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Take your Bibles once again and go to Matthew chapter 18 Matthew chapter 18 I Hope that as we've been going through this book chapter by chapter. It's helped you understand the Bible a little bit more I hope it's helped you study your own Bible as you're reading through the gospel and some of these things that are challenging I hope they've come to lights a little bit more and Look at the same thing in chapter 18. You're gonna. There's a story here. We're gonna look at it very soon a story That's very Commonly preached, but it's very commonly preached incorrectly all right so as we go to it You'll understand why and we'll touch upon that later on but look at verse number one Matthew chapter 18 verse 1 the Bible says at the same time came to disciples unto Jesus saying Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven the title for the sermon tonight is? Greatest in the kingdom all right, so it's an interesting question the disciples come to Jesus Jesus you know out of all of us who's gonna be the greatest So you know we think of the disciples we think of these men as great men of God you know Peter and and John and and so on you know Philip and Bartholomew and and you know all these men and We see immediately just how immature they are you know there's still a place in them that they need to grow They need to mature they're comparing themselves one to the other and asking Jesus who's gonna be the greatest This isn't the first time that this question gets brought to Jesus all right, and I don't know about you I mean you might say I don't really struggle with that I don't really think about you know am I gonna be greater than others in the church, but you know what in my Christian life I've definitely come across people who feel that way I've definitely come across believers who serve the Lord or you know say they love the Lord They they do the works that God has given them, and they don't they're not satisfied to know I'm just serving the Lord they also want to know how well am I doing with other people you know is this person of? Doing less soul-winning, and if they're doing less then surely I'm greater now You might not say that out loud, but in the hearts of many people. That's how they feel This is why quite often you go to a church, and you'll see mature Christians look down on younger Christians You know Christian people come into church. They're not dressed properly. They're not they don't know the hymns They don't know their Bible they might be newer Christians and sometimes you see mature Christians turn down the nose look down that person And and you know think of themselves as greats, okay, and so yeah They might not ask the question But in the hearts of a lot of believers and it might be in your heart if it is in your heart you need to Overcome this you know, but you see how immature it is to ask Christ who's going to be the greatest now Should we desire to be great people absolutely we should desire to be great people in the Lord? Which are desired to have those heavenly rewards to come, but look how Jesus responds to them in verse number two Verse number two does Jesus say well, you know keep working hard You know keep doing what you're doing and that will guarantee you to be great know what does Jesus do in verse number two and Jesus called a little child unto him and Sets him in the midst of them all right takes a little child now before we go into why he brought that little child In the midst all I want to say here is one thing you'll notice about Jesus Is when he was going around teaching and preaching the little children were present Okay, and that's another thing guys in church. We want our children here. We want the little children here This is so you'll see soon why it's so important Okay, but a lot of churches remove the children from the congregation put them in a Sunday school You know away from the church services why cuz children allowed children can be distracting all those other things No, we see that Jesus when he preached he had children there right there He took the little child and placed them in the midst of the disciples Okay And the the illustration will be there he's going to point to this child soon and say this child's the greatest right so he really rubs it into the face of the disciples will have a look at it there in verse number three and said Verily I sent to you Except ye be converted and become as little children You shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven so you see the disciples saying who's going to be the greatest? Jesus says look more important than who's going to be the greatest Are you even going to enter the kingdom the first thing you need to do is be converted become like a little child and that? Will guarantee you to even to be able to enter into the kingdom of heaven Why is that so important because little children are humble right little children here They believe this is why when you go so dolto those soul winning It's so much easier to see little children say it's so much easier to see young teenagers saved But once an adult reaches, and I and you know an older life once they've lived their life They've provided for themselves. You know that they don't think they need God they become hardened They become prideful you see little children are humble little children find it easy to place their faith on Jesus Christ Okay, this is why he sets a child in their midst It says look you've got to become a little child even to answer into the kingdom Okay, you must put your full trust on the Lord God your full trust on Jesus Christ Now let's look at verse number four verse number four the Bible says whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child the same is the Greatest in the kingdom of heaven you see in order for you to enter the kingdom of heaven You must be humble right you must come to realize. I can't make it to heaven on my own merits I can't bring my works. I can't bring my righteousness I can't bring my my reformed life to Christ. He's not going to receive that they're like filthy rags I must come humbly before the Lord and accept him as my Savior You know that same humility the same humility that drives you to be saved is Required for you to become the greatest in heaven, okay? What's humility putting yourself lower before other people you