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our message
Sin and Judgement - Pastor Terry Jones
2Ti 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
Eze 3:18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
True repentance.
2Co 7:9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
Discipline and correction is an important part of the Christian life. God disciplines His children and we are to discipline ourselves. Church leaders are to discipline and correct their own children and all believers are to be concerned about discipline within the church. The church is to be a holy place, a pure place in a degenerate and corrupt world. The church has a responsibility to be the conscience of the nation and speak out in its ministry against the sins of the nation but it must speak from a position of integrity, and not be a hypocrite, demanding something of the world which it is not practicing within its own walls. The church must stand on the word of God no matter what the world says or does and no matter how difficult or unpopular that makes it.
The message of the church is that Jesus can save people from the power and practice and punishment of sin and make them righteous and holy in God's eyes, qualifying them for eternal life and enabling then to have the Holy Spirit of God as an indwelling and holy presence bringing peace and joy and power into a redeemed and purified life.
Church discipline is defined as the confrontational and corrective measures undertaken by an individual, or by church leaders or by the congregation regarding a matter of sin in the life of a believer. Discipline is not rejection, discipline is not punishment, it is reproof designed to lead to repentance and restoration and training in Godliness. If a person refuses the discipline of God through His church then Jesus said that that person is not rejecting people but he is rejecting God. The church is not rejecting someone who it disciplines, it is showing a true love for their eternal soul. The person being disciplined is choosing whether they will reject Christ or they will reject their sins.
Church discipline is based on the fact that the Lord Himself disciplines His children and requires the church to sometimes be his agent in this disciplining.
Church discipline is based on the Holy character of God and God's desire for the church to be Holy as He is Holy.
The practice of church discipline is patterned on the divine commands of scripture. The word tells the church clearly when it is to discipline and how it is to discipline. It is for us in the church to obey the word and not lack courage and conviction as we seek to bring people into submission to the word of God so that they can experience the limitless grace and blessing of a Holy God.
A church that fails to practice discipline experiences four losses. 1 loss of purity, 2 loss of power, 3. loss of progress and 4, loss of purpose.
The word clearly states that after the due scriptural process has been carried out there are some situations in which hardened or unrepentant sinners should be expelled from the church community.
1 Cor 5:11 sexually immoral. Sex with a person who you are not married to, pornography, homosexuality. Uncleanness. Greed. Idolatry. drunkenness. Robbery, theft, extortion.
2 Thess 3:6,7 Disorderly person. One who refuses to keep rank in the church. Who thinks he is not answerable to anyone, who is opiniative and insubordinate. Who interferes in the affairs of others and refuses to work for a living, wanting to live off others.
2 Thess 3;14 someone who refuses to submit to the God-appointed leadership of the church being disobedient in matters of morals and faith and doctrine.
Matt 18:17. Someone who offends people in the fellowship and is not willing to listen when approached by the offended person or by the person with witnesses or even the whole church.
The first step is always admonition. This step may be repeated.
Tit 3:10 A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject;
The second step is disassociation.
Don't keep company with them, don't eat with them, withdraw from them, Jesus said, let them be like a heathen or a tax-collector.
God wants a pure church, because it is the body of Christ. The church is not our body; it is the body of Christ. He is holy and pure and spotless. There is no defilement in Him.
God's first defense against sin in the church is the conscience of the individual believer. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin through our knowledge of the word of God and the laws of God. Sin is lawlessness; sin is the breaking of God's moral law. Some misguided Christians think that we can do what we like because of God's love and grace. They say that we can sin and go on sinning because we don't have to keep the law any more. Because all our sins are forgiven, the ones in the future are also forgiven and so we can carry on sinning and we will still go to heaven. They say that Jesus has delivered us from law keeping. This is very false doctrine. Jesus has delivered us from being saved by the keeping of the law, but he has saved us through faith in Christ and put his Holy Spirit in us so that we might have the power to keep His moral law. If we say we are saved but we do not keep the moral law of God then we are denying the power of God to work in our lives and we are not Christians at all.
Ro 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
Ro 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
Ro 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Ro 6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
The work of God in our lives is to make us free from lawlessness, free from sin, free from that which He hates and that will separate us from him for all eternity. The work of God in our lives is to make us holy to make us pure and righteous and faithful to His word. To make us separate from all that would defile us and corrupt us and cause us to lose our soul in hell.
1Pe 1:15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.
16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
Ro 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
1Co 6:18-20;19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
Eph 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Rev 21:7,8 Those who qualify for heaven. Rev 22:11-17
Now the verse we read in Ephesians 5:27 shows us that not only is God working to produce personal holiness, he is working in the church to make it a pure church, a glorious church without a spot and without a wrinkle. Having no blemish, but holy in His eyes.
The church is made up of all its members and so to keep the church pure God seeks to keep the individual pure.
