(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

all right the topic for this morning sermon is brotherly love it's a title of my sermon this morning and this is an extremely important subject it's a very important doctrine it's not something you should ever just roll your eyes at and I understand in in a time where you have so many churches that just only seem to want to talk about love and you know they never want to hit on sin and on you know other things that are they're very important and you know and sound doctrine and other things that you know they made us kind of gloss over a lot of the Bible and everything that seems to be love love love but see brotherly love having brother love is extremely important in the Christian life and just because there are people who and and usually those people aren't even preaching correct on love anyways but but we can't get a bad taste in our mouth like oh you're preaching on love absolutely I'm preaching on love amen and you know love is it's a very important thing I mean love is what it's all about right I mean God is love and and when we go and preach the truth to people were pre we were bringing love to them thank God that he loved us you know greater love at no man in this and a man lay down his life for his friends Jesus Christ showed us the greatest love possible so you know I could go on and on and on about the importance of having love and love towards people but I mean it ought not even to have to be said it's so important that should just be taken as an assumption that of course you know having love for people is extremely important and I'm gonna go over this because this did have to this does have to be taught it did have to be taught because loving people isn't always easy it's not always easy sometimes you have to do things that's gonna go against your flesh sometimes in order to love people right you're gonna you're gonna have to act and behave in a certain way and yay maybe even force yourself to act a certain way because you're trying to love people instead of not loving them or instead of hating them or despising them or you know holding resentment against people and things like that so we're gonna get into a lot of different subjects here regarding you know having brotherly love and I'm focusing specifically on a brotherly love okay there's a love you could have for lost people there's a love you have your family this is a brother love though in spiritual in the spiritual family right brothers and sisters in Christ that we have a love for one another and that we could edify one another and you know the Bible says you know this is actually a commandment and I didn't even have this in my notes but as the Bible is being read I was like ah I forgot to put because there's so many verses about this right so even during all my preparation there's just you know there's continually and you'll probably hopefully have more verses popping in your head as we continue through the preaching of things that could be included in this sermon because they're applicable because it's all throughout Scripture but the verse that came to my mind was when Jesus said a new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you that you also love one another that was Jesus in John chapter 13 I had to reference it real quick on my phone because he's saying look it's a commandment you need to love one another just like I love you you need to love one another in the church especially ought to be a place where we have loved one for another within the church now that extends beyond just the church because you know anyone who's born again any child of God is a brother or sister in Christ and we ought to have love for them as well and one of the time one of the ways that may be difficult for example would be with people that you know go to other churches right and maybe they go to churches that have different doctrines right and I'm not talking about obviously they're gonna have salvation right they're gonna have some things right that then or in order to be you know even a brother sister in Christ I have salvation right but anyone who's a brother sister Christ you ought to love that person right and not despise them you try to correct them on doctrine and whatever else but we need to make sure that we're loving our brothers and sisters in Christ and you know I always love it when we go out so when you run into someone else who's who's saved that's a great thing right and we ought to be an encouragement to those people and not just oh you go to that church you know like look be an encouragement to other fellow believers your brothers and sisters in Christ and love them and show love for them but let's dig into this chapter because we're spending a lot of time in first the puzzle John talks a lot about this that quote that Jesus made that's referenced in John's gospel I don't think that quote is in any of the in Matthew Mark or Luke it's specifically in John and then we're also going to see all of this content in the first first epistle of John in multiple chapters we're looking at chapter 4 2 & 3 and he covers this quite extensively on the importance of brotherly love let's start reading in verse number 7 the Bible reads beloved let us love one another for love is of God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God he that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love in this was manifested the love of God toward us because that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him here in his love not that we love God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins and even just this statement alone saying you know here's the love it's not that we love God it's not like we love God first and God reciprocated God loved us first God loved his creation God loved people even people who sin against him you know when God sent his only begotten son into the world there's already been people breaking the laws breaking what he said not listening not obeying not following definitely not deserving of his love and that is a very key part of love and loving people is that you cannot have this idea of I'm only gonna love people who are deserving of my love meaning you're doing something for me meaning you're listening to me or you're obeying me the reason why God is love and his love is so great is because he loved us even when we didn't love him and that's why we could love God's because he first loved us first number 11 beloved if God so loved us we ought also to love one another so we ought to be able to try to mimic the love that God has to be able to overlook people's faults to be able to to have long suffering and mercy and forgiveness in our hearts if God was able to love us like that we also ought to love one another the Bible reads in verse 12 continuing on no man hath seen God at any time if we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us hereby know we that we dwell in him and he and us because he hath given us of his spirit and we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he and God now I'm gonna just without dwelling too long on each one it's not a full Bible study on every single verse but being saved is very simple like if I was saying here hey whosoever shall confess that Jesus is Son of God God dwelleth in him and he and God okay you may have a lot of differences with people yeah you may even have