see the greatest in the kingdom of heaven when we get there? It's not going to be those that proclaim their works It's not going to be those that that talked about how great they were in the great works They did the greatest in the kingdom of heaven We're going to be the believers that were the most humble quite often the believers that are the most humble the believers that are the most Quiet, they're the ones that are serving the Lord with all their heart more often They're serving the Lord, but they don't want anyone else to know about it. You know it's just between them and the Lord They don't need to impress anybody. They don't need to lift themselves up with pride. They do it through humility and Verse number five please verse number five Verse number five so if a little humble child can be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven What does Jesus say in verse number five? He says and whoso shall receive one such little child in my name? receive of me See Jesus was that child says this is child this child we could because of his humility It's going to be the greatest in the kingdom if you receive that little child Jesus says you receive me Why is that because that little child is a believer of Christ? You know and this is the thing you know as someone who thinks you won't be great in the kingdom You want to have your names in lights? You know quite often what happens you know let's say you've got a guest preacher coming around right? I'm not against guest preachers or some guest pastor some with a reputation someone with a great name quite often you'll see People that like to suck up to them right you'll see people after the service come on You're the greatest preacher. You've changed my life You've done all these amazing things you see quite often when someone with a big name comes Everyone wants to get around and be recognized by that great name And you know what little children in the congregation quite often get a not get get dismissed little children a congregation You know get ignored why they're just a child who cares the guest preacher is here You know what Jesus says does yeah, you probably want to receive me because he's the greatest He's the greatest in keys God God Almighty of course we want to acknowledge God of course we want to honor Jesus Christ But Jesus Christ says if you want to honor me if you want to respect me you go for the little child you go And receive the little child in my name you receive him you encourage him you honor that child And this is something we need to be reminded of in church Is that the children in our church are important that the next generation of Christians? Hey, they can do greater works than what we can do in our generation if we train them to love the Lord We receive them listen if the child comes to church And they feel accepted by the adults accepted by the teenagers don't you think they'll love to be in church Don't you think they'll design hey, I want to be like them. I want to grow up and serve the Lord Hey, but if you ignore the children say who cares they're not important. They're not gonna want to be in church They're gonna grow up one day as teenagers and quite often in a lot of churches You see the teens grow up and not want to be in church They they leave the church, and you never see them for years You know sometimes they come back praise God when they come back But quite often they come back that destroyed the life. You know we have a life of sin Jesus Christ makes a very important point children are important. Hey, they can be distracted sometimes I acknowledge that okay But you receive the little ones you're receiving Christ verse number six And verse and verse number six confirms that this child this little child is referring to is a believer of Christ He's a saved child verse number six But who so shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me see there is he's a believer of Christ He's saved It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he was drowned in the depth of the sea Now quite often we think about this and and what you know what so what's a millstone? I mean a millstone you know before our modern machinery You know to grind wheat that would use these huge stones these huge stones there were at least 50 kilograms in weights You know and Jesus says look it's better if someone comes and offends a little child that believes on him It's better for just a move that that stone be hanged around his neck and is thrown into the sea So look you're better off dead. You know if you if you mislead children if you offend little children Against the Lord you know you discourage little children. You're better off dead is what Jesus Christ says that pretty harsh words from Jesus Christ That's how he feels about it. Okay, and this is something that quite often That's brought up when people preach against pedophiles when people preach against sexual predators that come into churches Seeking for to corrupt the minds of little children You know this is you know this is something we need to be aware of because you see Churches will bring the best of people But churches will also bring in the worst of people because quite often you know the predators those that seek to offend Christians and offend little children they'll come into a church because they think where everyone's friendly everyone's going to receive me I'll be able to get away with my perversions I'll be able to get away with my you know my sinful acts And we as a church as we continue to grow you know right now You know I know all of you But it's going to come a time when our church starts to grow continues to grow there'll be new people that we don't know hey You know and we shouldn't we shouldn't we should encourage people to come we should be Inviting we should be hospitable toward people, but nevertheless we always need to be aware Who's around our little children you know parents? I would always say never leave your children unsupervised even in church Okay, please don't think this church is a safe place to leave my children unsupervised No You know sexual private for our predators Seek churches to harm little children and these perverts these people that are better off dead in the ocean as Jesus Christ Speaks of here That's number seven Jesus says woe unto the world because of offenses for it must needs be that offenses come But