[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfreda, Georgia. This is the next message in our series in the book of 2 Corinthians, entitled, We Faint Not.
[0:15] How many of you are glad that you've been forgiven? Say amen. You don't have to bear the weight of who you were and what your life was before Christ, and you have a new life in Him. The past has been forgiven, and Lord Jesus has made a new creature out of you.
[0:28] That ought to thrill every one of us. Take your Bibles, if you would, and go to 2 Corinthians 2. I want you to read with me just one verse before we get started, and I want you to work through this passage of Scripture with me.
[0:39] This is God's Word, and I'm not really a smart guy, don't have a lot that I can say, but we can read the Bible and look at what He says. And here's what's going on. In 2 Corinthians 2, in verse 11, lest Satan, so everything above this, lest Satan, should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of His devices.
[0:59] I'm afraid we are ignorant. Paul wasn't ignorant. We shouldn't be ignorant, and he's teaching them so they won't be ignorant, but we have been very ignorant. You know, there's two things that go on in churches. Churches either become so tolerant, they won't do what God says, and they become like social clubs, and all of a sudden it's okay, no matter what you say, hey, we love you, just come on in here.
[1:20] It doesn't matter if you ever repent of your sin. It doesn't matter if you ever trust Jesus. Hey, everything goes with us. Man, we don't care which way it's happening. Everything's okay over here. And that's become the popular church.
[1:31] Hey, let's just have positive thinking and philosophy. You could have Dr. Phil for a pastor over here because it really doesn't matter what the Word of God says, and that's one extreme. And then you got all the way over in the other extreme.
[1:42] And this other extreme, you got intolerant churches, and they've almost become mean and vindictive. They're so strict. Everybody's afraid of them. They wouldn't know how to spell grace if you wrote it out in front of them.
[1:55] They wouldn't understand what's going on. And what we need is a balance. Satan wants nothing more. Satan wants nothing more than to get us on this side of the thing or on this side of the thing, but not to be where God would have us be.
[2:07] And my father-in-law told me years ago, he said, hey, he said, the main thing in your life is stay out of the ditches. Stay on the road. Don't get in a ditch on this side and don't get in a ditch on that side. And here's what the devil says.
[2:18] The devil says, I like ditches on both sides. Hey, I'm all for you being intolerant and mean. I'm all for you being really tolerant and accepting, but just stay out of the Bible. I don't really like that one. So Paul says, hey, I want to talk to you about some things that are going on.
[2:32] And so today I'm going to say some things right out of the Bible. And you're going to be like, whoa, now that's a little bit more over that side. And we like the grace side. But since we preach to the Bible and we go verse by verse, we get it all.
[2:44] We get what God says about the sweet kindness. We get what God says about forgiveness. We get what God says about, hey, I don't bear the sin of the past. But we also get things that God says about, hey, I've called you to a holy living.
[2:57] I've called you to honor me and serve me and glorify me and magnify me. And I'm working your life to do that. So the first thing I want you to write down is this. First thing I hope you'll write down is this. The church should discipline its members.
[3:09] The church should discipline its members. Boy, that's a shocking one. So if you're like, hey, I'm withdrawing my membership. I was considering membership, but not anymore. But let's see what the word of God says. Look if you would, look if you would in verse five, first, second Corinthians chapter two, verse five.
[3:24] But if any have caused grief, he has not grieved me, but in part that I may not overcharge you all. Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many.
[3:37] We'll read about that in a minute. I personally think that has to do with the guy in first Corinthians chapter five. I told you about the slip with his daddy's wife. And here's what Paul wrote. He said, hey, turn him over to Satan for the destruction of flesh.
[3:49] Don't go out to eat with him. He's doing wrong and don't side with that. So the church had a meeting, had a prayer, disciplined the man, if it's that man we're talking about.
[3:59] And many people were saying, what you're doing is wrong and we will not be a part of your sin. And one day the guy realized, I've been doing wrong. I shouldn't have been doing that. And he stepped back and he got his life right with God.