brothers or sisters in Christ that might be considered your enemy at some point or another but being saved is easy and when we're taught to love one another then keep that in mind you know how you love your brother now love is not just some feeling it's not just well my heart feels warm for a person and we're gonna get more into this in a little bit but I just want to you know as I continue to talk about love we need to understand what it actually means to love somebody because it's not just so many people in this world especially has conflated love with just some feeling of your flesh ultimately of your heart where you know all the songs and movies and everything else about love has more to do with a physical attraction between people than it actually has to do with real love right I mean think of like love songs it's it's stuff that just this just comes and goes right but but real love has more to do with your actions behind your sentiment right the Bible says that open rebuke is better than secret love so you could say you love all these people and you love all the people in church and you love all your brethren but if it's secret it means no one else really knows about it now how can anyone even really know that you love them obviously one way is if you if you say so if you tell them but we know that words can be very empty right words don't necessarily carry a lot of meaning especially for some people but the way that you make your words have meaning is that you follow up your words with action that that your your actions prove your words so if you say to someone you love them that's great I'm not saying you shouldn't tell people you love them but when it comes time for that proof don't fail because that makes your words meaningless right when you love someone you're gonna be there for them you're gonna be able to support them you're gonna be able to help them in their time of need right when they can't do anything for you you're gonna help them anyways it's a self-sacrificial thing like Jesus laid down his life that's why it's the greatest the greatest type of love is he's giving up essentially everything out of no gain of his own but just gain to someone else right that's a demonstration of love God commended or exalts and just you know it's commended God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us that's a commendation of God's love as I was mentioning earlier how you know we're sinners don't deserve anything we're not listening to God we have so many faults against God yet he still loved us and that's a type of love that we ought to have towards one another it's a commandment that Jesus gave us the Bible says here let's keep reading in I forget we're left off let's keep reading here in verse number 16 yeah verse 15 says whosoever shall confess that Jesus is Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God and we have known and believed the love that God hath to us God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him here in is our soul made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as he is so are we in this world there is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear because fear at torment he that feareth is not made perfect in love we love him because he first loved us if a man say I love God look at this and hateth his brother he is a liar for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen the Bible saying right there if you hate your brother and you say but I love God that was it you're a liar let that sink in when you hate your brother in Christ you don't love God that's what the Bible is literally saying here it doesn't matter whether you think you love God it doesn't matter what feeling overcomes your body when you think about God and you think about your love for God if you're harboring hatred towards your brother in Christ you don't love God just like the Bible says that if you don't if you if you spare the rod you hate your son same thing it doesn't matter if you think you love them you don't verse 21 and this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God loved his brother also so you say you love God well you gotta be loving your brother also flip over to chapter 2 the backwards to chapter 2 and first John first John chapter 2 verse number 9 the Bible reads he that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now again this is similar to saying I love God well if you hate your brother then you don't and by will say here well you can say you're in the light oh yeah I'm walking in the light I'm a child of light walking in light but you hate your brother Bible says you're in darkness even until now it's one of the most basic things it was the most simple things verse 10 he that loveth his brother abideth in the light and there is none occasion of stumbling in him but he that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whether he goeth because that darkness hath blinded his eyes now I don't know about you but I don't ever want to find myself in a place of darkness and when you get into sin oftentimes sin will blind your eyes and when sin blinds your eyes you end up saying and doing a lot of foolish things I brought this up recently in a sermon just talking about pride right how pride oftentimes will blind people's eyes into seeing the truth because they get so caught up in themselves and they think they're so special that all of a sudden they stop seeing some of the most basic things you're going like how could you not see that like it's just so obvious and and see other things happening that or maybe seeing their own faults or things like that it's just like how do you not even recognize that because they've become blinded in a similar fashion to people who are not saved they're blind to the Word of God they think they can't really understand the spiritual things of God because they're just the natural man the natural man receiveth not the things of God but the spiritual man does it's it's a condition that you can be in if you end up you know hating your brother you're gonna be walking in darkness you're not gonna be seeing clearly it's also akin to Matthew chapter 7 that talks about judging you know judge how you be not judge and talks about the person who has the moat in their eye and verse has a beam in their eye right you got a big old beam in your eye you're not seeing clearly it's like you're walking in darkness it's like you're blinded until you could get that out get that get that problem out then you're gonna start seeing a lot more clearly and even anyone in their spiritual life and your spiritual growth maybe you could recognize this as well I mean I think back to early in my spiritual walk when I had a lot bigger sins in my life that I recognized those but I couldn't even see all the rest of the other you know the other smaller sins I have my life because I was already just being blinded by whatever was in my life like that was the biggest thing but then you start realizing man you get past that you start to see more and more clearly as you get other sins out of your life you could see more clearly into wow I didn't even realize this was a problem I didn't even know that was a problem and you start to see more and more things opened up once you start getting past and getting some of those huge chunks of wood out of your eyes of sin that's blinding you to the reality of everything