woe to woe to that man by whom the offense cometh So what Jesus Christ is saying here is that woe to the world you know the world is the one that comes to offend Christians that comes to offend believers, but that shouldn't surprise us because in 2nd Timothy 3 12 It says yay, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution You see if you live for Jesus Christ if you live as a Christian the Bible guarantees that you will suffer Persecution you might say pastor Kevin. You know I've lived a Christian life for You know two decades three decades. I've don't suffered any persecution Probably because you're not live for Christ. You know probably because you you know you just got on the radar You know you you've just been like the world of course if you're operating just like the world you're not gonna suffer persecution Hey, but if you stand for the Word of God if you walk the ways of Christ Guaranteed you're gonna suffer persecution Guaranteed you know just this morning. I've got a phone call from some guy on the Sunshine Coast you know Trying to blame us for his house getting burgled You know trying to blame our church because we left a gospel tract You know and he's saying well You know someone's walked past and so that no one's home, and they burgled the house You know he wasn't expecting to get the harsh words he got in return I'll just say that okay, but look the word wants to attack the churches they especially want to attack those that go out and preach the gospel and And so Jesus Christ basically confirming here offenses will come okay get ready toughen up You know grow close to the Lord mature grow up because when offenses come you'll be better prepared to overcome those verse number 8 And these are some interesting words and some people struggle with this It's not that difficult to understand really but verse number 8 It says wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee cut them off and cast them from thee It is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed Rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire And if thine eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee it is better for thee to enter into life with one Eye rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fight now Keep your finger there and turn to 1st Corinthians 15, please 1st Corinthians chapter 15 I Can't believe there are some people all right even Baptists Take what we just read there and think This is literal all right that if you've done something sinful Then you're better off cutting off literally cutting off your hand so you can enter into heaven without sin Okay, now. Do you I mean does that sound very foreign to you like if you know if you went to someone I said what must I do to be saved and someone says you know have you looked with lust yes? Well, you've got to pluck out your eyes. That's how you can get saved I mean that's very foreign. That's very extreme right, but there's some people that actually believe that and you know There's this guy on the internet. I don't know if you ever listen to online preachers his name's Robert breaker Okay He's a Baptist he's a preacher online and he has said basically Those that live in the tribulation period if they've taken a mark of the beast on their hand well the only way they can get Saved now is to cut off their hand all right or if they take the mark of the beast in their forehead You've got to cut off your head I mean do you think it's a Jesus Christ is teaching of course not okay now the reason I'm going to turn to the first Corinthians 15 is just to bring us back to some fundamental truths if we again if we stick to our fundamental truths our Fundamental doctrines everything else about makes sense okay first Corinthians 15 verse 50 first Corinthians chapter 15 verse 50 The Bible says now this I say brethren that flesh and blood Cannot inherit the kingdom of God neither doth corruption inherit incorruption Listen this physical body this flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God I'm not going to heaven in this body. It's not going to happen. Okay. That's that's a basic truth Okay This is why the Bible talks about the resurrection the rapture the new body that says here that what did it say at the end? Neither doth corruption to this body's corrupted Inherit in corruption in corruption is heaven this corrupted body cannot inherit something. That's incorruptible Otherwise what was incorruptible will become corruptible because it allowed something corruptible into it. Okay. This is why we need new resurrected bodies Okay, because once we have those sinless bodies then yes bodily physically we can be in heaven all right So if you take that that's a basic truth the rapture resurrected bodies most Christians know this they understand this Then do you think cutting off your hand or plucking your eye out is gonna help you get to heaven? No, because this body was never going there in the first place all right now. Let's quickly drop down to verse 51 So we just read first Corinthians 15 50 now verse 51 behold. I show you a mystery We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed Talking about bodies here in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead Shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed, so how are we going to be changed? Incorruptible we're going to be incorruptible. Just like heaven is incorruptible That's how we enter into that into heaven bodily physically by the resurrection with our new incorruptible bodies, okay? So that's a basic teaching of the Bible of course if you know that when you read about Jesus Christ saying plucking out your hand Or you know cut off your hand you know he cannot be talking literally because the body was never going to heaven in the first Place all right, so let's just if you go back to Matthew 18, please Matthew 18 Let's go back to back there, so what is Jesus Christ teaching of course? He's teaching about the horrors of hell Okay, if you if you were possible for you to cut off your hand as it were so you could you know avoid hell and Just let that one one hand go to hell you're better off cutting off your hand than suffering the horrors of hell That's what Jesus Christ is teaching. He's giving us a very graphic description You know so you can understand just how how are you know? Yeah, just how horrible hell is you know you rather