[4:11] And now Paul is asking for them to forgive him. But the first thing I want you to realize is a church should discipline its members. There ought to be some discipline. There ought to be, and we're going to see it plenty of times in the Bible. If you have your Bible open there to second Corinthians chapter two, verse five, look, it caused grief.
[4:26] He sinned. He sinned. He did something that hurt the name of Christ. He did something that hurt the church. He did something that hurt the apostle Paul, but not just him, but even the rest of the church members.
[4:39] Verse six, he was disciplined. And Paul said sufficient. Put a circle around the word sufficient. He said he's had enough. He's had enough discipline. And by the way, if you say, I don't know if he's talking about discipline, look at the word punishment.
[4:52] That's a pretty strong word. Circle that word in your Bible. Punishment. Discipline. He's been disciplined. And then if you think of the apostle Paul did it, a circle this inflicted of many.
[5:02] So that whatever's going on, this guy has been disciplined. A church ought to discipline its members. Look at you. What? Matthew chapter 18, verses 15 through 17.
[5:14] Matthew chapter 18, verses 15 through 17. The Bible says, moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
[5:26] But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church.
[5:37] And if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. Now here's a different thing going on. Here's a church member that gets offended by another church member.
[5:48] You know, that happens in every church you ever go to. I mean, there's some churches I preached in, when you walked in, and when I was traveling as a missionary, you walk in, you can almost feel the ugliness.
[6:00] The one family sits on the one side, the other family sits on the other side. They only got two aisles in that church. And there's a meanness there. Well, God said, through Jesus, through Matthew, he said, look, when there's a problem, here's how you're supposed to handle it.
[6:13] Number one, you ought to go to speak to him in private. And you ought to say to him, look, let's get this thing worked out. Let me show you what you did wrong. Let me see what I did wrong. But let's get this thing worked out. If the guy refuses to get it right, then you go back with two or three witnesses.
[6:27] And you sat down with him so that it's clear that you really tried to solve this problem. That you really tried to solve this problem. And then, if that didn't work, you take it before the whole church.
[6:38] And the church hears about it. There's several things I want you to notice in the passage of scripture. And when we talk about church discipline, everybody gets really scared. Everybody's like, what's going to happen? Notice this. Most things will be handled privately.
[6:50] It doesn't get to the church unless it's a full-blown explosion. It's a nuclear atomic explosion. Some churches are almost like, you might have been a member of them, but the pastors are blowing off on people.
[7:02] People are coming up to the front to apologize for every little thing. I missed three services in a row and I'm here to apologize. But here's what's going on in the passage. You said, go to them in private. And if you can, you fix it in private.
[7:12] If not, take two or three, fix it there. If you can't fix it there, finally, it'll get to the church. If you're offended by someone, do not gossip, but rather talk to the person and see if you can't work things out.
[7:23] Did you know that when you have a problem, you ought to man up and go see the person? Say amen. If you have a problem, you ought to man up and go see the person. You ought to look them straight in the eyeball and say, you've hurt my feelings.
[7:34] You ought to look them in the eyeball and say, you're in sin. And if you know of something going on, your attitude ought to be, I'm not gossiping. I'm not spreading malicious rumors about anybody. I'm going to help my brother.
[7:47] I'm going to help my brother. If that doesn't work, you take some witnesses or you take it to the church. Now, you might say, well, how does that, what about church discipline? That sounds like problems between two people.
[7:57] Look, if you would, at 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 4. 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 4. That's the man, that's the man who slept with his daddy's wife, his stepmother.
[8:09] Look what the Bible says. Paul writes to the 1 Corinthians, the church of Corinth, the first letter to the Corinthians. And he says, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you're gathered together in my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
[8:29] Now, look at this. This is now a gross sin. This isn't two little people had a little argument. This isn't you took my seat. This isn't you owe me 10 bucks and you hadn't paid me 10 bucks.
[8:41] There's something big and gross going on in this church. I mean, fact is, in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, Paul says, hey, even lost people don't do this. Do you understand? Even though people that don't know Jesus don't usually go around sleeping with their daddy's wife.
[8:54] That's just not normal. You guys are plumb, repugnantly gross. And something needs to be done about this. Let's take a drastic stand against sin.