going on around you and one of the things that could put you in darkness is hating a brother in Christ and and you know not loving them that's gonna make you walk in darkness make you be blind so make you blind to other things that are going on flip over to chapter 3 in 1st John chapter 3 verse number 14 of 1st John chapter 3 the Bible reads we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren he that loveth not his brother abideth in death I mean look how many times do we have to say this it's a common theme throughout the book of first John whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer at the eternal life abiding in him hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren but who so hath this world's good now this is where the rubber meets the road okay and and I don't know about you but I'm sick of fake hypocritical Christianity the fake Christians right the fake Christians say well bless your heart but deep down they don't mean they want to bless your heart okay don't be like that I know it's a common phrase I know how people use it but you know what if that's not what you mean if you really don't want to bless someone and don't say that you're blessing them even if it is a colloquialism just just don't you know don't go that way it's untrue be true to your word you tell someone you love them you mean it okay don't just say it because you think it's the right thing to say or because it's gonna sound good and because everyone's gonna expect you to say something like that okay if you don't really mean it in your heart then don't say it because then your word becomes meaningless we start saying things that you don't really mean then why you ever gonna expect anyone to believe you for 17 but who so had this world's good now let's talk about loving people right who's always had this world's good and see it his brother have need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him this is talking about a condition where you've got a brother in Christ who's going through a time of need financial need right because some of this world's good so God has blessed you in this world you have this world's good you're doing great you've got extra you've got you've got plenty to spare and you've got a brother a brother in Christ who's going through a difficult time and actually comes into a time of need and I brought this up so many times in the past I don't want to spend time but need doesn't mean I can't pay my cell phone bill the cell phone that's not a need okay need isn't you know cuz then you got any other hand people are going oh well you don't really love me then do you I didn't make my second car payment you have all this money why don't you give me money for my second car look that's not what it's talking about okay need we're talking about real needs right real needs you can figure that out for yourself what's a real need but the point is you know when you see someone going through a need it's a brother in Christ and you have this world you can actually help see some people not everyone can help some people might just be scraping by on their own right and you just not you don't have this world's good you're just like well I mean I may not be in need but I'm really not in a place to even do anything that's different this as if you have this world's good and you see your brother have need and shutteth up your bowels of compassion how dwell the love of God how can you say that you love God you think that you're dwelling in the love of God and you can't even help your brother who's in need when God has blessed you verse 18 my little children let us not love in word neither in tongue but indeed and in truth that's what the real love is about it's indeed it's in truth it's an honesty it's in when you say something you're gonna back it up oh hey brother I love you hey sister I love you you know anything you need let me know and you know what sometimes you'll hear me say that hey if there's anything that you need let me know oftentimes I like to tell people that are saved that come into our church especially if they're visiting or for first time hey let me know if there's anything that you need you know what I mean that I mean that and there's people that can attest to that too because I've helped other people out of times when I can I will help and you know what I mean that for all of you here too if you need anything I'll help you I'm not just gonna tell you that I love you and then just never never able to do anything for you never able to to help I don't want to say able the difference between ability and and desire or want right no when you love someone you're gonna you're gonna make things happen it's gonna be indeed and in truth sick of this fake love Bible says in Romans chapter 12 turn if you went to Matthew chapter 6 in Romans chapter 12 verse number 9 let love be without dissimulation dissimulation is like I mean think about a simulation it's fake right so it says let your love be without with without dissimulation abhor that which is evil cleave to that which is good you don't want to have a fake love and you don't want to have a partial love either right if you want to have a complete love you're gonna hate the evil and you're gonna cleave to the good right you're not just gonna be like oh well I'm only positive only right everything's okay but I just love the good no you got to hate the evil it can't be an unbalanced type of a love otherwise what is love then like people people say well that's love everybody and I only know love and there's no hate for anything or anyone then what is what does love even mean to you what does it even mean it just becomes meaningless at that point like well I love children but I also love this person who kills children what doesn't make any sense well I love God but I also love Buddha what no you can't you can't you can't have that not when God says hey you're gonna have no other gods before me you can't have that it doesn't work verse 10 says be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love in honor preferring one another so that's when you esteem others better than yourself that's the type of love that we ought to have where you're you're you're honoring people before yourself that's the brotherly love you know what don't talk to people and act one way around them and tell them that you love them or you forgive them or I'm praying for you like there's another one oh I'm praying for you I love you and then you're not really doing it you thinking hypocrite you're supposed to have a brotherly love and not just in word or in tongue but indeed and in truth you know what be careful when you tell people gonna pray for them don't just let that become words if you tell someone you're pray for him you pray for him and you know what I know it's easy to forget to pray for people so if what you know one of the things that I try my best to do is when I tell someone I pray for him I pray for him right away right away because then I know that I'm not just gonna be some hypocrite and some liar and someone who's just gonna love and word and not indeed just do it right that's a good habit to get yourself into if you tell someone you pray for him you may have good intentions you may actually mean it but you know what follow through with it do it makes me sick to see people who are fake oh I forgive you and then they just keep on