avoid that place at any cost if you were possible to do those things you're Better off doing that then letting your whole body go to hell, okay, so of course look cutting off your hands plucking your eyes It's very graphics. It's horrible. You wouldn't want to do it yourself You wouldn't want your worst enemies doing it them so you know themselves right? So if you wouldn't want that to happen then how much more would you rather people avoid hell? How much more would you rather go out there preaching the gospel so people can know what they must do to be saved and it's not Cutting off their hands right it's being like we just read about being that humble little child coming to Jesus Christ and Receiving his sacrifice his death burial and resurrection being humble as that child verse number 10 verse number 10 Take heed that you despise not one of these little ones so Jesus Christ see he's still talking about the little ones still talking about The little child for I say unto you that in heaven their angels whose angels the angels of the little ones Do always behold the face of my father which is in heaven say what is that about? I'll tell you the truth. I'm not 100% sure okay But it sounds like little children have what some people called guardian angels that that God the Father Loves little children so much especially those that have believed on Jesus Christ love them so much that he has appointed an Angel to watch over that child Okay, this is why when Christ says you see the little child you receive me We see just how important little children are to God and they should be important to us as well, okay? Now what does that mean can you explain that any further? I really can't because we don't have any other scriptures that really developed this point, okay? But it looks like what it says there there are angels for the little ones for the little children That's number 11 now This is a verse that I said to you a lot of people quotes, and I know what they mean they mean well They have us in see heart, but they quote it they all they teach honor incorrectly and of course This was the memory verse it says for the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost Alright, so a lot of people will take this verse because you know a lot of modern-day preaching You know you don't get preaching chapter by chapter like we get today right a lot of modern-day preaching You know you let's say you're preaching on the gospel you take a verse here verse there verse there Maybe five verses and most of the sermon is just somebody talking okay, and what the problem is when that happens They'll take beautiful verses like verse 11 and take it out of its context and teach about something else and quite often Verse 11 when it's taken out is taught about salvation of the soul You know that that God has come to seek and to save those that are lost like those that are going to hell Okay, but if we keep it in the context of what we're reading. What is God talking about here? He's talking about the little children and those little children. He spoke about they already were believers in Christ Jesus what Jesus Christ is teaching about here are Believers okay children of God he's not talking about those that are unsaved He's talking about children of God that are lost say what do you mean by lost? Well what we just read about keep it all in context that G that Jesus Christ is Rebuking those that would offend little ones rebuking those that will turn their hearts against the Lord You know so much so that it'd be better if they drowned in the ocean drowned in the sea, okay? Let's understand a couple of things here you see when little children are offended in a church when little children are Offended by other people like I said many of times They'll leave a church may many times that we backslidden many times They'll leave you know leave God all together and think well. You know this is not the life for me This is not the way. I want to walk and in a sense they become lost lost You know we'll use the phrase backslidden many times as the Bible and if we keep reading the context you'll see that this is true that this is speaking about a backslidden or Lost child of God and why they're lost is because they've been offended by other people That's why God says that he has he shines his face on little children. We'll have a look this very shortly look at verse number 12 There's number 12 How think ye so Jesus Christ is asking us a question. What do you think he's saying? What's he asking if a man have an a hundred sheep and one of them is gone astray? doth he not leave the 99 and golf into the mountains and Seeketh that which is gone astray because what do you think? Let's say you're a shepherd you had a job to do You started with a hundred sheep right you're leading those hundred sheep to its green pastures to eat And at the end of the day you count them all up. There's 99 and when there's one missing. What do you think? Would you go after the one? now I I think Jesus Christ is asking this question because I Look if it was me if at the end of day I had 99 left and I lost one I'll be like I got 99. I'll be happy that I still got the vast majority. I've lost one Well, I mean just one it's not gonna be a big deal I mean if you got a hundred dollars in your pocket and you lose a dollar somewhere Are you really going to be like that bothered you got 99 dollars still there? You know, I mean you lost a dolly probably whatever, you know, what do you think? You know, that's what Jesus Christ is saying okay, now let's look at verse number verse number 13 verse number 13 and If so be that he find it Verily I say unto you he rejoiced of more of that sheep then of the 99 which went not astray Look at this even so it is not so Jesus Christ is now comparing this this parable this story We've what he's been preaching before Even so it is not the will of your father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish What are the little ones remember the little one that Jesus Christ brought before the midst of the Apostles? But the little ones that believe on Christ, okay, you see what God is saying here. Is that First of all in the story, he's got a hundred sheep those sheep already Belong to the Shepherd, you know If you're not saved you are not a child of God if you are not saved you are not his sheep You are not of his fold. It's