[9:05] Let's take a drastic stand against sin. The man had refused to leave his sin. It's not, hey, you might slip, you might fall, but you can repent and get back up. But this guy's like, I'm doing what I'm doing.
[9:16] It ain't none of your business. I'm going to do what I'm going to do. I'm under grace. And under grace, I can leave my wife, sleep with another man's wife. Under grace, no, sir, that's not the way it works. God's people know that's wrong.
[9:28] Say amen right there. And so they know that. The church had not really dealt with him. They were to get together, pray, and turn the guy over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.
[9:39] How many of you call that church discipline? Say amen. We're having a prayer meeting and we're saying, God, we want you to remove your protective hand from around our friend, our brother in Christ.
[9:50] We want you to turn him over to the devil. We want the devil to beat the living slop out of him. Even kill him, but we don't want him to go to hell. Well, that's a pretty strong statement.
[10:01] That's a pretty strong statement. I was, I was, uh, had a young lady in our church and our first church and she had run away from home. Her dad called me. He didn't even go to church.
[10:11] He called me and said, this young lady has run away from home. She's with a boy. She's living up there. She'd been married to him now for years. She's living up in another town. I wish you'd go get her and get her to come home. And I said, well, I'll try to do that.
[10:22] I went up to her and I went into her house. I said, Teresa, let's talk just a minute. And we sat down and we started talking. And I said, now, Teresa, you know, this isn't right. You need to get right with God. You need to get back down to the, uh, you need to get back down to your family. You need to do the right thing here.
[10:33] And Teresa said, you ain't telling me what to do, brother Austin. I'm going to do what I want to do. I said, that's fine. I just need to tell you what I'm going to do tonight. I'm going to tell the church what you're doing. And tonight I'm going to ask the church to pray with me that God will turn you over the devil for the destruction of the flesh.
[10:47] And I'm going to pray. God will kill you. She said, you wouldn't do that. And I said, won't you come see that night? She was on the front row going, I'm here. And she got things right with her dad and fixed her life.
[11:00] Obviously, obviously, uh, that was a young guy being, being a little pushy with a girl that ran away from him. But would you rest in here? Sin ought not be taken lightly by God's people. Can you say, man, is that true or not?
[11:11] Sin ought not be taken lightly by God's people. I do want you to look at verse five and notice what he says. Did you notice, you know, we've talked about eternal security here. We've talked about you're saved.
[11:22] And if you're really saved, you're saved forever. But does that mean you can get away with sin? No, even the church is going to deal with that. Even the church is going to discipline that. But notice what it says in the verse. To deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the body, the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
[11:40] When God's people do wrong, God disciplines them, but they don't lose their salvation. When God's people do wrong, consequences come. And God will allow things to happen in your life to make you realize he may even take your life.
[11:54] But when he does, you go to heaven. What a wonderful, graceful God we have. Now look at first Corinthians chapter five, verse nine. We'll get to the forgiveness. You're saying, man, where's the forgiveness? We're getting there.
[12:05] First Corinthians five, nine. Same chapter, same man, same story. I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators. You ought not be running around with sexual perverts, sexual deviants.
[12:18] You say, well, what's a sexual deviant, a sexual pervert? Well, that would go anywhere from pornography to fornication, to bestiality, to homosexuality. It'd go to any kind of sex. And he said, I told y'all not to do that.
[12:29] Verse 10, he said, yet not altogether the fornicators of this world or the covetous or extortioners or with idolaters. For then must your needs go out of the world. He said, now I told y'all not to hang around with fornicators, with sexual perverts.
[12:43] So people doing things that are perverting God's will for what's right in the world of sex. He said, but I didn't tell you, you couldn't hang around with, you couldn't do business with them. You get, you got, there's no way to live in this world without being around them.
[12:55] But in the church, it's a different ball game. So read what he says in verse 11. Got your Bible open. But now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that's called a brother.
[13:06] Would you underline this? Called a brother. You know, I realize that my neighbors, I realize that the people I do business with, I realize that the stores I go to, I realize that people everywhere may be doing all kinds of wicked stuff.