bringing up the same stuff over and over again look do you forgive them or not did you really mean it when you said you forgive them you know what forgiving people means you're letting it go so it means if you let something go you can't just go and take it back again when it suits your oh no wait actually I didn't really mean that I'm actually gonna hold this over your head let it go let it go forgive and forget let it go Matthew 6 forgiveness forgiveness is tied into love I mean how do you think that that God you know establishes love towards us is through that forgiveness of sins why did why is that love so great that Jesus sacrificed himself for us because the sacrifice was to pay for our sins was to give us forgiveness Matthew 6 verse number 12 this is this is part of what's known as a Lord's Prayer and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not in temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen there's a prayer to God saying God forgive us of what we owe forgive us our debts even as we forgive our debtors now people chant these this prayer all the time in other churches you know and other denominations especially I was brought up in Presbyterian Church who chanted this all the time I mean I remember trying to pray to God at one point when I was younger because a relative had passed away I didn't even know how to pray to God so I just start chanting the Lord's Prayer but it's me oh it's meaningless and empty because you don't just chant a prayer to God it's not how you talk to God right I didn't even know that you could just like it sounds silly doesn't it how do you not even know that you can just like pray to God but it's just they know you know how to pray well let's repeat the Lord's Prayer people chant this stuff and you don't even think about it when there's a lot of teaching in in in this example prayer that Jesus was saying and the teaching is that you're asking God to help you out right hey God show me some forgiveness show me some mercy just like I do to other people just like I forgive other people hey I forget your people had debts against me people done me wrong you know I forgave them God please forgive me for my infractions for my slides when I when I when I'm screwing up verse 14 says for if you forgive men their trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you hey there's something to this brotherly love that actually could be beneficial for you if you put in practice because God's gonna see your brotherly love and being able to overlook other people's faults and being able to actually forgive because God can see your heart by the way too you tell someone you forgive them you don't actually forgive them what good is that God knows God's gonna see your your wicked heart and say yeah I'm not even gonna tell you I forgive you you know he's gonna let you suffer for whatever and whatever your trespasses are but if you're able to forgive then your father in heaven is gonna see that and he'll forgive also it says in verse 15 but if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses this isn't talking about being saved in eternity this is talking about how God chastises you and punishes you here in this life if you can't overlook other people's faults then then God's not gonna overlook yours I mean where is children so when he sees the proper spirit and and you becoming more like him by being able to show mercy and love to people especially your brethren then he can treat you appropriately too and understand well you understand that people do wrong to you you're showing forgiveness to them so I'm gonna show forgiveness to you I'm gonna show some mercy to you because you're starting to get it you're starting to understand how you're supposed to be and and what you're supposed to be like and being more godly flip over to Matthew chapter 18 Matthew chapter 18 and look this is important because especially within the church and within any church if you're not a member of our church you go to church somewhere else you know understand this all churches need to be operating in unity of faith and unity of spirit in order for us all to be working together as a family as a team as a church for the Lord we need to be able to rely on one another we need to be able to love one another encourage one another edify one another and not be fake one to another and then start start having all these factions within a church look we all got to work together we've got a common goal we're brothers and sisters we're family yeah no family is ever really perfect you're always gonna have some type of friction some types of problems but you know what within a family you still ought to be able to love one another and that's the thing you know I'm not you know the teaching isn't you have to be best friends with every single person in church right there's a difference best friends you're hanging out with all the time you're doing things together you're just doing all this stuff you can love people without just always doing stuff with people right because there's personalities people have different personalities some people get along better than others and that's fine but you know what when you love someone that person who irritates you that person that annoys you that person that says things to you like oh man if they come in need you're gonna be there to help them that's where the love comes in so you know I'm gonna help you you're my brother or sister in Christ because I do actually love you I do actually care about you we may not always get along and like the same things and whatever but great right Matthew 18 is where I do turn so you know in order to keep the church functioning we all need to have that love towards each other verse 21 Matthew 18 well says then came Peter to him and said Lord how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him till seven times Jesus said unto him I say not unto thee until seven times but until seventy times seven this is illustrating again the level of forgiveness and love we ought to have towards our brothers and sisters in Christ okay this is someone he's saying how oft shall my brother sin against me right he's doing Peter wrong you're saying well I mean how many times should I forgive him he's done me wrong he I mean he's done me wrong seven times already I mean seven times Lord it's kind of a lot for someone to keep doing me wrong but do I still have to keep forgiving him well Jesus says look not until seven seventy times seven now he's not saying that number to say well you know four hundred ninety that's that's the limit and and once you get past that it's biblical to not forgive again he's not putting he's just making a big number up right just to show you look there should be no limit right I'm not seven times seventy times seven right just pick out a big number and say yeah that you know just forgive them Peter they're your brother show them that love because think about it what if God had a limit I'm just the number of sins that you could commit well you commit 101 you commit 734 that's just one over the amount of sins that I'm willing to forgive you it would be a lot of trouble salvation is free it's a gift it's grace 100% it's not grace and well but you also have to follow you know I mean you can't sin this many times if you have this many trespasses then no no it's it's one or a million to the eternity power