not till that you're saved you become born again and you become a child of God Okay, that's when that's how you belong to God. That's how you become a sheep of his fold That's how you become a child of God And so Jesus Jesus is giving the analogy here if it's got a hundred, you know people Let's say in a church a hundred of his children and one goes missing one gets lost because it's offended All right that he would leave the 99 and go seek after that one That's how much God loves us that much that's how much God Wants us to fellowship with him to walk with him that if you get back sitting one day if one day in your life You're out of church one day in life. You're discouraged pastors have let you down Whatever churches have let me down and you're out about you You don't know what to do with your life one thing I want you to remember is that God is seeking you again Okay, he's seeking you like that Shepherd looking after that one now I'm probably not gonna look after you look out look for you, right? I mean, I hope so, but honestly, I mean like I said if I lost one sheep I'll be happy for the 99 I've already been working hard for the 99 But God would leave the 99 that haven't gone astray and go seek after that one You know God's got an amazing love an amazing love for his children for his sheep Yeah, if you're not yet, you know convinced that this is talking about a backslidden or lost Christian I mean you should be you keep in the context. That's what he's talking about. The little ones that have believed on him, right? Just keep your finger there. And I just want to just reinforce this path for you. Please go to the book of Luke Keep your finger there go to Luke. Let me just see if I can find the reference very quickly I'm not sure if I took it down I'll go there. It might be Luke 16 from memory Sorry guys just bear with me I Well, what I'll do I'm gonna I'm gonna skip that for now if somebody has the time to go through Luke and Find the other parable of the lost sheep. I'll really appreciate it. We'll come back to it So I'll keep preaching if somebody can go to Luke. I can't remember the chapter right now And find the other parable of lost sheep. That would be great Okay, if we don't get to it, we don't get to it, but it'll be great if you can you go back to Matthew 18, please Matthew 18 and verse 15 Matthew 18 verse 15. Remember the context did we find it? Is it Luke 15 Luke 15? All right, let's go to look 15 quickly Luke 15 because I just want to drill this home for you because there is a lot of bad teaching here From from different preachers that you'll find. Yeah, Luke 15. Okay, Jesus Christ gives many parables All right, the parable of the lost sheep is in verse number three. Okay, we're not going to read it all again But look at verse number four quickly What man of you having a hundred sheep if you lose one of them doth not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after That which is lost until we find it. So I just want to draw the attention once again This is a shepherd with a hundred sheep and he loses one. Okay. Now, let's drop down drop down to verse number eight verse number eight Either what woman having ten pieces of silver if she lose one piece doth not light a candle and sweep the house And seek diligently till she find it. So Jesus Christ gives us all these parables. They're all teaching the same story Now this time the woman she owns ten pieces of silver Okay, those ten pieces of silver already belong to her and she's lost one. You see that now, let's keep going We get to the most popular parable now in the parable of the of the lost son It says here in verse number number 11 verse number 11 Luke 15 verse 11 And he said a certain man had two sons and the younger of them said to his father father give me the portion of goods that fall off to me and he divided them to his living and not many days after the youngest son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country and there wasted his substance with Righteous living you guys know that parable whether with a son goes and he leaves the father He takes his inheritance waste it all and then he comes back to the father Okay. Now the reason I told you you can turn there to Luke 15 We have these three parables first It starts with this with a hundred losing one Then we have the woman with ten losing one and then the father with two sons losing one Okay, and every time you know that the one that was lost is found but in all of these parables those things that were lost Belong to the owner already to begin with the ship belong to the Shepherd the the the the talent was it Belong to the woman who lost it and the son was obviously already a son of the father The only way you can become a son of the father is by believing on Christ Okay, so I just wanted to show you that in Luke 15 and then just bring our attention back to Luke Matthew 18 Please Matthew 18 Matthew 18 verse 15 Matthew 18 verse 15 again believers We're talking about believers and we're talking about people that offend Okay that persecute that offend but now Jesus Christ is driving this home to a local church Okay, no longer about the world offending believers, but believers offending believers. And you know what? I know this church We're not even a year old. Maybe it's already happened. If it hasn't happened, it will happen. All right It will happen that you will get offended by another brother or sister in this church at some point in time Okay, or maybe offended by me or maybe you'll offend me. Okay, it's going to happen I promise you I promise you might be new to church. Oh, man. This is awesome. I'm with brothers and sisters We're on the same page. We're like-minded. It's gonna be awesome. That's my new family. I promise you one day You're gonna get offended, right? Okay, it's gonna happen And so Jesus Christ knows this which is why it teaches us this in chapter 18 verse number 15 Verse number 15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee Go and tell him his faults between thee and him Alone, this is important if he shall hear thee thou has gained thy brother So what's the teaching of Christ if you get offended by a brother a brother or sister in the Lord? What are you to do? Are you to go and tell the rest of the church? Are you to go and tell all your friends? Are you to go and tell the pastor pastor brother such-and-such