[13:18] But if they call themselves a brother, I'll not company with them if they are doing those things. If they are living in sin and they know they're living in sin, I'll to remove myself. Look at what he says.
[13:28] Look at what he says in verse 11. I have written unto you not to keep company. If any man that's called a brother be a fornicator, a covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such a one, know not to eat.
[13:40] What's it mean not to keep company? Don't eat with them. That's fellowship time. Don't eat with them. Some things ought to have to be publicly dealt with. And by the way, they're listed for us. A person involved that's a fornicator.
[13:52] Pornography, adultery, homosexuality, bestiality. Covetousness. Making an idol out of things. Making an idol out of things. Desiring things that others have.
[14:02] Having idols or worshiping false gods. Being a railer or a fighter. Being a drunkard. You know, we ought not have drunkards that can think that it's okay at our church. They ought to realize, hey, being a drunkard doesn't fit with being a born-again Christian.
[14:16] You can be a saved person. And you might get drunk. But it's not fitting. Not right. Not correct. God's people ought to know that. Boy, this is not a good Sunday morning message, is it? That's the bad thing about preaching straight through the Bible.
[14:28] You know, that's just where we are. And then you can't be an extortioner or a swindler. Now look at this. Look at this, if you would. 2 Corinthians 3.6. We're to separate from sin and brothers in sin.
[14:40] That's clearly taught in the Scriptures. We're to separate from sin and brothers in sin. 2 Thessalonians 3.6. 2 Thessalonians 3.6.
[14:51] Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly. From every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the tradition which he received of us.
[15:07] Paul says, you know I discipled you. I taught you. I preached to you. You got the Word of God. And if a guy's not going to live that way, if he's out of order, here's what the Word of God says, and he's out of order with the Word of God, you should withdraw yourself from him, from a brother.
[15:22] People say, well, the church ought to be a place where sinners feel welcome. The church ought to be a place where sinners know they can come get help, but not where sinners can come and stay sinners. The church ought to be a place where a guy comes in and says, you know, I've been living my own life, selfish, egotistical, doing my own thing, but now I realize I need to repent of my sin and turn to God.
[15:44] And the church will love me and help me and help me grow. But it's not the idea that the church sinks to the level of the world, but rather the church carries the gospel to the world, and the world gets saved, born again, new creature, old life passed away, all are made new, and they walk in a newness of life.
[16:01] 2 Thessalonians 3, verses 14 and 15, look what he said. And if any man obey not our word, note that man, look at him, figure out who he is, note him, pay attention to him, write him down, get a list of him, and have no company with him that he may be ashamed.
[16:17] Let him realize, I'm doing wrong. I'm doing wrong. That's amazing. Political parties understand that. It's amazing.
[16:28] The Kiwana Club understands it. Everybody understands it, but God's people. Just recently, a Republican came out and said something really dumb and offended a whole bunch of people, and every Republican in the country stood up and said, I ain't for him.
[16:40] But here's a church person who says, I think I'll just sleep with my daddy's wife. And the church said, well, we need to be tolerant. And Paul said, no, you don't. Take a stand for what's right.
[16:52] One ditch is not taking a stand for what's right. Verse 15 says, Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. Count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.
[17:04] 2 Corinthians 2 again. First thing I wanted you to realize is this. A church ought to discipline its members. Would you look this way just a second? Look this way just a second. Listen to this. God's people.
[17:15] Hey, when we form, a church is a group of baptized believers that have joined together to obey the Lord Jesus. It's not, this is, you know, we have services, and anybody and everybody's welcome.
[17:25] But when you become a part of the church, you're saying, man, I know Jesus, and I want to serve him, and I want to honor him, and I commit myself to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, to apply what the Word of God teaches in my life, and to live a life after the Lord Jesus, to note and show forth that I have been born again.
[17:43] Can you say amen right there? We love people. Hey, I'd love a guy that, I don't care what sin he's in, we love him, but we love him to help him find Jesus, and step out of that, not stay in that.
[17:55] Number one, the church ought to discipline members. Number two, our goal is always restoration. Our goal is always restoration. Look if you went at verse six, second Corinthians chapter two, verse six, second Corinthians chapter two, verse six, sufficient to such a man is the punishment which was inflicted of many.