whatever whatever right it's it's it's endless it's mercy you know that that mercy extends and and covers you know we're sinned about grace that's much more bound and since God has that attitude he's saying that that's that's how we ought to be as a type of love that we ought to have also to be able to forgive people even though they may continually do us wrong now you're probably not gonna be best friends with a person that's just always doing you wrong but you still ought to be able to forgive them and if they're brother like it says here my brother you still ought to love them and and that's why the teaching is important because it's not always easy some people make it hard to love them it's true just ask my wife let's keep reading here so Jesus continue with a parable in his explanation here about the 70 times 7 right verse number 23 he says therefore as a kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain King which would take account of his servants and when he had begun to reckon one was brought unto him which owed him 10,000 talents but for as much as he had not to pay his Lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and children and all that he had and payment to be made the servant therefore fell down and worshiped him saying Lord have patience with me and I will pay thee all then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt so this person 10,000 talents anyway think about that as 10,000 trespasses right we said a lot right he's owed his great debt but he comes to him humbly and asks for you know just just for more time he doesn't even ask him to be forgiven he's just saying hey look I'll pay it all back to you I'll make it right you know just give me a little bit more time and I'll do it right just just please show me a little bit of mercy here and because of that attitude because of that response he wasn't just saying and this is important too because this is part of forgiveness you don't just have to forgive everybody when they're unrepentant and that is another false understanding that many Christians have today as you think oh I'm so I'm so Christian that this person that that you know killed my loved one and then doesn't even care that they took their life and is just still glad about it yeah I'll kill him again that you could just forgive that you don't have to forgive that person you don't have to forgive that person when they have that that repentance that's when you you know you show okay yeah I'm gonna forgive you then but if people still are doing things wrong they don't just get you know the free pass you you you you know with between you and them you say okay I'm you know there's there's repentance there and this is this is a type of repentance here he's just coming to him and saying look I'll pay you all just please have patience with he's asking for the mercy he's doing it humbly he's not just saying well not paying you anyways right the Lord's not gonna just just forgive him when he's just saying when he has that type of an attitude and just belligerent and proud and you know not caring at all and this is where people take the repentance thing way to an extreme right so when we go to God like for salvation the repentance that's or you need to understand you need to understand your condition you understand that you're a sinner and because of your sin because you've done wrong you do deserve hell like you brought it on yourself and it's not that you're even willing to like have to pay anything because you know you can't pay anything you know you can't dig yourself out of that that is too much but you're putting your trust in Christ to be your Savior and so well he made the payment for me so I'm gonna accept that right it's it's it's similar to what the Bible is teaching here it's just it's that acknowledgement right that's what people need to have is an acknowledgement you can't just you can't just get saved if you never even thought you needed a Savior to begin with well I'm good enough anyways oh sure I'll put my faith in Jesus no you need I mean you need to understand what that you're in debt you need to understand that you need to save you need to understand that it doesn't mean you have to just be like completely broken and in tears or show yourself that way or whatever but anyhow I'm gonna keep going here cuz I don't want to get too far off track on on even just this parable so the Lord here is showing mercy and he's giving them forgiveness right and he says okay I have compassion and I forgave you the debt verse 28 but the same servant went out and found one of his fellow servants which owed him in a hundred pence and he laid his hands on him and took him by the throat saying pay me that thou lowest and his fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him saying have patience with me and I will pay the all notice he's saying the same exact thing it's the same exact heart the same exact attitude but it's a lot lesser quality you know quantity but he's just saying look you have patience with me I'll pay you back I'll make it good so it's the same exact situation it's not different in any way other than the amount of money that's owed but then it says in verse 30 and he would not say no I'm not showing you mercy but went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt so when his fellow servants saw what was done they were very sorry and came and told unto their Lord all that was done then his Lord after they had called him said on him oh that wicked servant I forgave thee all that debt because thou desire it's me shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant even as I have pity on thee and his Lord was Roth and delivered him to the tormentor so he should pay all that was due unto him so likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you this if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses you've had a lot of trespasses with your Heavenly Father and he's forgiven you of those if you're saved you're born again you're a child of God he's forgiven you of your sins and trespasses so likewise you ought to be able to forgive your brother your sister in Christ from your heart and he's saying if you don't do that then you know what God's gonna hold you to that standard that you're holding them to and you're not gonna enjoy that because you're not as good as you think you are if you have this type of an attitude towards people right you pay me what you owe me look let it go turn over to 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 if I was in Luke 17 I'll read this for you Luke 17 verse 3 take heed to yourselves if thy brother trespassed against thee rebuke him this part of love hey if someone if someone trespasses unto you he says look take heed to yourselves so this is a warning take heed if your brother trespasses against thee rebuke him is there anything wrong with rebuking people who do you wrong even though they're your brother no and see that's another thing that's not unloving to rebuke someone who's done you wrong right hey you did me wrong let them know it's actually more loving to let people know that you've done them that they've done you wrong so that way maybe they won't do it again because oftentimes people will trespass against other people without even realizing it I mean how many people in here could say that you don't have to show me hands but like that you've sinned