do this to me sister sister so-and-so do this to me No, the Bible said here go and tell him his faults between thee and him alone Okay, that is step number one in sorting out conflicts between brethren when brethren offend you you go to that person Alone, please take heed you do this The Bible says if he shall hear thee thou has gained thy brother. I'll tell you now 99% of your personal conflicts will be resolved if you just do this first step Okay, you just go suppose most people are reasonable you go to someone say look you've hurt me You've offended me say these words, maybe not even intentionally Okay, maybe you were just mucking around or maybe you know, you were just careless with your words, but they offended me Can we sort this out? Common sense people they have a heart for the brethren will just be yeah, of course I'm sorry, you know, I didn't mean to support that way or oh I did mean it I should have said that I should have said those words. Let's sort this out. Let's move on. I'm sorry It's gonna happen but you know what it's so hard It's so hard when you've been offended to go to that person and deal with it one by one It's so much easier for some reason to go and tell everyone else, but here's why you don't go to everyone else Because I've offended a lot of people in my life and a lot of the times that I've offended people Purely by accident, you know, I've told some of you guys. I'm very sarcastic. I like to make jokes I like to laugh, you know when you laugh you laugh at your expense And sometimes you laugh at someone's else's expense, right because that's what makes things funny You know when you find faults of one another you have a bit of a laugh about it But sometimes that person is not in the right Mindset to laugh about that situation and I've had a laugh about it and they've got offended now I didn't mean to hurt them. I didn't mean to upset them Alright, and sometimes I'm not even aware but there comes Christina my wife up to me Kevin you offended that person. Hey, are you serious? Like okay. Alright, I better go sort it out Okay, but here's why you don't go and tell everyone else. Okay is because that person may just honestly may not have meant it It wasn't their intention to do that. Okay, you got offended if you go and tell everyone else You're taking that person's name and you're dragging it through the mud. You're making things worse In fact, your offense to that person by going and spreading what they've done could be ten times a hundred times worse Than what they've done to you what you do to their name what you do to the reputation? Could be so much worse than the little thing They may have done to offend you take it to that person alone And let me tell you honestly ninety nine percent of times You'll be sorted out if you just do that. You just go to that person alone. So I'll go to my pastor I don't want to hear it. If you've not gone to that person one-on-one. I don't want to hear it Okay, if you come to me and say look someone's done something. What do I do pastor? That's different I would say to you go to that person one-on-one alone and goes I don't need to know just go and sort it out with That person alone. All right Let's keep going verse number 16. There's some 16 Now this is the case when it after you've done that it still hasn't worked out There's some 16, but if he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more That's one or two more witnesses that in the mouth of two or three witnesses. Every word may be established So now it's been escalated You've gone to brother so-and-so. They don't want to sort it out. So what's the next step? You know, we want to resolve this well now you take two or three witnesses and that could be your pastor that you know But I would I would I would say these should not be your best friends that will always have your back This should be impartial mature believers your brother so-and-so. I have a situation with a with a person I need two or three witnesses. Would you come and listen to this conversation? Why is it important to have impartial listeners? it's because You may be tainted with bitterness and so you may think this person has not accepted you or whatever But when the witness is here, they might hear that it's actually you that you're the one of the problem You're the one that is not letting that go that person's willing to move on but for you You're not satisfied and you you know, you're making things worse. You need impartial listeners to come and sort things out Oh if that person is truly not wanting to hear from you truly not wanted to resolve things at least now You have the weight of other witnesses to reinforce. Yes. This person has tried to sort it out We've confirmed this and let's keep going If that person still would not hear if that person still does not want to sort out the conflicts in verse number 17 It says and if he shall neglect to hear them tell it unto the church But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as in heathen man and a publican Let me just stop here for a minute Most preachers will say to you the church age has not started yet All right, the New Testament Church Age has not begun yet Jesus Christ is teaching take it to the church Right here right before his death before his resurrection It's saying take it to the church and this is what you do If someone has not heard you after the witnesses you get it gets brought before the whole church And if the church is an agreement the person that does not want to resolve the problem Will be treated as a publican as a heathen. What's a heathen a non-believer? It's not saying this person's not a non-believer It's saying just treat them like a non-believer Of course the church ought to be a place for believers to be gathered together And it's churches not a place for non-believers And so what do you do you keep that person out of the church you treat them as a publican a heathen man? Someone that does not believe in the Lord you treat him you cast them out of church you kick him out Okay, if they don't want to resolve the problem Okay, so please don't let your conflicts go unresolved if you have a conflict with someone in the church today Then you need to go and sort it out You need to go and take that to that person one-on-one all right And it's and if you've done that and it's still not resolved Then you need to take