[18:16] Underline sufficient. Verse seven, so that contrary wise, you ought rather to forgive him, circle that, it ought already be circled if you come regularly, forgive him, and comfort him, circle that, forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up in over much sorrow.
[18:35] Wherefore I beseech you that you would confirm your love toward him. Confirm your love. And we said this when we started second Corinthians, but let's do it again. What are we supposed to do?
[18:46] This brother sin, this brother repented, this brother got right. Three things Paul wanted them to do. Forgive him, comfort him, confirm him. Are you ready? Could you say that with me? They were to forgive him, comfort him, confirm him.
[18:59] They were to say, hey buddy, God's forgiven you. We forgive you. They were to comfort him and say, hey, you know what? You messed up. We love you. We understand that. And we want you to know that we love you and we care.
[19:10] And you're back. You're back. You're, you're where you ought to be. And then they wanted to, he said, confirm that. Make sure they really know, make sure they really know that it's right.
[19:21] He had been disciplined and it was sufficient. They were to forgive him and comfort him. They were to forgive him and comfort, comfort him. They were to confirm their love. Look at Galatians chapter six and verse one.
[19:34] They'll put it up behind my head, but look at right, write this down. Galatians six, one brethren. If a man be overtaken in a fault, you know, if a guy fall into sin, if he get, if he messes up and he does wrong, you, which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness and humility, considering thyself, let's also be tempted.
[19:54] You know what he said? He said, guys, if somebody's doing wrong, there ought to be a sweet spirit among us. There'll be a gentleness and a kindness among us to help a person get their life right with God.
[20:06] Humility and a meekness to help them get their life right. And remember this, it might be you next time. So don't be harsh. So there's this one side over here that says, Hey, everything goes.
[20:16] It's okay. Hey, you can come to our church. You can be just like you are without knowing Jesus and we'll accept you. And everything goes. We just want you to think positive thoughts. And then you come over on the other side.
[20:27] This church is where we're going to be just as mean as we can be. And the apostle Paul said, Hey, don't be like that. Let's have some church discipline, but let's comfort and confirm. Stay out of both ditches. Stay in the middle.
[20:38] Help people learn to live for Jesus. Third thing we should forgive. We should forgive. Verse nine. Second Corinthians chapter two, verse nine.
[20:48] For to this end, also did I write that I might know the proof of you, whether you be obedient and all things 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.
[21:02] You know what Paul writes? And he says, I'm writing this letter to make sure y'all been obedient. See, he said, Titus, one of his associates, he sent him up there to see that church. And he told him, this guy got right. Forgive him.
[21:13] This guy got right. Let's do right. This guy got right. Let's, let's accept it. Let's, let's get him back into fellowship because we're not out to hurt people. We're just out to help people. So they live for God. And so Paul writes and said, I just want to find out if you're obedient, what were they going to be obedient in?
[21:28] Forgiving, comforting, and confirming. Hey church, it's easy. Sometimes when someone's offended you or someone's committed a gross moral act, and you realize, boy, that's wicked and sinful.
[21:39] And a church rises up to get all puffed up and say, Hey, you need to get out of here. We don't like your kind. And it's easy to get that attitude. Paul said, Whoa, back up, forgive, forgive, comfort and confirm, forgive, comfort and confirm.
[21:53] And I'm writing this letter to find out y'all doing what I told you or not. Because a real church's job is to love people and help them find Jesus, know Jesus, be saved and live the life that God's called us to.
[22:06] And Paul said, I'm writing to find out if y'all been obedient or not. Did you know that we ought to forgive like Christ has forgiven us? We ought to forgive like Christ has forgiven us. In Ephesians chapter four, verse 32, he said, be you kind to one another.
[22:21] He's talking to a church. And this is to us. Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, soft hearted, soft hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you.
[22:32] Well, I walk in here and every one of us ought to have an attitude of, I love you. I love you. I don't hold anything against you. I won't hold anything. Colossians chapter three, verse 13 forbearing. That means putting up with each other and forgiving each other.
