? Everyone who attends on any given Sunday, including the visitors? No, there is a clear expectation. The local church is something people belong to in a real formal sense. The members are the ones who make this decision. And losing this membership is the chief sense of what it means to be excommunicated. And so formal membership is presupposed in these passages and in virtually every passage about how the local church conducts itself corporately, which is why we believe here that formal membership is biblical and that believers are obligated before God as a formerly commit themselves to a local gospel preaching church by joining his members. And we're told your excommunication is undertaken by a vote of the members. Now, this is what Paul told the Corinthians to do in 1 Corinthians 5, to deal with that case of sexual immorality. And this is what Paul told the Corinthian church to do in his severe letter to the man who opposed him. We see that in 2 Corinthians 2, verse 9. So this is why I wrote that I might test you and know whether you are obedient and everything. And the severe letter Paul insisted that the man who wronged him be excommunicated. And he told the church to do this to see what was the shape of his relationship with them and what happened. A majority voted to excommunicate him. But tragically, it was only a majority. A significant minority sided with that guy who attacked Paul. And we'll see later in this book that minority is causing problems in the Corinthian church. But here's what we should take from this second point. Gospel integrity means that we as a church practice corrective discipline when necessary. We must not try to run from this responsibility, even though it's very painful to do it. We must because it goes to the heart of whether we mean what we say. Christians say Jesus is Lord. Colossians once says he is the head of the church. And Jesus constructed the idea of corrective discipline. Will we obey him or do we think we know how to run Jesus church better than him? Jesus says in Luke six, why do you call me Lord, Lord and not do what I tell you? Friends, we must obey. And there may be no clearer test as to whether we as a church really have a biblical worldview than asking if we are willing to do this, to confront sin and plead for someone's repentance and ultimately out of love for them to go the whole distance to excommunication because we really care about their soul that much. So brothers and sisters, will we be like the Corinthians before the severe letter? Polerating sin out of some misguided notion of love. Pretending, oh, we love you when we're really just indifferent to what's going on in your life. Justifying cowardice and inaction 'cause we don't wanna have awkward conversations while sin destroys someone's life or family. Friends, if we have to do this at some point in our church's future, we must obey Christ in this by having true gospel love for one another, by walking together, by fighting sin together and by going the distance, trying to snatch someone out of the fire. Do we really believe what we say? What will our practice as a church show about this? Gospel integrity means taking tough actions to try to rescue the wayward. But we come now to our last point, which is the gospel integrity means forgiving and restoring repentant church members. Titus told Paul that the Corinthians had excommunicated this guy who opposed him, but that wasn't all he said. By God's grace, the discipline had its desired effect. The man repented, but the Corinthians, under their newfound zeal, decided to keep this man under discipline. Paul now addresses this. Look at chapter two, verse six. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough. So you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. Paul says the discipline is enough. It is sufficient. It has worked. Remember in Matthew 18, Jesus said, you take these various steps, and each time he says, if he listens to you, you've gained your brother. That's what discipline's about, getting someone to acknowledge wrongdoing. And when that happens and their life begins to evidence that they really wanna make a change, discipline must end. Why? 'Cause corrective discipline is not about avenging evil. Romans 12 says, vengeance is mine. I will repay says the Lord. Vengeance is God's alone. Corrective discipline is about pursuing the good of the sinner, which is repentance. And if we don't end the discipline, when someone repents, all we're gonna do is crush that brother or sister that we ought to be restoring, overwhelming and with sorrow. Because if they can find no mercy when they repent, if sin and its consequences seem inescapable and beyond pardon to them, they will despair without hope. So friend, when someone repents, we must forgive. That's what Paul says in chapter two, verse 10. Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. You know, it's no accident that right after Jesus gives those instructions about church discipline in Matthew 18, we see these words. Peter came and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times. Jesus said, I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to 70 times seven. See, the point of church discipline is to lead to interpersonal forgiveness and restoration. And it's not optional. Because right after we read those words in Matthew 18, Jesus tells a parable about a man who was forgiven much, who refuses to forgive others. And that parable ends with this warning. Matthew 18, 32. His master said, you wicked servant. I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you? And his master was angry and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. So my heavenly father also will do to you if each of you from his heart does not also forgive his brother, his trespasses. Well, leaving friends, we must forgive as we have been forgiven. We owe God an insurmountable debt 'cause we're all sinners by nature and choice. We have all rebelled against God and the wages of sin is death, eternal death, eternal punishment and hell. But God the Father sent God the Son into this world who took on humanity, who was born as Jesus, who grew up and lived a perfect life without sin, who died on the cross in our place, who took our penalty upon himself, who is risen from the dead, who is triumphed over sin and the grave. And Jesus says in John 14, six, I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me. And we come to the Father through Jesus in this way. Jesus says in Mark 115, repent and believe the gospel. If we turn away from our old lives of sin, by turning to follow Jesus, trusting his deity, death and resurrection, we will be saved. That massive, terrible debt we owe God will be forgiven. And friend, if you have never come to Christ, I plead with you now, do so because you remain under God's wrath. And I don't want that to happen to you friend. Come to Christ and live. But today, if you know Christ, remember the great principle of the Christian life is this. Those who belong to God must reflect God. And as God forgives us so much, we must be quick to forgive others. That's true individually and that's true corporately. Colossians 3.13 says, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. So when we suffer wrongs, we're not to nurse bitterness or lust for vengeance. We must strive for forgiveness. And the standard we're called to is the Lord's forgiveness of us. As we have been forgiven much, we must forgive much. But who do we forgive? Or who does Christ forgive? Only the repentant, Luke 17, 3. If your brother sins rebuke him and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in the day and turns to you seven times saying, I repent, you must forgive him. Friends, there's a lot of disagreement about this. But I think the Bible's quite clear that forgiveness is a two-party transaction. One party acknowledges wrongdoing and the other grants forgiveness, releasing the claim he had upon the person that wronged him. And that means that when one party does not repent true forgiveness in a biblical Christ emulating way is not possible. Now that truth is not a justification for us to nurse hatred towards those who have unrepentantly wronged us. On the contrary, Jesus taught in Matthew five, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. We must always be ready to forgive. We should love those who have wronged us. We should desire their welfare. We should seek reconciliation with them. We should go before God and let go of our fury towards them and release any kind of demand in our heart that God would avenge us. But until they repent, we're never really able to close that book on past wrongs in the way that God purposes that we should. And if we try to do so, if we just say, you know, I'm just gonna pretend like it didn't all happen. And we're just gonna go through life and smile at each other and there was no wrong. That actually destroys the theological picture that interpersonal forgiveness paints of divine forgiveness. So we need to understand that forgiveness doesn't just mean ignoring past wrongs or pretending they didn't happen. Neither does it mean admitting someone who has wronged you back into a position of trust in your life. I know a man who did some really terrible things a few years ago, and he wrote a letter to somebody he had wronged. And it said, we're both Christians, so you're obligated to forgive me, but I'm not gonna admit anything I did wrong to you. And the point of this letter was, I should get away with everything I did, and you need to take me back as your friend and pretend I never sinned against you. Friends, that's evil, that's abuse, and it would not be loving or Christlike to condone that, or to participate in some sort of sham false forgiveness, to sanitize the conscience of someone who knows they're in the wrong without them actually making amends. So true forgiveness always involves repentance on one side, and an unconditional release of anger on the other side. Now unfortunately, that means sometimes true forgiveness is impossible in this life, 'cause what has somebody wronged you, and then they die? It's tragic when that happens, because we're denied the reconciliation and closure for a wrong that we've suffered. And if you've been wronged by someone that cannot now make things right, friend, go before God, release your anger, let go of those claims of vengeance in your heart upon that person, let them go as best you can. But forgiveness doesn't mean pretending that sin didn't happen, and it doesn't mean restoring someone to a position of trust. The spouse who has been cheated on is not required to gullibly trust the spouse who committed adultery. Friends, these same principles apply in the local church. The purpose of corrective discipline is forgiveness and restoration. Restoration to good standing in church membership, not to positions of trust. If someone embezzles from the church and repents, we should restore them and forgive them. We shouldn't make them the church treasurer. We've heard much about pastoral, sexual exploitation of the congregants in recent days. Those who prey upon their own flock cannot be put back in a position to exploit their sheep again. But while restoration to church office may be off the