against God before you even realize it was a sin like there's some things in the Bible the Bible talks about sins that you probably didn't even know until you saw it in the Bible or you heard a preach about like wow I didn't even know that was a sin but once you hear it you're going well I'm gonna stop doing that right and maybe you do something to someone else in church or whatever and you know what happens is that you know people instead of confronting things and just just dealing with it they'll let it fester and then they'll allow a root of bitterness to just kind of spring up in their hearts because guess what the people who didn't say anything was doing wrong that needs a rebuke you didn't rebuke they're gonna continue doing what they're doing because they don't think there's any problem with that there's nothing wrong with giving the rebuke but then it says here and if you repent forgive him if someone's doing you wrong rebuke them there's nothing unloving about that's great it's fine and then if they repent and they say oh yeah I'm not gonna do anymore I'm sorry what you know forgive them done over that's it that's how and take heed to yourselves first forces and if he trespassed against these seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again to these saying I repent thou shalt forgive him now notice all we have to go off of because we can't see other people's hearts is off of what they say so if someone does you wrong and then they tell you I'm sorry I won't do it again but then they do it again and then they come back and they say I'm sorry I won't do it again you still need to forgive them when they come back to you repentant okay and and there's not a whole lot we can gauge off of that obviously you may start to see a pattern but it's still and there's nothing wrong protecting yourself against being you know taking advantage of but when it comes to just having that love and being able to forgive we got to be able to forgive you got to be able to forgive because whatever it whatever standard you're holding people to God's gonna hold you to that standard second Corinthians chapter 2 look at verse number 6 we have an example here through the epistle to the Corinthians of someone who has done wrong in church being forgiven okay verse number 6 Baba reads sufficient to such a man as this punishment which was inflicted of many so there's someone in the church that was doing wrong and was punished for it they said you know what that punishment was sufficient good enough verse 7 so that contrary wise you ought rather to forgive him and comfort him so it was obviously talking about someone who's repented they were in sin they were in wrong they trespassed against somebody now they're repentant they said that they've been punished they've suffered whatever it was whatever the punishment was if it was you know church discipline they got put away from the church or whatever but you know what that was sufficient done we're not gonna keep holding it over their head we're not gonna keep bringing it up now it's time to forgive him and comfort him so when someone's done wrong but they're repentant now you know what embrace them and love them and comfort them and help them now try to get back up on their feet there are people doing wrong that's what you don't trespass against people usually backsliding you know it's like hey let's let's help get you back in come on and it says less perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with over much sorrow you know now being sorrow and grieving grieving over your transgressions and your sins is a good thing because it should lead you to repentance but once you've repented once things are right now you ought to be able to forgive that person and then again you know help them to now overcome them and get back on track so they're not just depressed just dwelling on what they've done wrong hey you've got the change of heart move forward you've recognized you identified it so you know what that was wrong it's wicked I'm sorry I'll never do that again you're gonna move forward let's help that person now move forward and and treat them with the love that they deserve that the love that God tells us that we need to love them with wherefore I beseech you verse 8 that you would confirm your love toward him confirm how through actions through deeds for to this end also did I write that I might know the proof of you whether ye be obedient in all things so here's the thing what he's talking about being obedient in all things they were obedient in the part where they put away someone from among them but now the real test is going to be are you willing to take them back when they've been repentant we don't want to have this it's important to put people away from us that need to be put away because there's too many churches that don't do that right we need we everything is important in the Word of God and how things are run is important so when people need to be put away a wicked person be put away amen but you know what when it's time for them to come back because they repented then bring them back and love that person and help them and comfort them and be there for them and don't just have this bitter rotten attitude that just says well you're never you never go now look if someone's just just given over to reprobation or something obviously you're not coming back I'm going to deal with that at the end of the sermon okay we're talking about brothers and sisters in Christ here so we don't he's just saying whether or not you're gonna be obedient so are you gonna be are you really gonna be a love this person again verse 10 to whom ye forgive anything I forgive also hey the possible is ready to forgive and we ought to be also we ought to be ready ready prepared to forgive hey if someone comes to you has been doing you wrong I'm sorry be ready to forgive them don't go oh I gotta think about it well I don't know forgive them to whom you forgive anything I forgive also for if I forgave anything to whom I forgave it for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ look at this less Satan should get an advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices Satan would love nothing more than for people to be bitter against each other and not be able to work together it's part one of his devices flip over to Romans chapter 1 this point came a little bit sooner than I thought this is being a Ripper I say well what if they're not a brother right because look people do people creep into churches unawares right false brethren sure they do sure they do but this is extremely important since the reprobate doctrine is now had a resurgence since it's been kind of ignored for a long time in general in many churches you cannot be quick to label people reprobates that entire sermon on this in the past but it I mean it really ought to be a very high standard that you're holding before you're going to pull the trigger and just be like that person is a reprobate because it's a very serious accusation that you could be making against somebody of being a rep because being a reprobate it's it's worse than unsaved because an unsaved person could just get saved a reprobate person cannot get saved they're a child of the devil okay so if you're gonna say someone's a reprobate you're calling them a child of the devil and an evil wicked person deep down there