[22:44] If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, Jesus said in Luke 17, if he repents once, forgive him. If he repents and does it again, forgive it and ask forgiveness. Keep forgiven, keep forgiven, keep forgiven, keep forgiven, keep forgiven.
[22:58] Let me end this morning with a story. How do you forgive? How are you going to go about forgiving? Well, here's a story found in Genesis chapter 45, verse five.
[23:08] Here's a, well, the story is all through Genesis, but anyway, Genesis 45, five, let me read this to you. Now, therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that you sold me hither for God did send me before you to preserve life.
[23:24] And God sent me before you, verse seven, verse seven, God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the life, a posterity in the earth and to save your lives. Verse eight. And so it was not you that sent me hither, but God.
[23:37] I wish you'd take your Bible. If you have your Bible, would you do this for me? Go to the book of Genesis. First book in the Bible. Underline this. Genesis. First book in the Bible. Chapter 45. Look what happened. He said, guys, don't be hurt.
[23:49] Don't be even angry with yourself that you sold me hither. Here's the story. Joseph was the baby brother. He was number 11. There was another brother that comes after him. And those brothers grabbed old Joseph.
[24:00] Those brothers grabbed old Joseph. And they, they, they took off his really fancy cloak that his daddy given his robe that his dad gave him. It was a mini colored thing. It was to show his dad's deep love for him.
[24:11] They took that coat off and they ripped it and they tore it and they beat it with rocks. And he poured goat blood on it. And so they could take it back to dad and say, dad, look, I don't know what's happened to our brother, but he's dead. Then they threw him in a pit.
[24:22] And then when some guys came along, his kids only like 17 years old, they throw him in a, in a, in a, in a jail cart, a slave cart and send him off to Egypt. They have abused him.
[24:32] He will spend the next 13 years of his life, either in jail or as a slave. He'll spend his next 13 years of his life being abused. Can you imagine a 17 year old foreigner being put in a prison?
[24:44] Can you imagine a 17 year old being put, uh, being sold into slavery by his brothers? And oh, oh, uh, oh, Joseph says, guys, I need you to realize something.
[24:56] Don't be upset with yourself. Don't even be mad at yourselves because even in the bad thing that happened to me, God was at work. That's how we learn to forgive. God's at work in our lives.
[25:07] Look, if you've got your Bible, I want you to underline this. Go down to verse five, Genesis 45, five and underline this. God did send me. God sent you. It looks to me like your brother sold you into slavery.
[25:18] It looks to me like the slave traders brought you into the country. It looks to me like the slave purchasers brought you. And he said, no, no, God did send me before you go to verse seven, go to verse seven, Genesis 45, seven.
[25:32] And God sent me. God sent me before you go to verse eight. It was not you that sent me hither, but God. Chapter 50, verse 20.
[25:44] He says this, as for you, you thought evil against me, but God, I mean, it under good. Now look at here. And I'll finish this tonight for you.
[25:56] We'll watch this. Here's what happens in this, in the story. We need disciplined in a church. It keeps us out of that side of the ditch. It keeps us from becoming a church. It has literally no stand.
[26:07] We won't do anything. That's right. I mean, it's just become, it's just become a picture of the world. It's just like, it's just like the world. And they stick the name church on it. And it's like, it's okay. It also, this, this forgiveness takes us out of this other ditch because we realize this guy did wrong.
[26:22] And we're not going to be mean and critical and ugly to him. And then we're going to be back here in the middle. And so we need to learn to forgive. I need to learn to forgive. How many of you been done wrong? You've done wrong. Say, man, you said it at the beginning.
[26:33] You did it. You have, haven't you? You know what Joseph did? Now, please understand this. He might've suffered as much as you've suffered. 13 years, 13 years of his life.
[26:44] He was a slave. 13 years of his life. He was owned by other people. He was put in prison for something he didn't do after he was a slave and was doing all the right thing. He was a falsely accused and put in prison while he was in prison.
[26:56] So he goes from slave to getting a nice position as a slave to being put into prison to being, and to be forgotten and left there for two years after his friend said, I won't forget you.