table, when someone repents, we must end the consequences of corrective discipline. They become members of the church again. They can participate in communion again. We should fellowship with them as though things were hunky dory in their life. There's no social barrier there anymore. We don't have to keep calling on them to repent. Friends, once someone has repented, once they acknowledge wrongdoing and begin taking steps to change, the consequences end, and we must not hold grudges about the past. We must not mutter about the person or treat them as a second-class citizen. No, someone has repented and been restored to the life of the church. It is our Christian duty to treat them as full participants in it. First, because it's an integrity issue. If we won't forgive repentant sinners, we deny the gospel we profess, that we stand in and enjoy forgiveness in. That is the rankest hypocrisy. To say to God, please forgive me and I won't forgive any of you. Friends, we must forgive liberally, even the most painful offenses. That's true personally and corporately. We must allow someone who has harmed the church, who has sullied our reputation, who has damaged our witness to the world, to return to full participation in the community life of the church. That's exactly what Paul tells the Corinthians to do in this passage, because that testifies to the glorious gospel of Jesus. But finally, friends, if we do not forgive repentant people, Paul tells us Satan will exploit our lack of forgiveness to his advantage. Look at chapter two, verse 11. Indeed, what I have forgiven if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his designs. Paul forgives because he knows how Satan works and he knows that if he doesn't forgive, Satan will use that to attack and destroy him and the Corinthian church. Paul says something similar in Galatians 6-1. Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself too, lest you also be tempted. We've always got to do corporate discipline gently, aiming to forgive and restore. Because if we try to discipline with any other purpose, what will happen? We'll be puffed up with self-righteousness, we will sin terribly and Satan will do great damage to us. And do you know why that is? Because the anger we feel when we are wrong is not usually righteous. And when we let that fester in us, it's not gonna lead to anything good. James once says the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Indeed, Hebrews 12 warns, see to it that no bitterness, root of bitterness, brings up and causes trouble and by it many become defiled. A lack of forgiveness, a clutching of anger corrupts. Not just the angry person, but he says, by it many become defiled. Many people, those around the bitter person in his family and church become corrupted. So friends, we must be on guard. Satan wants us to be self-righteous. He wants us to get angry about wounds we've suffered in the past and get us being self-deceived, self-righteous people sitting on that hill, waiting to see God rain fire on our enemies just like Jonah, corrupting our families and our churches. And at that point, we will have lost the gospel and show that we don't really know Christ. So friends, we must forgive corporately and individually. Let me just say briefly, corporately, if there are people someday that have wronged this church, that have been disciplined by this church, who come back with a spirit of repentance, we must embrace them fully. We must hold them on our arms and warm them into the, welcome them into the bosom of the church. Those who we know are at odds with the church that are not here because of discipline or other reasons we should pray for them. Friends, individually, we need to examine our hearts. Are there people you know that you need to forgive who have sought your forgiveness and you have withheld it from them? A friend, a lack of forgiveness towards others testifies against you being forgiven by God. Be quick to let go of your bitterness and anger. Remember your own wrongs, how many there are, how terrible they are. Remember all God has done for you in Christ and forgive. Because when you do that, you show the power of the gospel in your life. And last friends, let me say, if you know that you have wronged someone, you need to go and acknowledge your wrong doing to them. Is your conscience today saying, I remember I did something terrible to this person, this believer, this person here perhaps. If that's you, deal with it now. For Jesus said in Matthew five, if you are offering your gift of the older and remember your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go, first be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift. Jesus says it's more important to be reconciled by apologizing to people we've wronged than to gather together for public worship. So friends, we must be a forgiving church. Let's forgive those that have been alienated from the church, we must be forgiving people. All right, so wrap this up then. Today we've seen some really hard duties. God's people have the duty to pursue the lost with the truth they don't wanna hear. The corporate duty to do the painful thing and discipline an unrepentant church member. And the gospel duty to forgive and restore someone who has wronged us. Let us commit ourselves to these duties because by so doing, we live the gospel out with integrity so that all will know that we really believe what we say, that Jesus might be glorified, that the lost might be one. For James five says if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a center from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.