two or three witnesses But I've never seen a case where that's ever had to happen quite often people don't take it one-on-one They make it so much worse You know and then you know the conflicts so much more hard to manage and to sort out Okay, so please do things in accordance to God's Word look at verse number 18 verse number 18 So you've tried to resolve it with that person you could not be able you weren't unable You weren't able to so the church has kicked them out treat them as a heathen a publican verse number 18 Verily I said to you whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever You shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven What is this teaching if? Brethren resolve the conflicts it's resolved in heaven if you loosened it It's loosed in heaven you know if God sees a church sort out a matter as far as God is concerned I Don't need to get involved. It's sorted out. Okay, but if there's a situation a conflict That's not resolved someone's kicked out of the church Well, it's still not resolved in heaven and God's judgment God's justice will come upon that person. That's been kicked out That's what it's teaching here in verse 18. Let's keep reading verse 19 again I say unto you That if two of two of you shall agree on earth as touch in anything that they shall ask it shall be done For them for my father, so I read that let me just read it again again I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touch in anything that they shall ask It shall be done for them of my father, which is in heaven So basically what's been confirmed by Jesus is here if you if the church is in agreement You know then as far as God is concerned Sorry, yeah, if we're in agreement as a church then It shall be done for them of my father which is an God's approving of it as well as what he's saying, you know, as far as God in heaven is concerned He's approved of that decision of that agreement that's occurred in church Okay again, if you cast someone out the church churches agreement in that the father is an agreement of that. Okay? Why because in verse 20 for where two or three are gathered together in my name There am I in the midst of them? You see even when a church makes a decision like that when a church is an agreement The reason why a church can be in agreement is because Christ is in the midst of us Christ is already here the decisions we make as a church where the body of Christ the Bible calls us is Because Christ is in the midst and that's why we always seek the Lord's leading That's how we seek the Holy Ghost to empower us to guide us to lead us is because the church decisions Our church make is as though God the Father has made that in heaven. Okay, so let's keep reading verse number 21 There's number 21 Then came Peter to him and said Lord how off shall my shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him till seven times Yeah, Peter's being a little bit It's sarcastic the right word. Well, even seven times you think I should even seven times God, you know Is that how much I should forgive that person? Jesus safe unto him I say not unto thee until seven times but until 70 times seven So Jesus just plays the game right with Peter more than seven times Peter 70 times seven four hundred and ninety times you ought to forgive your breath in other words It's not like you need to keep record as this guy is he close to 490, you know, he's sin, you know He's a sinned against me four hundred eighty nine times one more time and I can finally not have to forgive this guy That's what he's saying. Obviously, okay, obviously you always forgive they come Repentant asking for forgiveness saying sorry then you ought to forgive them every time is what Jesus Christ is saying. Okay, and you know once again if you've been offended by someone in this church and They come and say sorry, but sometimes the only way they'll know when you say well see they're not coming to say Sorry, did you go and approach it to them one-on-one? Do they even know you got offended by them? Do they even realize you've been bothered by that? Probably not that's probably why they don't even come say sorry But look if they do come and apologize and say sorry you ought to forgive them. All right It's one of the hardest things in life is to say Sorry, one of the hardest things to apologize or to figure of other people, but it's such an important thing I mean God's forgiven us, you know It was see soon that he compares his forgiveness to us with how we ought to forgive our brethren verse number 23 Please verse 23 We end on this story says therefore is the kingdom of heaven like and unto a certain King Which would take account of his servants and when he had begun to reckon one was brought to him which owed him 10,000 talents but for as much as he hadn't had not to pay his Lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and his Children and all that he had and payments to be made so obviously this story the Lord here is a picture of the Lord God and All of us have sin all of us have something to pay We all when they have to pay for our sins Either Jesus Christ has taken that and paid it himself in his body on the tree on the cross or you Decide to pay for all for all eternity in hell. Okay. So this is a story that's been pictured here this man Owen his Lord but unable to pay This 26 the servant therefore fell down and wished wished 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 debts So that's exactly the same thing, right? We come before God and we call out to him and we ask him for two patients have patience to be merciful to us You know through Jesus Christ and the Lord here moved with compassion loose him forgave him the debt That's exactly what we've gone through in our lives Okay, God has forgiven our debt because Jesus Christ has paid for it all, you know, praise God for that but the key the key to forgiveness is found here in verse 27 and this is what this is the key that a lot of Christians don't have with their brothers and sisters in Christ. What do you say? It was moved with compassion? If you are unable to forgive your brethren if you're unable to go and say sorry for something you've done you're lacking compassion Okay, and yet the Lord God had compassion upon you. Okay. So what do you need to have on your brethren then obviously compassion? Let's keep reading verse 28 But the