[27:08] 13 years. He could have ended up being one of these really bitter Baptist. He could have been over here on this side saying, man, I've been burnt. I've been hurt. And I hate everybody.
[27:19] He could have been that way, but he didn't do that. Instead, he said, let me look in my life and see what God's been doing in my life. And he realized that though they meant it for wrong, God meant it for good.
[27:30] Though they were trying to hurt him, God was trying to use him for other purposes. So a church ought to discipline, but discipline is never to hurt people.
[27:41] Discipline would only be to help people do the right thing, get right. Hey, sometimes to be honest with you, most churches have less discipline than weight watchers. It's like, Hey, anything goes, who cares, man?
[27:55] We love grace. Grace is an excuse and a cover for sin. No, it's not being saved by the grace of God. It's not a license to do wrong. It's being born again.
[28:06] It's having a new life in Christ. So when a guy steps over and does things, he ought not do the preaching and the teaching and the church members even ought to say, wait a minute. That's not who we are.
[28:17] That's not living out who you are in Christ. It ought to be done in a sweet and kind way. It ought to rarely ever become a public issue. It ought to be handled in the most gracious way possible to bring them back to where they ought to be.
[28:27] But not to go over here to this side and not to go over here to this side. And they're to learn to forgive. They're learned to restore him. They're to comfort him. They're to confirm him. They're to make sure he knows, man, you're loved and cared for here.
[28:40] People care about you. We don't care what your past has been. As long as you've really gotten things right with God, we want to help you and love you. But the next thing that comes along that you're going to have to ask is this.
[28:50] Well, if we're going to do all that forgiving, that's pretty hard stuff. And that's why churches often have a non-forgiving spirit. And how do you learn to forgive? Well, a good lesson might be to look at old Joseph.
[29:02] Old Joseph looked at everything that happened to him and he said, wait a minute. Was God working in my life? And I look back at some of the hard things that have happened to me. And I look back at some of the things that were kind of tough on me.
[29:13] And I realized that all those things, God's been at work in my life. God's been making the man that he could use the heartaches. I went through the hard times.
[29:24] I went through the sad times. I went through God's been making a man. He could use God's at work in your life. Joseph said, brothers, I know you're scared because I'm the number two man in Egypt and I can have your heads.
[29:37] I can kill you. If I want to have you killed, I'll just have you murdered right now. So, but don't be upset with yourself. You did want to hurt me. I know you did. And you know, you did, but don't be upset because it wasn't really you that did it.
[29:49] It was God sending me to Egypt so I could save our family and save our nation. And I could be used of God. So as a Christian, I want to step back and I want to say, what's been going on in my life?
[30:02] Yeah, I've been hurt, but you know what? In those hurts, God's taught me. I've grown. You've grown. God's at work in our life. God's teaching us how to deal with other people. And so we want to learn.
[30:13] How to forgive. Let me give you the last thing. Here's what he ends the story with. And I'll finish it tonight. But here's how he ends the story. He said, lest Satan get an advantage over us.
[30:25] You know, Satan wants more than anything else to try to stop the work of God. He can't and he won't, but he would love to stop the work of God. And he is so sly. He is so sly. He would love you to be a good moral person and not know Jesus.
[30:39] He would love you to be a bitter Baptist. He would love you to be a sin loving church member. He'd do anything he can. Just don't be a servant, a follower, a disciple of Jesus Christ.
[30:51] He'd do anything. Hey, be as good a guy or bad a guy. I don't really care what you do. Just don't follow Jesus. And Paul said, guys, sometimes at church, churches have been way too hard.
[31:03] Churches have made a guy be swallowed up in over much sorrow. He got sorry for what he did and the church wouldn't forgive. He said, I'm writing a letter to find out. Did y'all forgive? Like I told you to, did you forgive?
[31:14] Did you comfort? Did you confirm your love to him? I want to know. I'm asking you in a letter. Did you do that? So this morning, I don't know where you are, but as a born again, Christian, there ought to be a hunger in your life to serve Jesus.