are the wolf in sheep's clothing so one way that you can identify this is if they're a false prophet right if they are a wolf in sheep's clothing there there are there's lots and there's this would require an entire sermon in and of itself on being able to identify all the points so what I'd rather do because especially I'm talking about just people within the church they're not gonna be a false proper you're not gonna be like oh this person's a false prophet because they're not the pastor they're not getting up and making disciples and and judging their fruits right you're not gonna be able to do that so think about just you suspect someone in the church of being a reprobate you have a suspicion be careful with your suspicions but here's the thing you have to give people the benefit of the doubt there's been plenty of people over the years whether I've been pastoring or not that have come and gone through churches where you're kind of like you know there's some red flags I'm not too sure about this I'm not too sure about that there's some some weird things I don't know exactly what's going on but you know what you have to do you can hold you could hold on to those things in your mind but unless you know that someone is a reprobate you have to treat them I mean they're professing salvation they're professing they're a brother or sister in Christ they are telling you hey this is what I believe we have to go off that and give people a benefit of the doubt you have to and look there have been people in our church that have that are that are ex communicated forever because they turn out to be extreme weirdos and at least one of those people had a lot of red flags that almost everybody picked up on okay but what did we do we gave the benefit of the doubt because sometimes people just might be a little quirky sometimes people might just have some some social problems some social skill problem whatever like all these different things there can always be other explanations sometimes people are just sinners and they're in sin and they're backslidden or whatever and they're just in a bunch of sin and that doesn't make them unsaved it definitely doesn't make them a reprobate so unless you know someone's just some sodomite or you can very well articulate this is definitely a reprobate because of whatever then you have to treat people as brothers and sisters in Christ which means you're gonna have to forgive people and you do you wrong you have to and I was talking about you know the people some person came in here we were friendly we tried to involve them in everything that we were doing why because you have to do that I mean you need to be able to treat people right and yeah you may have some suspicions and of course you always should be guarding and protecting yourself you know it's not unloving to say you're not watching my kids because I say that's all of you I love all of you so I just don't want to leave my children alone nothing I'm loving about that but that way you're protected because obviously there's people that can creep in and you just don't know who they are but don't worry about beings on such a witch witch hunt for people oh this person's right well that person's reprobate oh but you know what there's not that many people that reprobate overall I mean yeah there's gonna be some people that come and go but I do turn to Romans 1 because this is what you're accusing people of being we think about that oh they're showing this type of behavior that type of behavior okay psychologist or whatever you know like like don't don't get so quick on a psycho analyzing everything that somebody does when they could just be in sin oh they have this motive and that motive and they're doing this and I think they're you know like look when you're gonna cue someone of being a reprobate look at Romans 1 verse 29 because what it means what it means is that their conscience is seared it means that person has zero conscience whatsoever verse 29 being filled with all unrighteousness fornication wickedness covetousness maliciousness full of envy murder debate deceit malignity whisperers backbiters haters of God despiteful proud boasters inventors of evil things disobedient to parents without understanding covenant breakers without natural affection implacable unmerciful who knowing the judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death not only do the same but have pleasure and then they do them this is the type of person that you're saying is a reprobate now if you can go through this list and be like yep yep yep yep yep yep yep okay I'll hear you out but if there's something that well this person was kind of deceitful to me about whatever you know it's just like look doesn't you know well this person's kind of manipulative yeah a lot of people are manipulative way too many people throwing the term around and start applying it over some of the smallest of things that ought not to be done because and again because then you're gonna not love that person because you're gonna think they're a child of the devil and you know what you're justified for not loving a child I'm not gonna love them I hate them but if you're wrong in your characterization of them then you could be in very serious sin because then you're not forgiving you're not loving you know if they really are a child of God be careful with that be careful with that I'd much rather err on the side of caution and just be like I don't know until someone just exposes themselves as just being you know which has already happened like I said a couple times in this church people have exposed themselves as being reprobates you know what gone you know what they're done and I don't care how many times Judas wants to throw down the the silver at your feet and tell you they're sorry it doesn't matter because they're a pervert whatever but that's different than the person who is just might have been in some sin that you just that offended you right now would check yourself if you think someone that's slighted you as a reprobate are you full of pride are you being blinded because you're so impacted and so hurt by someone doing wrong to you that now you're just gonna call them a reprobate because they've done they've said something bad about you or whatever and I'll say this much to 1st Corinthians 5 gives us this list of people that ought to be thrown out of church right and if you can't even prove that someone's worthy of being put away according to 1st Corinthians chapter 5 then there's no way you could prove their reprobate right so here's the thing if you suspect someone in our church of being a reprobate bring the evidence forward to the church because they're definitely gonna need to be cast out of the church and if you can't do that then you better not treat them as a reprobate if you can't do that if you're not gonna be able to convince the church that someone's a reprobate you are full of sin and wickedness if you just go around treating them like they're a reprobate because you ought to be able to prove it if they are and if you can't do that at all then you are wrong then you're the one in sin if you're just relying on a feeling then actual proof not enough not enough and if you start talking negatively about people behind their back you start telling other people I think this person's a reprobate you know you're doing your backbiting you're