same servant went went out and found one of his fellow servants which owed him and a hundred pence So he owed him much less than what he owed the Lord Okay, and says here and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying pay me that thou owest And his fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him saying have patience with me so he's asking the same thing right have patience with me and I will pay thee all and He would not but went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debts I'm reminded of a story. Yeah, it's not really related. But just a quick story. I was down in Liverpool once And I got a junkie saved like just just a full-blown junkie, you know, I gave him the gospel He bowed his head. He prayed he got saved Literally a few moments later after he received Christ the Savior. I said well now you're on your way to heaven You can be sure you're going to heaven some other junkie walks up to him and he's like hey you owe me $30 Right, you know, I lent you that money you went out you bought smokes or whatever. You still haven't paid me back What are you gonna do about it? And I quickly turned to this passage So as I can I just show you this and I just showed him, you know And the other guy was asking like please forgive me. Give me more time You know, I said you but something small right something's fine but you know how these junkies are they you know, they can't manage their money properly and So I showed him that story. I thought it's kind of funny and then I showed him cuz oh, yeah You're right. You know God's really forgiven me and I was like, you know give that guy a bit more time You know be patient that guy just like God was more patient with you. Well, let's keep reading verse 31 So when his fellow servant saw what was done They were very sorry and came and told unto their Lord all that was done Then his Lord after that he had called him said unto him. Oh that wicked servant I forgave thee all that debt because thou desirest me shouldest not thou also have compassion on thy fellow servant even as I had pity on thee and his Lord was wroth and Delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him Now look at this now first of all, if you're saved you can never go to hell I don't want you to think that this story is about someone losing their salvation It's not but it's still a very important principle here. Let's look at it verse number 35. So likewise Shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother Their trespasses. All right. Do you see now? It's not about salvation. Okay, it's not about salvation When you're saved your position before God is righteous is perfect because of Jesus Christ That's your position Then you have your walk with the Lord Okay, your fellowship with the Lord and your fellowship your walk with the Lord can be tainted by your sins In fact, when you walk in darkness, you have no fellowship with God whatsoever because there's no darkness in God whatsoever That's why the Bible teaches us that we should go to the Lord and confess our sins You know confess our sins daily so we can continue maintain that walk and fellowship with God not for salvation But just to have the presence of God in our life be walking in his ways walking in the spirit Okay Now here's the thing If someone has to come and apologize to you they've done wrong for you and you've not forgiven that person You still hold bitterness in your heart against that person. Well when you go before the Lord and confess your sins Yes They're gonna God's not gonna forgive you fully because until you have forgiven your brethren fully for what they've done to you Okay, your walk with the Lord will be tarnished Okay, it'll be defiled as it were until you forgive your brethren for what they've done against you, okay This is not the only place the Bible teaches this please we've already covered this Let's go to Matthew chapter 6 please Matthew chapter 6 verse 14 Matthew chapter 6 verse 14 Just in case you're wondering is this is this really right is this true doctrine? Yes, it is. Matthew chapter 6 verse 14 the Bible just Jesus once again speaking For if you forgive men their trespasses Your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. Hey, there's a condition You know, how will God forgive you in your walk with the Lord if you forgive other men their trespasses against you Look at verse number 15 But if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses Hey, do you want to be walking with the Lord? You know if you want to be counted as it were the greatest in the kingdom of heaven Do you think the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is someone that's holding grudges against their brethren? That hasn't forgiven their brethren their brethren has come and said sorry They've done wrong or maybe they've offended you but you've not gone one-on-one that person to sort it out You know, you've held it against them But you've not done your work the step of you going and trying to sort it out with that person If you've not done that if you've been offended by brother if you have divisions conflicts with brethren in the church You know, you cannot forgive them for what they've done. So how do I know if i'm not forgiving them? bitterness in the heart Bitterness in the heart can grow and and destroy your life Okay, you need to go and sort this out if you've not done that to your brethren Then the Lord God's not going to forgive you In your spiritual walk with him you're not going to be able to walk in in the pureness That that he wants to walk in the fullness of the light that God wants you to walk with him Okay, so this is an important thing guys. Okay, we you know, we we can rebuke the world when they persecute us We can rebuke, you know, those that offend us the unsaved the ungodly the reprobates. It's easy to do that It's harder to rebuke ourselves, you know when we've done wrong against the brethren We have not come with a forgiving heart with the brethren. So please make sure if you have Conflicts if you have division, let me just say first of all, it's normal. It happens to everybody Okay, that's that's that's the that's normal. That's it. You should expect that but what's not normal is when you don't forgive one another Okay, so if anyone's like that today, let me encourage you sort it out one-on-one with that person. All right, let's pray