[31:28] How many of you say, I really want to serve the Lord Jesus. Say amen. You know what that means? That means that if I serve Jesus, I'm going to love my wife and be loyal to my wife and not have any kind of adulterous affair on my wife.
[31:39] I'm going to serve the Lord Jesus. Can you say amen? It means that I am not going to get involved in any kind of sexual deviancy away from that. It means that I'm not going to be a covetous person who's just chasing after things and things have become a God to me.
[31:52] See that we don't want to talk about that sin because in Alpharetta, that's a prize sin. We get to chase the sin of, I want stuff and it's okay. And then I'm not going to be a railer and I'm not going to be a swindler and I'm not going to do it because I want to serve Jesus.
[32:07] I want to serve Jesus. And I want other brothers and sisters that would hold me accountable. I want our church to be a group of people who would say, Hey, we love Jesus. We love Jesus.
[32:18] We live a holy life. So that keeps us out of that ditch. But at the same time, we love Jesus, but we don't become the mean, condemning, pharisaical Christians who walk around with a better than you attitude.
[32:30] Using the Bible as a way to beat people up. So there's a balance. Side of the ditches. On both sides. Where are you this morning? Maybe you lean a little to the, let's beat them upside.
[32:41] Well, you probably ought to move back over this way. And maybe you lean to the, well, I think sin's okay, but you need to move back over this way. Maybe you've been hurt and burnt in the past. You need to realize that God's been at work in your life.
[32:52] God's been at work in your life and he loves you and he's doing something in your life. Maybe you've never been saved and today you ought to accept Jesus as your savior. But whatever the case, Satan would love nothing more than to destroy your life, destroy holiness, destroy purity, destroy the work of God.
[33:08] And I don't want Satan to get an advantage. Let's bow our heads forward to prayer. Father, I love you. And I thank you for the chance to be in your house. I pray that you'd work and move in our hearts and our lives tonight. This is this morning.
[33:19] I pray God that you help Christians to confess sin, a sin of covetousness, a sin of sexual deviancy. I pray God you'd help them to covetousness and idolatry and railing or fighting and extortion or swindling.
[33:32] God, whatever sin that we might be doing. And we call ourselves a brother. Help us today to confess that and to say, no, we want to live a holy life. I pray God that you would honor yourself and magnify yourself in our lives.
[33:43] I pray God you'd help us to be a loving, accepting, kind church, but not accepting of sin, but accepting of people that need you. Sinners, but not their sin.
[33:54] God, I pray you'd help our church to take a stand for what's right and to honor you. God, I'll give you praise and honor and glory for all that you do. Save people that aren't saved this morning. Help Christians to forgive that need to forgive.
[34:06] Help us as a church this morning to honor you. God, with every head bowed and every eye closed, you know whether or not the Holy Spirit's dealt with your heart. And he's spoken to you about something.
[34:16] Maybe I didn't even make it clear, but the Holy Spirit did. And he drove it into your heart. And you know, there's a decision you need to make. I'd like to ask you to step out of your seat, find a place to pray. Maybe you need to come and say, I need to be more loving and kind and gentle.
[34:28] Maybe you need to come and say, maybe you need to come and say, I need to quit being bitter and having a bad attitude. Maybe you need to come and say, Hey, I've never been born again. I don't know that I'd go to heaven if I died.
[34:39] I'm not sure I'd go to heaven if I died. You could be saved today. The Lord Jesus loves you. He died on the cross for you. Your salvation's already bought and paid for. Nothing you have to do, but accept the free gift of grace.
[34:51] Would there be anybody this morning say, I'm not saved. I'm not sure I'd go to heaven when I die. But I wish somebody pray with me and show me from the Bible how to be saved. Would you hold your hand up? Let me help you. Would there be anybody like that? As a Christian, would you today say, I want to stay out of the ditches.
[35:05] I want to honor the Lord Jesus. I want to serve Him. Father, you deal with hearts. Show us what you'd have us do. Help us make decisions today based on this passage.
[35:16] And we'll give you praise. You have been listening to Austin Gardner, pastor of Vision Baptist Church. For contact information, location, service times, or more audio and video recordings, log on to www.visionbaptist.com www.visionbaptist.com