backbiting you're not willing to be public with it you're not gonna just go to church you start talking to other people and talking to friends and saying well this person I think they're a reprobate now you better you got some serious problems because as 1st Corinthians 5 says and go ahead and turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 5 Bible says in verse number 9 I wrote unto you an epistle not to company with fornicators yet now all together with the fornicators of this world or with the covetous or extortioners or with idolaters for then must you need to go out of the world but now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater right these are all serious sin saying look these people are wicked people who need to be cast out of church look at this or a railer or drunkard now if you start going around labeling people as reprobates and you can't prove that the reprobates you might be the one that's guilty and and worthy of being kicked out of church now because you're starting to rail because you have a railing accusation if you can't prove it then you're just railing understand the difference you can have suspicions because you have red flags but how you treat people you have to give them the benefit of the doubt you still love I mean when you have suspicions out so winning don't you you know if some red flags are coming up maybe some guys got a lisp right you're going well maybe he's just a little feminine right I mean I that's what I do I try at all costs to just give them the benefit of doubt and I'm gonna love that person and try to give him the gospel I mean now obviously if they come dressed as a drag queen to the door or something it's just gonna be like burn in hell there's enough evidence there but how often does that happen right let's have the same love for people within the church and I know there's gonna be reprobates that come and go I mean it's going to happen we know it's gonna happen but until you know until you know keep that love for that person we got to I mean look Jesus showed love to Judas even while he knew from from the beginning that he was a devil now obviously there's some differences there with Jesus having the knowledge that he had and everything that he came to do and being betrayed okay because the Bible tells us verse ready to find that we need to when we find out about people like that then we need to put them away from the congregation but he still says even in the garden you know he says friend you know betray us out me with a kiss we need to check our own attitudes and make sure that we are loving towards other people and you know what if people come to you and start backbiting I love this proverb I'll read it for you turn up you a diffusion chapter 4 we're close on Ephesians chapter 4 Proverbs 25 verse 21 says if thine enemy hung be hungry give him bread to eat and if he be thirsty give him water to drink so you know those are filming your passage from the New Testament but it's not just a New Testament teaching that's Old Testament Proverbs right do good on your enemies and I said before someone could be saved and still act like an enemy towards you now hopefully not they shouldn't right but you still love that person and you know what you overcome evil with good and you do good to them instead of doing evil to them because that's the right thing to do that's how you can show brotherly love towards people that even when they do wrong to you still forgive them you still love them you still can can give them bread you know they're hungry give them bread they're in need hey just still help them out says for thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head and the Lord shall reward thee you're gonna get a reward and they're gonna get even more of a punishment right so if someone keeps doing you wrong you just be good to them God sees what's going on and God's gonna definitely be punishing them for doing the wrong that they're doing and don't worry they'll get what they deserve but you know what you're gonna be rewarded because that's the right thing to do the right thing is just to still be good and then verse 23 this is the verse I was I'm ultimately getting to but it but it's in context for a reason of having those first two verses prior to it by reads the north wind driveth away rain so does an angry countenance a backbiting tongue why because when people do you wrong you're more inclined to backbite against those people so that's why the verse is preceding that is telling you hey if your enemy's hungry give them something to eat you do you know ultimately overcome that evil with good don't go around telling everyone else how they did you wrong don't go around trying to sow discord don't go around to oh do you know what this person did to me well you better watch out don't try to warn people oh watch out because this person is doing this that person is doing that you're backbiting you're backbiting and if something is really worthy of being warned about then bring it before the church if you've got someone in church that's doing something if you really need to be warned about this then bring it forward we do so in the right way Ephesians chapter 4 verse 29 the Bible reads let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed until the day unto the day of redemption let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be ye kind one to another tenderhearted or soft-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you that's the brotherly love we ought to have in this church put away the anger and the clamor and the evil speaking it's only gonna cause problems we don't need any problems we need to work together we need to love one another we need to work and serve the Lord I love our church and God's gonna God has been blessing our church tremendously we're gonna continue doing a great work for the Lord and I think our church is just continuing to grow stronger and stronger even with one another as a family and I love that I love see that so I want to preach these sermons to safeguard against problems coming in because it problems come they do but we need to have a strong core a strong core church which is the entire church our core is gonna be everybody in church be part of the core show up come come and join because we don't want to have a faction of well these people are the inner you know like look let's just have one big core we want you here with us be part of it and we're here to encourage one another and love one another it's a commandment it's only gonna do you good God's gonna reward you for it it's all good everything's positive positive sermon right amen all right as far as I have a word of prayer your Heavenly Father Lord we love you we thank you so much for your word for the instruction Lord sometimes we could be hard-headed and let things and too emotional Lord when people do us wrong God help us to be able to overcome our own flesh and our own emotions to do what's right to do what we're instructed to do to love to love our brothers and sisters in Christ to show that brotherly look love to have the kindness to have long-suffering to have mercy and to be able to truly forgive people Lord help us to be able to love not in word or in tongue but indeed and in truth your God we need to do that help us to be to be mindful of that continually Lord God we love you it's a Jesus name we pray amen