As I said, the first defence against sin is the conscience of the believer. The Holy Spirit speaks through the word and enlivens the conscience and tells us we are doing wrong. We obey the voice of the Holy Spirit through the word, and we become more separated to God, more holy in action and thought. Now many people do not know the word of God very well and so God raises up people who can teach the word and expound the word. Their ministry shines light on our lives and we are often convicted in our consciences from the preached word, This is Gods way, this is Gods plan for us and so it is important after we come into conviction from the word of God not to reject what God has convicted us about. If we do we will grieve the Spirit of God by our disobedience and He will gradually withdraw from us. If we reject the voice of our conscience, the devil has penetrated the first line of defense in the church.
Now God may plead with us through a Christian friend who speaks to us on God's behalf. Pr 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
God may send circumstances to show us the foolishness of our disobedience. God may blow a wind of adversity on our lives and let our finances or health suffer. All this is to cause us to repent and move back into the holy life that God has for us. If we yield then God will bless us and we will grow in grace and true knowledge.
However if we harden our heart again, the devil has penetrated the second line of defense in the church and God will move through the leadership of the church to reprove us. This may be in the ministry. God will direct the ministry to deal with us. We may feel that God is speaking to us personally and we are mightily reproved and convicted.
Eph 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
However if we harden our hearts again and persist with our lawlessness, while still professing to be a Christian then God will have to use the discipline of the church to correct us. If we refuse to be corrected then the church may have to deny us the privilege of fellowship. If repentance and change occurs then the church would welcome the repentant member back into fellowship. If there was no repentance then the church is to treat that person as if he was a heathen and not the Christian that he claims to be.
Now some people get their standards from the world, they do not believe what the word of God says and they are soft on sin. If a man is a thief, they say he has a weakness. If a man is covetous, they say that he likes fine things and has good taste. If a man loves making money they say he is astute and clever. If a couple live together in fornication or adultery without being married they say that they are in a de facto relationship or that they are love partners. If a man is arrogant and proud and independent they say he has leadership qualities.
The world is in Satan's hand. He is the father of lies and the master of deception. We must learn to make our judgments on things from the word of God not from what the world says or the world thinks. God wants to renew our minds so that we think about things the way he does.
In the very beginning, God told Adam and Eve that if they ate the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden that they would surely die. The devil came along and told Eve the exact opposite. He said you won't die. There is nothing wrong with eating the fruit, in fact it will make you wise and it will be pleasurable and satisfying. People who listen to the world instead of God's word are building their lives on sand, Jesus said that we need to build our lives on His words and then we will be building on rock and when the storm comes we will not be destroyed. Don't be deceived by the devil and don't speak the devils words to other people.
Isa 5:18 Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:…..20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
Job 11:14 If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles.
Church discipline is very necessary to keep the church pure when people who have rejected their conscience want to stay on in the fellowship. The bible says that these people are like leaven which was used as a raising agent in bread. Only a little was used but it went through the whole piece of dough and caused it all to be raised. Whenever leaven is used as an illustration in the bible it is always in a bad sense.
1 Cor 5:1-13
The immoral man was to be confronted by the church with the authority of the apostle Paul as support and asked to leave. In being put out, he was delivered up to the one that he was really serving. The covering of the church was lifted from him and he learned quickly what sort of a master he was serving. As we read the next letter that Paul wrote to this church, we see that he repented; he stopped his sinning and was restored to fellowship.
The purpose of discipline is twofold. One, to keep the church of Jesus Christ pure as he commanded us and two, to save the soul of the sinner.
Now it is not just the work of the pastor to deliver hardened sinners to Satan for the saving of their soul, but it is the work of the whole church. If the Pastor on behalf of the church has to do this then he needs the support of the body. It will not help matters if someone keeps fellowshipping with the expelled person and supporting them in their journey to hell. No verse 11 says that we are not to keep company with someone who calls themselves a Christian and is refusing to repent from some grievous and open sin. In fact it is the unity of the strong stand we take that is used by God to bring shame and repentance and salvation.
Let us not have to go to this level of discipline, let us each one respond to the Lord when he speaks to our conscience through the word of God. Let us respond when someone who loves us wounds us with the truth and proves that they are a faithful friend. Let us take rebuke and correction as if it was from the mouth of God Himself and let us be willing to show true repentance that brings forth fruit that shows the reality of our change of heart. Let us put aside all sin and perfect holiness in the fear of God. The communion service is deigned by God to allow us to examine our hearts and see if there is any need of repentance. Let us take the opportunity this morning in the light of God's word to do this faithfully and honestly. Let us partake of the emblems with a holy love for God but let us pass them by if we are refusing to turn from some sin which our conscience has revealed to us through the word. God's desire is for all men everywhere to repent, to lift up Holy hands without fear and doubting. To serve him acceptably and with reverential fear all the days of our life. Let us ensure that we partake worthily this morning.
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